Glenn Beck Radio Show: Rick Sanchez Can't Say Beck Responsible For Murder Because Of DUI (AUDIO)

Earlier this week, CNN's Rick Sanchez accused Fox News -- namely Glenn Beck -- of creating an environment of fear and distrust that has led to a surge in gun violence, in particular tying last week's Pittsburgh shooting to "Fox News and right wing radio."

Watch that clip and read Jason Linkins' take on it here.

On Beck's radio show Thursday, Beck and staff lashed out against Sanchez, calling Sanchez "the one guy who shouldn't accuse other people of being responsible for murder" over his 1990 drunk driving incident, in which Sanchez struck a pedestrian who would be paralyzed and later die from injuries sustained in the accident.

"Maybe if you're one of the very few people in our society that has actually been responsible for killing someone," Beck's producer Stu Burguiere ranted, "maybe you should be the one guy who shouldn't accuse other people of being responsible for murders."

Beck attempted to slow Stu down but he continued:

"Maybe you should be the one human being on earth who should not be attacking another personality for killing people, because of the fact that before you worked at CNN, you worked in Miami, and you ran over a person, and that person died. Maybe YOU should consider that before speaking on every occasion. Every time you let words out of your mouth, you should make sure you remember that day."

"Who hasn't gotten drunk, got into a car, and ran over someone?" Beck asked. "That happens all the time!"

Listen:

Sanchez was charged with and pleaded no contest to the DUI in 1991.

Comments

[LiberalForever]

No Beck. it's not the worst thing you have ever done. And it will be even less so as time passes.

You are marble free. You have none.

[JustSayMaybe]

I agree that Sanchez ought to bear the full weight of his own past actions, and to kill someone in a DUI is a truly horrific and painful experience for all involved (I knew a kid in high school who flipped his car while under the influence, passenger died, he spent several years in juvy on suicide watch and never really got past what happened, but I digress). But that doesn't mean he's wrong about Beck et al behaving irresponsibly as the news media amping up already rabid wingnuts. If anything, as someone who has caused loss of life, he has the hindsight Beck lacks and can speak to how one's behavior can suddenly have consequences for others that one must live with forever.

[joceeco]

Do you guys all see the kind of people we have running our country. I never cared for Sanchez much, and I have always hated Beck, but we have drunks, drug addicts and sex addicts running our government, churches and media outlets. Should we continue to ask what's wrong with America? These are the people telling us how to deal with our day to day troubles. We all sip the firewater every now and then, but these guys are using the firewater to deal with their problems, while telling us that we are losers if we do it. We (working class Americans) would lose everything that we have, if we were known to have abused drugs or women. America.... the land of the hypocrites!

[Skeetshooter]

Who better to make the accusation than another guilty party?

[GregorSamsa]

This psychotic obsession with Glenn Beck has taken this "journal" and it's co-ranters straight into the theater of the absurd. To attempt -- even to consider -- equating a fait accompli (the death of an innocent person at the hands of a drunk driver) with the fatally attenuated, i.e. non-telic, connection between what Beck says on the air and what another person chooses to do with his freedom and agency is, quite simply, insane. Take this statement for example: "Sanchez has apparently paid his dues and has obviously processed his mistakes." Sure, Sanchez may have done time and paid a fine, but where is the life he took; and what in the hell exactly does "processed his mistakes" have to do with the endless suffering of the family and friends of the person whose life he took? The point of all this is not Sanchez, but the "Alice in Wonderland" reasoning (I use that as a term of art and not a description) of the article and this string. BTW, Beck never left his family behind; he continues to care for his special needs daughter. But don't let facts or logic interrupt your rabid rants.

[tokenconservative]

I can't understand why you're all protecting Rick Sanchez from the rightful smear on his reputation that a DUI should bring; George Bush is no less complicit in my mind, before someone levies the charge of partisan on me, by the way.

[StJames]

Can't we organize a boycott? If we boycott their products, advertisers will pull out and these looney toons will not have a platform from which to spread their hysterical poison.

[tf1555]

Pot, meet Kettle, Kettle meet Pot.
What are the pre-reqs for self righteousness?
These clowns have met them in spades.

[gisellestwocents]

Keep on speaking up for what's right Rick Sanchez.

I'm more interested in the good works that you have been doing and are doing than in hearing about a 20 year old mistake.

[jonmonbuckeye]

having been hit by a drunk driver myself, all I can say is that this isn't a "mistake". It is murder. He should be in prison for the rest of his life. So should Beck, but for a different reason.

[coco51]

wait isn't Beck an alcohol and drug abuser? how about the fact that he destroyed his family leaving behind - a daughter suffering from Cerebal Palsy among them

[Robin Chavis]

Do you have facts to support this or are you doing what the typical liberal does? When the truth starts coming out, you start attacking the person instead of the message. Attack what they say with facts.

[LDS50]

You mean like Beck et al just did?

[linzy]

What is a typical liberal? Also when the person becomes the message, well, what can I say?

[noudidnt]

Glenn admitted this himself. I guess you didn't watch him when he was on HSN.

[manny127]

Rick was telling the facts: the shooter was an avid fan of Glenn and his lies-it was because of that misinformation that the shooter acted upon. therefore, it is quite logical that he can be one of the persons to attribute for influencing him.

from what i read, it says that the show's producer, Stu Burguiere, was the one who was attacking Rick's personal life...

[MyNameIsJames]

I thought that was Conservative tactics 101. You must be confused.

[umbrage-taker]

RE: FOX NEWS-- They all do it. When found guilty of an atrocity, and Beck surely is atrocious, as is Hannity, they try for a distraction, say something like "Oh Yeah! well your dog crapped in my yard" I don't know about the Sanchez incident. Personally I think a person who takes someone's life while intoxicated or stoned should do hard time, but the issue is Beck inciting gun freaks, already on the edge, to gun violence. Can it happen? You bet it can and likely has and it will get worse if his right to so called "free speech" isn't closely examined. I think there is a difference between free speech and encouraging violence. "Inciting to riot" could be called free speech by some but in the eyes of the law it is not free speech. I don't listen to Beck at all except to hear clips to know that what he sometimes says is truly inflammatory. Most of the time what he says is just weird & stupid.

[just4shiggles]

Although sometimes I have to wonder, Beck says these reckless things to incite violence when he isn't drunk. Sanchez made a very bad choice many years ago to drive while drunk, but Beck does this every single day without any excuse.

[doug108]

What exactly the f*ck does Rick Sanchez's DUI accident have to do with Sanchez's criticism of Beck?

[lgarza2009]

It's called an Ad Hominem logical fallacy (attack the person RATHER than the issue). People (mostly unethical types) do this all the time in order to persuade regular people to believe in what they have to say/sell.

[thevealchop]

It's interesting to me that they both were on FOX News...
It is truly terrible that someone was killed by Sanchez while he was inebriated. I'm annoyed by the judgment that comes from his present adversary here, Glenn Beck. Sanchez has apparently paid his dues and has obviously processed his mistakes; isn't that everything we're asking of him -- that, and to never drive under the influence again? If anything, Sanchez probably realizes how careless Beck et alia are with their words and how much their influence plays a role. Regardless, the real subject here is Glenn Beck stirring unrest. It's hard to deny.

[Clovie]

This is sick. It sounds so incredibly rehearsed-- especially the tidy little set-up that one of them (Beck?) gave the other for the "speedbump" comment and the whole leaving the scene discussion. It's so manufactured and the worst part is they sound like they are absolutely tickled by the fact that Sanchez caused the victim's death. Disgusting.