Appearing on Thursday's Tonight Show, MSNBC's Chris Matthews went after the Republican presidential candidates one by one, asserting Herman Cain's "bad, bad behavior" with women, Rick Perry being "not even competent to be in this – on that stage," and a "hypnotized" Michele Bachmann being a "strange person."
Even host Jay Leno got in on the GOP bashing, claiming the Republican Party had become so conservative that "even Reagan could not get elected" in a primary race. Matthews touted Reagan as a liberal: "He was pro-choice in California....He raised taxes. He did a lot of things that these people won't do anymore."
Herman Cain
By Kyle Drennen | November 11, 2011 | 3:53 PM EST
By Clay Waters | November 11, 2011 | 2:17 PM EST
Will the media take advantage of sexual harassment allegations to perform even more stringent levels of Cain scrutiny of every word and action from his campaign? New York Times reporter Susan Saulny hinted so in Friday’s “Even Cain’s Old Jokes Face Extra Scrutiny Now.”
Previously, Saulny had quoted leftist Cain-haters Cornel West and Harry Belafonte in an October 19 story fretting over Cain’s playful treatment of black stereotypes on the campaign trail, even quoting a professor who accused Cain of employing “a certain kind of minstrelsy to play to white audiences.”
By Geoffrey Dickens | November 11, 2011 | 1:15 PM EST
Jon Stewart, on Thursday's Daily Show, repeatedly mocked Rick Perry for his, as he put it, "brain turd" moment at this week's CNBC debate. However, Perry wasn't the only GOP candidate Stewart made fun of. Everyone from Perry to Santorum took a hit. The only candidate Stewart didn't mock was Mitt Romney, whom the Daily Show host declared to be the winner of the whole race. "It's over! Indecision 2012 Mercy Rule Edition. Because in presidential primaries, as in little league, if one team is up 10-0 in the third you call it a day an you head over to Friendly's for some Fribbles and some food poisoning."
Stewart initially teased his audience with the Perry clip by calling it: "Rick Perry's now infamous ABC Wide World of Sports agony-of-defeat-worthy brain turd." Then he went on to savage the other GOP contenders on his November 10 show. (video after the jump)
By NB Staff | November 11, 2011 | 10:33 AM EST
Liberal MSNBC contributors like Toure have "gone beyond the pale" with their recent remarks about Herman Cain, NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center president Brent Bozell complained on the November 10 edition of "Hannity."
Bozell was reacting to a montage that included the liberal author anticipating a racist backlash by white conservatives who, according to Toure, will now fear Cain's "predatory black sexuality" following the allegations of Sharon Bialek, a "blonde, white woman."
"It's the worst kind of racism, Sean," Bozell added. "What they're trying to say is, 'Hey, look at you Republicans, this is a black boy. He's going after your white women. Look at this, aren't you offended, aren't you offended?!'" [see video below page break]
By Scott Whitlock | November 10, 2011 | 4:53 PM EST
After 117 stories over ten days, what would it take for the big three networks to ease up on their unending obsession with the Herman Cain sexual harassment story? The opportunity to go after another Republican, this time Rick Perry. From Wednesday night's evening newscasts through the Thursday morning shows, there were only two Cain stories (bringing the total to 119).
Good Morning America, CBS's Early Show and NBC's Today all pounced on Perry's debate performance and an inability to remember a government agency that he wished to eliminate. The three morning shows only offered brief passing mentions to the Cain scandal. Instead, co-host Ann Curry pressed Perry, "Have you thought about ending your campaign? Are you staying in this race, sir?"
By Ann Coulter | November 10, 2011 | 12:39 PM EST
Herman Cain has spent his life living and working all over the country -- Indiana, Georgia, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Washington, D.C. -- but never in Chicago.
So it's curious that all the sexual harassment allegations against Cain emanate from Chicago: home of the Daley machine and Obama consigliere David Axelrod.
Suspicions had already fallen on Sheila O'Grady, who is close with David Axelrod and went straight from being former Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley's chief of staff to president of the Illinois Restaurant Association (IRA), as being the person who dug up Herman Cain's personnel records from the National Restaurant Association (NRA).
Arianna Derides Media's Focus on Cain Allegations - While Providing Pedal-to-Metal Coverage at HuffPo
By Jack Coleman | November 10, 2011 | 12:38 PM EST
Arianna Huffington wants media outlets to stop obsessing on the sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain. Except at the liberal news site bearing her name.
During a "Both Sides Now" radio broadcast on which she occasionally appears with GOP political consultant Mary Matalin, Ron Reagan and others, the Huffington Post co-founder likened media coverage of the Cain controversy to the media's singular focus on the "balloon boy" incident from October 2009. (audio clip after page break) --
Bill Press: 'There's No Difference' Between Allegations Against Cain, Child-Abusing Penn State Coach
By Tim Graham | November 9, 2011 | 11:09 PM EST In his salad days at CNN's Crossfire, liberal talker Bill Press might have seemed suave with a point. Lately, his ability to make fine distinctions seems entirely absent. Last October, he insisted “I call NPR National Pentagon Radio. They’re no more left wing than Fox News as far as I’m concerned."
On Monday morning, poor Bill was even more embarrassing. He compared the unsubstantiated allegations of sexual harassment between non-consenting adults against Herman Cain to...the child-sex-abuse allegations against Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. He said "What's the difference, really? There's no difference." Say what?
By Matt Hadro | November 9, 2011 | 1:18 PM EST
For information on one of Herman Cain's accusers, CNN interviewed her former boss on Wednesday – who just also happened to be a former Clinton advisor and a Democratic strategist at present. Not surprisingly, interviewee Maria Cardona gave the accuser, Karen Kraushaar, a giant thumbs-up and told CNN that Kraushaar had referred to her old boss Herman Cain as a "monster."
Anchor Kyra Phillips never mentioned that Cardona was a Democratic strategist or a former Clinton advisor, and failed to question her if she had any underlying political motive in the case. CNN flashed the title of "Democratic Strategist" under Cardona's name for nine seconds during the interview which lasted over four minutes.
By Scott Whitlock | November 9, 2011 | 12:58 PM EST
[Updated with video. See below.] Good Morning America's Brian Ross on Wednesday played up fears that Herman Cain supporters might physically attack the women who have accused the Republican of sexual harassment. Meanwhile, the total number of Cain harassment stories reached an astonishing 117 stories in less than 10 days.
Reporting for GMA, Ross intoned, "Overnight, [accuser Karen] Kraushaar told ABC News she had tried to stay out of the news, for fear of retaliation by Cain supporters. And now she has hired a security team to guard her home outside Washington." The journalist later added that all four accusers might appear together "so they can all tell their stories of Herman Cain, with the sense of safety in numbers." [MP3 audio here.]
By Kyle Drennen | November 9, 2011 | 10:49 AM EST
Appearing on Wednesday's NBC Today, Meet the Press host David Gregory discussed the political fallout of sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain and the possibility of the Republican presidential candidate being urged to drop out, declaring: "Well, there is no, you know, grand wizard in the party right now who can really force the issue." [Audio available here]
The term "grand wizard" was used as a leadership title in the Ku Klux Klan. Gregory later apologized via Twitter: "'Wizard' remark this morning was a very poor choice of words. Did not mean to make that connection at all. Was not thinking. I apologize." While Gregory may have simply used poor phrasing, if a Republican official or conservative commentator had made that kind of remark, Gregory and others in the media would certainly jump on it. [View video after the jump]
By Noel Sheppard | November 9, 2011 | 1:05 AM EST
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich demonstrated Tuesday why every liberal media member in the country is scared to death of him winning the nomination and going head-to-head in a debate with Barack Obama.
When CNN's Piers Morgan tried to play his normal cocky role of knowing more than his guest, the former Speaker of the House smartly replied, "I've been involved with politics since 1958, I helped grow the modern Republican Party of Georgia, I helped create a national majority, and you're explaining to me the reality of politics" (video follows with transcript and commentary):