Talk Is Cheap. Refusing to Talk At All Can Be Costly.

Last fall, a man named John McCain canceled an interview with David Letterman. Life on the campaign trail was simply too demanding, he said, and his visit to the Ed Sullivan Theater would just have to wait. A few hours later, McCain was spotted on CBS's own internal camera network prepping for an interview with Katie Couric. It was a mistake McCain came to regret.

For weeks, Letterman laid into the presidential candidate. By the time McCain appeared on the Late Show, the damage had been done.

Did he know that Letterman and Couric both work at the same network?

A week or so ago, a man named Rick Santelli reported for CNBC from the floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange. He decried President Obama's bailout, not for the money it poured into failed banks, but for the handful of actual homeowners who would be helped with their mortgages. Santelli refered to these homeowners as 'losers' and stirred something in the conservative base that hasn't moved since Sarah Palin walked onto a stage in Dayton, Ohio: a populist pulse.

Of course, we all know how Sarah Palin worked out. That pulse quickened, then flatlined as soon as reality set in. Sure enough, Rick Santelli, too, was riding high for a few weeks, and even agreed to show up last night on The Daily Show. Only, in the meantime, the fever pitch broke and the populist revolt was over before it started. Without his masses all hot and bothered, Rick went maverick and canceled on Jon Stewart. Suffice it to say that it was a bad idea, for both Santelli and CNBC:

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Rick Santelli cautioned per Sec. B-6 for only stirring the pot in his own kitchen.