On Thursday Rick Sanchez spent twenty minutes on the radio committing career suicide in a most agonizing manner. Appearing on the Sirius/XM satellite radio program, Stand Up! with Pete Dominic he started out placing himself in a little hole and kept digging until he exposed a giant pink slip.
He started with a story about how a CNN administrator didn’t want him to become an anchor because he was Cuban. Then he railed against Jon Stewart for making fun of him, claiming Stewart is a bigot. Sanchez believes that Stewart portrays him as stupid because he is Cuban.
I think he looks at the world through, his mom, who was a school teacher, and his dad, who was a physicist or something like that. Great, I’m so happy that he grew up in a suburban middle class New Jersey home with everything you could ever imagine.
Look at his show, I mean, what does he surround himself with? That’s what happens when you watch yourself on his show every day, and all they ever do is call you stupid…. If I did just sit there and read the teleprompter every day, Jon Stewart would never say a word about me. He’d say I’m a good Hispanic anchor, “Way to go, you’ve done a good job, stay right there.” … I am a complex human being; I’m not some moron to be …
Sanchez would still have a job if he stopped right there, but maybe because of some deep-seeded insecurity, he was driven to proving to the world that Stewart’s taunts were true. That’s when he crossed the career Rubicon.
Pete Dominic reminded Sanchez that Stewart wasn’t a bigot that he was a comedian and Stewart, a Jew, made fun his own people more than any other. Dominic told Sanchez that Jews are sensitive to bigotry because of everything they had faced as a people.
“Yeah,” Sanchez snickered sarcastically at the idea that Jews are as much minorities as Latinos in the U.S., “Very powerless people”
He’s [Stewart] such a minority, I mean, you know … Please, what are you kidding? … I’m telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they—the people in this country who are Jewish—are an oppressed minority? Yeah. [sarcastically]
That was the death blow, Sanchez basically said Stewart is a Jew, Jews like Stewart run CNN, and in fact Jews run all of the news organizations. [LA replies: As I said in a previous entry, I don’t see how the true statement, by itself, that Jews are overwhelmingly the dominant figures in media, should be the job killer (though it may well have been). Rather, it’s the context of that statement, already constructed by Sanchez, of complaining about Stewart’s unfair treatment of him as a Hispanic. In other words, Sanchez had already set up the situation as Jews vs. Hispanics, so when he made his true statement about Jewish media dominance, it wasn’t just a factual statement, it was part of the ethnic confrontation he had set up. Further, his sarcastic tone probably sounded hostile to Jews (though I haven’t listened to it yet). In any case, whatever the decisive reason in the network’s mind for firing him, his behavior was so far away from what is considered professional demeanor for newsmen that he was sunk one way or another.].
At 3:00 the next day, Rich Sanchez was not on-air for his CNN time slot. After spending the next three hours chasing CNN Corporate Communications for a reason (he was also due to go on a tour to sell his new book), at 6:19 p.m., I received this simple email from Bridget Leininger of Turner Corporate Communications
Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company. We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well. We will broadcast CNN Newsroom from 3-5pm for the foreseeable future.
During his tenure at CNN Rick Sanchez developed pattern of making outrageous statements. Sure he was biased with the constant rants against Fox News “The Voice of Fox News” and the Tea Party—“Ronald Reagan would be too liberal for certain Tea Partiers”—but it was some of his nonpolitical comments that made him look even worse, such as: “Isn’t it too cold in Iceland for a volcano?” “How much is nine meters in English?” or my personal favorite when he read the stage directions off the teleprompter “”Up next: Ad lib. A tease. That’s what it says right here.”
Rick Sanchez’ problems as a CNN reporter had nothing to do with his liberal bias, if that eliminated someone from a news job there would be many more openings in the media. Nor were they his constant malaprops or questions that made him seem uninformed, because handled right, that could be made into an endearing quality. Sanchez didn’t even lose his job because he is a bigot because; quite frankly despite what he said on the Pete Dominic show bigotry was not behind the inappropriate statements he made.
