Radio host Thaddeus Matthews recently spoke with Republican congressional candidate Charlotte Bergmann in an interview that quickly devolved into insults and accusations of “tokenism.”

The video below was posted to YouTube on January 25th by someone who isn’t a Tea Party fan, to say the least, hence the inflammatory subtitles you’ll see running across the bottom of the footage and between segments.

Race as an issue is increasingly rearing its head in this year’s Republican primaries, with many now accusing Newt Gingrich of race-baiting by calling President Obama the “food stamp president” and calling for underprivileged children to get jobs as janitors. On tonight’s The Five, the panel discussed the race issue and came to a near unanimous conclusion that Gingrich wasn’t racist. Even Bob Beckel agreed on that one, but explained that his language did sound inflamed with subtle racial cues on occasion.

With a debate being held on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, it was inevitable that one of the candidates would compare himself to the legendary activists and, predictably, it was the candidate who had done it before: Rep. Ron Paul. Paul took a question from Juan Williams about the race disparity in the legal system and took the opportunity to ad that Dr. King opposed Vietnam, and thus may have also opposed the Iraq War.

South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Dick Harpootlian objected earlier in the week on MSNBC to today’s Republican primary debate. Unlike the rest of America, he was not just objecting to the concept of having the watch the same candidates of the past year or so talk about the same things for another two hours– he considered it objectionable to have a debate on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and “ignore” the holiday. On tonight’s Bill O’Reilly, Harpootlian began to make the case, but was promptly silenced…

First Lady Michelle Obama spoke with CBS This Morning host Gayle King to address some image issues she’s had to deal with during her husband’s time in the White House… and his possible role in that.

Yesterday, we told you how NBC’s Andrea Mitchell had reported that “the rap on Iowa” is that the state is “too white, too evangelical, too rural” to accurately reflect the nation as a whole when it comes to voters. RELATED: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell: The Rap On Iowa? ‘Too White, Too Evangelical, Too Rural’ The comment [...]

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell offered a rather blunt analysis of Iowa as she covered the state’s upcoming caucus race for Nightly News.

“The rap on Iowa,” she said. “It doesn’t represent the rest of the country… too white, too evangelical, too rural. Still here, politics are personal.”

First Lady Michelle Obama‘s frigid welcome at a NASCAR game was one of the week’s biggest highlights, but to some, it was the reception of the incident from the right that told the story. On today’s Chris Matthews Show, the panel used the NASCAR incident as a prism through which to analyze the Republican race and, noting that the Republican base– the kind that is comfortable with calling the First Lady “uppity”– is “xenophobic and nativist,” they wondered how such an extreme party could win a general election.

With a new woman, Karen Kraushaar, coming out today publicly to accuse Herman Cain of sexual harassment, Lawrence O’Donnell brought on MSNBC contributors Touré and Goldie Taylor to discuss today’s developments. Touré in particular noticed a pattern that may be developing with Kraushaar coming to the fore: all the women accusing Cain are white and blonde, which he argued feeds into an “instinctual fear” white men have of their women being accosted by black men.

Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart appeared on Morning Joe to discuss his recent article where he claimed Herman Cain‘s campaign was an insult to his mother, writing that people of color had to work “twice as hard” and Cain denigrated the high level of expectation and preparation demanded by his mom. He then suggested that white Republicans feared making critical comments towards Cain because of his race.

As the Herman Cain sexual harassment allegations continue to monopolize the news cycle, allegations, particularly from conservatives, that the allegations are race-based continue to fly. On CBS today, however, one prominent black conservative went out of her way to warn that race was not the way to fight these claims. In an interview with The Early Show, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice weighed in, expressing disgust at the entire idea of talking about race at all. “I don’t care much for incendiary language,” she sighed, warning that “it’s not good for the country” for anyone– left or right– to “play the race card.”

This afternoon on MSNBC’s Martin Bashir , guest Goldie Taylor, a columnist at TheGrio.com criticized Herman Cain for suggesting racism was no longer holding anyone back in America and said if the former Godfather Pizza CEO would shed his ethnicity today if it was possible. “If he could become what I would call the color of water, he would do it.”

On Wednesday night, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz‘s brought on Georgetown professor and author Michael Eric Dyson to discuss Herman Cain‘s assertion that race is a non-issue for his supporters. In his segment, Schultz refers to our exclusive audio recording (Thanks Ed!) of Cain’s appearance on Neal Boortz‘s show.

Herman Cain has taken with relish to the position of top tier candidate, launching a thousand rhetorical spears in his direction and answering them in record time. Today, it took only a few hours for him to respond to Cornel West and Harry Belafonte who, respectively, called for him to get off the “symbolic crack pipe” and stop being a “bad apple.” On Hannity tonight, Cain accused West of being “out of touch with the real world” and told Belafonte, “I left the Democratic plantation a long time ago.”

