Rick's List

CNN's Rick Sanchez Again Hints Rick Perry is a Racist
By Matthew Balan | March 2, 2010 | 7:15 PM EST
On Tuesday's Rick's List on CNN, Rick Sanchez again hinted that Texas Governor Rick Perry is a racist. Sanchez, reacting to the distinct possibility that Perry would win the Republican gubernatorial primary, referenced a comment he made at a tea party rally in 2009: "He was talking about states' rights. States' rights is, to most people of color, a racist term" [audio clip available here].

The CNN anchor discussed the Republican primary with Wayne Slater of the Dallas Morning News. He asked the journalist, "Perry's going to win this thing, right?" After Slater noted how Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison lost her early lead in the polls over Perry, Sanchez responded, with some shock, "Why? I mean- you know, when he came out with his comment. Remember, you and I talked about it when he said it. I mean, he was all about secession from the union. He was talking about states' rights. States' rights is, to most people of color, a racist term, and I thought he had hurt himself. Why wasn't she able to, kind of, jump on that and use it?"

Slater explained that the typical Republican primary voter in Texas is "very conservative," and that Perry had actually won the nomination race after he had made his "states' rights" remark at the tea party. This didn't calm Sanchez, however, and he followed up by asking, "Well, but shouldn't we be frightened by that?"
Rick Sanchez Admits He Doesn't Know What Nine Meters Is
By Noel Sheppard | March 2, 2010 | 1:25 PM EST

"Myself and most of the people I know don't know the metric system or can't do the conversion charts very well."

So said CNN's Rick Sanchez Monday in response to criticism that he has taken for his absolutely pathetic coverage of Saturday's tsunamis in Hawaii.

As NewsBusters previously reported, Sanchez manically pestered a scientist brought on to CNN's set Saturday to explain what was happening in the Pacific Ocean and how it might impact Hawaii.

As Dr. Kurt Frankel discussed the ramifications of a nine meter drop observed in the ocean following the massive earthquake in Chile, Sanchez said, "By the way, nine meters in English is?"

Receiving many e-mail messages concerning this dreadful faux pas, Sanchez issued the following mea culpa Monday (video embedded below the fold with transcript, h/t Mediaite):

CNN's Sanchez Takes a Page From Democrats' Playbook
By Mike Bates | February 27, 2010 | 4:16 PM EST

Unable to defend ObamaCare with reasoning or facts, many of the Democrats at Thursday's health care summit resorted to anecdotes or, as Rush Limbaugh appropriately characterized them, sob stories.  The recycling of a dead woman's dentures and a letter from a struggling farmer who just happens to be the brother of a staffer for the Democratic senator sent the letter were the order of the day.

CNN anchor Rick Sanchez must have found such stories compelling.  Yesterday, his producer sent out this tweet from Sanchez's Twitter account:

*FRP* (From Rick's Producer) Today Rick's looking 4 hardship stories: financial, med., trouble w/ (BROKEN?) govt., family, etc Keep short, maybe will read on air

Sadly, Rick didn't get any good denture yarns.  But he kicked off his Rick's List program yesterday with a few tales of woe:

As a matter of fact, let's go to the Twitter board. This is what you have been saying about this situation with health care, about these politics and these policies that are being discussed.

Look at this one right there in the middle. "Thousands of people are going broke and dying due to the American health care system. The summit was not a game to be won or lost."
Sanchez to Medina: 'You Say You're Not a Truther. Are You a Birther?'
By Noel Sheppard | February 23, 2010 | 11:11 PM EST

CNN's Rick Sanchez Tuesday grilled Texas gubernatorial candidate and Tea Party activist Debra Medina about her positions concerning America's role in the 9/11 attacks as well as whether or not Barack Obama was born in the United States.

"Just so for the record, if you want to stomp this out right here now on national television, do you believe the government, the U.S. government, played any role in all in 9/11?" Sanchez asked.

After Medina answered, Sanchez continued to press: "Debra, either you do or you don't believe that 9/11 was in any way caused or helped by the U.S. government. Do you or don't you?"

