On Monday's Early Show, CBS's Rebecca Jarvis wondered if Newt Gingrich would "have to play a little more dirty...to take on the other GOP contenders to win the bid." Bob Schieffer replied cynically that Gingrich would "save his criticism for attacking the media, which is always the safe thing to do." Chris Wragge prompted the former Speaker to criticize Herman Cain and Rick Perry on Friday, but he didn't bite.
Jarvis brought on the Face The Nation host for his take on Republican presidential debate hosted by CBS and National Journal on Saturday. Near the end of the interview, the fill-in anchor raised how Gingrich was "gaining momentum" and that he "held true to this no real confrontation with the other candidates" during the debate. She then directed her "dirty" question to Schieffer.
Herman Cain
A hostile New York Times Sunday Magazine profile of GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain by T.A. Frank compared his policy knowledge unfavorably to that of Britney Spears: “...to say that Herman Cain has an imperfect grasp of policy would be unfair not only to George W. Bush in 1999 but also to Britney Spears in 1999. Herman Cain seems like someone who, quite frankly, has never opened a newspaper.”
Frank has written for liberal magazines like Washington Monthly and The New Republic, and his long profile of Cain (who Frank never actually spoke with), “‘I Still Don’t Plan On Going to Any Political-Correctness School,'” was hostile from the start.
Some 24 hours before taking to the air for the debut of "Now with Alex Wagner," the MSNBC host tweeted a snarky comment about sexual harassment being a "lucrative side gig" for GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain, who "raised $9M in Oct."
Wagner's November 13 tweet -- a screen capture of which is shown below the page break -- links to a "The Page" blog post at Time.com regarding a $9 million fundraising boost for Cain since October 1.
But besides presuming Cain's guilt, Wagner's claim is factually inaccurate, ignoring the fact that Politico broke the sexual harassment allegations at the end of October, publishing the story to its website after 9 p.m. Eastern on Halloween night. Indeed, Time magazine notes that only 25 percent of the contributions "came since Politico published its story alleging the Georgian sexually harassed two women."
The sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain have been case of trial by media. Many in the media have chosen to label him guilty until proven innocent, despite the American principle to do exactly the opposite.
Yesterday, Daily Caller senior contributor Matt Lewis was on CNN's "Reliable Sources" to discuss the presumption of guilt or innocence, and guest Lauren Ashburn (and, to some extent, host Howard Kurtz) both erred on the side of presuming guilt in the case of Herman Cain.
Do you think the media have already found Cain guilty? Check out the video after the break, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Remember during 2008's Democratic primaries when Saturday Night Live did a hilarious sketch mocking a CNN debate as being a disgraceful suck-up to then presidential candidate Barack Obama?
A repeat of this happened in real life Sunday evening when during a press conference from the APEC summit in Hawaii, CNN White House correspondent Dan Lothian actually asked the President if the GOP candidates were "uninformed, out of touch, or irresponsible" (video follows courtesy Right Scoop with transcript and commentary, photo courtesy AP):
[UPDATED: See video and transcript below.] Appearing on ABC's Good Morning America, Monday, to shill for his latest book, Bill Maher told George Stephanopoulos he's rooting for Mitt Romney to win the Republican nomination. "At least he eats with a knife and fork. I mean, he is all that stands between us and the rise of the apes."
Couldn't that be seen as a bit racist toward Herman Cain? We're used to Maher slamming religious folks in that way, but "apes"? Stephanopoulos didn't blink. He only said "He's [Romney's] probably odds-on, although Newt Gingrich..." [MP3 audio here.]
Treasured friend of the Media Research Center's and NewsBusters favorite Ann Coulter did an absolutely scintillating telephone interview with us on Thursday.
The primary topics of discussion were the media's coverage of the Herman Cain sexual harassment allegations as well as how they've been reporting Occupy Wall Street protests around the country (video follows with transcript):
A key part of the left's narrative about American politics is that conservatives hate not only minorities (e.g., blacks, Latinos, gays) but also a majority group: women, who, according to the 2010 census, make up 50.8 percent of the U.S. population. Of course, it's absurd to accuse anyone of misogyny (and worse) simply because he or she is pro-life, but that didn't stop two Kossacks from doing so this past week.
As usual, each headline is preceded by the blogger's name or pseudonym.
On the Friday news roundup on the PBS NewsHour, pseudoconservative analyst David Brooks of The New York Times kept up his disparaging of Herman Cain, predicting "he will be deflated very seriously within a week or two." He attacked Cain for "behaving badly" and having "gone for the home run" in denying all sexual harassment claims. Mr. Brooks didn't consider it at all possible that Cain could be truthful in denying all claims.
On both NPR and PBS Friday, Brooks lamented that Jeb Bush isn't in the race and would be the frontrunner pleasing both conservatives and moderates if he had chosen to make a run. He clearly has no respect for Herman Cain:
Colby Hall at Mediaite highlighted how Democratic Party Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz went on The Situation Room on CNN on Friday and trashed Herman Cain for using the word "princess" for Nancy Pelosi: “I thought it was a pretty callous, sexist throwaway line.” Then Wolf Blitzer allowed her to unload a wagon of talking points against the entire GOP field for 66 seconds. When he then asked if she believed Cain or his accusers, she insisted “I think Herman Cain needs to come clean and address them and say far more than he’s said already.”
Mediaite and CNN have short memories, since Wasserman Schultz embarrassed herself back in June by insisting Anthony Weiner didn't have to share anything with the public...other than the bulge pictures he'd already posted on Twitter. Blitzer should have remembered -- since she refused to offer a Weiner opinion on CNN, as Blitzer repeatedly asked for one:
On the same Morning Edition broadcast on Friday that made time to honor Obama's tender concern for veterans, black NPR reporter/Obama supporter Karen Grigsby Bates ripped into Herman Cain with a chorus of condemnation from black liberals.
Harvard professor Randall Kennedy claimed “Black people know that if Herman Cain had his way, their lives would be diminished.” Former Time reporter Jack E. White added “Herman Cain tells them what they want to hear about blacks, and in turn, they embrace him and say, see, that proves we aren't racist. He's even willing to be a minstrel for them.”
Today's liberals would have you believe they occupy the moral high ground on every political and cultural issue. But have you ever taken inventory of their double standards?
The left's inconsistency in applying their principles based on the party affiliation of those they're judging, gives fuller meaning to the concept of moral relativism. The only thing that's consistent is their reliable inconsistency, whether in the area of economic, social or national defense issues.
Let's consider just a few examples: