The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

No, Sarah Palin Did Not Call Herman Cain ‘Herb’ and Did Not Put Him Down
UPDATE: Why Doesn’t the Fox News Transcript Match the Politico Video?

Posted on | September 28, 2011 | 77 Comments

Somebody told me that Herman Cain was asked about this on CBS News and said Governor Palin was “wrong,” evidently based on media reports. But let’s go to the transcript, shall we?

VAN SUSTEREN: How does, though, a politician, though, connect with the people and get it across so it doesn’t just sound like more like, Blah, blah, blah? When the politician gets up on the air, probably many of us can sort of mouth the answers for the politician because we know these people for better, for worse, so well, and that they’re going to say. It’s quite predictable.
But how does a politician actually connect with someone in the heartland, for instance?
PALIN: That’s a great question. I think what helps is for that politician is to have a foundation of having come from the real people of America, the working class, those who make up the majority of Americans who are so extremely concerned about the direction of our country.
Take Herman Cain. Look at why he’s doing so well right now. He’s, I guess you could say, with all due respect, the flavor of the week because Herman Cain is the one up there who doesn’t look like he’s part of that permanent political class. Herman Cain — he came from a working class family. He’s had to make it on his own all these years. We respect that.
That has an automatic connection with the electorate, where we say, We can relate to him, he knows the issues, the problems that we face every day, and he’s determined to do something about it. He’s not elite. He doesn’t seem to allow us to be disenchanted with what it is that he’s proposing because what he proposes in terms of solutions, Greta, for our economy, are based on time-tested truths and common sense and true economic principles that will work.
So Herman Cain is a good example of a connection with the voters and why his message, good messenger, he’s resonating with the people.

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, it’s sort of interesting about — you know, in watching the straw poll votes in Florida that you were talking about, Herman Cain winning by — he trounced, basically, Governor Perry and Governor Romney, the two supposed front-runners — is that the media was so shocked, that they seemed so surprised. And I’m sort of curious as to what extent, you know, the media doesn’t really go out and talk to the American people. And you know, I wonder if people — if the people watching it from the heartland, if they were surprised that he won in Florida.
PALIN: We are not surprised that he, as a messenger of common-sense conservative pro-U.S. Constitution principles, is doing well. Many of the elites in the media were shocked.
And you know, I think it’s kind of humorous to see the way that the media is covering these candidates. Let me give you an example of this. Earlier today, Greta, on Fox News, you had a host who said Sarah Palin in the polls, she’s way, way down there in the polls. And I’m kind of scratching my head, going, Wait a minute. On another network, on CNN just the other day, they showed a poll where I was, like, within 5 points of President Obama. I was doing well, much better than many of the other candidates.
And I’m thinking all this misinformation and contradictory information, contradicting information from even hosts here on this network itself, it adds to, I guess, the disconnect even — not just the permanent political class, but many in the media also because sometimes, they don’t do their homework. And many times, a host or a reporter, they have their own agenda and they interject their agenda in the information they’re providing their viewers and readers.
So didn’t surprise me or many of us that Herman Cain was doing well, but certainly surprised many in the media because sometimes they don’t do their homework and they do perpetuate misinformation.

Well, Politico tried to “perpetuate misinformation” and between Slate’s Dave Weigel and Hot Air’s Tina Korbe, this gets turned into a kerfuffle. Read the freakin’ transcript: While Palin did say Cain was “flavor of the week” — that is to say, from the media perspective he’s the Next New Thing — she followed that with effusive praise for him as representing “the real people of America,” with whom he has an “automatic connection.” 

Sarah Palin has always been a Herman Cain fan, and is still a Herman Cain fan. I’d have to look it up, but earlier this year, she re-Tweeted one of Cain’s columns. The media are trying to gin up a phony controversy — “Let’s you and him fight,” as they say down home — and the last thing Cain should do is to believe what the media say about Sarah Palin. They’re “makin’ up stuff” again!

See also: “Politics as Show Biz.”

UPDATE: Wait a minute — there is a discrepancy between the transcript and this video:

Something’s screwy: Is the Fox transcription wrong? Did Politico edit the video? What?

Comments

77 Responses to “No, Sarah Palin Did Not Call Herman Cain ‘Herb’ and Did Not Put Him Down
UPDATE: Why Doesn’t the Fox News Transcript Match the Politico Video?”

  1. Anonymous
    September 29th, 2011 @ 12:51 am

    Sorry but you may have been mislead on this one. If you watch the video she did say Herb, although I don’t think it was a put down at all. More like a nickname for a good friend. The transcriber must have changed it.

  2. CoolChange
    September 29th, 2011 @ 1:02 am

    Thank you for proving how much of an idiot you are, Charles.