Once he was done with that issue, Sanchez moved on: "How about the birth certificate thing? You say you're not a truther. Are you a birther?" (video embedded below the fold with transcript, h/t HotAirPundit):

Rick Sanchez: Ann Coulter 'Exemplifies the Hardline Spirit of CPAC'
By Matthew Balan | February 22, 2010 | 6:08 PM EST
On Monday's Rick's List, CNN's Rick Sanchez painted Ann Coulter and CPAC as "hardline." Sanchez also implied that the CPAC attendees were hypocritically cheering Dick Cheney: "I invited Ann Coulter, who exemplifies the hardline spirit of CPAC...and asked her why anti-spend conservatives meeting there...would give a standing ovation to a former vice president whose administration ran up the deficit" [audio clip available here].

The CNN anchor revisited his Friday interview of Coulter 13 minutes into the 3 pm Eastern hour (Noel Sheppard exposed Sanchez's slanted interview of Coulter): "Do you remember last week when former Vice President Dick Cheney got the loudest ovation at CPAC? So I invited Ann Coulter, who exemplifies the hardline spirit of CPAC, I believe, and I asked her why anti-spend conservatives meeting there at CPAC would give a standing ovation to a former vice president whose administration ran up the deficit to $1.2 trillion, even though they were handed a surplus. I thought it was a fair question."
Rick Sanchez to Ann Coulter: Why Was Cheney Applauded at CPAC?
By Noel Sheppard | February 20, 2010 | 10:57 AM EST

Is Rick Sanchez becoming CNN's answer to Keith Olbermann?

After all, he does almost as poor a job of hiding his love for Barack Obama or his utter disdain for conservatives.

Consider that during his Friday interview with Ann Coulter, Sanchez actually asked the conservative author why the audience at CPAC gave former Vice President Dick Cheney such a fabulous welcome when he spoke to them the previous evening.

Sanchez also repeated the typical Democrat talking points about Halliburton, no-bid contracts, Clinton surpluses, and how all the problems facing the current President are George W. Bush's fault.

With this in mind, as you watch the following, ask yourself if it is possible for Sanchez to be ANY MORE obvious about his political leanings (video embedded below the fold with full transcript, h/t Story Balloon):

CNN Insists Evan Bayh is 'No Liberal;' GOP 'Should Be Sad to See Him Go'
By Matthew Balan | February 15, 2010 | 5:29 PM EST
Rick Sanchez, CNN Anchor; & Jessica Yellin, CNN National Political Correspondent | NewsBusters.orgOn Monday's Rick's List, CNN's Rick Sanchez and Jessica Yellin both tried to portray liberal Indiana Democrat Evan Bayh as a centrist. Yellin insisted, "Republicans should be sad to see Evan Bayh go because he is one of the centrists who worked very hard to work with Republicans." Sanchez replied, "Evan Bayh is no liberal!"

Before the CNN anchor raised Bayh's retirement with his colleague 18 minutes into the 3 pm Eastern hour, he brought up Congressman Joe Wilson's response on Twitter to his Democratic colleague's decision. Wilson wrote, "Great news of Senator Bayh's retirement, good prospects of change in Indiana has now become much brighter! I am happy for Hoosiers." Sanchez all but condemned the Republican's Tweet: "It's not like he's dancing on his grave because the guy's not dead. He's...just retiring. But wouldn't you think, just from the standpoint of being collegial, that, most of the time, somebody would say something like- 'boy, I hate to see Jessica Yellin leaving CNN. She really was good'- as opposed to- 'boy, am I glad Jessica Yellin's leaving. Now, we can get a competent reporter in there.'"
Slate's Kaplan: Tea Parties Don't Amount to Much; Blasts GOP, Palin
By Matthew Balan | February 8, 2010 | 8:45 PM EST
Rick Sanchez, CNN Anchor; & Fred Kaplan, Salon.com National Security Columnist | NewsBusters.orgOn Monday’s Rick’s List program on CNN, Slate’s Fred Kaplan attacked Republicans for politicizing national security, accused the GOP of being in an alternate reality, and blasted Sarah Palin for “talking...complete and utter nonsense.” Kaplan also wrote off the tea parties as not a “mass movement,” and, along with anchor Rick Sanchez, accused Palin of forwarding “anti-intellectualism.”

