Cain steps into Letterman's lion's den and gets devoured

The American Thinker ^ | November 19, 2011 | Stu Tarlowe

[Cincinatus' Wife]

On Friday night, Herman Cain was a fly and David Letterman was the spider cordially inviting Cain to "step into my parlor." Didn't Cain or any of his advisors see the potential for disaster in Cain appearing on Letterman's show?

Didn't anybody say, "Herman, don't go in there! It's a trap!"?

I desperately don't want to be seen as one of those just itching for clear proof that Herman Cain's candidacy is over. But it's hard to have watched Cain on Letterman and not come to the conclusion that neither Cain nor his advisors have sufficiently good judgment for him to be president.

I've been aware of Cain, and impressed by him, ever since I first heard him on the radio in Atlanta. I was ecstatic when he announced he was seeking the Republican nomination.

I have long maintained, long before anybody ever heard of Barack Obama, that a backlash of conservative Blacks might be the only thing that could save this country. The election of Barack Obama seemed to make that less likely, but I "kept hope alive".

And Herman Cain re-kindled that hope. I saw him as the man who could lead Black Americans off the Democrat plantation and, when that happened, many liberal whites would follow.

I was not deterred by the allegations of sexual harassment, nor by the "pause that depresses" when he was asked about Libya. I was not deterred by Cain's apparent lack of comprehensive foreign policy knowledge; I figured he would surround himself with competent advisors and that his own instincts and managerial and leadership skills, and his belief in America and its -- and his own -- general goodness would see him through.

But Cain's appearance on Letterman's show has seriously undermined my confidence in Cain's judgment and in his ability to.....

[Puddleglum]

ah, the echo chamber - one person blogs the bile, the other posts it - and viola! It’s news. Or something.

Cain over Perry any day. I’m sure that, were he to become president, Perry would not re-discover the hubris and love of power that made him try to force Gardasil and a trans-Texas corridor upon all the people, against the will of the people. I am sure that such hubris and love of power just because he and his cronies know better than the people, and stand to fatten their bank accounts to boot, has been all exorcised away now.

I’m sure. Aw shucks, he’s just Deputy Dawg with slightly worse hair and a love of Ammurrca.

We will do this again tomorrow, probably.

[Mount Athos]

Cain did really well.
How can it be poor judgement for him to have gone on the show when he did so well??

He even got the liberal leaning audience to applaud for him — the audience was far more sympathetic to Cain than the host! Quite a feat.

[dirtboy]

LMSM will do the same thing to Newt as they did to Palin, Cain, et al.

And unlike Cain, they won't have to make up sexual harassment allegations or edit videos to do such.

Newt's history speaks for itself.

[The_Freemason]

It is a sad day when a “comedian” like Letterman is able to trip up a presidential candidate.

[meatloaf]

I’m not sure how you reached that conclusion. I watched it and didn’t see Letterman touch Cain once, much less land a haymaker. I did see touches of the humor that is one of Cain’s hallmarks.

I also didn’t realize Cain was that tall. Usually Letterman towers over his guests. Not Cain.

Another hallmark is his obvious persistence. That is a characteristic of winners. Cain just keeps on keeping on. I think if people unite behind Cain, he has the capability of handling an obstreperous Congress.

Cain’s success in building an organization in Iowa is also impressive for the phenomenally short amount of time. Cain is rebuilding his momentum. The New Hampshire decision was typical of a businessman who utilizes limited resources well and minimizes risk. I don’t see a problem. Eight years of Cain is going to reset this nation’s path to one of conservatism, better, limited government and, I’m convinced, prosperity.

It’s going to be interesting to see how he handles the bloated executive branch. My guess is that the “tree” is going to get serverely pruned.

[Darkwolf377]

If you had ben reading my posts on other threads, maybe you would have understood that this was part of an ongoing discussion between myself and the poster to whom my reply was made. It was in the context of a previous dicussion which you were not part of, so you didn’t understand what I meant. Context is sometimes relevant.

You replied to me, and then when I replied in a way you can't respond to, you say "I wasn't talking to you."

Lame.

[FR_addict]

““Cain did fine!”

