Please smack the two kids CNN just interviewed in TImes Square. The first (“Patrick works at the Times Square TKTS booth,”) for declaring himself personally frightened by the successive and entirely predictable deaths of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and now Michael Jackson. Also for realizing too late that bemoaning the loss of (hand over heart no less) “Such a great man, that I grew up with,” might be misinterpreted by the national audience. Second guy for being a journalist willing to give an interview to another journalist about a subject upon which he is in no particular way qualified to speak, apart from happening to belong to the age cohort the correspondent was looking for. Oh, and managing to get both “y’know” and “like” in during his 14 seconds on a major network.
“I don’t think it really much matters either. I know he’s dead and…there are worse things that could have happened today. Now, Fox News has confirmed that he is 41. The Associated Press now says 42. Again, it does not matter. He is neither age anymore.”
I missed this last week, but take a gander at CNN’s most grating anchor, Rick Sanchez, inviting Joe the Plumber on the air and then reading the spottier parts of the man’s credit report—including details of his outstanding medical bills—out loud on the air.
“I know it sounds a little hackneyed,” he said, “but defending the little guy is hard these days, and it’s not something that anybody wants to do, and I do it because—not just because I’m a minority—but because I frankly feel what it’s like to be these people who are really downtrodden right now, you know, to be a Mexican immigrant. Because I know what it’s like to be poor.”
Which is probably why the CNN anchor behaved so compassionately in 1990 when he ran over an intoxicated pedestrian (who happened to be a carpenter and later died of his injuries) while driving under the influence in Miami:
“Though Sanchez says he tried to aid Smuzinick at the scene of the accident and flag down motorists, eyewitnesses claim the anchorman ignored the injured man and loudly told police and bystanders that blood tests were pointless, and would hurt his public image.” [Miami New Times]
Sanchez would later be successfully charged with DUI. Some issues with the working man, Sanchez? Or are you just a really big asshole?
