With the recent firestorm of charges against Herman Cain, alleging sexual assault/harassment involving at least five different women, don’t be surprised if the organization who previously employed him comes to his strident defense. That’s right… Brent Bozell’s Media Research Center, parent company of NewsBusters, had the current GOP front-runner as the National Chairman of its Business & Media Institute. Mr. Cain, ironically, is also a “close friend” of the MRC boss.
Now, ever since the allegations have started, and the media has actually had the nerve of covering it (just like they have with many other sexual assault cases involving politicians), NewsBusters has leaped to the full defense of the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO… while hypocritically attacking other outlets for bringing on guests to attack him or defend the accusers.
In today’s edition of grasping at straws, Matt Hadro chided CNN’s Kyra Phillips for bringing on the networks’ own contributor, and former adviser to President Bill Clinton, Maria Cardona to defend one of the Cain accusers, who used to work under Cardona at the Immigration and Naturalization Service. I don’t know if I see the bias in this petty complaint, but here is how Hadro puts it:
Anchor Kyra Phillips never mentioned that Cardona was a Democratic strategist or a former Clinton advisor, and failed to question her if she had any underlying political motive in the case. CNN flashed the title of “Democratic Strategist” under Cardona’s name for nine seconds during the interview which lasted over four minutes.
See how biased CNN is? They only flashed Cardona’s title as a “Democratic strategist” for nine whole seconds. They should know that the only way you please the bias digging hounds at NewsBusters is to flash her title over her face across the entire screen so we all get the idea. Hadro continued:
Phillips tossed Cardona softballs like “tell us about your experience with her, her work ethic, her credibility factor,” and asked her to clarify that Kraushaar’s other complaint filed didn’t have to do with sexual harassment – just so viewers wouldn’t get the wrong idea about her.
It also helps to have CNN asking your former boss – who is giving you rave reviews – to defend your credibility as someone who is “strong-willed and stands up for what is right”.
Oh yeah, those are some real softballs. Asking someone about another person and their credibility and work ethic is too easy. As if Cardona is going to come out and admit “Yes, Karen is a gold-digger and she just wants to make money off of this scandal. She’s not credible at all and nobody should believe her account“.
Hadro isn’t done finding some more “bias“:
“And can you explain to us for those saying, okay, is this woman just someone who filed complaints in moments of difficulty, or is this just somebody that really is strong-willed and stands up for what is right?” Phillips teed up Cardona.
Did you see the same bias Hadro did? I’m guessing he’s complaining about the second half of the question… while ignoring the first half, of course. To the regular news observer, that was as fair of a question as any anchor can offer up. Apparently, asking if the accuser is just filing a complaint for nothing or actually trying to stand up for herself against someone who sexually harassed her is considered a teed off question.
Phillips capped the interview by telling Cardona that “you’re one of our own,” without having once said to the audience that while a CNN contributor, Cardona is also a Democratic strategist, and is sometimes hosted by CNN specifically to provide the Democratic point-of-view in a panel.
And? Yes, Maria Cardona is a Democratic operative (working for CNN) defending another Democrat who used to work for her… and because she works for CNN, I guess she shouldn’t be defending any side of this scandal. Didn’t Hadro just say Cardona is a Democrat? Did he expect her to defend Cain?
So, after all that complaining, it’s still unclear what Hadro was expecting to come out of the CNN segment. Where was the bias? What was so bad about the questions? Why should Maria Cardona be challenged about credibility questions regarding an acquaintance of hers who she used to work with? If Hadro wants to figure out the credibility of the accuser, maybe he should address any future interview with them, not someone she knows. And if he has an issue with Cardona defending the accuser, how is that any different from Cain’s Chief of Staff Mark Block or his spokesman J.D. Gordon making the rounds on different networks to defend him? Or even NewsBusters itself defending a former Chairman of it’s sister organization? Do you have to be working exclusively with the individual to have the right to be on their side? Obviously not in Cain’s case, because the MRC is defending him very openly.
But, that paranoia of bias is just in a typical days work at NewsBusters… when it’s about as non-existent as a UFO in the sky.
I would just add that the woman that Cardona was defending is actually a registered Republican.
Actually, the woman Cardona was talking about was Karen Kraushaar, not Sharon Bialek, who is a registered Republican.
It’s funny how the far-right ignores that fact about Bialek, though, when going after her the way they do. They just see an attractive, blond woman accusing a black conservative of a crime, and immediately go into attack mode.