What caused Sanchez to lose his job at the Cable News Network were two very important personality flaws. Mr. Sanchez’s thin skin and inability to laugh at some of his on-air flubs allowed the comments made by Jon Stewart to get under his skin. It was his thin skin that caused the former CNN anchor to start ranting on radio.
The other flaw is may be too big to overcome. It is the reason why Sanchez could not stop talking when he approached the line, it is the reason that people like Stewart, and Glenn Beck use Rick Sanchez as a constant target. Unfortunately the real reason Rick Sanchez lost his CNN gig is that he is not the sharpest tool in the toolbox. [LA replies: while this is rather vaguely written, Dunetz’s analysis is not without value.]
In the end, CNN decided that it could handle a news reporter who said nasty things, and they could handle a news reporter who says stupid things, but together in one news reporter it was just too much to handle.
[end of Dunetz article]
Here are the comments following Dunetz’s article. Since I’m not familiar with Sanchez they give me a sense of how other people have perceived him. He is generally regarded as unintelligent, on the left, and a grievance monger. What happens when you put an underqualified person in a position because he belongs to a designated ethnic group, and then people start to criticize him for his lack of ability? He blames the criticisms on “bigotry.” If America wants to stop such “bigotry,” it has to be start being true to its right-liberal ideal (“character, not ethnicity”) and stop promoting unqualified minorities. But America can’t do that, because that would mean giving up its left-liberal ideal of equality of outcome and proportional representation of all groups. In the end, left-liberalism always trumps right-liberalism.
Comments
Cowboy Logic—October 2nd, 2010 at 10:28 am
“On Thursday Rick Sanchez spent twenty minutes on the radio committing career suicide in a most agonizing manner.”
I would respectfully disagree.
It has taken years for this to unfold. This past Thursday was the final culmination. Evidently, Rick Sanchez could not handle the strain any longer.
Interesting week.
The Lunatic Left just lost Sanchez; and apparently O’Keefe has just run off the conservative reservation. It will be interesting for the truth to come out.
Jamesb—October 2nd, 2010 at 10:36 am
America’s true life “Ron Burgandy” is a moron, plain & simple—emphasis on the “simple.”
Don’t you know that the brass at CNN (make that the new brass at CNN) were just WAITING for an excuse to send “Ron” packing? His gaffs have become legendary—there’s NO dispute that the man is intellectually challenged. Way, way, way challenged.
If this clown WASN’T Latino/Cuban he would have NEVER been “Peter Principaled” all the way up to a network job.
Cowboy Logic—October 2nd, 2010 at 10:38 am
The Networks, they be a changin’.
CNN and NBC are going through major shakeups. Just wait until it gets far enough down the ladder to affect Ed Schultz, Keith Olberman and Rachel Madcow. They all have to huddling in the bunker, with news of Sanchez getting axed.
wldbil—October 2nd, 2010 at 10:43 am
Me thinks ol’ Rick may have been hitting the cerveza before the interview….
Artinis—October 2nd, 2010 at 10:45 am
This is the net result when your whole philosophy is predicated on categorizing and dividing. Whether it be rich against poor, black against white, or J*w against gentile. It’s one more example of a leftist exposing himself as a bigoted anti-semite!
wldbil—October 2nd, 2010 at 10:50 am
Well said gentlemen, I think the O’Keefe thing will prove to be a bad case of very poor judgment BTW….
2Evil4U-October 2nd, 2010 at 10:58 am
Did CNN commit a diversity foul by firing someone who is arguably mentally challenged?
ed357—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:00 am
LOOKS LIKE THE BOTTOM LINE … …….
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ … …… … …… … …… … …… … ………..
IS STARTING TO CHANGE THE ALPHABET NETWORKS NEWS PROGRAMING.
