[Peter Zack]

Well he really was a boob as a new anchor/host/entertainer - whatever. He says that Stewart isn't a comedian. I contend Rick was never a reporter or anchor but just an entertainer on a news station. "Ricks List" was not news. It was the modern version of 6 guys on the front porch, chatting about the town gossip while emptying a bottle of Jack Daniels.

My favourite quote from him was how "today's social media makes the world round".
I'll miss those gems, so will Jon Stewart. First he lost GWB and now Sanchez.

If you want to hear what got him fired go to this link and hear the XM Sirrius radio show. Seems Stewart really got under his skin.

[RawheaD]

Smart people often do get under the skin of idiots. And Stewart need not worry; if there's one thing our country has no shortage of, it's idiots.

[jeffkrol]

Yep that's how it works in America... fire the smart ones, reward the "idiots"...
Couldn't agree more (sarcasm)
http://rothkopf.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/10/04/the_best_thing_rick_sanch..._did_was_leave

In so doing, he mentions but skims over the real reason that CNN should have fired Rick Sanchez, the reason regularly cited by Jon Stewart: the fact that Sanchez was dumb as a box of rocks. In fact, even in Anchorland where a man is no better than his haircut, Sanchez was an embarrassment long before he decided to wear his bigotry like a big ugly soup stain on one of his Brioni ties.

The Sanchez syndrome:
http://www.bnet.com/blog/technology-business/ceos-see-an-outbreak-of-rick-sanchez-syndrome/5883

The Sanchez rant was something to behold, if only to see what happens when a human being loses the ability to selectively suppress uttering every thought that comes to mind, no matter how banal, incorrect, foolish, or just ill-advised.

As I said reward the "idiots".......

I think the two are intricately related. There is a puzzling myth about CEOs and the irreplaceable need within the organization. Frankly — with nods to some like Jobs, whose work, even if flawed, is impressive — all too many don’t seem to make that much difference. But the CEOs want to believe, as it justifies ego and compensation. The board and investors want to believe that someone will make them wealthy. CEOs come to believe in their own superiority and skills and, accordingly, assume that they can do no wrong.

Unfortunately, sometimes apparent financial success doesn’t tell how much more successful the company should have been. For example, the remark about Ellison and $42 billion in acquisitions is sharply pointed and telling, as that is almost two full years of revenue for the company. Say that Oracle paid even four times revenue for the purchases. It would suggest that Ellison actually purchased half of the company’s revenue since the late 1980s. Google has done well, but has been unable to pull out of its ad-dominated business model (and if the patent attacks from Microsoft and Apple continue unabated, the bright future of Android as a way to diversify revenue could have problems).

Nothing generally happens because CEOs consolidate power and influence within the board, often making it next to impossible to remove them, at least while times seem relatively good. And when they aren’t, as we see with Yahoo? The potential for a corporate auto de fé is never really that far away.

[Phil1]

Probably a little more to the dismissal. The exec that hired him was fired previously and the ratings were down. Just sayin.

[GeneV]

The part about Sanchez being dumb as a box of rocks may be more important than insulting a comic. If he had called someone a bigot and backed it up, he could get away with it.

However, almost everything he said about Stewart was factually false--down to saying that he was brought up in a privileged home. (Stewart's father left the family when Stewart was 11 and he lived with his mom, a special ed. teacher in New Jersey).

The Leibowitz family did produce some pretty accomplished kids. His older brother, Larry, is the Chief Operating Officer of the New York Stock Exchange, and before that an executive with a several investment houses.

[Peter Zack]

Oh I think Rick did himself in long before that rant. He had a habit of putting his foot in it and not knowing how to get it out. The "Cotton Pickin'" statement vis-a-vis the president was another gem.

I don't think the guy was dumb, he was impulsive. We all have weird thoughts or ideas that just don't connect the dots. Most of us have a little set of mental brakes that tells us to trash that idea and move on before verbalizing it.

Going on a anti-Jewish rant was just one of those moments when he didn't think about it before he said it. His real mistake was then to go on for 15 minutes to defend the comments when even the interviewer asked him a few times if he'd want to reconsider his comments. The interviewer could hear the sound of a career circling the bowl, in the not too distant future.

He may or may not have a point, who knows? Wolfie baby (I can't stand that guy) is the network darling and he's Jewish, so I'm sure he added some pressure to get rid of Rick. Plus the 'Rick's list' show was boring and confusing. He couldn't stay on on topic for 10 seconds the few times I watched it.

It's interesting as well that the network has lost a number of notable figures there recently.

I had a look at the ratings numbers before the firing and Sanchez should have kissed Stewart's feet. 310,000 vis 1,100,000 on average. At least Stewart was watching Rick's show, it seems no one else was and Jon probably brought Rick a lot of viewers because of the lampooning.

[Ira]

I don't think the guy was dumb, he was impulsive. We all have weird thoughts or ideas that just don't connect the dots. Most of us have a little set of mental brakes that tells us to trash that idea and move on before verbalizing it.

Peter, that's charitable of you, but from someone who had to endure Sanchez for years as a local anchorman here in South Florida, I have to differ:

He is indeed that dumb.

And I'm not talking about important issues and his stands on national, state, or even local matters of concern--just the daily fluff that local news uses to fill time.

He is and has always been a stuffed shirt moron, like ALL of our newspeople down here, and he thought his white teeth and smile was all he needed for success.

I mean, think about it:

He didn't even rant that Fox News was run by Jews--he ranted that the company he WORKED for was run by Jews.

That's about as stupid as you can get, and I can't wait for him to have the cojones to show his face again and explain exactly what he meant by what he said--and provide evidence of it.

[Peter Zack]

Point taken. I've watched maybe a grand total of 60 minutes I guess. I bet we'll never see him on the national stage again though. Maybe you'll get him back in Florida doing traffic reports or something