This certainly isn't the first time that CNN's Rick Sanchez has distinguished himself as a real journalist, but it may his best moment yet.
Sanchez had Republican Senator John Ensign on as a guest, ostensibly so Ensign could bloviate about how President Obama is soft on terrorism and how we're consequently all going to die (after first soiling our collective panties, of course).
But Sanchez had a little surprise in store...
Josh Marshall at TPM sets the stage:
Oh man! I just mentioned below that John Ensign was on CNN bloviating about terrorism. And I noted how I was a little tired of him going on to talk about topics he doesn't know anything about before he answers a lot of key questions about his own scandal -- not about the sex but about pay offs involving federal money and violation of lobbying laws. But then Rick Sanchez turned the tables on Ensign and started asking him very pointed questions about the scandal.
There's a lot to enjoy in the segment, but here's a transcript of what was, for me, the most truly special moment:
Sanchez: It behooves me to ask you...I know this is a very difficult thing for you...are you under an investigation right now by the Senate Ethics Committee?...
Ensign:...I've commented all I needed to comment on that...
Sanchez: Hold on! Hold on! I gotta stop you there...Here, let me show the viewers what we're talking about. This is a picture of you and Doug Hampton. This is from the New York Times website. And the question has to be asked, Senator: did you help him get a job because you felt bad for him, or because you had been sleeping with his wife and you wanted to get him out of the way?
Well, that's getting right to the point, ain't it? The looks on their respective faces--both Sanchez and Ensign--are glorious. And it only gets better from there.
I'm not going to transcribe the whole thing--it runs about 7 minutes total--but do yourself a favor and watch it in its full glory. Enjoy watching Ensign squirm as an actual journalist refuses to take his talking points as an answer.