Misc.

Something very important happened on the way to Rick Santelli of CNBC becoming a right wing and populist icon.  People seem to forget that the real target of Jon Stewart was not Jim Cramer, but Rick Santelli.

But there was Rick Santelli on February 19 on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade railing against the Obama administration housing plans.  As he's pounding away, he elicits boos from the traders and then asserts wildly, "President Obama, are you listening?"  The media sure was, they seized on it as a moment to demonstrate mass discontent with the new Obama administration policies.