Herman Cain Decides To Blow Off The Biggest Newspaper In New Hampshire
Herman Cain was supposed to sit down with the Editorial Board of the Manchester Union-Leader, the largest newspaper in New Hampshire and also a paper that’s highly respected among conservatives nationwide. I said supposed to because, well, this happened:
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Herman Cain blew off his Union Leader interview here Thursday, snubbing a newspaper with the state’s largest circulation and a history of shaping Republican races in this first-primary state.
The Cain campaign’s last-minute decision to back out of the event capped several days of drama as it first demanded C-SPAN cameras be barred from the room, then tried to limit the one-hour scheduled interview to 20 minutes — a request the newspaper immediately refused.
(…)
The Cain campaign had scheduled a 60-minute interview with McQuaid and Union Leader editorial page director Drew Cline for 10 a.m. Thursday, but instead went to the Airport Diner to glad-hand with voters there before an 11 a.m. sit-down with WMUR-TV.
“I think it’s crazy for a guy who want to be a major presidential candidate here in New Hampshire not to take the opportunity for a full-length interview with the states largest newspaper,” Union Leader publisher Joe McQuaid told POLITICO.
McQuaid said the campaign’s proposal for an abbreviated interview wasn’t something they were willing to consider.
“We can catch Cain anywhere for 20 minutes. This is a formal sit-down interview in whih the reporter, the editorial page director and the publisher so we can really size up the candidate,” McQuaid said.
Making a pizza reference as he mocked Cain on Twitter, Cline wrote: “If Cain is more than 30 minutes late for our interview, is the next one free?”
Cline and McQuaid did not know the meeting was canceled until it was reported by the Associated Press.
The Cain campaign’s response was, not surprisingly, typically amateurish:
Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon blamed them for what happened, saying they’d canceled the interview when the length of the meeting could not be agreed to. Gordon said the paper asked that the meeting be 45 minutes, not the 60 that McQuaid said an all their candidates have done. Cain, he said, did not have time Thursday for a longer sit down.
Gordon said the campaign will not allow any future newspaper editorial board meetings to be videotaped.
“Videos are typically used for television and it’s a newspaper. We decided we didn’t want to do the video,” Gordon said.
Cain later taped two interviews with local TV stations in a Manchester airport lobby.
The Union-Leader is already up with a story on Cain’s no-show, and it contains this devastating quote from the paper’s publisher, “It’s politics and campaigns. I don’t think he’s going anywhere from here at this point, anyway,” Ouch.
After the disastrous Libya gaffe, it’s understandable why the Cain campaign would want to limit cameras in these meetings, but if there’s any place you don’t want to pull off nonsense like this it’s in New Hampshire with the state’s most influential paper. I’d say that this is likely part of a strategic campaign decision to concentrate on Iowa and South Carolina and minimize New Hampshire given the polls there, but I honestly don’t think the Cain campaign is organized and professional enough to think in that manner.
I think it’s safe to say that Cain won’t be getting the Union-Leader’s endorsement, if that was even a possibility before today. Now, though, he’s made an enemy of one of the biggest political players in the state. That’s just dumb.
That’s just dumb.
The Cain campaign summed up in three words.
Yea I must have had a Rick Perry-esque brain freeze writing that sentence. Re-written
“It’s politics and campaigns. I don’t think he’s going anywhere from here at this point, anyway,”
Manchester Union-Leader. Part of the Liberal conspiracy to discredit the Black Conservative Candidate.
Wait…What???
Unlike Cain,Perrys moment hasnt stopped him from sitting down for interviews .Just shows who the real man really is.But since we are comparing,if Perry had a brain fart,then Cain had a full blown brain diarrhea explosion on Libya.
The fact that Cain even was considered for an instant to be a serious candidate by a material segment of the GOP primary selectorate bodes quite ill for the future of the country. We’ve got a lot of serious headwinds with which to deal. Literally the last thing we need as a nation is for a measurable portion of what is supposed to be the adult side of the body politic to be crippled by abject stupidity. At the risk of being melodramatic I fear the stated support for the Cain candidacy might be looked back upon a decade or so from now as a kind of cross-the-Rubicon moment. Lastly, if America were a stock I’d probably commence at this juncture a move towards a net short position.
The Chinese must be laughing their asses off…..
