Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin appeared on "Freedom Watch" with Andrew Napolitano Thursday night on the Fox Business Network, and defended her comments calling Herman Cain the "flavor of the week" in the GOP primary and alluded to her 2012 plans.
"Take Herb Cain. Look at why he's doing so well right now. I guess you could say, with all due respect, he’s the flavor of the week," Palin said Tuesday on Fox's "On The Record" with Greta Van Susteren. Cain responded the next morning on CBS' "The Early Show" by acknowledging that he may be the "flavor of the month," but added that voters will find "more to that flavor than meets the eye."
Palin defended her comments Thursday night, saying that they weren't controversial at all. "What the media tends to do is, kinda gin up controversy, and propel this flavor of the week. I'm not saying that Herman Cain is the flavor of the week. I'm one of his biggest fans, and I would never dismiss him or speak negatively about him."
She then continued to blame the media. "I'm saying that in this fast-moving 24/7 news cycle that is our world today that the media does have to gin up some controversy and intrigue so that viewers tune in," Palin said. "And there's a lot of competition in the media world in this quasi-reality show it seems that's being created in the GOP primary. It's just the nature of the beast right now, and I think anybody would be hard-pressed to argue against what I observed."
She said that Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) were also the "flavor of the week," and the same thing could happen to former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, whom she called "Mr. Johnson."
Palin was cryptic about her 2012 plans, which she has to make a decision about in the next month because of filing dates for state presidential primaries. "I hold my political cards close to my chest. I've certainly learned lessons along those lines and I'm going to continue to do that until I'm ready to make an announcement," she said Thursday. "This is a serious decision and I'm engaged in serious deliberations."
She concluded, "So within the next 24 hours don't look for me to make a decision."
