Herman Cain? Really?
He is a joke to his own party and a disgrace to his own family.
He is not by any means a spokesman for the GOP, or even the Tea Party for that matter.
Yet CNN is again elevating him and the GOP extremists by offering them their OWN response to the Obama State of the Union address.
For multiple decades, the other major party was allowed a response to the president. But for Obama, CNN is allowing TWO responses--one by the GOP, and one by the fringe group within their own party.
If the Tea Party was a separate party, with their own candidates, that would be one thing. But they are just right-wing conservatives in cheap suits (and tri-corn hats) masquerading as outsides. They are a CAUCUS within the major party.
Can you imagine the outrage if the Progressive Caucus was allowed their OWN response after the DEM response to Bush?
MoveOn.org became a phenomenon in 2004, with over 5 million members and raising 60 million at a time in small donations. Did they ever give a separate response?
Last year, when Bachmann gave a seperate Tea Pary address on CNN, Maddow called it "a remarkable act of journalistic intervention to elevate, in effect, a group with which they are co-sponsoring a presidential debate...to the level of the major parties in this country."
She added that CNN "decided tonight not to just cover the news about the State of the Union, they decided to make their own."
If they gave a response last year, after the peak of their movement, there is NO justification for it this year.
The TEA PARTY is dying! Glenn Beck is gone! The GOP establishment doesn't even listen to the whining anymore... they are trying to cram Mittens Romney down their throat for crying out loud!!!
All of the governors in Ohio, Wisconsin, Maine, and here in Florida wore out their welcome--along with the House GOP. Obama's ratings are improving as he finally learned to focus his attention to where the problem was lying (literally) and finally hitting back, even steamrolling, the GOP and the inarticulate crazies who cared more about hurting our country than getting our economy going again. (The tea party even called on their idiots to stop hiring people in order to hurt Obama!)
What possible justification does CNN have to elevate this dying fringe movement within a party to get its own response?
The backlash against Walker, Scott, Kaich, the House GOP and others is astounding. The people who stood in solidarity with the unions was more than at any single tea party event... and they did not even have have Koch billionaires and FreedomWorks busing them in.
The OWS movement dwarfed the teabaggers, and unlike them, OWS spread across the globe. It is still strong, and single-handedly changed the debate in this country from austerity to inequality.
Yet there is no response allowed for this movement (I'm sure Jesse Lagreca would have agreed to it :). And there is no justification for it.
I know Obama can handle an inarticulate, Sarah Palin wannabe like Herman Cain. But it is a question of fair treatment... I expect this crap from Fox, not someone who bills themselves as "the most trusted name in news". If you do this again, next year... that will have as much weight as "fair and balanced".