Networks Continue to Hype Herman Cain 'Firestorm'; 12 More Stories in 24 Hours
The network evening newscasts on Tuesday and the morning shows on Wednesday continued to hype the Herman Cain "firestorm," creating 12 more stories in less than 24 hours. Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos led the show on Wednesday by trumpeting, " Republican front-runner Herman Cain changes his story again as one of his accusers now says she wants to go public on charges of sexual harassment."
On NBC's Today, Chuck Todd hyperbolically announced, "Struggling to move beyond the firestorm that is engulfing his candidacy, Herman Cain again denied he sexually harassed anyone." On that same program, guest Chris Matthews recklessly speculated that the Republican harassed women while drunk.
Lauer teased the show by wondering, "So, what's next for Herman Cain? What effect will this drip, drip, drip of information have on his campaign?
On NBC's Nightly News, Lisa Myers offered bad news, reminding, "For Herman Cain, day two of damage control also involved trying to undo the damage from shifting stories on day one."
She spun his statements on Monday and Tuesday as "serial explanations" and promised, "For Cain, this problem just became a lot more complicated."
Over the last 24 hours, the three major networks have devoted 12 stories to the Cain controversy. World News and Evening News on Wednesday both had anchor briefs. Nightly News offered a full report. On Wednesday, Good Morning America included both a full report and an anchor brief.
Today had the most coverage: Two full reports and two briefs.
CBS's Early Show included one full report and two briefs. Additionally, Norah O'Donnell even asked Condoleezza Rice about the scandal during a separate interview.
See a MRC Reality Check on how the networks ignored much more serious charges against Bill Clinton.
A transcript of the November 2 Today segment can be found below:
Story Continues Below Ad ↓7:01
MATT LAUER: So, what's next for Herman Cain? What effect will this drip, drip, drip of information have on his campaign?
7:02
MATT LAUER: Let us begin, though, with this controversy swirling around GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain and word one woman who claims she was sexually harassed by him wants to speak out. Chuck Todd is NBC's chief white house correspondent. Chuck, good morning.
CHUCK TODD: Good morning, Matt. You know, today was supposed to be the culmination of Herman Cain's attempt to start rallying official Republicans in Washington. Instead he's now in a full fledged he said/she said as the lawyer for one of the accusers is making it clear to NBC News, she is upset and wants to respond to Mr. Cain publicly.
HERMAN CAIN: I absolutely agree we could have been better prepared and in the future we probably will be.
TODD: Struggling to move beyond the firestorm that is engulfing his candidacy, Herman Cain again denied he sexually harassed anyone. But, now, Joel Bennett the lawyer for one of the accusers says it was not one isolated incident.
JOEL BENNETT: There was more than one incident that my client perceived as sexual harassment.
TODD: He said she wants to tell her side of the story.
BENNETT: She would like to speak out for the record only because Mr. Cain has stated that he didn't sexually harass anyone, there wasn't any substance to the allegations and basically made it look like she was some type of frivolous claimant, just looking for money.
TODD: Bennett says his client hasn't gone public so far because of a confidentiality agreement that was signed 12 years ago as part of a financial settlement, but he says Cain's comments this week may have changed that.
BENNETT: But I do believe that his remarks are a violation of the confidentiality provision of the settlement agreement.
TODD: Specifically, Bennett says Cain violated a clause prohibiting any of the parties from making disparaging marks when he said this Monday:
CAIN: I do recall that her performance, it had been told to me by her boss, was not up to par.
BENNETT: I think she's upset about his statements and would like the record to be balanced and clear.
TODD: Cain's statements have evolved this week.
CAIN: I just started to remember more. Remember, you know, 12 years, a lot of stuff can go through your head.
TODD: By Tuesday night on Fox, he said he wanted his supporters to know he wasn't ducking the issue.
CAIN: So, no, I don't believe it's hurt my campaign at all, just based upon, not only the volunteers and the phone calls, but the fund-raising has just really gone up dramatically.
