NBC's Gregory: No 'Grand Wizard' in GOP to Force Out Cain; Gregory Apologizes
By Kyle Drennen | November 09, 2011 | 11:49
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]
Gregory was responding to a question from co-host Ann Curry about potential damage Cain was doing to the GOP: "Well, he's not stepping down and this story's continuing to suck the narrative – the air out of the narrative the Republican Party really wants to tell. Does the party now wish he would just go away?"
Here is a transcript of the November 9 exchange:
7:08AM ET
ANN CURRY: Star Jones is a former prosecutor and veteran legal commentator. David Gregory is the moderator of Meet the Press. They both now join us, good morning to you both.
STAR JONES: Good morning.
DAVID GREGORY: Good morning, Ann.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Damage Control; Grading Cain's Response to Sex Harassment Charges]
CURRY: David, let me start with you. Is Herman Cain now fighting questions about his fundamental – fundamental questions about his credibility as much as he's fighting these allegations of sexual misconduct?
GREGORY: Well, I think he is, Ann. I think we face the prospect now of a number of accusers coming together at once to lay out what Miss Kraushaar has talked about, a body of evidence, which she described to The New York Times against Herman Cain. And look, he was unequivocal about this, that in the case of Miss Bialek, he didn't know her, nothing inappropriate happened and he said rather declaratively, 'I've never acted inappropriately at all.'
There are some things that are verifiable here. You know, Miss Bialek says that he was the one to upgrade her room – in hotel room in Washington – into a suite, presumably there's a record to be found, a receipt, perhaps, that can prove whether she's telling the truth or is he. And somebody is not. How about the details of Miss Kraushaar's settlement agreement with the National Restaurant Association and some more details about what allegedly occurred. He's giving a very cryptic account of that, presumably she can present more. And then you're right, credibility becomes a question.
CURRY: Well, he's not stepping down and this story's continuing to suck the narrative – the air out of the narrative the Republican Party really wants to tell. Does the party now wish he would just go away?
GREGORY: Well, there is no, you know, grand wizard in the party right now who can really force the issue. I've talked to Cain's advisers in Iowa, they think their support is still strong there, that it's not falling. There may be cracks in the foundation according to pollsters I'm talking to, that his numbers may be starting to shift, but right now core support remains there. They think that holding a press conference like he did will ultimately give some people peace of mind, but the big if here, if nothing else comes up.
(...)
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Comments
Disgusting Puke, Gregory!
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 11:54am.
What he meant to say was there's no Democrat Grand Wizard like his hero, Robert Byrd, to whip ol' Herman into submission.
It's a putrid thing Gregory said, but as is the case with many liberals, their belief in the right to own dark-skinned humans is always simmering under the surface.
Racist Dick Gregory, veiled threat
Submitted by CarlosS on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 12:00pm.
to Herman Cain..., about what's in store for him if he keeps trying to leave the demonrat-defined plantation
<throws BS flag>
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 1:13pm.
I call B as in B, S as in S There are any number of terms Gregory could have used to describe a leader of Republicans and we're supposed to believe it was accidental that he tarred the party as the Klan?
More like Freudian Slip.
Gregory blurted out what he really thinks of Republicans.
More likely
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 1:27pm.
More likely, Gregory has a personal problem with certain people getting uppity. Gregory has an obvious view as to where the allegiance (singular) of the Black should be.
'Was not thinking' is
Submitted by killa37 on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 11:57am.
'Was not thinking' is something that BaboonFace could say everyday without being dishonest................this guy is a complete and utter jerk...............I don't know why ANYONE who purports to represent 'our side' would give him, or dozens of others like him, the time of day. Let these guys stew in their own residue..............we DON'T need them!!!
killa37, you're spot on.
Submitted by ConservaSerb on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 2:19pm.
The GOP should all tell Gregory he's a racist and a bigot and a liberal commie Soetoro-ass-kisser and that they refuse to talk to him.
A wise & frugal government, which shall leave men free 2 regulate their own pursuits of industry & improvement, & shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. T. Jefferson
Exactly!
