Cain: "Lawrence ... Lawrence ... Lawrence ..."

[spooky3]

Don't these RWers realize they sound like bad insurance salespeople who took a Dale Carnegie course, when they repeat the interviewer's name over and over?

Joe Walsh was obnoxious with this too. Cain is even worse (on L O'Donnell's show). I guess they think it distracts from their lies.

[golfguru]

1. Is there a link to the video?

[spooky3]

7. here's a clip of part of it:

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/herman-cain-and-lawrence-odonnell-duke-it-out-on-the-last-word/

[golfguru]

12. Thanks, very interesting! n/m

[lbrtbell]

2. Am I the only one who thinks Cain isn't even black?

I mean, look at him...he looks like a middle-aged white guy with dark makeup on.

I still think the RW'ers made him up to appear black, so they could say, "See? We have a black candidate, too!"

[Major Hogwash]

3. Cain was pathetic, and his "999" tax plan is doomed from the getgo.

He's a brick short of a full load.

[Myrina]

4. I didn't watch the whole thing, but L O'D can be an asswipe too ...

... more and more lately, he gets into "Chris Matthews/Nancy Grace" mode where instead of asking a question and shutting up to hear the answer, he asks a question, which turns into a statement, which morphs into an accusation, which he then answers over the top of the person trying to respond to him.

Horrible journalism and irritating beyond belief.

[PatSeg]

5. I agree

There are times when I really like watching Laurence, but I changed channels when he got to the military service part. It was embarrassing to watch. He was very unprofessional and as much as I detest Herman Cain, I have to say he responded with more civility than most people would have.

Herman Cain has enough vulnerabilities that he could be exposed without the Bill O'Reilly interrogations. Laurence O'Donnell is better than that or at least he should be.

[spooky3]

8. I agree that O'Donnell can be a jerk, and isn't the best interviewer, but I didn't find Cain's

behavior (aside from the silly and pointless name repetition) particularly civil and certainly it wasn't honest.

For example, it was untrue (or at the very least disingenuous to suggest) that Hank Williams Jr. didn't name Obama, when Cain responded to the question about that story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Williams,_Jr

But LOD let him off the hook.

As another example, he lied about how old he was during the primary phases of the civil rights movement. LOD was correct about that and Cain shouldn't have lied, and should have acknowledged his mistake. If Cain were smart enough, he could have turned the question around to ask "why weren't YOU demonstrating for civil rights in the 1960s, or in the many years after that, since discrimination certainly isn't wiped out even today? Why should the burden of fighting for basic rights fall only on the shoulders of those being denied those rights?" or something like that.

As another example, the content of LOD's question about military service was an entirely legitimate one, though rudely posed IMHO. Instead of getting upset about the style of the question, Cain should have simply responded the way more seasoned politicos do.

If LOD blustered less, and listened more carefully to the weak answers he sometimes gets, he would actually be able to nail people like Cain on substantive issues more effectively. Ditto Chris Matthews. Ditto Martin Bashir on his rude interruptions when interviewing Suskind about his book.

[PatSeg]

9. Very good overview of the exchange

I can see now that O'Donnell ended up drawing too much attention to himself, which was a distraction from Cain and his many issues. If you're too busy listening to the sound of your own voice (or fake outrage), you're bound to miss some really good opportunities.

A really good interviewer says less and listens more. O'Donnell undoubtedly set out to make Cain look bad, but ended up making himself look like a rookie journalist, which is evident in the fact that I remember more of what O'Donnell said than what Cain said.

[spooky3]

13. Yes, that's a good point.

Katie Couric's interview with Palin was a perfect example of how to choose questions carefully and get very useful information about the candidate, while being highly professional and even likable.

Another favorite moment was when Ron Reagan was interviewing a RW gasbag and framed the capital punishment debate by asking "how many innocent people are you ok with executing?" I have never had a strong opinion on CP but not only did the RW gasbag squirm and end up completely unable to answer the question, this made me me rethink my own views.

[PatSeg]

16. Some of the best and most memorable

journalists throughout history were often laid back and low key. There is no substitute for asking the perfect question at the perfect time, of the right individual. These are the moments that may be played over and over again for decades, whereas interviews like O'Donnell/Cain will be forgotten next week.

[Hutzpa]

10. To be fair

I don't think Cain will want to show up on those shows, his handlers
wont have it.

[spooky3]

14. I do have to give him credit for showing up, given that he's now a front runner.

[Retrograde]

11. Same here: I actually give Cain some props

for getting a master's degree in computer science in the sixties, and if he parlayed that into a way of not getting sent to Vietnam, good for him. I still don't think he'd make a good president, and I'm not going to vote for a Republican anyway, but he at least seems like the most interesting of the current lot of GOP candidates.

[spooky3]

15. Yeah, but he needs to own that, if that's what he did. And it's one thing

for an anti-war candidate to have a history of not serving; IMHO it's a very different and hypocritical thing for most Republicans, who like to pride themselves on being "patriotic", "pro military", "strong (top down) leaders", and being more than happy to send other people or their kids into a war, etc., to have evaded service, if that is in fact what they did (a la Dick Cheney).

[Cigar11]

6. I think the best political play for the Democrats ...

is to just let the Conservatives keep talking.

[K8-EEE]

17. I know every teabagger on Tweety is all CHRIS...CHRIS...CHRIS...

Look Chris, come on Chris....Chris...Chris...

They're all idiots.

[r0nr0ntaiwan]

18. My take on the interview

I saw the interview. Cain didn't come across as overly "presidential", but Lawrence was clearly biased against Cain. I don't care what side of the fence you're on, it's ridiculous when someone calling themselves a "journalist" does this.

Lawrence was trying to fault Cain for not marching in protests in the 60s. Cain was right in saying that Lawrence didn't know what Cain was going through during those times. Why would Lawrence assume that Cain should be marching? Is he saying that all blacks should think alike and act alike? Doesn't this seem a bit racist?

Lawrence also claimed to be offended that Cain didn't volunteer for the Vietnam war, despite being told that his services would be more valuable as a civilian working in ballistics for the Navy. If Lawrence truly was offended, then Lawrence obviously voted for McCain rather than Obama in 2008. Hey, maybe he did. Since Lawrence was implying that a president in a time of war should have military experience (nice talking points, but throughout history, this has shown to be nothing more than just that... talking points... and meaningless ones, at that), he obviously thinks that Obama shouldn't be the President now. But, hey, maybe he does.

Shame on Lawrence. He did a bad job. This isn't how journalists should be.