While morning and evening newscasts from all three broadcast networks in the last few days have focused on anti-Mormon sentiment within the Republican Party that may hinder Mitt Romney's bid for the presidency, FNC's Special Report with Bret Baier on Monday noted that self-identified Republican voters are substantially more willing to accept a Mormon President compared to Democrats.

FNC correspondent Carl Cameron observed that Democrats are "least tolerant" compared to Republicans and independents as he recounted the findings of a Quinnipiac poll:

But a Quinnipiac poll of voters taken this year says fully 68 percent of Republicans are comfortable with a Mormon President, as are 64 percent of independents. Democrats are the least tolerant, with 49 percent comfortable with a Mormon President.

By contrast, on Monday's Good Morning America, ABC correspondent Jonathan Karl cited an ABC News poll as he only recounted numbers for Republicans:

In an ABC News poll earlier this year, the overwhelming majority of Republicans said a candidate's faith should not be a factor, but 20 percent – that's one out of every five – said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate if he is Mormon.

On the previous night's World News Sunday, ABC's David Kerley had similarly resisted divulging the views of Democrats:

DAVID KERLEY: We crunched the numbers from four years ago. With nearly half of the Republican primary defining themselves as evangelicals, only 20 percent of them voted for Romney.

…

DAVID MUIR: David, you mentioned where evangelicals stand, but Americans as a whole, have they moved at all, in your opinion, on the Mormon faith?

KERLEY: They have. The Republicans have, as well, David. In fact, our latest poll showed about 20 percent of those leaning Republican say they are less likely to vote for a Mormon, but, back in 2008, that number was 36 percent, so it certainly has dropped significantly. But for Romney, it's those evangelicals he's got to deal with.

On Monday's The Early Show on CBS, correspondent Whit Johnson noted polling on Republican voters from four years ago after Mitt Romney gave a speech addressing his religious beliefs, and more recently:

Polls after that speech showed that 52 percent of Republican primary voters said that most people they knew would vote for a Mormon. [52 percent say yes, 33 percent no] Fast forward four years, and not much has changed, with about half saying the same. [45 percent say yes, 36 percent no]

On Sunday's Today show, after noting that in 2007 Romney had to reassure "conservative doubters," NBC's Mike Viqueira showed on screen the poll numbers on the views toward Mormons of several religious groups, as he highlightd the views of evangelical Christians:

A recent survey shows about a third of white evangelicals would be less likely to support a candidate if they were Mormon. Despite the efforts of Romney and others, those numbers have hardly changed since the last campaign.

Below are transcripts of relevant portions of several stories from ABC, CBS, NBC and FNC from Sunday and Monday:

#From the Monday, October 10, Good Morning America on ABC:

JONATHAN KARL: In an ABC News poll earlier this year, the overwhelming majority of Republicans said a candidate's faith should not be a factor, but  20 percent – that's one out of every five – said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate if he is Mormon. And, George, on Sunday, both Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain were directly asked if Mormons are Christians, and both of them declined to answer that question directly.

#From the October 9, World News Sunday on ABC:

DAVID KERLEY: We crunched the numbers from four years ago. With nearly half of the Republican primary defining themselves as evangelicals, only 20 percent of them voted for Romney.

…

DAVID MUIR: David, you mentioned where evangelicals stand, but Americans as a whole, have they moved at all, in your opinion, on the Mormon faith?

KERLEY: They have. The Republicans have, as well, David. In fact, our latest poll showed about 20 percent of those leaning Republican say they are less likely to vote for a Mormon, but, back in 2008, that number was 36 percent, so it certainly has dropped significantly. But for Romney, it's those evangelicals he's got to deal with.

#From the Monday, October 10, The Early Show on CBS:

WHIT JOHNSON: This issue has followed Romney since his first run for President in 2008. He attempted to quell the concerns then with a speech on faith in America.

MITT ROMNEY: Let me assure you that no authorities at my church or any other church for that matter will ever exert influence on presidential decisions.JOHNSON: Polls after that speech showed that 52 percent of Republican primary voters said that most people they knew would vote for a Mormon. [52 percent say yes, 33 percent no] Fast forward four years, and not much has changed, with about half saying the same. [45 percent say yes, 36 percent no]

#From the Monday, October 10, NBC Nightly News:

CHUCK TODD: Rommey, who addressed the issue of his faith in the last campaign, said such attacks damage the Republican Party.

MITT ROMNEY, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Poisonous language doesn't advance our cause. It's never softened a single heart, nor changed a single mind.

TODD: At issue for evangelical Christians is how Christ fits into Mormonism. While Mormons share a belief in salvation through Jesus, their own scriptures – the Book of Mormon – expands on the fundamental Christian teachings of the Bible.

RICHARD LAND, THE ETHICS AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY COMMISSION: Anybody who reads the Book of Mormon or reads the teachings of the Mormon Church, if they're an orthodox Christian, they're going to come away saying this is not apostles creed, nicine (sp?) creed, standard, boiler plate Christianity.

