White House Press Secretary Responds to CNBC’s Rick Santelli

By Moe Bedard


White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs put CNBC’S Rick Santelli in his place today. Acting more like a rabid dog than a professional journalist, Santelli referred to suffering American homeowners as “losers.” Whereas Santelli feels the White House is awarding “bad behavior” Press Secretary Gibbs and I both feel the plan can and will help homeowners that are near foreclosure and also help homeowners that have consistently made their payments on time but have been forced “underwater” by declining home prices.



“I’m not entirely sure where Mr. Santelli lives or in what house he lives,” said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs during a press briefing. “But the American people are struggling every day to meet their mortgage, stay in their job, pay their bills, to send their kids to school, and to hope that they don’t get sick or that somebody they care for gets sick and sends them into bankruptcy. I think we left a few months ago the — the adage that, if it was good for a derivatives trader, that it was good for Main Street. I think the verdict is in on that.“


“Mr Santelli doesn’t know what he’s. talking about,” Gibbs said a little later. He was responding to a question about public anger at the fact that some people who acted irresponsibly may benefit from the president’s plan, a question which mentioned “that cable rant on the floor of the exchange.”


“Mr. Santelli has argued — I think quite wrongly — that this plan won’t help everyone,” Gibbs said. “This plan will help, by the money that’s invested in Freddie and Fannie, will drive down mortgage rates for millions of Americans.”


Concluded Gibbs, “now, every day when I come out here, I spend a little time reading, studying on the issues, asking people who are smarter than I am questions about those issues. I would encourage him to read the president’s plan and understand that it will help millions of people, many of whom he knows. I’d be more than happy to have him come here and read it.”
Sources:


Yahoo News

ABC News