CNN's Rick Sanchez repeatedly insinuated on his Rick's List program
on Wednesday that Republican leaders and "crazy talk show hosts that
are so right wing" were to blame for ten congressman requesting
extra security earlier in the day: "Are some Republicans culpable of
stirring this, to a certain degree?"
Sanchez led the 3 pm Eastern hour of his program with House Majority
Whip Jim Clyburn and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announcing that
ten of their Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives had
requested additional security for their homes and offices due to
reported threats of violence. The anchor brought on correspondent
Jessica Yellin to give more details. After Yellin reported that House
Minority Leader John Boehner had condemned such threats, Sanchez
replied, "But Boehner himself has been one of the most critical. He's
one of those who has used words like 'socialist' and 'government
takeover' and the kinds of things that someone who, maybe, doesn't
follow the situation so closely might be led to act in an incivil way. Is
this is a chicken or an egg question, of which came first in this case?"
When the CNN correspondent asked for clarification, the anchor
bluntly answered, "Are some Republicans culpable of stirring this, to
a certain degree, and what would you say to that, if asked?...What
would they say, I should say?" Yellin denied that any of the GOP
congressional leadership was responsible:
YELLIN: I don't think there's a single member you can point to and say this person is encouraging or condoning violence. I mean, certainly, calling a program 'socialist,' as- you know, inaccurate as you can say that is, is not the same as calling for somebody to do bodily harm, which is just a league different....I've interviewed so many members of the tea party movement. Most of them do not reflect these kinds of views. They don't want to do violence on anyone. They just want their voices heard. But the problem is this- incivility is, sort of, giving cover to some of the most extreme voices out there, and that's why I think that these leaders are coming out and saying, hey, let's call on everybody to be grown-ups.
Sanchez seemingly wasn't satisfied with this answer, and followed-up
by rephrasing the question: "Something like 74% of the people who
describe themselves as members of the tea party movement, also describe
themselves as either Republicans or independents or conservatives. That
would mean that these three-fourths of them, right, are following
conservatives and Republican talking points. Does that mean that there's
a direct link between what Republicans say and what these folks do?"
The correspondent emphasized the distinction between the tea party
and the Republican leadership in her answer: "There is no question that
the majority of the tea party movement tends to have conservative
political views, rather than liberal, and if they had to choose party,
most of them would go with the Republican party. But the whole reason
they formed the tea party is because they're angry with the Republican
party. They don't think it's truly reflecting their views. There's a
divide in there."
The CNN anchor did single out some "moderate" Republicans who didn't
have any objections to some parts of the recently-passed ObamaCare
package in response, but continued by asking, "So, is there a
possibility that that message isn't getting out to the American people because
these crazy talk show hosts that are so right-wing are out there using
the most heated language and the most heated rhetoric that does, in
fact, incite people to hate?"
This isn't the first time that Sanchez has bashed conservatives, and
specifically conservative talk radio. On the April 8, 2009 edition of
Newsroom, the anchor blamed Fox News and "right-wing radio" [1] for
the murders of three Pittsburgh police officers. Just over two months
later, he teamed up with left-wing Media Matters to slam
conservatives [2], and hinted that the white supremacist who killed a
security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Museum might have been "motivated
to move by right-wing pronouncements...on some TV and radio outlets."
On August 20, Sanchez and guest Mark Potok of the liberal Southern
Poverty Law center concluded there was a "disconcerting" infiltration [3]
of militia groups into the tea party movement. Later in the year in
October, he had to apologize after using a fake quote attributed to Rush
Limbaugh [4]. Earlier this year on February 22, the CNN anchor painted Ann Coulter and the Conservative Political Action
Conference as "hardline." [5]
-Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. You
can follow him on Twitter here [6].