[Cross-posted at Crooks and Liars.]
While CNN's Rick Sanchez isn't exactly an imposing media figure, and his "List" schtick doesn't exactly shake the world, but it does have an interesting quality -- it's drawn to a large extent from viewer input.
And so it was interesting that Glenn Beck's attack on Malia Obama and his subsequent lame-ass apology that really angered CNN's viewers. So Beck wound up on Sanchez's "List U Don't Want 2 Be On" this week:
This is apparently what many of you've been waiting for. It's around this time every day when I tell you who is on my list that you don't want to be on.There's a reason Beck's ratings are in rapid decline: People have had enough of this ugliness.
Sometimes we debate this throughout the day with my staff, our producers. Just about everybody gets in on the conversation. We take this pretty seriously, because it casts the person in a rather bad light oftentimes.
There seems to be, today, no debate, not from my staff, not from writers, not from my producers. And judging from what I'm reading here throughout the day on Twitter, not from you. In fact, you could say today's is a slam-dunk.
We are talking about the Fox News host and the radio jock who has been known to take repeated shots at President Obama, most notably at one point calling the president a racist. Defenders of this popular TV and radio personality say it's simply part of his schtick, but now many of you on Twitter and on blogs that I've been reading have come to the conclusion around the country and are saying that in this one case, he has gone too far.
Glenn Beck went on relentlessly last week on his radio show making fun of Malia -- Malia, the president's daughter. It seemed to go on and on and on, while Beck seemed to be literally -- you'll hear it for yourself, folks -- cracking himself up at the expense of an 11-year- old.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GLENN BECK, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Daddy? Daddy? Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That is a grown man doing an impression of the president's daughter. Many of you are asking, shouldn't that be out of bounds? Beck is accusing, first of all, the president of the United States during his monologue of using his own children.
He continues.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BECK: "Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?" That's the level of their education, that they're coming to daddy and saying, "Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?"
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Glenn Beck, as you just heard, is questioning Malia's level of education. That's what he just said. "That's their level of education," referring, obviously, to -- well, Malia.
The point many of you make is, why did he continue pouring it on, even after he made his point? I can't show you all of it, but you ask, why did he keep doing it time after time after time, making fun of her over and over and over again?
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BECK: Daddy, the best thing you ever did was get that BlackBerry, because, well, I can't -- I don't know how to reach you.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Michelle Obama has not yet commented on Beck's parody of her daughter. We don't know if she will. But many of you who are parents have commented.
You say you find what Beck is doing cringe-worthy, especially the chuckling and the snorting and the yucking it up with his radio sidekick, while he's making fun of her. And it just seems to go on and on and on, you say.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BECK: Daddy, you're a puppet. Did you know that? And we do a puppet show. Mommy said your presidency is like doing a puppet show.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Beck is now apologizing, but you'll notice in the apology that he again takes a shot at the president of the United States, almost as if he's implying it is the president's fault he was forced to do this.
"I'm discussing how President Obama uses children to shield himself from criticism. I broke my own rule about leaving kids out of the political debates. The children of public figures should be left on the sidelines. It was a stupid mistake and I apologize. As a dad, I should have known better."
What many of you say is that Glenn Beck has crossed the line. You say he's OK to criticize the president, but not the president's daughter.
And if it was just a mistake, a one-time thing, why did he continue doing it on and on and on, as you have written to me, seemingly relentlessly? That's what you say about a man making fun of an 11- year-old on the radio and laughing. It's why you say he deserves to be today's "List U Don't Want 2 Be On."
Glenn Beck is now officially the face of Ugly America. We hope he wears it proudly.
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