Herman Cain, Condoleezza Rice, and More Sunday Talk

Gingrich’s Big Endorsement

Bad news, Romney and Huntsman: New Hampshire’s most influential newspaper, the Manchester Union Leader, threw its weight behind GOP hopeful New Gingrich. But would the candidate have landed the big nod had he not seen a huge surge in the polls the last few weeks? Andrew Cline, editorial page editor of the paper, spoke to Candy Crowley of State of the Union to assure her that while Gingrich is “by no means the perfect candidate,” he wasn’t picked because he’s this week’s winner of the GOP popularity contest.

Huntsman: US-Pakistan Relationship ‘Merely Transactional’

First Kris and Kim, now the U.S. and Pakistan? After Saturday’s NATO airstrike allegedly killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers, Huntsman urged Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace to acknowledge the realities of American-Pakistani relations, arguing that Americans’ expectations for the relationship should be “very very low”—so low, in fact, that the U.S. may need to “look for a new partner in the region” to assist in its "robust counter-terror effort."

Herman Cain’s TSA Takeover

On State of the Union, Herman Cain explained why his proposed TSA “targeted identification” policy, which would find patterns associated with terrorists, is nothing like “driving while black”—or rather, flying while Middle Eastern.

Why Is Washington So Divided?

Easy: the media. That is, according to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who took to This Week to argue that the “very very tense” nature of Washington is exacerbated by the speed and fervency of the news media. Powell asserted that current news media culture of “chatter” filled with “commenter’s commentating on commentators,” making it more difficult for politicians to get down to business.

Norquist: The 13^th Supercommittee Member

As an antitax activist and proponent the infamous and widely signed Taxpayer Protection Pledge Grover Norquist has been catching a lot of heat from Democrats after the failure of the supercommittee on Monday. Supercommittee member John Kerry even denounced him as the silent 13th member of the supercommittee, as six of the committee’s members were bound by their signed pledge to oppose tax increases. But are those who signed starting to defy their contracts? Meet the Press’ s David Gregory asks Norquist whether or not the revenue increases proposed by Republican members of the Supercommittee signal a change in allegiance.

Media and Newt: It’s Complicated

He’s in, he’s out, he’s the frontrunner, he’s toast…so which is it? After GOP hopeful Newt Gingrich’s recent advance in the polls, many in the media have been forced to eat crow for counting the candidate out after the exodus of several key campaign staffers in early June. On Reliable Sources, Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift explains the media’s ‘love-hate relationship’ with Gingrich: While journalists admire his ability to stray from the sound bytes, they don’t exactly love his tendency to “belittle” their profession.

Condoleeza Reflects on Katrina

Where was Rice when Hurricane Katrina hit? New York City, hoping to enjoy a little R&R. On a Face the Nation roundtable about her new memoir, No Higher Honor, the former Secretary of State recounted the moment she realized that her duties during the disaster went beyond those explicitly defined by the state. As the highest-ranking African-American in the administration, Rice felt the need to represent the President not just as a man who had “compassion” for the victims of the catastrophic storm, but was sincerely concerned and sensitive about an event that bore a “tragically black face.”