Kathy Bates to CNN's Piers Morgan: I Want Obama to Stand Up On His Hind Legs And Fight These Rat Bastards

5:20 PM PDT 10/23/2011 by THR staff

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During an appearance on the cable news network, the Academy-award winning actress says "somebody's got to pay for that mess" on Wall Street.

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Academy-award winning actress Kathy Bates said in a CNN interview that, while she strongly supported Obama's candidacy, she now wants to tell him to "stand up on his hind legs and fight these rat bastards."

"Something my father said to me, he always said,'Stand up on your hind legs and fight,'" Bates told Piers Morgan in a conversation about politics on his Friday show. "And that's what I want to say to my president, whom I'm so proud of…He has got to do it."

Morgan followed up: "Who do you mean by the rat bastards?"

Bates: "Well, I think he's got to indict these guys from Wall Street. Somebody's got to pay for that mess. And I don't think it's the American public."

Morgan: "Because you believe that basically that was the catalyst for all the problems that are going on now?"

Bates: "I think it was the catalyst for many. It certainly was the catalyst for our loss of faith."

Morgan: "It does seem extraordinary not one of them has ever been put in jail. Not one. The biggest financial crisis in history. It came out of pure greed and wanton irresponsibility and nobody has ever carried the can."

Bates: "Well, and it's is like Steinbeck said in "Grapes of Wrath," who's the bank? When everybody was losing everything, who is behind all of this? Who's really running the country? Who's really pulling the strings? And I think we have all lost faith. And we don't know what to do. And there are no jobs. And we are looking at a lineup, in my opinion, of Republicans like."

Morgan: "Do you feel alarmed by what you see?"

Bates: "I do. I do feel alarmed for the country."

Morgan: "When you see the Tea Party who are very polarizing, but they're increasingly popular. When you see the Tea Party candidates and the views that they espouse, what do you think?"

Bates: "I don't espouse their views. I'm not that conservative. I do feel -- I guess I'm more of a Democrat at heart, although I've never affiliated myself with a particular party."