Updated with Video Link
CNN's Rick Sanchez is the sort of TV news talking head who annoys intelligent viewers with his self-conscious predilection to go for the soft middle ground and warm feelings rather than to focus on hard cold facts and objective reporting. Today, Tazer Rick was at it again with a lead story about how great McCain supporters were in refuting an anti-Muslim demonstrator outside a McCain rally but things didn't go the way Rick planned...
Here is the video in question -
http://www.youtube.com/...
For those of you familiar with Rick Sanchez, you already know he is a cable news hack who resorts to stunts to draw attention to himself and that he is the epitome of an insincere concern troll who milks story for cheap sentiment and false feelings.
Anyways, Sanchez was at it again today with another stunt attempt on his hour long CNN show. Sanchez's lead story of the day introduced a video filmed by David Hutchins of the American News Project, which captured an interesting confrontation between McCain supporters and an anti-Islamic demonstrator outside a McCain rally in Northern Virginia. The video has been posted here already so I won't link to it but the confrontation essentially boiled down to a group of McCain supporters (including a self-described Muslim elected McCain delegate who works for the campaign, a young Muslim women and several young white Christian males) confronting the anti-Islamic demonstrator and getting him and his helpers to leave the site.
While this was very commendable and speaks to the moderate nature of McCain supporters in this area described by the McCain campaign as not part of the "True Virginia", Sanchez seemed to get swept up in rapture by this video and starts talking about "...What an amazing story! And what it says about our country and what it says about McCain supporters - proud, honest, smart Americans who really held their own there. David Hutchins, I don't know...maybe I am getting a little too philosophical about this but as I watch it, you can't help but to feel good don't you?"
At this point, you would expect Hutchins to play along with Sanchez and wax poetic about McCain supporters but things didn't work out that way. Hutchins responds to Sanchez' naked plead for sweet sentiment by responding "Well, I don't have a value judgement of whether I feel good or not. I was just there working on another story and that just kind of happened while we were walking to the parking lot."
An obviously dissapointed Sanchez then counters "But let me ask the question this way, had it turned out another way and those folks there had embraced this guy here (the anti-Muslim demonstrator)... That would be a totally different story! Their reaction flipped this story on its head did it not?"
Hutchins replies that recently several organizations have done videos showing the growing intolerance at McCain events and that what was interesting about his video was that the events "...had developed organically and that these folks had said publically what had been bubbling up for the last month and making a distinction between supporting McCain on platforms and policies versus these other things (race/religous baiting) which it looks like the McCain campaign has adopted to a certain extent itself".
A clearly offended Sanchez then jumps on Hutchins with "Well but NO, this is saying is if nothing else, at least in this video and we don't want to take it too far beyond this video is that one man does not for an entire campaign speak. That there may be people out there saying these things but they don't represent the whole, Right?!" Hutchins replies succintly "That may be". A flustered Sanchez quickly thanks Hutchins for appearing and ushers him off the show.
Sanchez then quickly brings up his next segment which was an exclusive interview with Daniel Zubari, the Muslim McCain delegate who had refuted the demonstrator by stating that the McCain compaign did not condone his viewpoints. However, after a commercial break, Sanchez said that while they had Daniel on the phone and he was ready to talk, the McCain campaign had not granted him permission to talk on this matter so the interview was scrapped. At this point, it looked like Sanchez wanted someone to end his misery but Rick being Rick soldier on with "Let's talk now about Socialism because it seems to be the top issue being talked about on the campaign..."
You can't make this stuff up. Rick Sanchez - What a pathetic clown.