Santelli to Fed: 'What Are You Afraid Of?'

CNBC's Rick Santelli had some tough talk for the Federal Reserve and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke on CNBC Wednesday morning.

"The one question I want to ask Ben is, 'Ben, what are you afraid of?'" Santelli asked.

"CNBC, all the channels that cover business, we have person after person after person, buy side, sell side, upside, downside, how is the economy? The economy is great. What about stocks? You got to buy them. What if they break? You have to buy the dips. What's wrong with the economy? I don't hear these people saying anything is wrong with the economy. So what's wrong, Ben? Why can't we get out of crisis management mode?" Santelli said.

Watch the whole rant in the video above.

But oh, Santelli wasn't finished yet! In a subsequent CNBC segment with Wall Street Journal Reporter Jon Hilsenrath, Santelli challlenged Hilsenrath on why reporters are lobbing "softball" questions at the Fed. (Watch the video.)

The whole thing set off a bit of a firestorm on Twitter. Check out the latest reactions to the morning's lively Fed talk in the Twitter feed below.