  3. “And I would have been the bestest President ever, too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids…”
    September 28th, 2011 @ 9:02 pm

    […] update: Oh, and just to clear up the latest round of media malpractice aimed at the former Governor. Posted by Jeff G. @ 6:56 pm […]

  4. Anonymous
    September 29th, 2011 @ 1:03 am

    FU scumbag.

  5. Anonymous
    September 29th, 2011 @ 1:07 am

    Had to spray some Troll-B-Gone. Took care of that problem.

  6. darleenclick
    September 29th, 2011 @ 1:11 am

    oh darn, I missed a good old-fashioned troll-roasting. 🙁

  7. Anonymous
    September 29th, 2011 @ 1:14 am

    Did anyone drop any ‘g’s around here? I’m just trying to figure out what’s raaaaacist today.

  8. LATEST FOX NEWS POLL: Mitt Romney 23% Rick Perry 19% Herman Cain 17% : The Other McCain
    September 28th, 2011 @ 9:36 pm

    […] V: Thanks for the link, Ace, but — is there something in the water these days? — Palin did not mean to put down Herman Cain with that “flavor of the week” phrase. She’s actually a huge fan of Cain. (And […]

  9. Michael Wiley
    September 29th, 2011 @ 1:55 am

    Yep, and of course, Herman Cain was questioned about the phony controversy this morning on ABC.

    Dear GOP Candidates:

    The only reason the lamestream media invites your on their shows is so you can join the hosts in a pig pile against your fellow GOP candidates.

  10. Joe
    September 29th, 2011 @ 2:17 am

    Troll pinatas!  Unfortunately they are not full of candy. 

  11. Charles Johnson
    September 29th, 2011 @ 2:19 am

    There is only one Charles.  And I am the greatest of idiots. 

  12. Lions
    September 29th, 2011 @ 2:43 am

    Palin was in Wis. on that raining blustery day on stage with whom…….Herman Cain. If I am not mistaken in Iowa as well…hmmm

  13. Russ Emerson
    September 29th, 2011 @ 2:54 am

    I watched it live.  At first I wondered why she would use the sort-of-diminutive “Herm” (which I’ve never heard before) and then I realized she was calling him “Herb.”

    I knew that was going to come up.

  14. Thomas Knapp
    September 29th, 2011 @ 2:57 am

    Even the best speakers suffer minor brain farts or tongue-ties on occasion. Tempest in a teapot, and really stupid on the part of those trying to paint it as in any way insulting or even controversial.

  15. Joe
    September 29th, 2011 @ 2:59 am

    Is the video re-edited?

  16. Anonymous
    September 29th, 2011 @ 3:25 am

    Maybe that’s what his friends call him.

  17. Garym
    September 29th, 2011 @ 3:31 am

    His name wasn’t Gene was it?

  18. PhilipJames
    September 29th, 2011 @ 3:47 am

    Sarah Palin gave Cain some very positive comments. There was nothing negative about it. And I hope Cain watches the whole thing before he says anything stupid.

    And the tape was edited. There was a cut halfway through.

  19. Dianna Deeley
    September 29th, 2011 @ 3:47 am

    I can’t (honestly) tell for sure – but, well, Herb Caen of the SF Chronicle was active, still, when she might have been aware of him, and simply crossed up the names? I simply don’t know.

  20. Dianna Deeley
    September 29th, 2011 @ 4:06 am

    Don’t know.

    But the important part is the rest of what she said about Herman Cain, don’t you think.

  21. o2bnaz
    September 29th, 2011 @ 4:26 am
  22. Joe
    September 29th, 2011 @ 4:31 am

    Spot on Thomas.  Sometimes we way over think things. 

    There is something else (this is my take not what I think Palin’s was).  Cain is the flavor of the week.  In the sense that his current attention and attraction is not that deep.   Many of these new people like what he is saying but they are not committed to him.  Not yet anyway.  Now I like him a lot.  Whether he becomes something more with these new people won’t be really known until a few weeks from now. 

  23. Anonymous
    September 29th, 2011 @ 4:34 am

    Yes, that crack about flavor of the month was aimed at the media and pundits.

  24. Adjoran
    September 29th, 2011 @ 4:59 am

    Oh. My. God.

    This is some kind of controversy?  For crying out loud, talk about making a mountain over a molehill!

    It is plainly obvious that Palin miffed his name by accident in the midst of a steady stream of praise.  I suspect Dianna Deeley’s suggestion that she may have thought of Herb Caen is correct, but who knows?

    It is also obvious that when she mentions “flavor of the week” she is referring to the fleeting nature of the media spotlight which went from Romney to Bachmann to Perry to Cain in the space of about six weeks, not dismissing his campaign (which she is praising effusively).