Dirtt—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:07 am
Don’t let it bring you down It’s only castles burning Find someone who’s turning And you will come around
Dirtt—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:13 am
Living in the limelight … Can’t pretend a stranger is a long-awaited friend
AlistZ—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:20 am
This one must have Geraldo Rivera spinning in a circle.
insolublog—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:33 am
Sanchez is the product of the multicultural diversity mindset. They have wasted the last four decades celebrating their ignorance and dismissal of Martin L. King’s unity through character, not skin color.
Bohemond—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:33 am
(Disclaimer- I am the biggest Judaeophile goy you’re likely to meet. I am NOT trying to defend or justify Sanchez’ vile hate-speech against Jews- just pointing out the typical Lefty double standard) [LA replies: absurd, there was no vile hate-speech against Jews.]
“What caused Sanchez to lose his job at the Cable News Network were two very important personality flaws. Mr. Sanchez’s thin skin and inability to laugh at some of his on-air flubs”
That and the fact that he’s a dribbling idiot …
Unfortunately, Sanchez was fired not for any of the above reasons, but because he ran afoul of the Great God Multi-Culti. Even on the Left, where hate speech is a way of life (and Sanchez specialized in it), naked anti-Semitism is only permitted to their new BFF’s, the Muslims.
If by “those people” he had meant WASPs, he’d still have a job. [LA replies: true.]
FarmersFight—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:42 am
It is a win-win. We got rid of a minority-grievance-type but at the same time exposed that there really is a Jewish establishment in the media which won’t even tolerate being exposed! [LA replies: maybe, maybe not. As I’ve said, my impression was that what got him in trouble was not the remark about Jewish dominance, but that it was made in the context of, and in a way that conveyed, ethnic hostility to Jews. And that is not allowed in the mainstream, unless you’re a Muslim—there is a hierarchy, after all.]
Imagine if he had said “Whites” ran the media. He would have been fine—his Jon-Stewart-type cohort there would have even agreed most likely. But when it gets to the truth that people can’t speak about—we see what happens!
FarmersFight—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:43 am
If by “those people” he had meant anyone other than Whites he would have been laughed at. ONLY ONE GROUP can not be questioned. What does that tell you?
FarmersFight—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:44 am
You have spent 4 decades fooling yourself about MLK, too, apparently. MLK was a Black supremacist, a communist, and a plagiarist.
FarmersFight—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:45 am
Sanchez didn’t have a big cheesy Hispanic mustache like Rivera to shield himself as a “protected species.” They thought they were just firing a White guy which they don’t have to think about.
insolublog—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:47 am
Don’t forget he was a Republican too, you racist moron.
FarmersFight—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:47 am
You are afraid to type “Jew”—what does that reveal?
You don’t capitalize “Gentile”—what does that reveal?
What did he say that was anti-Semitic?
FarmersFight—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:48 am
He would be part of any anti-White group that he thought he could use for his own gain.
insolublog—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:51 am
(I’m taking the pellets out of my Troll feeding chute now)
FarmersFight—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:53 am
Now if they can just get rid of their creepy cast of mongrel anchors CNN might be watchable again. People turn to news to see the occasional panty shot on doll’ed up White women—as Fox “News” has demonstrated (formerly the Red Shoe Diary News service.)
NutsnBolts—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:54 am
“kept digging until he exposed a giant pink slip”—perfect description. For all his years being stupid, it took this to do it.
By the way, regarding O’Keefe, read the Esquire article. Risky business trying to punk a CNN newsbabe, but the urge to try is not so off the reservation.
cousnvinny—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:54 am
I ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT FOX SHOULD TRADE GERALDO TO CNN FOR LOU DOBBS. DOBBS WAS THE ONLY ANCHOR AT CNN WHO I CARED TO WATCH, AND GERLDO IS THE ONLY ONE ON FOX THAT I CANNOT STAND.
NutsnBolts—October 2nd, 2010 at 11:55 am
By the way, the guy looks more European than I do—or at least just as much. He had to be on crack to cling to that little fantasy.
spaceracer423—October 2nd, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Okay enough- put down the keyboard and walk away.
keep walking until you find a cliff … then keep walking.