Rick Sanchez & CNN's Bias

File this one away under the "Blatant Hypocrisy" file:

Former CNN Anchor Rick Sanchez Issues Statement Apologizing for 'Bigot' Rant

Fired CNN anchor Rick Sanchez apologized to Jon Stewart and anyone else he offended for what he called "inartful comments" given in a radio interview last week that he said should "never have been made."

“I am very much opposed to hate and intolerance, in any form, and I have frequently spoken out against prejudice,” Sanchez said in the statement released by a South Florida publicist Wednesday.

“Despite what my tired and mangled words may have implied, they were never intended to suggest any sort of narrow-mindedness and should never have been made.”

Sanchez, 52, was fired by CNN last week following comments he made in a radio interview in which he called late-night funnyman Jon Stewart a “bigot” and said Jewish people were not an oppressed minority, telling the radio host that they were in charge of most media outlets.

In Wednesday's statement, the TV host, who was born in Cuba and raised outside Miami, said that he had had a “very good conversation” with Jon Stewart in which he had apologized for his “inartful comments.”

“I sincerely extend this apology to anyone else whom I may have offended,” Sanchez added.

I actually don't have any problems with CNN's actual firing of Sanchez.  The lack of slack given to this nation's most visible people can sometimes be unfortunate, but to actually make that sort of comment in this day and age on that network constitutes terminable stupidity.  I might actually disagree with the firing on principle, but I cannot argue with the joy of watching a ideological enemy fall on his own sword.  Obviously, Sanchez and his like-minded brethren would be banging the drum to fire a FOXNews anchor who had made similar comments.

But the mention of Rick Sanchez and the charge of racism got me to think that I had seen this before.  After a bit of thinking back, I quickly found this story.  Almost one year ago to the day:

http://www.mrc.org/biasalert/2009/20091013061953.aspx

 

CNN Anchor Fails to Retract His False Smear of Rush Limbaugh as Slavery-Admiring Racist 

On Monday, CNN Newsroom anchor Rick Sanchez reported as fact that radio host Rush Limbaugh had uttered a “racist diatribe” on the “merits” of slavery. “He once declared that had ‘Slavery built the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back; I'm just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark,’ said Limbaugh,” Sanchez told his audience.

But Sanchez cited no source for the quote other than a vague caption of “Rush Limbaugh on the Radio” in the accompanying on-screen graphic, and Limbaugh had on his show that day already explicitly denied he ever said it before Sanchez ever went on the air.

But on Tuesday’s show, Sanchez did not retract his use of the quote or provide any evidence that Limbaugh said it. Instead, he briefly summarized Limbaugh’s denial — claiming “we want to be fair to Rush” — before suggesting that whether or not CNN got its facts right is irrelevant: “Obviously, that does not take away the fact that there are other quotes which have been attributed to Rush Limbaugh, which many people in the African-American community and many other minority communities do find offensive.”

So, just to recap: Sanchez relayed some falsified quotes about Rush Limbaugh back when Limbaugh was trying to buy the St. Louis Rams.  When called on it, Sanchez issued a non-apology, saying that the overall point was still true, even if the actual quote was not.  Sanchez fanned the flames that eventually cost Limbaugh a chance to go ahead with his purchase.  Jon Stewart was not harmed in any way by Sanchez's remarks.

And yet CNN fires him over this? Ridiculous. CNN and Rick Sanchez should both be ashamed of themselves.

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