Herman Cain is the quintessential Southern gentleman — the kind who pays you a compliment before saying, in the nicest way, that you don’t know what you’re talking about. In a recent interview on Fox’s Your World with Neil Cavuto, Cain responded to actor Morgan Freeman’s assertion that the Tea Party movement is “a racist thing.” Cain, who is a Tea Party favorite, first complimented Freeman's “great” acting skills. The GOP presidential hopeful then went on to say that, like most people who criticize the movement, Freeman probably hasn’t ever been to a Tea Party event, poor thing.

“I just think it’s sad that they’re so short-sighted in really understanding what the whole Tea Party citizen movement is about. I’m not offended by it because it doesn’t slow down my momentum. It doesn’t slow down the reaction that I get from people,” Cain said. “So name-calling is something that’s going to continue in this because they don’t know how to stop this movement. And this movement is making a big difference in politics because a lot of the traditional Democrats are moving to the center or moving over to vote for conservatives. They’re taking another look at a Herman Cain.”

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick also responded to Freeman’s comments on a local radio program, saying Tuesday that he’s not certain the Tea Party’s feelings toward Obama are based on race, but they are determined to see him serve just one term.

"I can tell you that it's clear from the evidence that the 'Heck with the interest of the common good and whatever we need to do to derail this presidency' has characterized some, if not all, of Tea Party behavior in the Congress of the United States, no doubt about it," Patrick said in an interview on the “Jim & Margery” radio show.

The Oscar-winning actor told CNN’s Piers Morgan in an interview last Friday that Tea Party members will do “whatever it takes” to make President Obama a one-term president.

“What underlines that? ‘Screw the country. We’re going to do whatever we can to get this Black man outta here,’” Freeman said.

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