#From the Sunday, October 9, Today show on NBC:

MIKE VIQUEIRA: It isn't the first time Romney has had to defend his faith. As a candidate in 2007, trying to assure many of the same conservative doubters.

MITT ROMNEY, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I'm fortunate to become your President, I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause, and no one interest.

VIQUEIRA: A recent survey shows about a third of white evangelicals would be less likely to support a candidate if they were Mormon. Despite the efforts of Romney and others, those numbers have hardly changed since the last campaign.

#From the Monday, October 10, Special Report with Bret Baier on FNC:

CARL CAMERON: The pastor defends his views, citing a year old survey of 1,000 Protestant pastors taken by an evangelical group.

PASTOR ROBERT JEFFRESS, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH DALLAS: Three out of four agreed with the position that Mormonism is not Christianity, Mormons are not Christians. This is no new news.

CAMERON: But a Quinnipiac poll of voters taken this year says fully 68 percent Republicans are comfortable with a Mormon President, as are 64 percent of independents. Democrats are the least tolerant, with 49 percent comfortable with a Mormon President.

As NewsBusters reported, Harry Belafonte and Princeton Professor Cornel West said some disgraceful things about Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain Monday.

Appearing on Fox News's "Hannity" show, Cain replied, "The only tactic that they have to try and intimidate me and shut me up is to call me names" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Now you said perhaps somewhat you were a bit of a prophet, looking into your crystal ball, that, you know, now that you are surging in the polls you said there's a bulls-eye on your back. I saw tonight that Harry Belafonte said that Herman Cain is a totally false bad apple in the black community. And Cornel West said the following. I want you to watch this.

HERMAN CAIN, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Alright.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN: What do you make of what Herman Cain said? He did acknowledge that racism exists, but he says, you know, it doesn't matter that much. That more of it is about actually working hard and making opportunities happen for yourself.

CORNEL WEST, Class of 1943 university professor, Princeton University: Well one, black people have been working hard for decades. I think he needs it get off the symbolic crack pipe and acknowledge that the evidence is overwhelming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Get off the symbolic crack pipe? You are a totally false bad apple in the black community? Don't you find those things offensive?

CAIN: Yeah, I do find them offensive. Okay. Let me respond to Professor West first. That's the difference between someone who has spent their life in academia and someone who has spent their life in the real world. I've been in the real world. He's been in academia. So he's back on this symbolic stuff. As far as Harry Belafonte’s comment, look, I left the Democrat plantation a long time ago. And all that they try to do when someone like me — and I'm not the only black person out there that shares these conservative views — the only tactic that they have to try and intimidate me and shut me up is to call me names, and, and this sort of thing. It just simply won't work. Professor West has been in academia too long. He is out of touch with the real world.

Readers are advised to review "CNN Hosts Leftists Saying Cain Should Get Off 'Crack Pipe'" and "Belafonte Attacks Cain: 'A Bad Apple' 'So Denied Intelligence' 'I Don’t Think Prayers Were Created For Him'" to better understand the level of vitriol Cain was defending himself against.

Just imagine what he'll have to put up with from folks like these if he actually wins the nomination and faces Barack Obama next November.

In a "Joy Behar Show" segment scheduled to be aired on HLN Friday, singer Harry Belafonte attacked Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain in potentially the most disgraceful manner of any media member to date.

While his host and others on the set laughed, Belafonte called Cain "a bad apple" that was "so denied intelligence…I don’t think prayers were created for him" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

JOY BEHAR, HOST: Now, let me interrupt you for a second, because now you have someone like Herman Cain.

HARRY BELAFONTE: Who?

BEHAR: Herman Cain?

BELAFONTE: Herman Cain?

BEHAR: You know who he is. [Laughs] And he doesn’t believe that racism holds anyone back in any way now. I mean, you know, what do you think about that statement?

BELAFONTE: Well, you know, it’s very hard to comment on somebody who is so denied intelligence…

[LAUGHTER FROM BEHAR AND OTHERS IN THE STUDIO]

BELAFONTE: … and certainly someone who is as denied a view of history such as he reveals. He knows very little. Because he happened to have had good fortune hit him, because he happened to have had a moment when he broke through, the moment someone blinked, does not make him the authority on the plight of people of color. […]

BELAFONTE: I just want to make this observation about Herman Cain. The Republican Party, the Tea Party, all those forces to the extreme right have consistently tried to come up with representation for what they call black, what they call the real negroes, and try to push these images as the kinds of voices that America should be living through. So we got Condoleezza Rice, we got Colin Powell. I know they’re heroes for some people, but for a lot of us they’re not.

And Herman Cain is just the latest incarnation of what is totally false to the needs of our community, and the needs of our nation. I think he’s a bad apple, and people should look at his whole card. He’s not what he says he is.

