Yeah, the VWRC is Back, Only It Ain't So Vast

I've been vaguely aware of CNBC D-Lister Rick Santelli, who let loose a torrent of abuse at people at risk of losing their homes, The government is promoting bad behavior! Do we really want to subsidize the losers’ mortgages?! This is America! We're thinking of having a Chicago tea party in July, all you capitalists who want to come down to Lake Michigan, I'm gonna start organizing."

That day, a website went live Chicagoteaparty dot com (top pic), which is awfully fast, only the first domain was actually registered in August of last year, and had lain dormant, but suddenly sprung to life, calling for protest with Santelli's rant on the front.

We also had another domain, created and going live that day, Officialchicagoteaparty dot com (middle pic), which was owned by one Eric Odom, a long time 'Phant political operative, who created astroturf groups to support offshore drilling, which would directly benefit the business interests of the Koch families.

So, what's going on?

Well according Playboy^* (and mirrored at the Exiled for those of you who have to deal with content filters), the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (VWRC) is at it again, only it seems to be perhaps a few dozen people:

What we discovered is that Santelli’s “rant” was not at all spontaneous as his alleged fans claim, but rather it was a carefully-planned trigger for the anti-Obama campaign. In PR terms, his February 19th call for a “Chicago Tea Party” was the launch event of a carefully organized and sophisticated PR campaign, one in which Santelli served as a frontman, using the CNBC airwaves for publicity, for the some of the craziest and sleaziest rightwing oligarch clans this country has ever produced. Namely, the Koch family, the multibilllionaire owners of the largest private corporation in America, and funders of scores of rightwing thinktanks and advocacy groups, from the Cato Institute and Reason Magazine to FreedomWorks. The scion of the Koch family, Fred Koch, was a co-founder of the notorious extremist-rightwing John Birch Society."

Added to this was the owner of Chicagoteaparty dot com is one Zack Christenson, who is a producer for a rightwing radio jock Milt Rosenberg, the man who came up with the bogus Barack Obama-Bill Ayers link.

It's all a part of the "Sam Adams Alliance," which has funding from the Koch family, though you have to go to cached copies connecting this to FreedomWorks, run by Republican House Majority leader Dick Armey and paid for by the Koch's.

Note Santelli front and center on the FreedomWorks home page too.

Mr. Santelli's contract with CNBC is up in a year, and getting a Youtube hit, even if it is AstroTurf, is likely to improve both his chances of renewal, and his chances for a big contract.

Not also that this has been going on for some time, as it's also tied into angryrenter dot com, which has been registered for a year.

Seriously though, when you look at all these, there is a guy, his money, and perhaps a dozen other people, who were locked and loaded before the rant ever happened, and when the "grass roots" protests happened, they were lame and fake.

It's kind of a metaphor for the Republican party as a whole.

H/T The Big Picture.

^*Proving that Playboy, at least can do real reporting and cover real stories, in addition to being what the Brits call a "grumble mag".