S.E. Cupp: Media’s Priorities Off When Mourdock’s Comments Get More Coverage Than Libya
Two of the four co-hosts of The Cycle, S.E. Cupp and Krystal Ball, joined MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts on Friday morning to discuss the impact that inflammatory comments made by Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock could have on the presidential race. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Cupp said that “war on women” theme that Democrats promoted over the summer and early fall had little effect on the national race. Futhermore, Cupp chastised the national media for focusing more on his comments than the unfolding scandal surrounding President Barack Obama‘s handling of the September attack on the American consulate in Libya.
Roberts asked Cupp for her opinion on Mourdock’s comments, as well as those by other prominent Republicans like Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, which he said constitutes “really crazy stuff.”
“The whole year, the narrative of the war on women has been effective as a talking point, and it certainly set the scene for a great DNC, but if you look at the numbers it really didn’t work effectively on the ground,” Cupp said.
She said that former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been gaining in the polls over the course of this month, even as Democrats promoted anti-abortion comments by Republicans as a major election issue.
“I don’t really know that it’s going to cut through the clutter – and the clutter is the economy,” Cupp added.
Roberts challenged Cupp’s point that these comments are merely Democratic talking points, claiming that these and other comments by Republicans have created a firestorm.
“Well, the media creates the firestorm,” Cupp interjected.
“The media didn’t say these things,” Roberts countered.
“When the media devotes more attention to a story like Mourdock than it does to a story like Libya, than you know that our priorities are a little backwards,” Cupp concluded.
Ball disagreed, saying that these comments by Republicans have reminded women voters that Republican politicians are extreme about women’s health issues, and women may have forgotten that fact during the debates which did not focus on those issues as much as the economy.
Watch the clip below via MSNBC:
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