Media Snubs Herman Cain's SOTU Speech

If you're hoping to watch Herman Cain deliver the Tea Party response to President Obama's State of the Union Address tonight, you're going to have to do it online, because none of the three major cable news networks tell the Atlantic Wire they plan to carry it. "We don't plan on taking it," an MSNBC spokesman says, and a CNN spokesman says much the same. Even conservative bastion Fox News says it won't broadcast the speech live, though it will stream it on FoxNews.com.

Chief Cain strategist Mark Block (yes, this guy) said he thought at least one network would be carrying the 7-minute speech, but it's unclear which one. The Atlantic speculates that networks are likely uncomfortable with the precedent that covering the Tea Party response would set, since it upends the traditional, two-party system that gives each side airtime. "Where do you draw the line? Occupy Wall Street? Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow?" (More Herman Cain stories.)