If the U.S. electorate is dumb enough to elect any of these nitwits I’m emigrating to NZ. Seriously.
Who cares what the hell bent Union Leader Newspaper thinks???!! Herman Cain isn’t in the pocket of unions; he represents ALL Americans, not just unions and minorities like Obama. A true post-racial president and a real leader is who Herman Cain is. That paper would have written awful things about Herman Cain if he would have bent over backwards to talk to them because their goal is not to understand how he sees the issues, but to undermine him at any cost. I’m glad he didn’t waste his time with another hateful group. And the implication that he ducks the media is utterly ridiculous. How about he has other commitments and there is time better spent than wasting it with those folks. YOU WON’T FIND ANY OTHER CANDIDATE that puts himself out there in interviews everyday like Herman Cain does. You won’t find anyone even close. Don’t believe the insane media bias folks. Go to Hermancain.com and read for yourself about his ideas and solutions and how to get American working again. Cain 2012!!
Who cares what the hell bent Union Leader Newspaper thinks???!!
New Hampshire Republicans.
Herman Cain isn’t in the pocket of unions
What does this have to do with the topic at hand?
he represents ALL Americans
He doesn’t represent any Americans, actually. He’s never been elected to anything.
A true post-racial president and a real leader is who Herman Cain is.
President of the United States of Fantasyland, maybe.
That paper would have written awful things about Herman Cain if he would have bent over backwards to talk to them because their goal is not to understand how he sees the issues, but to undermine him at any cost.
From where do you gain such insight? How do you know what the paper would say?
Go to Hermancain.com and read for yourself about his ideas and solutions and how to get American working again.
We have. They make no sense whatsoever.
@jenniferhope:
9-9-9 4-eva, bitches!
Cain Cain Cain Cain Cain!
@mantis: @mantis: You are misinformed and wrong about Mr. Cain, and apparently either clueless or in complete denial about the media’s incessant bias toward him as a non-politician black conservative. Herman Cain will put Americans back to work. And he won’t bad mouth or apologize for who we are as a nation to other countries while he’s doing it. He loves and believes in America and has the know how to get us back on track.
@jenniferhope:
Forgot to take your meds today, honey? You’re having a serious break with reality.
@jenniferhope:
You are misinformed and wrong about Mr. Cain
How so? Do be specific.
@jenniferhope: I was going to go that direction, but you stole my thunder. Oh, and mine was going to be snarky. But snark can’t compete with this.
@jenniferhope: Wow! You really have no clue at all, do you? You actually believe that the name indicates that it is a newspaper published by a labor union don’t you? Amazing!
And worrisome! Wow!
That’s gold, Jerry! GOLD!
@Neil Hudelson: I actually have no idea what kind of paper that is, assumed it was liberal of course. That has nothing to do with my union comments! Obama doesn’t represent all workers or all Americans. Only minorities and unions–us vs. them is who he seems to care about. What about the rest of America? My point is Herman Cain represents ALL Americans and would actually foot the bill of a post racial president. That paper has no interest in exploring his views, they are interested in pummeling him at all costs, regardless of the truth, his ideas or what he says.
@jenniferhope: I hope this woman is getting paid for her nonsense. Otherwise this is one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen.
I actually have no idea what kind of paper that is, assumed it was liberal of course.
So you admittedly spout off about things you are completely ignorant of? Good to know.
That has nothing to do with my union comments!
You can try to pretend that now, but no one’s buying it.
Obama doesn’t represent all workers or all Americans.
Actually he does. He’s president of the whole country.
My point is Herman Cain represents ALL Americans and would actually foot the bill of a post racial president.
Again, Herman Cain doesn’t represent any of us. He’s not been elected so much as dog catcher. But please describe “the bill” a “post racial president” must foot.
That paper has no interest in exploring his views
They did, but he canceled after revealing himself as a clueless buffoon at the last editorial meeting.
they are interested in pummeling him at all costs, regardless of the truth, his ideas or what he says.
You make this claim based on what, exactly? Before it was the word “union” in the newspaper’s name, which you misinterpreted to mean something else. What’s your next stupid reason?
