Fox News has been very vocal in defending GOP candidate Herman Cain ever since the first sexual harassment allegations against him emerged. So it's no surprise that Fox & Friends responded to the news of another Cain accuser today by attacking the woman and trying to discredit her.
Yesterday, the Atlanta Fox affiliate aired an interview with an “Atlanta businesswoman,” Ginger White, in which White claims that she's had a 13-year affair with Cain. An article on the Fox affiliate's website says that Cain responded to the story by saying that “he 'knew Ginger White' but said these are 'more false allegations.' ”
Fox & Friends led with the story today, with co-host Steve Doocy saying, “Once again, Herman Cain is our top story,” and co-host Brian Kilmeade responding, “For not a good reason.” After co-host Gretchen Carlson gave the background on the story, Doocy rushed to make it “clear” that his viewers should be suspicious of White:
DOOCY: This is a woman who has had a number of evictions -- she's got a troubled financial past, we should make that clear right up front. She's declared -- she's been bankrupt, numerous evictions in DeKalb County, Georgia. Once, she was sued successfully for libel by a former business partner, and her lawyer says she's struggled to find work and that Mr. Cain gave her money at least once.
Doocy's knee-jerk attack on White is ironic, since the reason White broke her silence in the first place was to avoid exactly that kind of smear. According to the Fox Atlanta report:
White was worried a political tsunami was headed her way. So, she decided to head it off, by confessing she was involved in a 13-year-long affair with presidential hopeful Herman Cain.
[...]
She says she planned on keeping the relationship a secret while Cain made his run for the White House until she and her family watched reports of different women who had accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment. She says she was not surprised by the allegations, but was bothered by the way Cain fought back, attacking the woman, including during an appearance on Late Show with David Letterman.
“It bothered me that they were being demonized, sort of, they were treated as if they were automatically lying, and the burden of proof was on them,” White said. “I felt bad for them.”
It remains to be seen whether or not White's allegations are true, but what is “clear” is that Fox is still determined to defend Cain and attack his accusers at any cost. Earlier this month, Fox & Friends brought on Peter Doocy to attack Cain accuser Karen Kraushaar as a "serial complainer" who had “problems at work.” On his radio show, Fox host Sean Hannity said of accuser Sharon Bialek's allegations: “There's nothing here. The lady didn't even work for the company.” He was hardly the only Fox figure who thought so -- Dick Morris called Bialek a “gold digger” and said he “look[ed] forward to her spread in Playboy.”
And Fox's Andrea Tantaros -- who is a professional crisis consultant -- engaged in some of the network's worst victim blaming, blasting one of Cain's accusers for “hav[ing] dinner and drinks with a married man” and calling one of women a “scam artist” for having an “illegitimate child.”
So it's not shocking that Doocy wanted to “make [it] clear right up front” that Cain's latest accuser shouldn't be trusted.
Watch: