In a February 25 Politico article on President Obama's February 24 speech to Congress, reporters John F. Harris and Jonathan Martin wrote: “It was as if [Obama] and his speechwriters had listened closely to both Bill Clinton and Rick Santelli. It was Santelli, the CNBC commentator, who rallied bail-out skeptics with an on-air rant that Obama was rewarding irresponsible behavior by careless banks and homeowners.”

In fact, Santelli's widely circulated February 19 “rant”, aired on CNBC's Squawk Box, contained no criticism of “irresponsible behavior by careless banks.” During the broadcast, Santelli repeatedly criticized behavior by homeowners, asking President Obama: “Why don't you put up a website to have people vote on the Internet as a referendum to see if we really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages; or would we like to at least buy cars and buy houses in foreclosure and give them to people that might have a chance to actually prosper down the road, and reward people that could carry the water instead of drink the water?”

Santelli, speaking from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, also stated: “This is America. How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills? Raise their hand.”

From the February 19 edition of CNBC's Squawk Box:

REBECCA QUICK (co-anchor): We want to get to our task force right now. Rick Santelli and Jason Roney of Sharmac Capital are standing by at the CME Group in Chicago, and Rick, have you been listening to this conversation?

SANTELLI: Listening to it? I've been just glued to it because Mr. Ross has nailed it. You know, the government is promoting bad behavior. Because we certainly don't want to put stimulus forth and give people a whopping $8 or $10 in their check and think that they ought to save it, and in terms of modifications -- I'll tell you what, I have an idea.

You know, the new administration's big on computers and technology. How about this, president and new administration? Why don't you put up a website to have people vote on the Internet as a referendum to see if we really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages; or would we like to at least buy cars and buy houses in foreclosure and give them to people that might have a chance to actually prosper down the road, and reward people that could carry the water instead of drink the water?

JOE KERNEN (co-anchor): Hey, Rick, did --

TRADER: That's a novel idea.

KERNEN: Hey, Rick, did you -- oh, boy. They're like putty -- they're like putty in your hands. Did you hear --

SANTELLI: No they're not, Joe. They're not like putty in our hands. This is America. How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills? Raise their hand.

President Obama, are you listening?

TRADER: How about we all stop paying our mortgage? It's a moral hazard.

KERNEN: This is like mob rule here. I'm getting scared. I'm glad I'm -- I'm glad I'm --

CARL QUINTANILLA (co-anchor): Get some bricks and bats --

SANTELLI: Don't get scared, Joe. They're already scaring you. You know, Cuba used to have mansions and a relatively decent economy. They moved from the individual to collective. Now, they're driving '54 Chevys, maybe the last great car to come out of Detroit.

KERNEN: They're driving them on water, too, which is a little strange to watch --

SANTELLI: There you go.

KERNEN: Hey, Rick, how about the notion that -- Wilbur pointed out you can go down to 2 percent on the mortgage --

SANTELLI: You could go down to minus-2 percent. They can't afford the house.

KERNEN: -- and still have 40 percent -- and still have 40 percent not be able to do it. So why are they in the house? Why are we trying to keep them in the house?

SANTELLI: I know Mr. Summers is a great economist, but boy, I'd love the answer to that one.

QUICK: Wow.

KERNEN: Jason --

QUICK: [unintelligible] you get people fired up.

KERNEN: Jason, you wanna --

SANTELLI: We're thinking of having a Chicago tea party in July. All you capitalists that want to show up to Lake Michigan, I'm gonna start organizing.

QUICK: What are you dumping in -- what are you dumping in this time? Housing? Cars?

SANTELLI: We're going to be dumping in some derivative securities. What do you think about that?

QUINTANILLA: Mayor Daley is marshalling the police right now.

KERNEN: Rabble-rouser.

QUINTANILLA: The National Guard.

KERNEN: Jason, are you nearby? Can you hear the cheering over --

RONEY: I am, but I don't have the gallery directly behind me, so it's going to be tough to follow that act for sure.

KERNEN: Yeah, exactly. You agree?

RONEY: I'll have to run down to the pit. Well, clearly, we're going to debate the moral issues of what government is and is not doing for some years to come. I mean -- it's apparent, even for traders it's -- the market gaps up and down a significant amount each day just on what one government may or may not do. We're up 10 points or so on the S&P on the idea that core Europe may have some bank stability plans, so -- the traders market, the uncertainty of the market will continue until we get through this process of weekly government plans.

QUINTANILLA: You know, Rick, one of our producers says if Roland Burris steps down, man, Senator Santelli, the junior senator from Illinois. It's a possibility. I'm just saying --

SANTELLI: Do you think I want to take a shower every hour? The last place I'm ever gonna live or work is D.C.

KERNEN: Have you raised any money for Blago?

SANTELLI: No, but I think that somebody's gonna have to start raising money for us.

QUICK: Hey, Rick? Can you do that one more time, just get the mob behind you again? I love --

QUINATILLA: Have the camera pull way out.

QUICK: Yeah, pull way out. Everybody listen to Rick Santelli.

KERNEN: You can't -- I don't think -- you can't just do it at will, can you, Rick? I mean, you have to say something.

QUICK: Yeah, do it at will. Let's see.

SANTELLI: Listen, all's I know is, is that there's only about 5 percent of the floor population here right now, and I talk loud enough they can all hear me. So if you want to ask 'em anything, let me know. These guys are pretty straightforward, and my guess is, a pretty good statistical cross-section of America, the silent majority.

QUICK: Not-so-silent majority today. So Rick, are they opposed to the housing thing, to the stimulus package, to everything out there?

SANTELLI: You know, they're pretty much of the notion that you can't buy your way into prosperity, and if the multiplier that all of these Washington economists are selling us is over 1, then we never have to worry about the economy again. The government should spend a trillion dollars an hour because we'll get 1.5 trillion back.

QUICK: Wilbur?

WILBUR ROSS (chairman, W.L. Ross & Co.): Rick, I congratulate you on your new incarnation as a revolutionary leader.

SANTELLI: Somebody needs one. I'll tell you what, if you read our Founding Fathers, people like Benjamin Franklin and Jefferson, what we're doing in this country now is making them roll over in their graves.

From the February 25 Politico article, headlined “Conservative words for a liberal agenda”:

[Obama] took the same tack with homeowners, singling out “speculators” and those who borrowed beyond their means and pledging -- in an assertion that critics vigorously dispute -- that they would not be helped by his plan.

And on taxes, which he wants to raise on the most affluent, he repeated with emphasis that “not one single dime” will come from families earning less than $250,000.

In many ways, Obama used his speech to practice the politics of “pre-buttal” -- attempting to pre-empt the lines of argument that Republicans hope can revive their defeated and demoralized party.

It was as if he and his speechwriters had listened closely to both Bill Clinton and Rick Santelli. It was Santelli, the CNBC commentator, who rallied bail-out skeptics with an on-air rant that Obama was rewarding irresponsible behavior by careless banks and homeowners.

The former president, meanwhile, said recently that Obama needed more inspiration and hope mixed in with his bracing warnings about the anemic economy.