TODD: Cain's campaign said it raised nearly half a million dollars on Monday alone, the day the story broke. But, Tuesday, the group Americans for Herman Cain, a so-called super PAC not directly affiliated with the campaign, turned up the heat by invoking race and hearkening back to the Clarence Thomas hearing, sending out an e-mail an e-mail which read "Don't let the media lynch another black conservative." They are engaging in a high tech lynching by smearing his reputation and attacking his character." Asked on Fox whether race has played a factor in the story, Cain said yes.
CAIN: I believe the answer is yes but we do not have any evidence to support it.
TODD: And this morning, the New York Times is reporting the first woman to accuse Cain of inappropriate behavior during his tenure at the National Restaurant Association was paid a one year's severance package to leave $35,000. Now, another source told NBC News the figure might have been closer to $40,000. Matt?
- Scott Whitlock's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
what
Submitted by grammajane on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 12:47pm.
a couple, lauer and todd trying so hard to bring Cain down with all their reporting tactics of bs. To bad they didn't get that excited when their boys, clinton, edwards and weiner committed crimes." Let's get Cain and try and ruin him like we tried so hard to ruin Thomas. After all we are elite, educated reporters, and need to do the job of radical libs by tearing decent Americans apart"
Yet to this day I would bet
Submitted by tobiasdog on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 1:20pm.
Yet to this day I would bet that only about 5 percent of Americans have even heard the name Larry Sinclair and his allegations during the 2008 campaign.
Yet to this day I would bet
Submitted by tobiasdog on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 1:21pm.
Yet to this day I would bet that only about 5 percent of Americans have even heard the name Larry Sinclair and his allegations during the 2008 campaign.
Desperation shows itself...
Submitted by KyWriter on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 2:02pm.
...in every article by the media. The thought of a black Conservative was bad enough, but the possibility that a black Conservative could actually become President is far more than feeble liberal brains can grasp. It doesn't fit the narrative. Cain ahead in the South? Impossible; they're all racists there, still fighting the Civil War. The sheer excess of hypocrisy in the mainstream media is unbelievable and in that irrationality, its editors and publishers are simply digging deeper and deeper holes.
It'll be interesting to see what race(s) the 2 accusers are.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 2:37pm.
I'm sure the libs have already got all the possible angles worked out on that.
To Kill A Mockingbird
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 2:43pm.
My money is on that angle. Otherwise, the poor, aggrieved cleaning woman would have been paraded in front of the cameras by now.
Politicrap
Submitted by HardRightTurn on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 2:49pm.
Consider the source.
These women will turn out to be professional gold diggers. The word is one of them was incompetent at her job and when she started to fear she was going to be let go, she filed her complaint to either stop a firing action or soften the landing. When she couldn't prove her allegations, she was shown the door for severance.
It will be found out that these women have filed other complaints for settlements as well.
To more fully comprehend the Left, one must read “Leftism As Psychopathy” by John Ray, M.A., Ph.D. Caution, it might scare you a little bit.
http://jonjayray.tripod.com/psycho.html
The network media " news"
Submitted by TerryWest on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 3:29pm.
The network media " news" have gone full blown tabloid, we now have Cain gossip directly competing with Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber.
In the meantime...
Submitted by GeneralAl on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 5:47pm.
In the meantime, while trying to destroy Herman Cain, The Communist Apologist-in-Chief continues destroying our country without a sinle word of opposition from these Jackass-urinalists!
"Old Soldiers never die, they just fade away"!
The 'leak' that Politico scouped was probably from Rove
Submitted by coin of the realm on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 6:12pm.
As Huckabee agreed, most likely from a republican opposing Cain. Rove is clearly trying to shot Cain down publicly as we see on his Fox news appearances. The party is also scared of his popularity now bc they know he is not electable in a national election which means that, should he get the nomination, Obama would easily defeat him.
You have to hand it to Rove and the operatives of the repub party. Getting the liberal media to do the dirty work of getting rid of Cain--ffing brilliant. It is quite clear that Ailes and Rove play hardball, and play it well. After all, these are the guys who got Bush elected twice, nurtured the Tea Party and basically , with their nonstop campaign machine, direct republicans on all the issues.
"Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee said he could "almost guarantee" that the recent Politico story about sexual harassment allegations against Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain came from information leaked by another GOP campaign."
