Herman Cain's now infamous and surreal "smoking" web ad, (which some people interpret as a giant f*ck you to political correctness), has picked up some cachet (and funny parodies) this week, but some of the old guard establishment was pretty pretty horrified, none more so than some of network television's most senior (and respected) broaddcasters, CBS' Bob Schieffer and NBC's Tom Brokaw.
On Face the Nation on Sunday, Schieffer demanded to know what was the point of the ad featuring Cain's chief-of-staff Mark Block, firing up a cigarette, before the camera focuses intently on Cain slowly building towards a shit-eating grin.
This article appears in Oct 27 – Nov 2, 2011.