CNN Asks If Romney Is 'Kissing Off' Black Voters
The media is beginning to investigate
Mitt Romney's Mormon faith and its racial history, and CNN continued
the race narrative on Wednesday morning when it wondered if Romney is
simply writing off the African-American vote.
Apparently, CNN never got the memo that Herman Cain all but officially endorsed Romney on Tuesday. Citing a Daily Beast report
that Romney has no high-profile African-American endorsements or
staffers, CNN's Carol Costello went ahead and asked if the candidate was
"kissing off African-American voters". [Video below the break. Audio here.]
A presidential candidate would be foolish to write off any particular
voting bloc. Yahoo! News reporter Chris Moody admitted that President
Obama will overwhelmingly win the African-American vote, but added that
Romney will still reach out the black community. "I think over the next
several weeks and months you're going to see lots of black conservatives
coming out, coalescing around Mitt Romney," he maintained.
The Daily Beast piece cited unnamed political observers and Democratic
consultants among its sources for the story "African-Americans Nowhere
to Be Found in Romney's Orbit." It even quoted Lee Siegel's New York
Times piece with the racially-charged assumption "Mitt Romney is the whitest white man to run for president in recent memory."
A transcript of the segment, which aired on April 11 on Newsroom at 10:39 a.m. EDT, is as follows:
[10:39]
CAROL COSTELLO: Now that Rick Santorum is out of the race, Mitt Romney
shifts into attack Obama mode. But, as the Daily Beast reports, Romney
has attracted no notable black endorsers, surrogates, or high-ranking
campaign staffers. So, is Romney kissing off African-American voters?
Boris?
BORIS EPSHTEYN, Republican strategist, fmr McCain-Palin aide: No, he's
not. And here's the reason. Barack Obama simply has not delivered to his
African-American base. That's why his approval among African-Americans
is down almost 10 percent. Unemployment among African-Americans –
whereas the national number is 8.3, among African-Americans it's almost
15 percent. So there's unquestionably a worry among Democrats that
African-Americans A, will not support Barack Obama as much and B, will
not come out to the polls as strongly as they did in 2008. What Mitt
Romney needs to focus on is not hiring an African-American staffer or
getting an African-American surrogate, but delivering a message of how
he's going to help African-Americans. That's what matters most.
COSTELLO: Chris?
CHRIS MOODY, political reporter, Yahoo! News: In 2008, Barack Obama, I
believe, won 96 percent of the black vote, and I don't think people
expect him to drop below 90 here. I don't think Mitt Romney is ignoring
that vote. I think over the next several weeks and months you're going
to see lots of black conservatives coming out, coalescing around Mitt
Romney. And there's a growing chorus of them, more black Republicans
running for Congress and running for positions of office. But I think
certainly Mitt Romney could reach out to that community, and we'll see,
and I'm sure he will, before November.
-- Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center
