Michelle Fields of the Daily Caller attended the book party for Chris Matthews and his new book on JFK the "Elusive Hero" to draw out media reaction to the vague Herman Cain harassment allegations. Both MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and former Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee dumped their disdain on Cain. Bradlee even suggested Cain deserved it all: "I think he’s got it coming to him, doesn’t he?"
Scarborough rejected the idea that Cain's race is a factor in media attempts to derail his presidential campaign. "I don’t think it has anything to do with race. I think it has to do with the fact that the man is not just a very good presidential candidate." Scarborough even suggested a white candidate couldn't "get away with" what Cain is now apparently getting away with.
"Sarah Palin would never be able to get away with this. Michele Bachmann would never be able to get away with this. I don’t know any Republican candidate who would," said the MSNBC host, "and the fact that his numbers stay up despite the fact he makes one mistake after another is pretty mind-boggling."
He concluded that Republicans have been looking for someone other than Mitt Romney for a long time, but Republicans will dump Cain in the long run: "They will leave him. This, too, shall pass."
Here's the fuller exchange with Bradlee:
FIELDS: And what are your thoughts about the accusations against Herman Cain?
BRADLEE: I think he’s got it coming to him, doesn’t he?
FIELDS: Do you have any advice for him?
BRADLEE: Run for the roundhouse!
FIELDS: Some people think it’s racially motivated. Do you believe that?
BRADLEE: Bull—t. No I just don’t believe that at all. No, I mean, you can’t do that in this town any more. Probably could do it fifty years ago, but you can’t do it now. And he’s achieved a lot, and his race didn’t bother him in those achievements. So don’t bring up his race now just when he stumbles.
Run for the roundhouse? What does that mean? It’s apparently a Peggy Lee train song that’s more than fifty years old. (Bradlee is now a sprightly 90). Bradlee is telling Cain to quit. The lyrics are apparently about an old train on a last run: "Run for the roundhouse, Nellie. Your puffin' days are through. Your brakes won't hold and the boiler's cold, but we're going in with you."
Bradlee is still denouncing conservative interlopers in Washington, just like he dismissed former Gov. John Sununu during the first President Bush's tenure in the White House, as quoted in the Los Angeles Times: "A jack-leg Governor from a horse's ass state. How could he play with us in the big leagues?"