BEHAR: No. I don’t think he has a prayer anyway in the election actually.

BELAFONTE: I don’t think prayers were created for him.

[LAUGHTER FROM BEHAR AND OTHERS IN THE STUDIO]

What the heck is going on in this country when black conservatives are held in such contempt by the Left that musicians can go on a nationally televised program created by a so-called news network and speak so disgracefully about the object of their derision while the host and others in the studio laugh with approval?

I'm not sure what's worse – the invective spewed by this disgusting man or the fact that representatives of CNN reacted the way they did to his comments without any concern for how it might be received.

I sincerely hope the folks at CNN and Time Warner are proud of what they're going to air Friday night, and that they realize likely 50 percent of the nation will be shocked and appalled by it.

Yesterday, in a different post about long-term unemployment, I wrote: "Of all the reality-denying aspects of Obama administration press coverage, the usually implicit but occasionally explicit assertion that he and his people are just helpless bystanders in an economic calamiity is easily among the most annoying."

Bloomberg's Mike Dorning triggered the annoyance meter today with an "analysis" contending that President Obama's move from being a "conciliator" (quoting an alleged "expert") to supporting "populist causes" and sympathizing with the anti-capitalist Occupy Wall Street assemblage "may provide some inoculation" against the continuing bad economy — as if Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the their party bear no conceivable responsibility for current economic conditions. Here are the first seven paragraphs of Dorning's dreck (bolds and numbered tags are mine):

---

Taxing Millionaires Casts Dems as Class ‘Warriors’

Democrats have turned to an agenda that Republicans are calling class warfare, as President Barack Obama presses a “Buffett Rule” to tax the rich, Senate Democrats offer a millionaires’ tax instead and party leaders fulminate against Bank of America’s $5 debit-card service fee.

Campaigning for re-election, Obama welcomes the charge.

“Then guess what? I’m a warrior for the middle class,” he declared Sept. 22, standing at a Cincinnati bridge linking the home states of the Republican leaders of the House and Senate and setting a new course for his own party. [1]

“The president tried to be the great conciliator and suffered politically for it,” [2] said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California and a former adviser to Republican Senator John McCain. “The message this fall is no more Mr. Nice Guy.”

As the Occupy Wall Street protests that have gained strength in recent weeks expanded to Washington, Obama offered a measure of solidarity, saying in an Oct. 6 news conference the demonstrators were “giving voice to a more broad-based frustration about how our financial system works.” [3]

“Americans understand that not everybody has been following the rules,” said Obama, who stopped short of endorsing the protests. “These days a lot of folks that are doing the right thing aren’t rewarded, and a lot of folks who aren’t doing the right thing are rewarded.” [4]

The populist causes Obama and his Democratic allies are beginning to champion may provide some inoculation against the broad public frustration with the economy that is shaping the contest for the White House in 2012. [5]

Notes:

[1] — This would be the Brent Spence Bridge connecting Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. In his speech, by saying "Mr. Boehner, Mr. McConnell, help us rebuild this bridge," Obama deceptively gave the crowd the impression that passing his American Jobs Act would speed along planning for and construction of a replacement. It isn't so. The Associated Press's James Kuhnhenn inexcusably attempted to cover the President's keister by claiming that the statement was "symbolic."

[2] — Other than the golf game with House Speaker John Boehner, Vice President Joe Biden, and Ohio Governor John Kasich, does anyone remember the alleged "great conciliator" stage? Me neither.

[3] — Unfortunately, the financial system works as it does largely because of how the Obama White House administered the Troubled Asset Relief Program and because of last year's Dodd-Frank "financial reform" bill. These origins perfectly explain why Herman Cain is exactly right when he says that the Occupy Wall Street crowd should change its location to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

[4] — This laughable contention comes from an administration which has been the laboratory for corrupt crony capitalism exemplified by Solyndra, LightSquared, and so many other enterprises which have milked their White House connections to raise capital and receive favors instead of competing in the free market.

[5] — The idea that a White House which has exhibited unprecedented authoritarian tendencies can now turn around and say, "Hey, it's not our fault, because we couldn't control the greedy bankers. Reelect us so we can take it to them" seems like a herculean stretch. But, given enough establishment press "journalists" like Mike Dorning, you don't want to totally rule out the idea that it might just work.

It would seem closer to the truth that the longer Occupy Wall Street continues, and the longer and more obviously the Democratic Party expresses solidarity with it, the more likely is it that:

• The general public will come to see that it has turned into the mother of all astroturf operations.
• The extremist signs, mindless chants, and unacceptable behavior which the press is working so hard to cover up will become visible to much of the relatively disengaged, who will be turned off bigtime.
• The party will start losing (even more) independents in droves.

So, as a caller into Rush's guest host Mark Beling said today (paraphrasing), "Now that the Democrats have express their solidarity, I hope they keep going with this until Election Day 2012."

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.

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