On today’s Meet the Press, moderator David Gregory seemed surprisingly sympathetic to Rick Santelli’s epic, on-air denunciation of Pres. Obama’s plan that would force responsible homeowners to bail out the others.  In contrast, Al Hunt played the part of the predictable liberal to perfection, dismissing Santelli’s soliloquy as “sophomoric.” Gregory aired a clip of White House press secretary Robert Gibbs’ contemptuous comments about Santelli, including the bit in which Gibbs holds up a copy of the president’s plan and sneeringly suggests Santelli print it off and read it.

Gregory indicated he had indeed read the plan–then explained why Santelli and so many others feel the way they do . . .

DAVID GREGORY: Well I have read the plan from top to bottom. And the reality, Becky [Quick, of CNBC] is that Mr. Santelli’s criticism is shared by a lot of people who think that it: a. is fundamentally unfair to subsidize people who may have misrepresented their income, got in over their heads, they owe what they owe.  There’s also real questions about whether modifications work: 50 to 60% of modifications end up in a re-default–that’s a fact.

A bit later, Hunt, of Bloomberg, rode to the defense of the Obama plan, ridiculing Santelli along the way.

AL HUNT: Right now we have an incredible fear, a psychological fear. I think the economy is going to–and most experts, more importantly–say the economy is going to be lousy for the next year.  You’re not going to see any effects of the stimulus bill for at least a year, and you’re not going to see jobs and housing start to rebound, which is why I think, in all due respect, Mr. Santelli’s comments were so sophomoric . . . I think the idea of ranting about some people are going, who made mistakes–a lot of these people made very innocent mistakes. They were duped. And I think to say that they shouldn’t be helped is really quite unfair.

To borrow Hunt’s phrase,  in all due respect it is a non sequitur to argue that Santelli was sophomoric because the effects of the stimulus won’t be felt for a year.  The question is: what will cause the economy to rebound?  And Santelli’s point was that taking from the self-reliant to subsidize others is counter-productive.