Below from an article which was posted on Huffington Post:
"When asked on Laura Ingraham's radio show Monday morning if it was likely the scoop was provided by another Republican campaign, Huckabee agreed with the suspicion and questioned the legitimacy of the Politico report, saying, "Quite frankly, knowing some of the reporters involved -- they're not that good." "
Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes her laws. Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Counterfeit
Submitted by Radical1979 on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 6:18pm.
Do you forget that the Tea Party was begun from Rick Santelli's rant on CNBC? Fox and Ailes had nothing to do with it. I know it's hard to believe when you come from the land of Soros where you don't have to do your own thinking that others CAN and DO their own thinking, but that's the way it is.
The Tea Party started with a rant and took off through the efforts of non-political or journalistic people.
Corn on the Rim
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 6:57pm.
I don't think Corn on the Rim is dealing with a full cob.
Ron Paul actually used it first
Submitted by kata on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 9:29pm.
in 2007. Rick Santelli helped it gain traction and populized it.
kata
Submitted by Radical1979 on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 9:36pm.
I never heard it from Paul, but when Santelli said it, people heard it.
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=1039849853
Take a hike retread sock puppet troll. You are done.
Submitted by The Vet on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 9:17pm.
This is a hayate1 sock puppet account. The hayate1 troll was banned in August. This account immediately went active. Look at his real account name.-
http://newsbusters.org/users/hayate
with a detour as Bill the Bold
Submitted by kata on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 9:32pm.
Who, for some reason compulsively used bc instead of because. But I usually answer the post, not the poster.
More News: Øbama’s Record since taking office:
Submitted by jmigyanka@msn.com on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 6:53pm.
BHØ = Poverty Rate: 14.3%↑8.3%, Unemployment Rate: 9.1% (16.2%)↑16.7%
BHØ = Average Weeks Unemployed: 40.3↑102.5%, Median Income: $49,445↓5%
BHØ = Health Insurance Premiums: $15,073↑18.9%, Number of Jobs: 139,627,000↓1.8%
BHØ = Inflation Rate: 3.77%↑12,466.7%,Food Stamp Usage: 45.2 Million↑41.7%
BHØ = Average Price of a Gallon of Gas: $3.66↑101.1%,Average Home Value: $171,900↓4.7%
BHØ = National Debt: $14.7 Trillion↑38.7%, Deficit: $1.28 Trillion↑192.2%.
NO MORE TERMS for the COMMUNITY AGITATOR - EVER AGAIN !!!
Hat Tip: flickr.com/photos/johnnyshop/6196456311/sizes/o/in/photostream
Gee, I must have missed the
Submitted by eaglewingz08 on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 9:07pm.
Gee, I must have missed the firestorm of stories against Bill Clinton's sexual misconduct. Given Obama's economic peccadilloes are much worse than anything Cain could have done, I'd take Cain over Obama in a heartbeat.
Evidently so, eaglewing...
Submitted by Jer on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 10:32pm.
There were plenty of them. Contrary to the misconceptions popularized and peddled by the right, the media didn't run interference for Clinton. Many in what is considered the MSM didn't particulary care for him personally. Sally Quinn, the maven of inside-the-beltway Washington society, reportedly claimed the DC press corps viewed the Clintons as a couple of Arkansas hicks.
Here's a typical opinion piece from the NYT critical of the Clinton team's disparagement of litigation adversaries in the Paula Jones case. The Times, while generally supportive of Clinton's policies, repeatedly attacked him for other reasons, including his conduct.
Jer
And yet, Clinton is a
Submitted by jessieH on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 10:14pm.
And yet, Clinton is a whoremonger & Ted Kennedy was a murderer. Show some facts, liberals, or shut up.
JFK was covered up
Submitted by StarAZ on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 2:36pm.
But I sure remember a story or two on Clinton, Ted Kennedy, and the others. Let me get this straight, since you think there are more stories on this Cain thing, it means Cain did nothing? I don't get the connection there. And some of these comments have "the word" on these women--that they are gold diggers, about to be fired, had done this before. Evidence? Want to produce it?