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I'm not sure what Bill O'Reilly's smoking this week, but during his Talking Points Memo on Tuesday's show, he seemed very enamored with wingnut Ted Nugent and his second appearance on CNN this Monday and his "straight talk" with anchor Piers Morgan.

So much for Fox trying to help the GOP with not being the "stupid party."

Note to Bill-O -- embracing the likes of Nugent isn't going to help the Republicans with their "messaging."

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During this week's Meet the Press, Herman Cain was asked about a statement he made during a campaign stop in Tennessee this week where he said this:

ROANE COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) - A Republican candidate in the heated race for the GOP presidential nomination was in Roane County on Saturday afternoon.

For Herman Cain, a trip to Tennessee was a trip back home.

The businessman, born in the state, is trying to get its support while he applies for the world's most powerful job.

His road to the White House rolls through Rocky Top, and he got plenty of support.

"I expected to be greeted warmly, but this has just been over the top at every stop that we've made," Cain said.

Talking in Roane County to Tea Party supporters at Roane State Community College in Harriman, the man who never shies away from a controversial statement, got his biggest reaction when talking about securing the country's border.

"When I'm in charge of the fence, we're going to have a fence, 20 feet high, with barbed wire. It's going to be electrified and there's going to be a sign on the other side that says it will kill you." Cain told supporters.

Here was Cain's defense on Meet the Press this week:

GREGORY: On immigration, you said at an event in Tennessee that you would build an electrified fence on the border that could kill people if they try to cross illegally.

CAIN: That's a joke, David.

GREGORY: It's a joke, so that was...

CAIN: It's a joke. That's a joke.

GREGORY: That's not a serious plan?

CAIN: That's not a serious plan.

GREGORY: OK.

CAIN: No, it's not.

GREGORY: You got a big laugh out of that, but that's not what you'd do.

CAIN: That, that's a joke. that's a joke. I've also said America needs to get a sense of humor. That was a joke, OK?

GREGORY: OK. So that's not serious.

I'd love for anyone to watch the video below of the event and tell me if Cain did not look like he was serious. Or for that matter if the crowd that was cheering him on thought he was.

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Well, no big surprise that Mike Huckabee decided he was enjoying his well-paying gig over at Fox News so much that he's not going to run for president in 2012. If we weren't sure before he made it official tonight, this appearance by Ted Nugent on his show just prior to his "big announcement" should have tipped everyone off.

Nugent was asked what he thought about the killing of Osama bin Laden and although Nugent praised the decision to go in and get him, he downplayed the importance of them finally killing him by saying it didn't really matter that much in the overall "war on terror." Anyone think he wouldn't have been dancing around praising Bush as the best president ever if this had happened under Bush's watch?

And for all the talk from Huckabee about being a Christian and a man of god, why is he allowing someone who spouts off the kind of inflammatory, violent rhetoric we heard out of Nugent here on his show? I think we all know the answer to that, but I find it pretty ironic after all of the yelping over the rapper Common coming to the White House, on the night that one of the Republican Party's supposed "front runners" was potentially going to announce whether he was running for president or not, he chooses to bring someone like Nugent on to spout this nonsense:

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As Steve Benen noted, Paul Ryan and the Republicans think we can't afford to raise taxes on the rich, but he had no problem defending the massive budget cuts they are proposing that harm the most vulnerable in society.

So, let me get this straight. In order to help protect the interests of our children, we have to cut Head Start, student loans, Title I grants (which help schools with kids who live in poverty), and nutritional aid for pregnant women and women with young children.

By making these cuts, Paul Ryan believes he's helping make children's futures brighter. Presumably, the House Budget Committee chairman also intends to teach kids about fire safety by handing them matches and lighter fluid, and encouraging them to play.

And as Think Progress pointed out, Ryan and the GOP are talking out of both sides of their mouth on border security as well -- Despite GOP Border Security First Stance, Paul Ryan Will Defend A $600 Million Spending Cut:

For past several years, Republicans have repeatedly argued that they will not support comprehensive immigration reform until the border is secured. In 2006, current Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) stated that putting millions of undocumented immigrants on a path to legalization without meeting certain border security benchmarks would place “the cart before the horse.” “We spent a lot of time, effort and money getting more security on the border. But we’re nowhere close to having the kind of secure borders that Americans want,” said Boehner.

So, it comes as a surprise that Republicans are rallying behind a bundle of sharp spending cuts that include slashing $600 million from border security and immigration enforcement funds. Today, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), chairman of the House Budget Committee, told Fox News’ Chris Wallace that he’s willing to defend each and every one of the spending cuts Republicans are proposing. [...]

Spending on immigration enforcement has soared since 2002 from $7.5 billion to over $17 billion in fiscal year 2010. Yet Republicans have continued to demand more resources be directed at the border and enforcing immigration laws as a prerequisite to giving comprehensive reform the slightest consideration.

And of course Wallace did nothing to challenge Ryan's assertion that getting the deficit under control and spending cuts are going to somehow create jobs.

Fulll transcript via Lexis Nexis below the fold.

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