Posted on 10/06/2011 1:09:44 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Herman Cain's star is rising. The unexpected Florida straw poll smash victory by Cain has led to voters taking a second look at the former pizza entrepreneur.
A new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows that Cain has risen into a tie for second place with the falling Rick Perry -- each claiming a 16 percent share of GOP voters.
A solid 25 percent of GOP voters just like Gov. Mitt Romney. He seems to have a solid base that neither rises nor falls.
The other 75 percent of GOP voters are in search of a candidate with whom to fall in love.
And surely there's a lot to love about Herman Cain. He talks bluntly but with a kind, grandfatherly edge. An incredibly successful CEO of Godfather's Pizza, he hails from Atlanta, the mecca of the old black elites, and is a graduate of Morehouse, the black Harvard.
He was chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He has an evangelical flavor but a gentler, Georgian drawl to Perry's Texas brawl. Cain is also, naturally, utterly untaintable by charges of racism that still hang about the Southern evangelicals in the GOP base, at least in the minds of New Englanders.
Cain is unashamed to talk about God, but he talks now mostly about his 9-9-9 economic plan.
A 9 percent federal sales tax is arguably unconstitutional, and almost certainly in reality a very bad idea for conservatives: Hidden taxes make it easier for government to grow.
Cain bashed President Obama for failing to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, but has never clearly said whether he supports a federal marriage amendment.
He brags that he has never held public office, but that's not for want of trying.
He ran for president briefly in 2000, but dropped out and endorsed Steve Forbes.
In 2004, he lost a Republican primary for the GOP senate seat opened up by the retirement of Zell Miller.
He's been married for 43 years and has two children and three grandchildren. He is an associate minister at Antioch Baptist Church North -- the church he joined at age 10.
He can sing gospel. He survived stage 4 liver and colon cancer.
He has given some fairly bad early interviews that nobody paid attention to when he was under 5 percent in the polls. At the American Principles Project's Palmetto Freedom Forum over Labor Day, he unconcernedly refused to answer many reporters' questions about Afghanistan because he said he didn't know the answers. He couldn't have enough information until he became president to decide his foreign policy, he said, but promised to do what the generals advised.
A friend told me that an early interview on the pro-life issues was not posted because it seemed so embarrassing to Cain, who couldn't remember the name of an organization he was willing to defund.
He refused to sign the Susan B. Anthony pro-life pledge because he said he objected on federalist grounds to a federal fetal pain protection bill.
He refused to sign the National Organization for Marriage's marriage pledge for, well, no particular reason he could articulate. Something about it being Congress' job to propose legislation, not the executive.
In an interview at the APP debate in South Carolina, Cain personally told me he could support a federal marriage amendment, but in his first debate in New Hampshire he seemed to have joined Ron Paul in opposing a federal marriage amendment, saying he would leave the issue up to the states.
He is our Obama. An untested candidate with a golden tongue; a blank slate upon whom we can hang our dreams --and fantasies.
Social conservatives, be wary.
“He refused to sign the Susan B. Anthony pro-life pledge because he said he objected on federalist grounds to a federal fetal pain protection bill.”
If you read my posts, you will see I am as anti-abortion as any poster here. But where in the constitution does congress get the power to regulate fetal pain? The police power (including regulation of morals) was clearly not delegated to the Federal Government in the Constitution. Abortion is quite clearly a matter for the states absent a constitution amendment giving the feds the power to get involved.
The Federal Government should just butt out of abortion altogether. I don’t believe a constitutional amendment authorizing federal regulation of abortion would ever pass. Thus, this is an issue we have to win on a state-by-state basis with incremental measures today and altogether after Roe vs Wade (a huge federal intrusion into state police power) is reversed.
Do you think this is a fair article?
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I would agree with that but still, there is this video that makes me question Cain...where exactly is he. What do you get from it? (starts at the 3:47 mark)
It’s 2011 and special interest groups are still interested in fantasy Constitutional amendments and pledges? No wonder why we aren’t making any progress.
Herman Cain appears to be the “flavor of the week.” I know very little about him, but I read somewhere that he made some very unconservative statements over the last decade. Before people flame me, I don’t know whether it’s true or not. I’d like to learn more. You seem quite talented at finding and posting articles, and even though we don’t agree eye to eye on Perry, please see what you can dig up on Herman Cain. Where’s the evidence that he’s been consistently conservative over an extended period of time?
Found this on another site today w/sources:
Later in the day, supporters of his who said no to this race baiting actually started researching him. The more they did, the worse he looks.
He says he believes in 2nd amendment but then says in same interview that gun legislation is a states rights issue. http://www.outsidethebeltway.c...
He’s also putting out there he was associated with the Fed for only one year. He was Deputy Chairman prior to that. Why hide that? Not to mention, why doesn’t he want to audit the Fed? Here he is saying this: http://www.economicpolicyjourn...
