I honestly thought Rick Sanchez was white. I would never have guessed he was an oppressed "minority."

But that's what the former CNN host has claimed in his bid to represent "everyday Americans" against anyone with any advantage he did not have.

The butt of many Daily Show lampoons for being a goofy journalist--Mr.Sanchez--has finally succumbed to the gravitas of a wounded ego; lashing out at Jon Stewart, Jewish people, physicists, school teachers and anyone smarter than he.

While promoting his aptly titled autobiography/treatise Conventional Idiocy, Sanchez was reminded, as he talked with Pete Dominick on radio, of his enmity for Jon Stewart, and proffered his theory that the Comedy Central host is a bigot. (huh!?)

Of all comedians to accuse of bigotry, Jon Stewart is the least convincing candidate--unless of course, you ask a Belgian. Poor Belgium doesn't get a break on The Daily Show. On Thursday's Show alone, Stewart made no less than three--three!--waffle jokes about the small nation.

Stewart explained this "bigotry" towards little Belgium was really only that he and his writers were wracking their brains to come up with any Belgium references at all, but could manage no better than waffles.

As a seeming white person, Sanchez may have been upset about the Belgian waffle jokes. Or he may have just been seeking compatriots for his victim complex by scapegoating popularly-resented smart people.


Listening to Rick Sanchez's case against Stewart is cringe-worthy, because we live in a meritocracy, where the hierarchy is determined in a big way by merit. Some resent the kids that had good study habits, or who come from families where talk about physics and anything else in the world, is normal family time conversation.

Sanchez's rationalizations of persecution and his dirty finger-pointing is just more of his trade-mark sloppiness.

Anti-semitism is a strangely problematic danger because it targets just some of those that succeed in the meritocracy. Success in this society stems from many factors, including bookish upbringing, study habits, testing skills, analytical dialogue tradition, unabashed curiosity, personal achievement and many other successful traits that are associated with that tired old target of ancient hate narratives, "the Jews."

Sanchez chose the usual and wrong target--a tiny group of people that won't put up with that shit anymore.