    The regulars know I like Palin but am NOT part of her fanatic stalker corps.  But even the ones who have candlelit tribute walls to her in their bedrooms aren’t as crazy as those who think this minor slip of the tongue is some sort of  . . . whatever it is they think it might be that could possibly merit attention.

  25. Anonymous
    September 29th, 2011 @ 5:01 am

    Yes, it was “Herb.”  I Googled it, and lots of folks call him “Herb.”  NYT tags Cain articles under “HERB CAIN”.

    It’s a great big nothing of a story.

  26. Anonymous
    September 29th, 2011 @ 5:12 am

    She directly and intentionally said “Herb.”  I think he gets called that a lot.  That’s what a google search shows.

    Interestingly, there was a Hockey player named Herb Cain, so there could be a lil’ mixup there.  But I think she knows Herman’s name.

  27. Thomas Knapp
    September 29th, 2011 @ 5:17 am

    The thing about “flavor of the week” is that it’s good enough, it may get added to the permanent menu, or at least brought back for return engagements. For some reason, I’m thinking about the McRib when I write that.

    I’m certainly not unbiased (I’ve never voted for a Republican for president in the past and never intend to do so in the future), but I don’t think I’m particularly biased in asserting that Cain has earned every bit of support he’s received and then some, and that he’s done so against long odds (atypical presidential resume, not being plugged into the GOP establishment fundraising mill, etc.).

    Most people would probably consider me strongly biased against Palin (for some reasons that are typical, and some that aren’t), but if all her detractors got this week is that she mildly blanked out on a guy’s first name, they’re having a shit week.

  28. John Klepper
    September 29th, 2011 @ 5:40 am

    “Did she say Herb Cain?”

    “Is she saying ‘Herm Cain’?”

    “Greta just confirmed it’s ‘Herman Cain’ is Sarah on drugs?”

  29. John Klepper
    September 29th, 2011 @ 5:47 am

    Like Rush at the moment, I wish I could not remember my thoughts last night watching Greta interview someone.

    But the scandal isn’t the media; Though it once was with regards to Governor Palin.

  30. Anonymous
    September 29th, 2011 @ 5:52 am

    She called him “Herb” several times.  You can watch it and listen for yourself.  Does anyone actually call him Herb or even Herm?  No, they do not.  Here is his spox, to Weigel, on Hot Air, today:

    [T]he Cain campaign dismisses this with a laugh. “No one
    calls him ‘Herb’ or ‘Herm,’” explains Cain spox Ellen Carmichael. “In fact, he
    has a joke about the ‘Herm’ nickname. ‘You can call me anything you want, just
    don’t call me Herm. Only my enemies call me Herm.’ He told me this more than a
    year ago, so it’s definitely not a reflection of Governor Palin.”Big deal? No.  Not unless you start lying about it, changing transcripts, saying “she didn’t call him that” and also “everyone calls him that”  …reminds me of the whole refudiate episode.  Neither she nor her followers can admit even the tiniest slip up.  

  31. John Klepper
    September 29th, 2011 @ 5:55 am

    I would vote, and would pledge $1000, for Sarah Palin to mount a campaign as the American candidate (or anything else as far as “labels” go) against Mitt Romney in 2016, as she is the singular possible check on Romneylike AntiBuckleyism.

    Neither Governor Palin nor I are happy about this state of affairs.

    I am speaking ruthlessly without regard for potential gain, or loss.

  32. Anonymous
    September 29th, 2011 @ 6:16 am

    What did you google?  You can’t find any reference to Herb Cain (the Godfathers pizza guy) on Google, except this incident.  

    There are lots of references to “Herb Caen” a Boston Bruin…hockey and bears, Sarah’s faves, but not the same guy.  Are you a negligent googler, or a dishonest poster?

  33. John Klepper
    September 29th, 2011 @ 6:25 am

    Do you know WFB recorded over 1000 episodes of  Firing Line?  Have you ever thought “yeah Andy Rooney is more successful than me, but he only blathered for 33 years whilst Buckley did more so piss on Rooney as most do Buckley?”

    http://hoohila.stanford.edu/firingline/

    Did you tell your neighbor about “Firing Line” after the terrorist attack in Arizona prompted civility bullshit?

    Firing Line.

    1054 episodes.

    Not one mention I know of, though I’m sure there were actually plenty, just not the people I thought would mention it.

    And read the book.

    http://www.amazon.com/Firing-Line-Public-Life-Figures/dp/0394575687

  34. Bort Jones
    September 29th, 2011 @ 6:33 am
  35. Bort Jones
    September 29th, 2011 @ 6:34 am
  36. Anonymous
    September 29th, 2011 @ 6:34 am

    drunk blogging?