Submitted by panzerakc on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 10:21pm.
"Was not thinking." How is that different than every other time the man opens his mouth?
Got this in
Submitted by bkeyser on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 12:02pm.
just under the wire: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/11/08/newt-gingrich-scol...
And since I'm jumping around from thread to thread posting on topics that have no bearing on the subject at hand, here's something that might brighten the mood.
Jeez, bob, that should have
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 1:16pm.
Jeez, bob, that should have had an "antivert" alert!
This whole Cain episode is
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 12:11pm.
This whole Cain episode is actually good old liberal racism. The left is foolishly using the "negro sex fiend" ploy, believing it will remove Cain from the race. The left has forgotten it isn't 1920 anymore.
Yep, David Gregory showing
Submitted by Scuba Dude on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 12:12pm.
Yep, David Gregory showing what he thinks of blacks leaving the liberal plantation. Methinks that was a threat to Herman Cain and others.
Despicable slug that Gregory is.
Grand Wizard is A Democrat Party Position
Submitted by Avitar on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 12:20pm.
Slip of the tongue since David Gregory does not want anyone reminded that the Republicans never were a racist organization and the Democrat Party has been going back to Andrew Jackson.
He also does not want the public reminded that the accusations made against Herman Cain play to racial stereotypes. Where Herman Cain trained as a Mathematician and is closer to the nerds on “Big Bang Theory” than the Sports, or music figures we see so much of on TMZ.
Virgil Griffon was the
Submitted by ricklail on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 12:56pm.
Virgil Griffon was the Imperial Wizard for the Klan in NC. My mother in law worked with him at JP Stevens in Stanley, NC. She told me many times that most of the folks there didn't like him. He was a DEMOCRAT. The link is to his obituary but it tells a lot about the POS.
Intentional
Submitted by Free Stinker on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 12:28pm.
A bell, once rung, cannot be unrung. That's exactly why these propagandists put that ctxp out there.
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
Interesting that he
Submitted by Pinetree3 on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 12:28pm.
Interesting that he "apologizes" on twitter,,,not on the tv news.
Yeah, I don't have a
Submitted by killa37 on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 12:39pm.
Yeah, I don't have a tweet-tweet account................and I'm offended, so he SHOULD apologize to me on TV..............oh, but wait, I don't ever watch this dope.....................never mind............
apologize on the TV show that he made the remark from
Submitted by Buck_1 on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 1:54am.
Then fire him for racist remark.
There was a sport person who lost their job for saying Black people can run fast
The Cain smear attack has the
Submitted by robert108 on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 12:30pm.
The Cain smear attack has the stink of obama all over it. He is famous for "taking out" his opponents with smears before the election. Being a genuine black American, Herman Cain is a real threat to many of the obama memes, and takes away the race card from the Dems. He's a real threat to their ideology.
A drop in the ocean
Submitted by trahantg on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 12:44pm.
Great job David. Drop a bomb like this on a nationally televised program and then apologize on Twitter.
Could have just bought every billboard in the US and put Herman Cain's picture on it with some bimbos scantily dressed and accuse him of Rape, or Sexual Assault.
Then run an ad apologizing in some tiny little newspaper in the middle of North Dakota.
All about the same.
Revising history
Submitted by ricklail on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 1:06pm.
I was born and raised in the south. I went through the turbulent 60s. I saw a lot of Klan members growing up. They were all DEMOCRATS. When the Klan attacked the communist in Greensboro, NC most of those members were all from around Lincolnton NC. I knew several of them. To me they were nothing but white trash. They were all again DEMOCRATS. Gregory needs a little history lesson. Why not start with who opposed the Civil Rights Act.
How can the term "Grand Wizard" be a slip of the tongue?
Submitted by Kingfish17 on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 12:53pm.
There is no way Gregory would have used the term "Grand Wizard" if he was referring to anyone else besides Herman Cain. I would be willing to bet money and lay odds that Gregory has never used the term "Grand Wizard" in a discussion about a white person. It's not a "poor choice of words" on his part. It's what he was actually thinking and it just happened to come out of his mouth before he could check it and think of something else to say.
