Herman Cain: pizza boss, radio host, ballistics expert, minister. President?

guardian.co.uk ^ | 8 October 2011 | Staff

[BarnacleCenturion]

He is the latest Tea Party favourite to burst through in the increasingly heated race for the Republican presidential nomination and see their poll numbers rocket them to frontrunner status.

However, unlike previous rightwing darlings such as Texas governor Rick Perry and Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, wealthy businessman Herman Cain, 65, can claim to be cut from a very different sort of cloth from the average Republican candidate.

First, he is not actually a politician. Cain, whose CV includes being a radio show host, a navy ballistics expert, a Baptist minister and a Federal Reserve official, has never held elected office in his life. His most famous job was as chief executive of the fast-food firm Godfather's Pizza.

Yet none of that seemed to matter to the cheering crowds at the Values Voter Summit in a Washington DC hotel late last week. There was much to celebrate. A Zogby opinion poll had just boosted Cain into first place in the race, with 38% of the vote, compared with 18% for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Perry trailed in third place with 12%. The study even showed Cain beating President Barack Obama in a match-up by 46% to 44%.

[SeaHawkFan]

I think Cain and anyone else with a mind realizes that Romney doesn’t have a chance. At this point, it is a Cain Perry race.

[Netizen]

Just wondered if you have seen this article?

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/09/cain-poor-wont-pay-more-under-9-9-9/

[Netizen]

well.... not ANY. There are three that are not getting my vote, no way, no how. Then there are those so far behind that they should drop out.

[DTxAg]

He assumes companies will give everyone a 15.3% pay increase, which I don’t believe would happen. Right now only 5.65% of your gross pay goes to Social Security and Medicare taxes. The other 7.65% is what the company pays, but there is no requirement that the company must give you that 7.65%.

[Netizen]

Is there something in place to prevent Congress from tampering with our present tax code?

[af_vet_rr]

Is there something in place to prevent Congress from tampering with our present tax code?

Yes, they are called primaries. Unfortunately the voters don't take advantage of them.

[SoJoCo]

“Relative to regression, no, it is not,” Cain said. “If you take a family of four at $50,000, and $25,000, start with the fact that if they're getting a paycheck, they pay 15.3% in the payroll tax. That 15.3 becomes 9 percent. That's a 6 percentage point differential.”

That's wrong right off the bat. The overwhelming majority of people don't work for themselves. They pay a FICA that is currently 5.65%. That's less than 9% even before you factor in the 9% sales tax.

Cain explained that the proposed 9% national sales tax would only be applied to new goods that change hands and not to the sale of used goods

His own website makes no such claim. It speaks of a 9% sales tax, period. No exclusion for used goods or food or services or housing or anything. So virtually anything you buy goes up 9%.

[tirednvirginia]

Oh yes, you just got 3 more votes for your candidate by playing the race card.

You think its the ultimate insult to anyone who disagrees with a black man.

It won’t work here.

[Netizen]

A shrewd businessman would never hire anyone with no experience for key positions. Cain wouldn’t hire Cain.

What an asinine thing to say. Cain is a mathematician. So, as a business man, he sure would hire himself!

[rawcatslyentist]

999 is just a selling slogan. Herman is realistic, reasonable, and solid enough to iron out the wrinkles.

[rawcatslyentist]

>"He is too much of an unknown quantity, politically."

One thing is for sure.

We don't need another POLITICIAN.

Point, Match, HC.

[Mari2525]

Sorry, correction, Cain was asked to and considered running for NE senate but declined in favor of running for POTUS in 2000. So 2 failed elections. However, he was active in NE politics and definitely has a record there, including endorsing a Democrat over a Republican. Who and why I haven’t found yet.

There are many sites that talk about his positions and the pro civil rights platform he ran on in Georgia. The following is just one of many with a summation of some of Herman Cain’s positions:

http://christiancitizens.org/herman_cain_for_president.html

Cain’s abortion stance is a mess. He needs to clarify that and his 2nd amendment stance has already been ruled unconstitutional. What is his position?

Herman Cain needs to be vetted NOW, by his supporters. If I can find this info with my limited research skills and a simple google search, you can bet the MSM and Obama team have it.

[mkjessup]

Oh yes, you just got 3 more votes for your candidate by playing the race card.

You need to stop talking out of your ass. Your above statement is total BS.

You think its the ultimate insult to anyone who disagrees with a black man.

You're the one with the insults. In case you were somehow unaware, one of the worst things you can call ANY black man is 'boy', it's even beyond the n-word, c**n, and all that.

And that appears to be your default label, as you previously stated you would use it anytime you want to.

It won’t work here.

I know what DOES work here, and that is to even slightly suggest that there could be some sort of latent racism at work in some (not all, but some) of the comments made, and true to form you start howlin' away.

What's that old saying, "throw a brick into a pack of dogs, and the one who yelps the loudest? That's the one ya hit!"

[cherokee1]

Cain’s first degree was a BS in Math if I have the detail right———He got his MS while he was doing ballistics work for the US Navy-——I’m just itching to watch a bunch of lawyers try to take him on with the numbers! It won’t even be a fair fight. Makes me think of one sheep dog with teeth herding a bunch of mutton that has nothing but butts and hair.

[tirednvirginia]

Thank you.

[Netizen]

Maybe he will offer them a tuition discount! /s

[tirednvirginia]

Cut your insults. I call lots of guys boys including my husband and he likes it. He’s 67 years old.

[mkjessup]

But he’s not black, is he?

[Netizen]

I'm still willing to hear him out on this. If it is to revive dying cities and dying local economies, he might be right.

I think that is what it is. I haven't looked but does ghetto only refer to black neighborhoods or is it a general term for badly run down neighborhoods?

Got curious

ghet·to  
noun, plural ghet·tos, ghet·toes.
1. a section of a city, especially a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardships.
2.(formerly, in most European countries) a section of a city in which all Jews were required to live.
3. a section predominantly inhabited by Jews.
4. any mode of living, working, etc., that results from stereotyping or biased treatment: job ghettos for women; ghettos for the elderly.

Ghettos seems to apply to a lot of different people, NOT JUST BLACKS.

I think he is on the right track. Improve these areas to help bring business back to these areas and thus employ people ala job creation!

[Huck]

sheets come back from the dry cleaners

Who dry cleans sheets? Does anyone do that? And what does clean bedding have to do with any of this??