  37. Anonymous
    September 29th, 2011 @ 7:07 am

    “David” calls him herb, on some blog none of us has ever heard of. His spokesperson says, today, that no one calls him that.  YOU may as well post to  Palin calling him Herb as proof that he goes by Herb.

    Your obscure link (click on where it purports to quote “Herb”) goes to a Think Progress article, which, not surprisingly, calls him “Herman” throughout.  

    You can’t find a link to any article anywhere where  Cain himself, one of his friends or family, colleagues or spokespeople call him Herb, or even Herm.  She screwed up (O’Biden)  admit it and move on.

  38. Anonymous
    September 29th, 2011 @ 7:12 am

    Keep F***ing that chicken, Bert.

  39. Bort Jones
    September 29th, 2011 @ 7:18 am

    They changed the headline ; yesterday it was Herb , but they changed it in Herman.

  40. Bort Jones
    September 29th, 2011 @ 7:20 am

    They changed the headline ; yesterday it was Herb , but they changed it in Herman.

    Anyway, this is from the article:

    “Engage the people. Don’t try to pass a 2,700 page bill
    — and even they didn’t read it! You and I didn’t have time to read it.
    We’re too busy trying to live — send our kids to school. That’s why I am
    only going to allow small bills — three pages. You’ll have time to read that one over the dinner table. What does Herman Cain, President Cain
    talking about in this particular bill?”
    GOP presidential candidate, Herb Cain
    Jun 6, 2011http://torchwood-us.com/2011/06/08/herb-cain-would-have-refused-to-sign-the-declaration-of-independence-and-the-constitution/

  41. Anonymous
    September 29th, 2011 @ 7:31 am

    it’s a conspiracy.

  42. Anonymous
    September 29th, 2011 @ 8:03 am

    I’m someone who knows how to use google, as opposed to you, evidently. You do know that you can peek past the first page of results, don’t you? Why don’t you actually type in “Herb Cain” and look at the damn results like anybody else would do before making an ass out of yourself?

  43. Anonymous
    September 29th, 2011 @ 8:14 am

    They didn’t change the comments.  Someone down the page asks “Who is Herb Cain?”

    It’s funny as hell.  Yesterday when you searched for Herb Cain, you didn’t get any of these stories involving the Palin interview.  Now you have to wade through tons of references to Palin.  She’s all over the blogosphere and news outlets.

  44. The Main Event…#SarahPalin Vs #HermanCain « That Mr. G Guy's Blog
    September 29th, 2011 @ 5:50 am

    […] Stacy McCain has the latest on the recent attempt by the  MSM to start some shit between GOP candidates. Herman Cain and Sarah Palin are at the center of the latest kerfuffle. Again, it’s the MSM with selective editing and/or outright lies. Stacy Has the video at the link; Somebody told me that Herman Cain was asked about this on CBS News and said Governor Palin was “wrong,” evidently based on media reports. But let’s go to the transcript, shall we? […]

  45. Bob Belvedere
    September 29th, 2011 @ 11:45 am

    We Americans love to sound folksy and informal, so we shorten names all the time when we speak.  For many of us, it come natural after a while, BJ, Joe, and Di.

  46. Smokem987
    September 29th, 2011 @ 11:47 am

    Stacy’s suggestion that Politico doctored the video clip is tinfoil-hat nonsense. 

    Here’s Fox’s own feed:http://video.foxnews.com/v/1185953046001/maverick-palin-vs-quasi-reality-showPalin says “Herb Cain” every time she mentions him (4-5 times), but somebody obviously can’t come to grips with that reality.

  47. Bob Belvedere
    September 29th, 2011 @ 11:47 am

    Right-on, brother.  Candidates: Stop playing by their rules, Goddammit!  They despise you and everything you stand for.  They look down on you.  Some even think you’re retarded.

  48. Bob Belvedere
    September 29th, 2011 @ 11:48 am

    They’re a fleeting and fickle bunch of douche nozzles.

  49. Bob Belvedere
    September 29th, 2011 @ 11:52 am

    A ‘mountain out of a molehill’?  Try a ‘mountain out of a mole’.

    BTW: Bravo, Adj [or Herb], for the ones who have candlelit tribute walls to her in their bedroom.

  50. ThePaganTemple
    September 29th, 2011 @ 12:04 pm

    In my experience, only retarded liberals put a whole lot of work into lying about something so relatively insignificant to the point it ends up blown up way out of proportion to its actual importance, which is non-existent. That’s the whole point of this post to begin with. And along you come to prove the point.