Last week CNN fired anchor Rick Sanchez after he called Jon Stewart a bigot in a radio interview during which he also questioned whether Jews face discrimination. Quoth Sanchez Everyone 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.
Implying that Jews run the media is the sort of boneheaded anti-Semitic slur that rates a firing to be sure. In fact its so outrageous that youd think it wouldnt matter that Sanchez called Stewart a bigot.
Yet the Stewart angle has dominated this story because well you dont call a liberal a bigot.
You can call conservatives bigots and people hardly notice. Indeed Sanchez equated Stewart and Stephen Colbert to Fox News Bill OReilly and Glenn Beck calling them all very prejudicial. No biggie.
But to call a liberal comedian a bigot to say that he represents a white liberal establishment point of view well thats just not done.
Meanwhile in California GOP gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman is getting grilled because she didnt assume that her immigrant housekeeper was a liar.
In 2003 the Social Security Administration sent Whitman and her husband a letter that indicated the Social Security number given by Nicandra Diaz Santillan did not match her name. Rather than interrogate Diaz and demand another look at her papers the couple asked Diaz to clear the problem up. I mention this simply as the latest example of the double standard when it comes to issues involving minorities: No matter what they do conservatives cant win and liberals cant lose.
Back to Sanchez. His problem always has been that hes a gaffe machine. Hes the anchor who marveled at the Iceland volcano saying You think its too cold to have a volcano there. He once read out loud instructions telling him to ad-lib. You can guess how he mispronounced annals.
With those whoppers of course Stewart made fun of Sanchez. Even President Obama made fun of Sanchezs volcano blunder at Mays White House Correspondents Dinner.
If he were a savvier individual Sanchez would at least pretend to have a sense of humor about his slip-ups. Instead Sanchez turned to the more alluring view that as a Cuban American he is a victim of prejudice.
In the past this habit never hurt his career.
You could hear the personal pain when Sanchez explained When you turn on a show or listen to someones writings and they minimize you and treat you like you dont matter like youre just a piece of -- youre just a dumb ... jock or a dumb woman or a dumb Puerto Rican or a dumb Cuban or another dumb Mexican which is the way I feel whenever I watch Jon Stewart.
At one point an amazed Pete Dominick reminded Sanchez that Stewart is on the same side as you on immigration. Dominick also asked Sanchez why he was being so sensitive. Dominick simply couldnt get over Sanchez calling a liberal prejudiced.
Guess what. It sucks. Even when it isnt true. Even when the target invited the ridicule. Even when the self-styled victim doesnt hire Gloria Allred.
Last week CNN fired anchor Rick Sanchez after he called Jon Stewart a bigot in a radio interview during which he also questioned whether Jews face discrimination. Quoth Sanchez Everyone 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.
Implying that Jews run the media is the sort of boneheaded anti-Semitic slur that rates a firing to be sure. In fact its so outrageous that youd think it wouldnt matter that Sanchez called Stewart a bigot.
Yet the Stewart angle has dominated this story because well you dont call a liberal a bigot.
You can call conservatives bigots and people hardly notice. Indeed Sanchez equated Stewart and Stephen Colbert to Fox News Bill OReilly and Glenn Beck calling them all very prejudicial. No biggie.
But to call a liberal comedian a bigot to say that he represents a white liberal establishment point of view well thats just not done.
Meanwhile in California GOP gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman is getting grilled because she didnt assume that her immigrant housekeeper was a liar.
In 2003 the Social Security Administration sent Whitman and her husband a letter that indicated the Social Security number given by Nicandra Diaz Santillan did not match her name. Rather than interrogate Diaz and demand another look at her papers the couple asked Diaz to clear the problem up. I mention this simply as the latest example of the double standard when it comes to issues involving minorities: No matter what they do conservatives cant win and liberals cant lose.
Back to Sanchez. His problem always has been that hes a gaffe machine. Hes the anchor who marveled at the Iceland volcano saying You think its too cold to have a volcano there. He once read out loud instructions telling him to ad-lib. You can guess how he mispronounced annals.
With those whoppers of course Stewart made fun of Sanchez. Even President Obama made fun of Sanchezs volcano blunder at Mays White House Correspondents Dinner.
If he were a savvier individual Sanchez would at least pretend to have a sense of humor about his slip-ups. Instead Sanchez turned to the more alluring view that as a Cuban American he is a victim of prejudice.
In the past this habit never hurt his career.
You could hear the personal pain when Sanchez explained When you turn on a show or listen to someones writings and they minimize you and treat you like you dont matter like youre just a piece of -- youre just a dumb ... jock or a dumb woman or a dumb Puerto Rican or a dumb Cuban or another dumb Mexican which is the way I feel whenever I watch Jon Stewart.
At one point an amazed Pete Dominick reminded Sanchez that Stewart is on the same side as you on immigration. Dominick also asked Sanchez why he was being so sensitive. Dominick simply couldnt get over Sanchez calling a liberal prejudiced.
Guess what. It sucks. Even when it isnt true. Even when the target invited the ridicule. Even when the self-styled victim doesnt hire Gloria Allred.