It was the creepy Letterman who looked like an angry, mad dog. In fact, the look on Letterman’s face reminded me of the devil, all he needed to finish the look was two horns.”

I agree. this author is nuts. I was surprised at how well Cain deflected the nasty Letterman comments.

Decide for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ6mxdBcEPc

Here's the JimmyKimmel one:

Herman Cain on Jimmy Kimmel Live
These are funny.
Part1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FhuhwhoDdI
Part2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCjscowxiBs
Part3

[autumnraine]

If Newt is the candidate, we are doomed.

[fightinJAG]

If Newt stumbles (which is not unlikely), then what?

Time will tell soon enough if Cain is going to remain viable. Until then, I don’t think it’s wise to rush to fire our bench because a candidate who’s just beginning his turn in the wringer is “surging.”

[FR_addict]

I was in a store yesterday and a manager and an employee were there. I was the only customer. They were the ones who started talking about Cain on Letterman. They had seen my Cain bumper sticker. ( I didn't know about his appearance until they told me, but I watched it later on the Internet.)

The employee was a black girl. The manager was white. He woke up his wife just to have her watch the Letterman interview, because he liked it so much. The young black girl said it was the first time she had seen Mr. Cain. She loved him and she said it didn't matter if he didn't know the name of some country; that she cared more what his message was and she liked his message.

So Herman is getting his message out to people that normally don't pay attention to politics.

[fightinJAG]

The quality of the writing and analysis coming out of American Thinker has sunk. And my assessment has nothing to do with whether or not I agree with the author.

[fightinJAG]

Some people find that hilarious.

[fightinJAG]

Most of these threads seem to be made up of posts attacking the motive for posting them, which kind of makes the original article's point. If Cain weren't so severely wounded, his fans wouldn't be wasting their time here, they'd just shrug and say, "Obviously that's goofy" and ignore it, and it would go away.

Or they could offer supporting evidence, if it exists.

I agree. The motive of the poster makes no difference, and it's a waste of time to discuss it.

Why not simply comment on the article, one way or the other?

[rintense]

No, she posts anti-everybody so Perry looks like he actually has a chance.

[dools0007world]

Personally, I think Cincinatuswife is nothing more than a computer program that instantly responds to any Perry Perry. I can’t imagine Cincinatuswife being human because of the mindlessness of the posts.

[rintense]

And once again, you expose your real intent. You post an article about Cain then swoop in with your propaganda- and then whine when the same thing happens on your Krishna threads!

[linn37]

I have a hard time understanding why Letterman still has a show and why anyone with a lick of sense would be his guest.

[Scoutmaster]

I watched the whole 24 minute interview, and Cain clearly had the upper hand. The only way you could interpret it as you have, is to be decidedly anti-Cain, which I conclude you are.

I believe you've put words into the mouth of Cincinatus' Wife. Is this because you are pro-Cain? Where is her interpretation?

She posted an article. Her comment, in its entirety was:

GOP primary candidate Herman Cain does late night sit-downs with Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel and David Letterman but canceled his one hour interview with the New Hampshire Union-Leader because his campaign felt it was too long (campaign said 20 minutes instead of the scheduled in-depth interview that Santorum, Perry and Romney have sat for). Cain's campaign also told the Union-Leader that 20 minutes was 10 minutes longer than what they give other outlets (per J.D. Gordon) and that a Herman Cain interview by the Union-Leader could not be video-taped by C-SPAN (as were the other candidate interviews).

In that comment she never interprets the Letterman interview at all. No pro-Cain interpretation; no objective interpretation; no anti-Cain interpretation.

FR member post articles with which they agree or disagree - or simply to place a topic up for public discussion.

Cincinatus's Wife never gave her interpretation of the interview. Stu Tarlowe of American Thinker did.

[rintense]

Address this fact:

Perry is barely polling higher than Hunstman and behind Ron Paul. If Perry is such the incredible conservative you think he is, why isn't his conservative message resonating ? You and I both know the answer to that.

Your tactics are those of desperation. You attack all the other candidates with the hope that their supporters will turn to Perry. Guess what, toots. It didn't happen with Palin (which is so damn funny I'm still laughing), and it won't happen with Cain either.

[linn37]

Actually the person writing the article is being critical of your candidate.