If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck… well… the chances are excellent you are looking at a duck.

Or a liberal.

By now the news that CNN anchor Rick Sanchez was briskly fired by CNN for calling the liberal champion Jon Stewart a “bigot” because of various Stewart mockings is old news. Right?

Not so fast.

As noted here the other day, the news reports that CNN had quickly fired Sanchez for calling Stewart a bigot contrasted sharply with the CNN response after Sanchez had aired a 100% bogus report that Rush Limbaugh had once spoken out in favor of slavery. The Limbaugh episode arose when Rush was part of a deal to buy an interest in the NFL St. Louis Rams. Because of flat-out untruths such as the one uttered by Sanchez on CNN, the deal fell through. Under legal pressure, Sanchez retracted on-air. But the damage to Rush Limbaugh — real-time, serious damage to a personal business deal — was done.

Now comes a small, but telling detail that illuminates the real behind-the-scenes relationship of those in the mainstream media with their fellow liberals.  

The New York Post reported yesterday that… get this… Rick Sanchez’s wife Suzanne… his wife… has manned up to go on the Sanchez Facebook page to say… what? Here’s the first line of the Post story:

Embarrassed Rick Sanchez is wisely letting his wife do the talking for him.

And what talking might that be? Well, it appears that while there is a nod to reports Sanchez harbored some anti-Semitic feelings, and his wife apologizes for that to “anyone who was offended by his unintended comments” — there was another, much more specific apology made by the ex-CNN anchor.

That’s right. You guessed it. Let’s quote directly from Mrs. Sanchez as reported by the New York Post:

“Rick apologized to Jon Stewart (on Monday.) They had a good talk. Jon was gracious and called Rick ‘thin-skinned.’ He’s right. Rick feels horrible that in an effort to make a broader point about the media, his exhaustion from working 14 (hour) days for 2 (months) straight, caused him to mangle his thought process inartfully.”

Are we getting this? Of course we are.

Jon Stewart is the quarterback of Team Liberal when it comes to television entertainment. Rick Sanchez was a block-and-tackle liberal for Team Liberal, CNN News Division. In his “inartful” moment Sanchez mistakenly sacked Stewart, his liberal media teammate, with the bigot comment.

What would any sensible teammate do if he had just screwed up in such a fashion by sacking his own teammate? Why apologize, of course! And in this very revealing little flash of a media story, the curtain is pulled back just long enough for the rest of us to know that’s exactly what Sanchez did. He called up Jon Stewart and apologized. Stewart graciously accepted. 

Why would he not? Sanchez is a teammate. They both spend their time before the cameras wearing the jersey with the big “L” on it. Although Jon Stewart does so unashamedly, Sanchez — and more importantly CNN — has to see if they can do this while still insisting they are about just-the-facts-ma’am straight news.

But what about an apology from Sanchez to Rush Limbaugh back when CNN was airing Sanchez’s flat-out untruth about Rush supporting slavery? We’re not talking here about any legally-induced on-air retraction. We’re talking about the simple, respectful gesture like the one Rick Sanchez made to Jon Stewart. A personal phone-call. An e-mail, even. A snail mail. Did any of these take place?

Let’s remember that Jon Stewart lost not a thing in this dust-up. He didn’t lose his show because Sanchez contributed to some stark, untruth that helped fuel an anti-Jon Stewart jihad. Nor did Stewart lose out on a business deal that meant something to him because of Rick Sanchez. On the contrary, Sanchez did add fuel to the bonfire that eventually burned Rush’s opportunity to be an owner of an NFL team — a chance that for any serious football fan is a dream come true.

Did Sanchez pick up the phone somewhere along the line and say what any person who had made such a serious mistake would say? Did he call Rush? Did he e-mail him? Snail mail? Did he have his wife go to Facebook to inform the world that he had made a terrible mistake, that he had called Rush to apologize — and maybe even offered to call the NFL Commissioner personally to correct the record?

Of course not. Is there anyone who thinks Rush — at this point in his life — expected to be treated any differently? 

This small, seemingly insignificant incident of the Sanchez apology-call to Jon Stewart casts a spotlight yet again on what millions of Americans know to be the reality of the so-called mainstream media today.

Remember what Mrs. Sanchez said her husband was really trying to do? She said he was engaged “in an effort to make a broader point about the media.”

Not to worry, Mrs. Sanchez. By calling Jon Stewart and stiffing Rush Limbaugh, Rick Sanchez has indeed made his “broader point about the media.”

Which is exactly why Rush Limbaugh has an audience of twenty million people, Rick Sanchez is out of a job — and CNN has no audience.