He's at it again. Oh, that Geraldo Rivera. From the picture you'd think he just had a run-in with Trayvon Martin, and to listen to him, you'd think he was there fighting alongside George Zimmerman, standing their ground.
Whether opening Al Capone's vault or just his mouth, when Geraldo's taken to the airwaves recently, the pollution levels have risen. He's a popular guy, make no mistake about that. And as a young reporter, he did win a very prestigious Peabody Award for his investigative reporting into the abuse of mentally disturbed patients in a Staten Island facility. He's not without his pluses.
But like an aging former all-star baseball player, due to age and complacency, he's lost a step. He strikes out more often. He gets caught stealing. He commits more errors. But like all of us, he's not going easy. He's going to go kicking and screaming. He's going to try every trick in the book to stay as long as he can.
Ring, Ring, Ring!
That's the call from Dustin Diamond (Screech) beckoning in all aging hasbeens. Gerry's news gaffs are getting more notice than his reporting of the news. That's a bad sign. His "hoodie" remarks are an example of his losing a step. His hitter's "eye" is gone. He's got trouble handling the curve ball and he just can't seem to catch up to the "heater." His batting average is below the 'Mendoza' line. (for non-baseball aficionados, that considered bad.)
Over the past year he's almost become a laughing stock and brunt of jokes everywhere for his biased and even bigoted statements about the Zimmerman-Martin trial. Let's face it, for a Jewish Puerto Rican dude, he's certainly had to withstand a lot of taunts and snide comments over the years. He should have learned by those injustices to become more tolerant and understanding.
Let's underline should.
In the clip below, not only does Geraldo preface his statements with how open minded he is about his Black counterpart on MSNBC, the Rev. Al Sharpton, but he ridicules those who he works with about how little they think of the Reverend Al. That's not a good practice to have to justify your standing by calling those around you biggots and jerks. A smarter man would say his co-workers are bright, but I'm even brighter. Being the 20 watt bulb in a box of 10-watters isn't exactly making you a tanning salon bulb. Perhaps it's refreshing to see Rivera understands the zoo and clown circus atmosphere he works in. But then he shows that he's one of them when he opens his mouth and basically stops just a silly millimeter short of actually blaming Zimmerman's trial for Travon Martin's death on Rev. Al. Yes, watch this report at 0:38 when Gerry puts the blame on Mame -- Sharpton -- for this even coming to trial. Once again, Gerry's making news, not reporting on it.
Rivera is a lawyer and he knows that investigations take time. Aaron Hernandez, the New England Patriots player accused of murder wasn't arrested or charged for over a week after the police began questioning him. An arrest is serious move. And Zimmerman, guilty of innocent deserved an investigation before being charged. Had he been held that first night, Rivera would probably have take the "rush to judgment" claim as his rallying cry. The fact is the press is trying Zimmerman and they're doing it through race colored eyes. Why not just let the jury do their job.
Maybe, if we were covering some of the real injustices like the Farm Bill stripped of food assistance monies, or comprehensive immigration reform being broken into pieces so it will have a path to citizenship being removed, or the over-reach of states in mandating unreasonable ambulatory care levels at abortion clinics in order to remove women's right to choose, we'd all be better off.
So Gerry, go back to your roots. You once cared about the mentally handicapped and it brought you acclaim. Why not go back to reporting on real shocking news -- how America's rights are being systematically taken from them. Then you can go make room on your mantle for another piece of hardware -- No, not the Al Capone Appreciation Award from Fox and Freaks, but another Peabody. I bet you have it in you. You have potential. You've proven that. Now shed the phony outrage and really tackle some bones with meat on 'em.
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