Borrowing from a liberal Daily Beast column, CNN's Jack Cafferty set about asking if Newt Gingrich was ignorant and "clueless" about the African-American community, on Tuesday's The Situation Room.
Cafferty dropped the bomb right at the start as he matter-of-factly stated that "Newt Gingrich is clueless when it comes to African-Americans" before backing away and attributing the argument to the Daily Beast's Peter Beinart. Beinart has also been the editor of the liberal New Republic magazine, so Cafferty was not doing his credibility any favors by quoting someone who very well might have a liberal agenda in attacking the Republican candidate.
While scolding Gingrich's conduct at Monday's GOP debate in South Carolina, Cafferty made sure to emphasize that Gingrich was a "native Georgian" speaking on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to a "mostly-white crowd." Race-baiting, anyone?
And during the segment, the smears grew progressively more blatant. The CNN commentator quoted Beinart that the GOP is a "cultural and intellectual bubble" and adding that such words are "not very encouraging for the Republican Party when it comes to trying to get blacks to vote for them" – as if Beinart's liberal opinion is a credible key voice in the matter.
[Video below.]
For a transcript of the segment, click here.
