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An idiot and perhaps an anti-Semite. But should he have been fired?

Mr. wOw is glad Rick Sanchez is off CNN.

Among a host of incompetents at that failing news outlet, Mr. Sanchez had to rank as number one. He was loud, boorish and not terribly bright. He was more annoying than O’Reilly, Hannity, Olbermann and Ed Shultz put together. (And I’d have to throw in Rachel Maddow on one of her particularly cutesy nights.)  

Sanchez, born in Cuba, went off the rails last week. He whined that he felt discriminated against. He called Jon Stewart a “bigot.” Along with everybody else in public life – including President Obama – Sanchez was often a target of Mr. Stewart’s wicked wit. But Sanchez seemed convinced his own ethnic roots were at the root of Stewart’s scathing mockery.
Mr. Sanchez dug his grave when the radio host to whom he was unloading mentioned that Stewart, a Jew, was also part of a discriminated minority. What?! Jews were no discriminated minority, argued Mr. Sanchez. They ran everything in media and – he implied strongly – it was the Jews who did him in. (Mr. Sanchez’s CNN program was soon to be replaced by something hosted by whoremongering Eliot Spitzer.)

Obviously, Mr. Sanchez wanted to be fired before he could be placed somewhere else on CNN. He didn’t seem to grasp the fact that however much his experiences as a man of Cuban extraction had scarred him – he had his own show on CNN, and nobody was talking about firing him. In fact, despite his obvious incompetence, he was a “star.” He had fans. But CNN is in desperate flux, and so many have said bye-bye, including Campbell Brown and Larry King. Mr. King is Jewish, which rather flies in the face of Mr. Sanchez’s theory of the industry’s Jews saving their own.  

Mr. Sanchez revealed his own bigotry on the air. And don’t kid yourselves – anti-Semitism is alive and well. But as happy as I am that he is gone, I’d have preferred that he’d not been fired. I’m not a big believer in firing people because of what they say, no matter how ignorant or offensive, or even because of what they do – unless it’s murder or stealing or molesting children. Had I been at the helm of the sinking ship that is CNN – the head guy – I’d have condemned Sanchez in no uncertain terms. And not just in a written statement. I’d have been on the air, and said it, perhaps right before Mr. Sanchez’s show was to go on. I would have scheduled special programming about bigotry, and anti-Semitism in particular. I would have arranged for Sanchez to interview every Jew who could stand to be interviewed by him.

I would have demanded Mr. Sanchez’s on-air apology.

And then, I would have accepted his resignation, if he felt so burdened and humiliated. Or, if he stayed on, put him wherever CNN was planning to put him. Let him remain on the network as a symbol of preening ego and stupidity and intolerance. Why not? After all, it’s the staple of Fox and MSNBC.

Of course CNN did none of this. He was fired, thanked for his service to the network and not a word more was uttered. The usual suspects chimed in from the peanut gallery – Olbermann and Maddow. When they get axed in time, or when MSNBC folds under the weight of its ratings failure, they won’t be such smart-asses.  

As of this moment, Mr. Sanchez has not commented – odd for a man who was so Twitter-crazed.

Still, I hate the idea of losing one’s job because of what comes out of your mouth, which is much different from being expelled and jailed, as those Rutgers bullies/killers should be.

I mean, last week Mr. wOw wrote a snarky and unnecessary post on the late Mr. Tony Curtis. Those who objected – and there were quite a few – felt my words were downright offensive. What if a whole contingent of Tony Curtis fans had risen up and demanded wOw fire me? I would have felt that was most unfair and a violation of my First Amendment rights. Mr. wOw felt the sting of criticism, which I did not disagree with. And people like Mr. Sanchez can be dealt with in ways that do not deprive them of their livelihood.

I suppose I believe in the oft-mocked “teachable moment.” Perhaps I am actually naïve.

By the way, I’d have the same attitude if Mr. Sanchez had called somebody a “faggot.” Then I’d want him interviewing every out celebrity, as well as the parents of gay teen suicide victims.

When he shows up someplace else – and he will – he’ll be an even more embittered, egomaniacal pain in the ass than he was at CNN.

But on the subject of power; listen, if I had the power or the bad temper to fire anybody, it would be the programming heads at the “gay” Logo channel – an insult to homosexuals, heterosexuals, inanimate objects and alien visitors.