The Media Research Center’s Julia A. Seymour spends an April 9 post complaining that “The media have outdone themselves slinging mud” at President Trump’s Federal Reserve Board of Governors nominees Herman Cain and Stephen Moore. Seymour first defended Moore, huffing that media reports focused on Moore’s ugly divorce:
Moore holds a masters degree in economics, yet a USA Today editorial compared Moore to a 1980s soap opera doctor who hawked cough syrup in commercials. But the ugliest attacks of all were about “personal baggage” surrounding Moore’s divorce. The divorce details dominated many stories including roughly two-thirds of the words of a lengthy CNBC story, even though it had nothing to do with Moore’s suitability for the Federal Reserve.
But as the USA Today editorial pointed out, Federal Reserve governors “typically have Ph.D.s in economics and years of experience as bank regulators. Or they are high-level business executives, preferably in finance, with real world experience in how companies are affected by Fed policy” — none of which applies to Moore, who was an editorial writer before joining the right-wing PAC Club for Growth. Seymour’s portrayal of Moore’s divorce as irrelevant to his qualifications leaves out details of his vindictiveness toward his ex-wife, refusing to pay alimony and child support until a contempt ruling and threat of arrest forced him to — by which time the tab had surpassed $300,000. There’s also an outstanding $75,000 tax lien against Moore. His own personal money management issues don’t inspire confidence he can help manage the country’s monetary policy.
Seymour then defended Cain, first touting how he was “a successful businessman who turned around struggling Burger Kings before transforming Godfather’s Pizza from ‘financial ruin’ to profitability: — never mind that was decades ago — then deflected the years of sexual harassment allegations against him, huffing that “all but one were anonymous and unspecified.”
As we documented, the MRC was a fierce defender of Cain during his 2012 presidential campaign — MRC chief Brent Bozell is a close friend — and similarly fought to dismiss those harassment accusations, even though Cain has never disputed the fact that the National Restaurant Association reached monetary settlements with two women who filed complaints against Cain when he headed the group in the 1990s. The MRC’s Dan Gainor and Matt Philbin, meanwhile, smeared Cain’s accusers as gold-diggers seeking a book deal.
(In fact, the named accuser made no money from her claims. As far as we know, Gainor and Philbin have never apologized for never false, malicious attacks.)
Seymour did attempt a minor conflict-of-interest disclosure that Cain “served on the Business and Media Institute advisory board as its national chairman (Business and Media Institute is the former name of MRC Business),” but omitted that he is a personal friend of Bozell, or that the MRC’s “news” division, CNSNews.com, publishes Moore’s weekly column.
Cain ultimately withdrew from consideration for the Federal Reserve post, offering the ridiculous, face-saving excuse that the job didn’t pay enough. Last we checked, Seymour has had nothing to say about that.