He’s also pro affirmative action even putting this on his web site when he was running for Georgia Senator. He also supported race-based quotas for college admissions and is for Fed intervention in the workplace on behalf of blacks and minorities. In his 2004 Senate race, he was even endorsed by Rainbow PUSH’s Southeastern Operations Director.
He backed the Wall Street bailout, or according to Cain, the “recovery plan,” as he called it on his radio show. Cain wrote that nationalizing banks “is not a bad thing.” He even went as far as criticizing opponents of the bailout, calling them “free market purists”
Cain also feels Bush was too conservative.
Can find the last few paragraph’s info here: http://christiancitizens.org/h...
Additionally, wondering where the stories are where he said he would not support Rick Perry if he was the nominee but he would support Romney who is certainly the more Liberal of the two also. Could it be because Romney owns Clear Channel Communications and could make or break Cain’s radio career?
If he’s in it to win it, why isn’t he attacking the front runner, Romney? Oh yeah, also supported Romeny in 2008.
He jumped on Perry before he had any information as to what really happened. He joined Sharpston and the libs, pulling the race card to advance himself, then when even Perry’s own critics defended him, Cain tried to back paddle and clean it up.
Too late. He showed himself.
“All I said was the mere fact that that word was there was ‘insensitive.’” Cain responded. “That’s not playing the race card. I am not attacking Gov. Perry. Some people in the media want to attack him. I’m done with that issue!”
Herman Cain lied. Here are Cain’s actual quotes:
1. And since Governor Perry has been going there for years to hunt, I think that shows a lack of sensitivity for a long time of not taking that word off of that rock and rename the place. It’s just a basic case of insensitivity.”
2. “For him to leave it there as long as he did before I hear that they finally painted over it is just plain insensitive to a lot of black people in this country,” Cain said.
Cain is doing this for political gain but worse he’s a race baiter plain and simple. It’s sad and disappointing.
All conservatives be wary. Herman Cain may be able to talk a good game, but he has never played it. We have no idea how he would do in elective office.
Romney and Perry are easy to criticize because their records expose their weaknesses and mistakes. Cain surely has weaknesses, and he would have made mistakes in governing if he had ever done any of it. But he has no record for us to judge him by.
BTW, I have studied his 9-9-9 tax plan, and it’s unconstitutional. Unless we also get a constitutional amendment that limits income taxes to 9% of income, no way!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2788319/posts?page=1
I just read the full article linked at the thread above. It’s a wonderful, heartfelt piece and if you haven’t read it, please do.
I bet that if you were to do extensive polling, and if people told the truth, you’d find that most conservatives have an issue or two where they aren’t towing the conservative line.
So, to reject any particular candidate because they aren’t perfectly conservative or they’ve taken a position in times past that wasn’t perfectly conservative is inane, to say the least.
Considering facts in this article, could Sarah Palin have put Herman Cain on her ticket?
Frankly, I'm astonished by the FReepers who jump from candidate to candidate like butterflies flitting from flower to flower. Bottom line: I doubt most FReepers know more than a thing or two about Herman Cain. Governor Perry was (justifiably) ran through a conservative wringer. Why should Herman Cain get a pass simply because some FReepers think he's the One?
I can see you have taken your Perry shilling to a whole ‘nother level - attacking Herman Cain to do Perry’s dirty laundry.
It was good, thanks for the link. The very last hit me, as small as it may sound...
“Wouldn’t it be nice to have a President who you didn’t have to worry was ruining the country every single minute?”
Since Obama has been in office I actually feel I must check the news or read the headlines every single day. I feel anxious if I don’t stay on top of it.
I have never been so obsessed with the news and politics in my life. While I don’t think I can ever go back to being casual about politics again, it sure would be nice not worry quite as much!
I sure look forward to 2012!
You are pathetic. Palin just dropped out yesterday and like a vulture, you are already swooping down to try and make political points over her withdrawal. I'll wait to hear from Palin as to what she thinks. Not from you, an unprincipled former Rudy-bot who was applauding a Reagan-bashing just the other day.
I have my doubts about Cain, just as I had them about Perry. But your attacks on Cain make me think Cain might just be the better choice. Keep this crap up if you want to keep helping Cain bury Perry.
Ping to #7. Have you seen this stuff? I’m going to rethink him as my #2 choice.
Where and HOW have I attacked Herman Cain?
Is this a fair article?
Considering facts in this article, could Sarah Palin have put Herman Cain on her ticket?
Nah, that's not an attack on Herman Cain.
Keep it up, shill. Your attacks only make me more willing to consider Cain. Because if an unprincipled hack like you sees fit to attack him, well, he must have something going for him.
I’m interested in the answer to that question.
Will you answer it?
How is that an attack on Herman Cain?
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