Inside the Beltway

NEWS AND OPINION:

ABLE CAIN

Among dozens of political reactions to President Obama’s State of the Union address comes this from Herman Cain, a Georgia businessman turned talk radio host, a 2012 Republican presidential hopeful and the preferred candidate of Ann Coulter.

“President Obama’s speech failed to address the growing and persistent ills that plague our nation, largely symptomatic of an out-of-control government and in need of serious remedy,” Mr. Cain says. “President Obama said ’investment.’ Americans heard ’more government spending.’ President Obama said ’job creation.’ We heard ’but not in the private sector.’ President Obama said it is time for civility. We heard ’for thee, not for me.’”

Mr. Cain adds, “The true state of our union is fragile, but the true will of the people is strong. The people will demand effective economic growth policies which were noticeably absent from the presidents speech.”

American Thinker contributor C. Edmund Wright has assembled a Top-10 list of reasons why Mr. Cain warrants support — he doesn’t speak “Washington drivel,” heed fancy strategists or answer to the media elite.

“And the number-one reason to support a Cain candidacy? It opens the door to a ticket of Cain and Haley Barbour in some order,” Mr. Wright observes. “Maybe this is not earthshaking, but imagine the ’racist Republican Party’ putting forth a national ticket including a drawling Mississippi good old boy and a black businessman who still speaks a smidgen of Ebonics. This would be the hope and change America thought they were getting in 2008.”

DEFENDING MEGYN

So. Do beautiful news anchors have credibility? According to Inside the Beltway readers, indeed they do. A new Indiana University study of sexy female TV news anchors and their effects on men was featured in Inside the Beltway, along with comments from Miller McCune magazine analyst Tom Jacobs who cited Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly and implied that Fox News viewers were misinformed.

The study, which referred to “anchorettes,” found men were distracted rather than informed by gorgeous anchors; the research also questioned whether provocative women were fit to report on serious topics. Readers were quick to praise Ms. Kelly’s prowess as a journalist, and point out that she has a law degree. Some also said that critics react to her the same way as they do Sarah Palin.

“As if the term ’anchorettes’ were not revealing of the bias of the Indiana study, Tom Jacobs’ ’Palinization’ of Megyn Kelly ices the cake,” says reader Pete Farris of Maryland. “Apparently he missed her skewering of Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik after the Tucson shooting. Many other interviewers could take lessons about asking follow-up questions from Ms. Kelly.”

Notes another reader in New Mexico, “The snarky remark stating that Fox News viewers are ill-informed is pulled out of thin air with no empirical evidence.”

SIGN OF THE TIMES

“Veteran’s Campaign Boot Camp” is the title of George Washington University’s upcoming two-day workshop for military vets who want to run for elected office at any level, conducted by fellow vets Sen. Michael B. Enzi, Wyoming Republican and Reps. Chris Gibson, New York Republican and Tim Walz, Minnesota Democrat.

There are currently 25 vets in the Senate and 90 in the House; during the 2010 midterm elections, 92 vets ran the Senate, 496 for the House. The event is open to the public, with a $200 admission; active duty members and vets pay $30. For information: www.veteranscampaign.org/enroll

UH-OLBERMANN

News of former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann just keeps mutating, like a little virus. Critics tell him to go back to sportscasting, fans pine for him to run for office. Meanwhile, the guessing game is under way about a possible replacement. At the top of the list? Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, should he abandon his sudden candidacy for mayor of Chicago.

“If it didn’t mean relocating — and, politically, this would not be a good time to move from Chicago — Emanuel might make a good replacement,” explains Chicago Tribune media writer Phil Rosenthal.

But wait. The name of Alec Baldwin, already in the parent company NBC’s stable as the ironically right-leaning lead character of “30 Rock,” has been bandied about. Celebrity observer Rob Shuter of Popeater.com swears Mr. Baldwin tops MSNBC’s “ultimate wish list” of Olbermann replacements, by virtue of his “long-term passions for politics.” Network spokesman Jeremy Gaines dismisses the report as “entertaining, but untrue.”

Last but not least: Mr. Olbermann has been suggested as the replacement for Regis Philbin, who is departing his job as an ABC morning talk host; this, insiders say, is a most unlikely prospect.

BUMPER PATROL

“Annoy a liberal. Thank a soldier.”

Bumper sticker spotted in Stafford, Va.

POLL DU JOUR

• 81 percent of likely Republican primary voters have a favorable impression of Mitt Romney.

• 15 percent say he is the front-runner they would “least like to see nominated” for a 2012 presidential run.

• 79 percent favor Sarah Palin; 33 percent say she is the candidate they would least like to see nominated.

• 77 percent favor Mike Huckabee; 13 percent say he is their least-favorite candidate.

• 70 percent favor Newt Gingrich; 23 percent say he is their least-favorite candidate.

Source: A Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,000 likely Republican primary voters conducted Jan. 18

• Squawks, snarls, snow shovels to jharper@washingtontimes.com