Juan Williams on Belafonte and West's Attacks on Herman Cain: 'They Really Can't Stand Black Conservatives'

As NewsBusters reported, singer Harry Belafonte and Princeton professor Cornel West took some cheap shots at Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain on Monday.

On Tuesday, former NPR political analyst Juan Williams told Fox News's Martha MacCallum, "They really can’t stand black conservatives. They think anybody who’s a black conservative is totally inauthentic" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

MARTHA MACCALLUM, HOST: Let’s bring in Juan Williams, Fox News political analyst joining me now. Good morning to you, Juan.

JUAN WILLIAMS: Hi, Martha.

MACCALLUM: Boy, what do you make of all this?

WILLIAMS: Well, I just think that, you know, I mean, I think anybody watching just has to shake their head and express some pride in Herman Cain’s determination to be his own man and to not be intimidated by these people. Herman Cain says he could get a third of the black vote if he was running head to head against President Obama, and by the way, you hear criticism from the far left, from the Cornel Wests, from the Harry Belafontes about President Obama in very loud and graphic terms. So now here they are criticizing also Herman Cain, but I think they go after him with a special dash of sauce because he’s a conservative and they really can’t stand black conservatives. They think anybody who’s a black conservative is totally inauthentic. I mean, it’s just to me evidence of how orthodox and how rigid they are in their own thinking. […]

WILLIAMS: It’s Herman Cain to me in terms of black conservatives, and, you know, we talk about people, you were mentioning Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Clarence Thomas, all of these people are dumped on by that far left because they say, “You know what; we don't feel comfortable with the idea of people moving out of, you know, the liberal orthodoxy. But I would just quickly add to you, Martha, that if Herman Cain ran, I think Herman Cain is right - he could attract like 30 percent of the vote. Remember, Herman Cain’s a southerner, a gospel singer, a church man, he's demonstrated economic strength. Remember, I think a lot of black people are socially conservative people when you come down to it, church going people, and Herman Cain would have a lot of attraction versus a liberal Barack Obama. And it, that really rattles the black liberal establishment.

MACCALLUM: And boy would it.

Maybe that's what's really angering people like Belafonte and West: Cain could attract that many black voters, and that would radically change politics for decades to come.

As background, please see "CNN Hosts Leftists Saying Cain Should Get Off 'Crack Pipe," "Belafonte Attacks Cain: 'A Bad Apple' 'So Denied Intelligence' 'I Don’t Think Prayers Were Created For Him'," and "Cain Responds to Belafonte and West: 'The Only Tactic They Have to Try and Intimidate Me and Shut Me Up Is to Call Me Names'."