@mantis: Herman Cain is smarter than Biden and Obama put together. Successful and conservative and black is a recipe for liberals like yourself to give the usual knee jerk reaction of exclaiming how stupid everyone is that doesn’t agree with you. It grows tiresome. And of course he hasn’t been elected to office, but when he speaks he speaks of representing all of us, not just a chose few. He doesn’t bad mouth 50% of the American population and use class warfare tactics to incite hatred for his political purposes. The claim about the paper having a predictable reaction to Cain is pretty obvious. For example, instead of what you usually see when someone declines an interview, like “We were disappointed that Mr. Cain declined an interview and hope that in the future he chooses to discuss issues that are important to the citizens of New Hampshire”…etc… He comes out snarky, makes it a point to proclaim that Cain is going no where and does whatever he can to make it into a media frenzy.
Herman Cain is smarter than Biden and Obama put together.
Well, if you say so, it must be true!
but when he speaks he speaks of representing all of us, not just a chose few.
He doesn’t represent me. Gee, that was easy. Any other assertions?
He doesn’t bad mouth 50% of the American population and use class warfare tactics to incite hatred for his political purposes.
You’re talking about the guy who told people if they aren’t rich, are unemployed, down on their luck, that it’s their own damned fault and they should stop complaining. He is the epitome of rich asshole class warfare, sticking it to the poor while sticking up for the banks who screwed us all.
For example, instead of what you usually see when someone declines an interview, like “We were disappointed that Mr. Cain declined an interview and hope that in the future he chooses to discuss issues that are important to the citizens of New Hampshire”…etc… He comes out snarky, makes it a point to proclaim that Cain is going no where and does whatever he can to make it into a media frenzy.
Maybe Cain should try fulfilling his agreements, if he doesn’t want people to gripe when he doesn’t. Regardless, you still have shown nothing to support your contention that the conservative NH newspaper only wanted to bash Cain. They wanted to interview him. He chickened out.
@mantis: So democrats and liberals and the other GOP contenders never cancel interviews? Umm, of course they do ALL THE TIME, but it doesn’t make more headlines than Greece collapsing. So you say there is nothing to support that the newspaper behaved badly? Really? How about press releases with direct quotes from the publisher of the newspaper bashing Cain’s campaign. That is purposefully malicious (as one person mentioned, sour grapes)….Finally, I don’t agree with Obama on most issues and am a conservative, but I don’t expect my president to talk about me like I’m a terrorist or enemy of the state at campaign events. But that’s the kind of guy Obama is……You say Cain is the epitome of rich asshole warfare. That’s ridiculous if you know anything about his life. HE GREW UP POOR. He was determined to get an education and did, & then worked as a mathematician for the Navy (a rocket scientist), and then left that position to bust his you-know-what to succeed in the business world for the last several decades. Cain is the kind of guy that will look to serve all citizens, even ones he disagrees with ideologically.
So you say there is nothing to support that the newspaper behaved badly? Really?
Yes.
How about press releases with direct quotes from the publisher of the newspaper bashing Cain’s campaign.
He was afraid of the interview and canceled at the last minute. If he did the interview, they could have talked about his answers to their questions. Since he chickened out, and didn’t even inform the newspaper he was doing so, all they had to talk about was his chickening out. I suppose you think they should have just written about how great you think Cain is.
That is purposefully malicious
The word you’re looking for is factual.
but I don’t expect my president to talk about me like I’m a terrorist or enemy of the state at campaign events. But that’s the kind of guy Obama is
When did the president call you a terrorist or enemy of the state, exactly? Be specific.
You say Cain is the epitome of rich asshole warfare.
Yes, when a rich guy stands on a stage, with the economy in the crapper, tells everyone who is hurting financially or having difficulty finding work that it’s their own fault, yes he is.
That’s ridiculous if you know anything about his life. HE GREW UP POOR.
He’s not poor anymore, and it shows.
He was determined to get an education and did, & then worked as a mathematician for the Navy (a rocket scientist)
A ballistics analyst is not a rocket scientist. Trust me, I know people in both professions.
Cain is the kind of guy that will look to serve all citizens, even ones he disagrees with ideologically.
Yeah, he “serves” them by calling them losers. What a leader.
Obviously we won’t ever agree….Thank God. Have a good weekend.
Obviously we won’t ever agree
It’s tough when one person resides in reality and the other, fantasyland.
Yeah, I know. hope you come back to planet earth some day. Best wishes.
hope you come back to planet earth some day.
Says the person who thinks Cain is already president.