The crazy thing about Herman Cain is how many times he changed his story about the harrassment in just first 6 hours yesterday. His story was constantly changing. The campaign was approached by Politico and told they'd have 10 days to respond to it before the story would come out. They did nothing. So then despite having 10 days to figure out the best response Herman Cain comes out and changes his story with each interview. The worst was Cain blatantly lying to the national press club at that interview. Then Cain shows he has no clue that China has had nuclear weapons for almost 5 decades. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_...uggests-china-doesnt-have-nuclear-capability/ The guy makes Sarah Palin look like she knows the issues. That's a hard task. His candidacy is such a huge joke. What does it say about the GOP voters that he's at the top of the polls?
If he had a legit campaign structure, they would have vetted him a long time ago and been prepared for this.
He doesn't obviously, he's a huckster who's here to sell books to the ultimate schmucks: delusional birther clowns who eat up Palin, Coulter etc books & speeches & etc; he's probably even less motivated than Palin insofar as he's probably smarter. Her inherent dumbness I think led her on for a few months until she figured out that making money was where fortune had led her. The funny thing is the "Beltway" press he's running "against" doesn't understand this, or is afraid to admit it because they think it will carictature themselves the way he caricatures them, so they're pretending like he's a real candidate too. He's not, duh. Nor was Bachman ever, and nor was Huntsman owing to his utter lack of insanity, despite the goofy pundit loved he received from the wistful David Broder-esque centrists.
I watched him last night on Fox News during their 5 o'clock panel. He did a round of questions with Charles Krauthammer, AB Stoddard and Steve Hayes. He looked bad. Charles K pushed him on the response to the sexual harassment issue and he looked bad and then AB pushed him on the abortion flip flop and he looked horrible. He never addressed her question of why he said his initial point and then offered up the possibility of extreme circumstances meaning he couldn't thoroughly answer. She looked puzzled and asked if he believed in exceptions and he said no. She asked him to clarify what he meant by extreme circumstances and he just said people took his original comment out of context and then turned back to the moderator. So bizarre.
It is bizarre. He has totally sympathetic journalists and still looks bad. They talking on Morning Joe this morning about how he gets treated really lightly by the media. They pointed out that if Palin had talked about China trying to acquire a nuclear program when they've had one since 1964 she would have been lambasted and slammed by the media. Yet Cain does it and the media basically ignores it. He doesn't know what right of return is, or anything else about foreign policy. It's a joke that the media doesn't put him over the grill and an even worse joke that he's the leading contender for the nomination.
gravitas? statesmanship? oratory? For the party of the moneyed elite it's like bizzaro world, their candidate can't show any of the advantages that it buys. (because it buys reasonableness? i.e. Huntsman)
Same for Newt, Ron Paul, Santorum, etc, which is why I said several months ago it was obvious Romney would win. He's like an adult playing (basketball) 21 with several midgets.
And he's not even playing well or very good at playing. Which is why he may have to struggle with Cain & Perry for quite some time. Of course, Perry's innate stupidity is really on overdrive so who knows.
Perry is the only concern Romney has. I think Mitt wants Cain to last a while to help keep the door closed on Perry.
In the debate where Anderson Cooper got him on negotiating with terrorists my jaw dropped at his response. Quick recap (all paraphrased): Cooper: In an interview with CNN before this debate you said you could see yourself making the hypothetical deal that Netanyahu made, trading 1000 terrorists from Guantanomo Bay if Al Qaeda had an American soldier hostage. Doesn't this go against the longstanding policy of not negotiating with terrorists? Cain: Well let's be clear. That was taken out of context. I do not recall Al Qaeda being mentioned at all. Cooper: (snickers a little) Well it was, I have the transcript. Cain: Well I don't recall that. Let me be clear. I will not negotiate with terrorists, period. Secondly, (because he says this in every answer "Secondly") what I was referring to was a complicated hypothetical. We need to respect the situation that Israel is in. Cooper: So you would or would not make the deal, 1000 for 1, that you said you would make moments before this debate? Cain: I would not negotiate with terrorists. Period. That's what I've always said. Cooper: Puzzled look...
Palin was the nominee of a major political party for Vice-President of the United States, so the bar is a bit higher in that instance, Cain is one of many running in race that is still months away from a real vote. If the press vetted him appropriately, they would also have to do it for the other candidates. And maybe members of Congress and other party officials. That would mean lots of work for a lazy press that only wants to deal with what is happening today, and some journalistic integrity to call out politicians. No major organization has really looked at Ryan's economics or Inhofe's science or McConnell's strategy or Bachmann's Constitutional interpretations. Or even Cain's illegal mismanagement of his campaign finances. (But a little sex is enough to get all the media types frothing.)
Cain WAS a likable guy, liked some of his ideas (not 9-9-9, paying an 18% sales tax in Texas didn't appeal to me), but the sex harassment scandal is unraveling his campaign and for all practical purposes he is done. Poor Perry, he is almost done, so unless Newt launches a last minute miracle, Romney is the Repub. candidate giving the Dems two choices to vote for a political liberal. and the rest of us (I am a Independent -Libertarian) not much to be excited about.
"@cbsjancrawford: Perry camp denies leaking Cain allegations--and points to Romney. "I wouldn't put it past them," spokesman Ray Sullivan tells @Rebecca_CBSNJ" Drama! Who is runnin' the high tech snitchin' lynch mob? Perry or Romney?
Cain was always done. He was never a serious candidate and never ran or will run a serious campaign. He's performed his chosen role brilliantly and will likely end up sucking from the FoxNews/Talk Radio teat after February. A cynical but likely close analysis of the situation:
It's not Romney that's for sure. It would be idiotic for him to torpedo Cain at this point. Cain will not win and he sucks the oxygen out of the room for Romney's rivals.
Probably sounds racist but: Does anyone else think that Cain will be in considerably more trouble with the GOP base if the women involved are white?
Herman Cain just signed his own death warrant. Not because he may or may not have sexually harassed anyone: Republicans will cry liberal conspiracy. And they don't believe "sexual harassment" exists anyway... just feminists crying wolf in their mind. Not because he couldn't get in front of a minor PR situation and get his story straight: The same thing happened with abortion, electric fence and even the 999, and Republicans didn't mind those. His lack of a professional response team makes him authentic to the Tea Party types. He is dead because he just accused Rick Perry -- not liberals -- of leading the "high tech lynch mob." He just cannot do it and hope to live out the day. The whole point of Herman Cain's existence for the Republicans is as evidence that (1) white Republicans are not racists, (2) Democrats are racists who keep black people brainwashed, (3) Democracts are resentful of successful black conservatives and will do anything to smear them. To this end, he can NEVER complain about Republicans being racist (see "******head" story and the "Perry=insensitive" thing which he had to walk back from) or being perpetrators of conspiracy against him. He must attribute all wrongdoings to liberals. Herman Cain just destroyed the entire reason that the GOP allows him to live as a human being. He's just another black guy with a grievance now. http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2...to-herman-cainand-america-video.php?ref=fpblg
