CNBC’s Rick Santelli: Father of the Tea Party Movement?

Author of new book “A New American Tea Party,” John O’Hara tells Washington WhispersPaul Bedard that although CNBC’s Rick Santelli refused to be a spokesman for the tea-party movement, his role was “very important.”

“Santelli said what a lot of people were thinking and afraid to say,” O’Hara says of the reporter’s Squawk Box rant a year ago.

A strategically humble Santelli explained that while he doesn’t think there is a beer summit in his future, “it’s very gratifying that four minutes out of [his] life made a difference.”

Check out Washington Whispers for the full scoop.

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