CNN's Rick Sanchez to Fox News... You Lie!
SANCHEZ: And I welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez here in the world headquarters of CNN.
All right, there's something that I got to tell you now. If you watch this show every day, as I mentioned a while ago, you know that I usually don't suffer fools gladly, especially when it comes to the fools who perpetuate falsehoods.
Well, today, thousands of you flipped through the pages of "The Washington Post" only to come across a lie so bold and so upsetting that, frankly, I'm just not going to sit here in silence and allow my craft or my news operation to be unfairly maligned, because enough is enough.
And, yes, I'm talking to you, FOX News, you, who claim to be fair and balanced. At what, I wonder? You know, I don't know, but I have got a couple ideas.
FOX News (INAUDIBLE) color ad today. It asks: "How did ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, and CNN miss this?" They are referring to the picture there of the tea party protest in the nation's capital last Saturday.
They are saying that we missed this story. They are saying we did not cover this story. They are using a lie to try and divide people into camps. And, you know, Americans are starting to get tired of this.
Look at the bottom of the ad there, where it says, "We cover all the news."
Really? You do? What, we don't?
You know, that's an offense to myself and to my colleagues, who risk their lives for our viewers in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world to bring the news. You're actually telling people that we didn't cover a rally on Washington. Really?
Rog, roll the tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Tea party march and rally happening in Washington.
Our Paul Steinhauser is there with what appears to be a whole lot of friends gathering around you now.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And about two hours from now, they're going to march behind us down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol, and that's where they will gather, at the west front of the Capitol.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: OK, what was that? Was that like made-up video? Am I crazy or did I just watch CNN's Paul Steinhauser covering the story?
You want more? Here's more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Want to check in again with CNN's Kate Bolduan live at the Capitol.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we came down because we heard that there were actually so many people still stuck on Pennsylvania Avenue here trying to make it, too. As you can see, the people are all still coming from Freedom Plaza.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right, that was CNN's Kate Bolduan. Here's another one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We're joined now by CNN Radio Capitol Hill correspondent Lisa Desjardins.
LISA DESJARDINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What do you think of Congressman Joe Wilson?
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
DESJARDINS: See? So there are people here who very strongly support Congressman Wilson, Fredricka, and many of them are right here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: I don't know. Call me crazy, but that sure looked like our CNN Radio's Lisa Desjardins.
One last one from our own Jim Spellman, who followed and covered 30 rallies, 30 rallies along the Tea Party Express route, from coast to coast the last couple of weeks. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: CNN all platform Jim Spellman traveled with the Tea Party Express as it made its way across the country.
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The bulk of the people that are there for low taxes, less government control, but there really is an element that's got these kind of outlandish conspiracy theories about death camps about this takeover, people comparing President Obama to Hitler. And it really is a sizable thread. It's not just a couple of people on the edges.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right, I want you to see more proof now. And this is really just an unbelievable coincidence that I want you to see.
You see that picture in the ad that they took out? OK, pay attention to that picture right there on the right. That's the ad that they took out saying we didn't cover the event. All right, now, keep an eye on that picture right there. You see the Canadian flag? That's on their ad. You see the Canadian flag right there at the bottom?
All right, let me show you this. You see the thing on the left now? That's our tower cam shot of the event that we used repeatedly throughout those shows.
Funny how you can say that we didn't cover an event by using that picture, that picture that looks an awful lot like our tower cam shot, doesn't it? And you used it in your ad saying we didn't cover the story.
By the way, if you want even more proof of our coverage, maybe you should just watch your own shows. Here's a good one maybe you should watch. There is a show on FOX News. It's called "The O'Reilly Factor." You heard of it?
Here's Bill O'Reilly doing a segment called "Reality Check."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE O'REILLY FACTOR")
BILL O'REILLY, HOST, "THE O'REILLY FACTOR": CNN, as we mentioned, covered the anti-Obama protests, of course, but ran into a little trouble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: CNN covered the event. There it is. This is Bill O'Reilly showing us covering a story you say we didn't cover. Let me give that to you again. That was Bill O'Reilly showing CNN's coverage of a story that FOX News says we didn't cover. Hmm. Can you see -- can you say reality checkmate?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE O'REILLY FACTOR")
O'REILLY: CNN, as we mentioned, covered the anti-Obama protests, of course, but ran into a little trouble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Here's the fact. We did cover the event. What we didn't do is promote the event, just like when thousands marched on Washington to protest the war in Iraq, we covered it as well, probably less than we covered this event. But we didn't promote it.
Bottom line is, we do cover the news. And we did extensively cover this event. We didn't promote the event. That's not what real news organizations are supposed to do. We covered the event.
I would invite you to look into that distinction between those two words, promote and cover. Cover is kind of like a fair and balanced way of doing things. You get it? You might want to look into that.
It's about letting Americans make up their own minds. Let me cut to the chase. When thousands of Americans showed up at the nation's capital to protest big government, we covered it with four correspondents, two satellite trucks, multiple live interviews, lawmakers on the record, and conversations with attendees.
By the way, we put a call into FOX News for a comment, and we expect an apology. But we're still waiting.
Let me address the FOX News Network now perhaps the most current way that I can, by quoting somebody who recently used a very pithy phrase, two words. It's all I need: You lie.
