Gil invents the "anti-populist"

I suppose that Gil believes that Rick Santelli is an "anti-populist" because he believes Rick Santelli is not a common person.

In reality, Rick Santelli is a common person. By that, I mean that he is not involved in government, as far as I can tell. And what Gil ignores is that the populist title wasn't given so much as to Santelli as it was just him expressing populist views. For example, most people have mortgages if they own a home. Many "common people" invest in stocks or hold a few company shares. It isn't "uncommon". The Dow reflects on the economy which, in turn, affects everyone.

I think Santelli's revolt was a real wake-up call to the Obama administration and to the likes of Gil. Democrats aren't listening to the people or doing the will of the people. Neither is Arlen Specter, who is supposedly Republican. Overwhelmingly, his office received calls opposing this stimulus, yet he voted for it anyway because "we had to do something" (nevermind that the CBO said it would have actually been better to do nothing).

Shame on Arlen Specter and shame on the Democrat party who promised bipartisan efforts to fix this problem. Instead, they just barrelled ahead without a wink or a nod. Obama, who promised the bipartisanship, later justified his acts by saying that urgency trumped bipartisanship. He also promised legislation would be "transparent and open" and that the bill would be out before the vote several days. Obviously, Obama is not a man of his word.

It is a real shame that our country has come to this. Our American forefathers are rolling over in their graves.