Can you make an educated guess concerning Rush Limbaugh‘s reaction to Lawrence O’Donnell‘s interview with Herman Cain last night? You’re right: He totally loved O’Donnell’s pointed questions about Cain’s lack of direct involvement in the civil rights movement, and his insinuations about Cain because of it. Just kidding. Obviously.

Comedian and former late night talk show host George Lopez visited the set of Fox & Friends to discuss the current GOP field, most notably businessman Herman Cain. Lopez started things off with a joke about New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (Should Governor Christie run? “Absolutely, we all should get in better shape.” Should he jump in the pool? “Not while I’m in there.”)

When talk turned to Cain, Lopez made some… observations.

Godfather’s Pizza magnate Herman Cain is having a moment, albeit a weird one, in which he has leapt into a statistical tie for 2nd place in the GOP primary race following a crushing victory in the Florida straw poll, but is also drawing fire for a perfectly-timed media byte in which he says African Americans have been “brainwashed” into voting for Democrats. On Thursday night’s AC360, former Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer and Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher debated Cain’s ascent, and that inflammatory remark.

Mike Tyson has some opinions about Sarah Palin. The following audio probably needs little more introduction for one familiar with the contents of Joe McGinniss‘s new book The Rogue, and yet no description could do the astronomical levels of insult in this clip justice. Attempting to compliment alleged Palin paramour (of several decades ago) NBA star Glen Rice as a “wonderful man,” Tyson found said tryst hilarious, and suggested Dennis Rodman as a more suitable mate for Palin instead. It only went downhill from there.

On Thursday night’s The Factor, host Bill O’Reilly discussed the Congressional Black Caucus’ rhetoric concerning the Tea Party movement. He played an audio clip of a particularly provocative comment made by Indiana Congressman André Carson (D) in which he told an audience in Miami that members of Congress sympathetic to the Tea Party would “love to see you and me… hanging on a tree.”

According to a Wonkette post Monday afternoon, GOP presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann asked a crowd at an event in Iowa, “Who likes white people?”

The post was tweeted by Politico’s Ben Smith, who noted that it was an “out-of-context line (it’s a band name),” but The CW’s Alana Russo quickly pointed out that the unedited version clearly demonstrates that Bachmann actually roused the crowd with the strange applause line “Who likes wet people?”

President Barack Obama last month approved the installation of Norman Rockwell‘s famous “The Problem We All Live With.” The painting depicts the racial tension at play as 6-year-old Ruby Bridges makes her way to William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, escorted by U.S. Marshals dispatched by President Eisenhower. Bridges is known as the first black child to attend a formerly all-white school following court-mandated integration. (She lives in New Orleans to this day, where she is now chair of The Ruby Bridges Foundation.)

Politico notes the painting’s place in the White House has never been mentioned by President Obama publicly. But evidently, it was Bridges herself — with the help of Louisiana’s Senator Mary Landrieu (D), Georgia Rep. John Lewis (D) and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (D) — who convinced the President to display the painting at the White House.

Actress and comedian Janeane Garofalo paid a visit to Keith Olbermann‘s Countdown to discuss her “theory” regarding GOP presidential hopeful (and Pokemon fan!) Herman Cain. Does it have to do with race? Why, yes! Of course!

Obama impersonator Reggie Brown‘s appearance at the Republican Leadership Conference reignited concerns about what constitutes appropriate racial humor and whether there is a double standard over what cannot be said on the left and the right. On last night’s The Big Picture on RT America, Mediaite Political Editor Tommy Christopher chatted with host Thom Hartmann about Brown’s performance, racial humor, and the difference between Eric Bolling and Bill Maher.

A short while ago, Drudge Report tweeted out this quote: “When my friend told me his wife was Caucasian, I felt my spirit wince.” Intrigued, I clicked the accompanying link to find a column the singer Jill Scott wrote for Essence about her feelings on interracial dating posted in March of 2010. At first, I wondered why on earth Drudge Report was interested in a year old column by a singer. Then it hit me; she’s going to the White House, isn’t she? Sure enough, Scott is the latest guest of the First Lady’s poetry event to come under fire from the Right.

Former radio talk show host and Tea Party favorite Herman Cain may be the first Republican 2012 candidate out of the gate this year, and as such may be the first African-American conservative to earn the title. While November 2012 is still more than a year away, Sean Hannity has already uncovered what he considers to be heinous racist rhetoric on the left, and Juan Williams, visiting the program tonight, appeared to wholeheartedly agree.