"You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas...on the taxpayer’s dime." Barack Obama
I believe you're right
Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 1:04pm.
Most people would've said that there was no Leader or Boss of the GOP to deal with it.
But how many would come up with the words Grand Wizard to describe the head of a party? Only those whose narrow minds link the Republican Party -- the Party of Lincoln and abolition -- to the Ku Klux Klan.
Gregory owes Cain and the GOP an apology on NBC TV -- not twitter. Then he should be fired from Meet the Press.
KINGFISH
Submitted by ROSSMAN on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 1:42pm.
YOU ARE SOOOOOOOOOOOOO RIGHT!!!
I've killed Doyle Hargraves with a lawnmower blade.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 1:05pm.
I hit him two good whacks in the head with it.
But I reckon I apologized on Twitter, mm huh.
Typical Leftist
Submitted by Aubrey on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 1:20pm.
Why apologize? He said what he meant to say.
Gregory
Submitted by grammajane on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 1:32pm.
and the rest of BSNBC do not have the brains to do an apology in the proper manner. His elite and arrogant so-called educated mind, is nothing but a complate blank and apologising properly, is above his pay grade. What a discusting and shameful jerk. Cancel Comcast, send complaints, and hope for some action. Americans are wising up and are sick of this bias and hateful network and the hate that spews night and day.
He only recently
Submitted by ROSSMAN on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 1:36pm.
stopped walking on all fours!! give him some time!!! CHIMPANZEE, NOT BABOON!!
NBC
Submitted by lkotur on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 1:46pm.
Hey the RNC may not have a Grand Wizard, but NBC has a Grand Douche Bag!
The next conservative who "talks" to DogFace Gregory . . .
Submitted by ConservaSerb on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 2:22pm.
Needs to say, "Before I answer your slanted question, what did you mean by Grand Wizard? If one of us had said that, you'd call us racist. Why doesn't that apply to you?"
A wise & frugal government, which shall leave men free 2 regulate their own pursuits of industry & improvement, & shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. T. Jefferson
Jellyfish
Submitted by Model850 on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 3:54pm.
Nice idea.
Too bad none of them has the backbone for it. They're too afraid they won't be invited back for yet another ritual dragging across the burning embers of liberal MSM bias.
Blessed are those who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed.
It's called a "Freudian
Submitted by Beukeboom on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 5:57pm.
It's called a "Freudian slip."
The Ignorance of Davey
Submitted by sfcpete on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 11:24pm.
Gregory didn't have to state that he was not thinking , he never does. Gee Davey, did ya ever wonder why all the accusers have a Chicago connection. Why are lawyers stating that their clients don't want to be identified and want to forget about incidents 14 years ago? Are these lawyers not charging a fee - I doubt any shark would give up a $500 per hour. Who's footing the bill - Soros or Obama? Uncanny how a poor "victim" is gainfully employed thanks to democrat influence. Filthy Obama Chitown politics AS USUAL is Emanual driving the bus?
Democrats Use the Alinsky Methods of Winning!
Submitted by billwhit1357 on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 2:50am.
The Leftists are terrified of Mr Cain because they know he is the embodyment of True American Values. He has Work Ethics, something they lack horribly. Mr Cain has more Intelligence, Common Sense, and American Values, in his SNOT, than Obama or any of the Left will ever hope to have in their entire pathetic lives. They want Mr Cain out because they will not be able to use the Race Card that they love to abuse. In a debate, Mr Cain would make Obama look like the true fool that he is. Obama won his Illinois seat by using the same tactics against his Democratic and Republican opponents, he used the same in 2008, and he is abusing it again for the 2012 race! Never, in my sixty years, have I seen such a corrupt, lying administration, and I was a Lifelong Democrat until Obama came along. I don't vote on Lies and BS, I vote on Record, Accomplishments, and Leadership Ability. Obama had none of these in 2008 and the ones he now has, really sucks! I will be Raising Cain for Herman Cain in 2012!