The Slate national security columnist, who is also a former correspondent for the Boston Globe, appeared as a guest during the last ten minutes of Sanchez’s program, just before the top of the 5 pm Eastern hour. Before introducing Kaplan, the CNN anchor set up the discussion by referencing the political debate over the granting of Miranda rights to attempted airline bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab after his Christmastime arrest. Sanchez first asked the Slate writer, “Who’s doing the politicizing here?”
Rick Sanchez Omits Party of Convicted Democrat, IDs Tancredo’s Party
By Matthew Balan | February 5, 2010 | 4:55 PM EST

Rick Sanchez, CNN Anchor | NewsBusters.orgCNN’s Rick Sanchez failed to mention the party affiliation of former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon on Friday’s Rick’s List program, but made every effort to identify former Congressman Tom Tancredo as a Republican. Sanchez ranked Tancredo higher on his “List You Don’t Want to Be On” for his remarks at the Tea Party Convention, despite Dixon’s conviction for illegally using donated gift cards for the needy.

The CNN anchor gave the number three and number two spots on his “List You Don’t Want to Be On” just before the top of the 4 pm Eastern hour. Sanchez chose Dixon as his number three, and gave a brief on her resignation from office and how she received two years probation for her crime. He didn’t mention her Democratic Party affiliation during his brief, nor was it mentioned in the accompanying on-screen graphic.

CNN Finds Air Force Academy's Pagans 'Today's Most Intriguing,' NBC Notes 'Desecration Incident'
By Tim Graham | February 4, 2010 | 3:31 PM EST

On Sunday, I noted the U.S. Air Force Academy was making a public space for pagan worship, and wondered if the media would notice. Fox’s Special Report noted it on Monday, quoting a Catholic priest who disapproved. CNN and NBC noticed it briefly on Wednesday. CNN’s Rick Sanchez found its promoter "Today’s most intriguing" person. NBC’s Brian Williams relayed there had already been a "desecration incident."

To consult the dictionary, NBC was saying someone "violated the sacred character" of an object or place. What if the viewer at home doesn’t consider a pagan circle to be "sacred"? Here’s the entirety of the Williams brief on Nightly News:

The U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs has now set aside a new outdoor worship area for followers of earth-centered religions. That includes pagans, druids, witches and Wiccans. It's a double circle of stones on a hilltop. One of the chaplains there, a lieutenant colonel, calls it, quote, "Another example of celebrating the freedom we enjoy as well as the freedom we, as airmen, have pledged to defend." There has been one desecration incident since its opening, and officials are repeating that message of tolerance on campus.

Sanchez suggested paganism is somehow a brand new idea during his show Rick's List:

Politico Reveals: Most CNNers Don’t ‘Respect’ Rick Sanchez
By Rich Noyes | January 26, 2010 | 8:35 PM EST
Writing at The Politico, Michael Calderone reports that “only a few” of CNN’s 200 Washington bureau staffers would say they “respect” 3pm to 5pm ET anchor Rick Sanchez as a journalist, compared to “almost everyone” who acknowledged respect for longtime CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer. [Click here for a run-down of NewsBusters' coverage of Sanchez over the years.]

“While that response could be taken as a slight to Sanchez,” Calderone writes, “some staffers say it’s more a reflection of the general sense of anxiety as CNN tries to find a winning formula for an afternoon/early evening lineup that’s being soundly beaten by Fox News and prime-time programming that last year for the first time also finished behind MSNBC.”

Also according to Calderone: “CNN staffers didn’t realize that Klein was sitting in the back of the room while griping about resources for The Situation Room,” until Klein contrasted the high costs of CNN’s late afternoon hard news block with the “much higher ratings” FNC’s Glenn Beck pulls “without the personnel and resources needed for the CNN show.”
CNN Exposes 'Inexcusable' Claim by IPCC on Himalayan Glaciers
By Matthew Balan | January 26, 2010 | 7:37 PM EST
CNN on Tuesday highlighted the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change use of a unsubstantiated claim about the Himalayan glaciers melting by 2035 to put pressure on politicians across the globe. Meteorologist Rob Marciano thought the “snafu” on the part of the IPCC was “inexcusable,” while anchor Rick Sanchez put the panel and its head on his “List You Don’t Want to Be On.”

Marciano brought up the week-old story during a segment 49 minutes into the 8 am Eastern hour. He played a sound bite from climatologist Jim White, who was attending the annual Steamboat Springs Weather Summit in Colorado (Marciano was on-location in Steamboat Springs). The CNN meteorologist voiced his agreement with White, who blasted the IPCC’s exaggeration: