Rick Sanchez Equates Barney Frank and Michele Bachmann, and Doesn't Choke on the Absurdity

Another glaring example of the media's addiction to faux balance was on display Wednesday afternoon on CNN. It pains me to say that it was Rick Sanchez, whom I love watching and follow on Twitter, who fell into the phony "balance" trap.

The segment, which Sanchez dubbed "a classic showdown," was a replay from Tuesday's Lou Dobbs show featuring Barney Frank debating Michele Bachmann on her amendment that sought to deny federal funding to any group that has members who have been indicted -- a proposal aimed squarely at ACORN.

The "debate" was actually more of an evisceration, with Frank carving up Bachmann using those tricky little things called facts.

Memo to Sanchez: Lincoln/Douglas was "a classic showdown." This was the rhetorical equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters vs. the Washington Generals.

But what caught my attention was Sanchez's intro before he rolled the video. "This is a debate," he said, "between the Democrats' most vocal congressman, who is reviled by the right, and the Republicans' most vocal congresswoman, who is reviled by the left. Get the picture?"

Not really. Not unless the picture in question is a snapshot of unthinking equivalency. We've seen this picture countless times before, as the media, in the name of appearing fair, act as if every issue has two sides, and every talking head carries the same weight. Think of the many TV "debates" on climate change pitting a spokesman for 500 scientists on one side "balanced" with the go-to global warming denier, James Inhofe, on the other. Or, even more often, a paid flack for the pollution lobby.

Offered up as if both sides have equal standing and are presenting equally valid arguments.

To present Barney Frank as the reverse image of Michele Bachmann -- both "vocal" spokespersons for their respective parties, both "reviled" by the other side -- is patently ridiculous.

In a 2008 survey of Capitol Hill staffers, Barney Frank was voted "Brainiest" (along with "Funniest" and was runner up for "Most Eloquent"). Michele Bachmann finished second in the "Clueless" category.

Now there is plenty I disagree with Barney Frank on -- most recently his support for watering down mark to market accounting rules (here we are disagreeing).

But to make him the liberal Frick to Bachmann's conservative Frack is utterly ludicrous.

Barney Frank is a Harvard Law school graduate, an influential 15-term Congressman, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and has been variously described as "a master legislator," "a first-class mind," and "the smartest politician I've ever seen."

Michele Bachmann, on the other hand, has put her foot in her mouth so many times she has footprints on her tongue.

In just one month, the month of April, she said she fears the Obama administration will use "volunteerism" to create "re-education camps for young people"; she went on the floor of the House and said that "carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas, it is a harmless gas"; she tried to pin the blame for swine flu on Democrats, saying that "swine flu broke out [in the 1970s] under... Democratic president Jimmy Carter" (leaving aside the utterly ridiculous correlation, it was actually Republican Gerald Ford who was in the White House when swine flu broke out); and she claimed that six imams taken off a flight in Minneapolis in 2006 were headed to Muslim "Congressman Keith Ellison's victory celebration." (They were in fact returning from a conference of the North American Imams Federation.)

All of this coming on top of her unforgettable campaign rant on Hardball this fall in which she said she was worried that Barack Obama "may have anti-American views" and called for the media to make like Joe McCarthy and investigate "anti-America" elements in Congress.

You can see why the political shows keep booking her -- she's a verbal train wreck waiting to happen.

But no one should be able to introduce Frank and Bachmann as two-sides of the same coin -- the wacky love-to-hate-them extremists -- without choking on the absurdity.

Instead, Sanchez ended the segment by exclaiming, "What a pair!" I wonder, had he listened to what they had said or was he busy Twittering? Here is the segment:

Comments

[Loompa]

Sanchez should take that empty head over to MSNBC to join the rest of his ilk. And Barney Frank smart???? Sheesh, that's the same guy(?) who told us last July that Fannie mae and Freddie Mac were in 'good shape" - brilliant!

[jswoody09]

i have to say it again, Sanchez is awful--only daypartI dont watch

[cfreedom]

Sanchez is a surface newsman and more of a suit than a brain, more of a pseudo provocateur than a true thinker, so this shouldn't be a surprise. Frank can be bombastic and over-the-top, but he's no nitwit.

[WilliamL]

The guy from Miami who was involved in a hit and run?

Same guy?

Such is what I hear?

[dredeize]

Oh c'mon now! You know that Bachmann doesn't deal with facts, and she probably didn't even write the amendment because she didn't even know the wording in it. CNN doesn't realize that this isn't election season. That's over. Time to get off of the fence and pick a side. Just because you do choose a side, it doesn't mean that you stay oblivious to the facts (unless you're FOX or a NeoCon)!

[CanadianBeef]

Wilfull ignorance seems to be an essential ingredient of media balance. Surely, Sanchez and other journalists can see the difference a provocateuse and a fiery legislator. If I were an thoughtful right-winger, I would object, I think, to having a red-baiting loon represent my views. Why are right-wingers allowing Bachmann, Coulter, Beck, Savage, and Limbaugh paint them into the fringe corner they increasingly occupy? Or is this really the brain-trust of conservatism today?
I suspect it's just good theatre. Let's stop attaching credibility to TV news and opinion. It is entertainment, no different in its aims than Desperate Housewives. It wants more viewers. No one respects clowns, yet every circus needs 'em.

[Puzzles]

Being from Miami, I cannot take Sanchez seriously in any way. I remember him during the Elian Gonzalez stupidity, and so many of the other idiotic causes he took up. Sanchez is a second rate Ted Baxter and as we all know Ted Baxter was third rate. Send Sanchez to Fox and he'd make Michelle Bachman look like a thinker. I just can't believe that airhead is a major "journalist"

[CanadianBeef]

I agree. I think Sanchez simply does not know political ideology from parmesan cheese, and that's why he mismatched this "debate." It's embarrassing to everyone. And Frank should be more choosy with his appearances. Winning a battle of wits against an unarmed opponent brings him no credit.

[eagledavey]

I'm no fan of Sanchez, but he's technically right. Theyre both vocal and reviled by the other side. Frank is a target on right wing sites, and so is Bachmann. So I dont get the outrage. If you're saying the R has said more boneheaded things than the D, you may be right...bu­t not by much.

[Iccarus]

Really? Because I can think of many unbelievably stupid statements from Bachman. While I can't think of one from Frank. Maybe you can supply one. What I remember is him having the courage to speak up when many other Dems were being bullied into silence during the Bush administration.

[huffyISaHottie]

CNN needs a game show...giv­e sanchez something to do

[coldwind]

Anyone giving time to ANY Republican needs a schooling. They are irrelevant, they wrecked the country, they won't own up, and they have no ideas. They got nothin'! Why does anyone, even the shills in MSM, pay any attention to them? There is no "there" there. They're done.

As for someone more clueless than Michele Bachmann --- is that even possible? Who could it possibly be? Now, that's a story -- more clueless than Bachmann -- that's "Man Bites Dog!".

[fedupscot]

I have become so fed up with the media that I swore off listening to them a couple of months ago. The Frank-Bachmann coupling is a prefect reason as to why I no longer watch. When President Obama spoke about Guantanamo I listened and was absolutely amazed that the media said that Cheney would be countering what the President of the United States of America had just said...wha­t hubris!!!! Even NPR broadcast it.

When is the FCC going to take back the American publics air waves? The likes of Rupert Murdock GE, Westinghouse, and Disney do not have the right to monopolies the American air waves the way they do.

[QueenCeleste]

I find him almost unwatchable. Strange how CNN got rid of Paula Zahn, and hired some really dubious replacements.

[druidlady42]

Thank you for pointing this issue out, Arianna!

This is what drives me crazy about the MSM! One side is relating FACTS, while the other just LIES and SPINS! Yet, the host---be it Sanchez, Blitzer, John King, Nora McDonnell (pretty, but gullible!), Andrea Mitchell (old enough to know better!), Matthews (confused much of the time!), not to mention all the FAUX hosts---- sit there and equate each side's comments as equally credible, i.e "just a difference in outlook!" NO! NO! NO!

There is such a thing as TRUTH, and it is, or should be, the host's JOB to pointedly question, test, and expose which side is telling us TRUTHFUL FACTS! Just think where this country might be now if our major journalists and hosts had, in the last eight years, probed their guests for the truth, exposed their lies, and attributed more credibility to the arguments of those against going to Iraq!

I'm old enough to remember good journalists in the MSM, who weren't afraid to put the polititians they were interviewing under the heat and on the spot publicly, ---and the country was better for it! We still have good ones who aren't heard NEARLY enough, like Fareed Zakaria, Bill Moyer, Dan Rather, and YOU, Arianna!

[Buzz-Cuz]

Rick Sanchez should be on the Faux channel .....

[StepNFetchIt]

more of the same. plus ca change plus c est la meme chose. It looks like the gitmo policy of obama is the same as bush. hold them indefinitely without a trial. It is Bush Redux. You all were deceived when you thought there would be CHANGE. there is no change.
still holding the detainees, still earmarks, still no tranparency, still lobbyist in the administration, still tax cheats in the administration. u were sold a bill of goods and you suckers bought it. now u own it. he turned a recession into a depression. He is running up the biggest deficit by far in american history. he is lifting the national debt to the highest level. Suckers.

[sansego2000]

The republicans would not be half bad if anyone of them could make a rebutal with some kind of intelligence involved. All their talking is half truths, out right lies, hypocrisy and fear mongering. Nothing any reasonable person could hang their hats on. It is truely a shame that they can not find someone in the party. It works so much better when you have intelligence and reasonability on both sides. oh well i can dream.

[TParrish]

The ones with intelligence, and who have been privvy to Intelligence are disagreeing with Cheney. Guys like Tom Ridge.