Cain Says He ‘Would Not Be Comfortable’ As Perry's Running Mate

National Journal ^ | October 6, 2011 | Lindsey Boerma

[Cincinatus' Wife]

HOUSTON -- Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Thursday that he would definitely consider an invitation to run as the eventual nominee’s vice president, except if the nominee turns out to be Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Cain, who rocketed to the top tier of the GOP field in several recent polls, was asked by reporters on the campaign trail for his thoughts on a hypothetical invitation to run as the eventual nominee’s No. 2. After offering the obligatory comment that he intends to be the nominee, Cain said, “Quite frankly, based upon Gov. Perry’s position on some issues, I would not be comfortable being his vice presidential nominee.”

Those issues include Perry’s moderate stances on immigration. As governor, Perry supported legislation offering in-state college tuition for the children of illegal immigrants, which has become a flash point in his campaign. Cain said, “Issues relative to being soft on the border, issues relative to the whole, you know, tuition for children of illegal aliens. And I haven’t totally gone through all of his positions, but a lot of positions I have questions with.”

Cain, who is black, was critical of Perry after the Washington Post reported Sunday that his family owned a Texas hunting camp once known as “Niggerhead,” a word that was also painted on a rock near the camp’s entrance. Perry has maintained that his father painted over the word as soon as he bought the property in the 1980s. And Cain subsequently said he believed Perry’s explanation.

Of a vice presidential slot in general, Cain said, “I would not say no to being vice president of the United States. But it would depend upon who got the nomination. I will support who gets the nomination. I know I have said that there are some people right now who I cannot support, but I wouldn’t say no to it. I could say yes. But it has to be someone who I believe I can complement them in their job by being able to bring my skills to the table.”

[tirednvirginia]

All aboard the Cain train...all the way to Romneyville. LOL

[JayGalt]

These new positions that Cain are staking out really sour me on his candidacy. He is showing himself as a small man who has a race chip he is carrying. We don’t need another one of those. Its a great disappointment because he was looking polished and self disciplined, with an on target message. Oh well.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Well the alternative isn’t working too well, obviously. I don’t care what Perry says, I care what his track record is. He claims to be the expert at solving this problem but he is not solving this problem, as Santorum pointed out.

What did Santorum point out? Are you referring to this?

Rick Perry's Intriguing Idea for Bi-National Health Insurance …“Contrary to Sen. Santorum’s impression, the idea here was to explore the possibility of allowing private insurers to cover health services provided in either Texas or Mexico. It was an attempt at studying the deregulation of the provision of health insurance by private entities.

Here are a few other articles of interest:

Perry attacks administration at campaign stop in Hampton, N.H......"On immigration policy, Perry said he is opposed to amnesty and will always be opposed to amnesty. "For decades we have had a federal government that has failed its constitutional duty to protect its borders," he said. "You have to ask, are we going to have a president that is going to stop the illegal activities happening on the border?"

July 14, 2010: Florida, Texas Support Arizona's Immigration Law -- ”Florida, Texas and seven other states filed a brief supporting Arizona's immigration law aimed at cracking down on illegal migrants after the U.S. government sued to block enforcement of the law.

Arizona's statute doesn't establish an immigration policy that would interfere with federal law, countering the U.S. argument, the states said in the filing today in federal court in Phoenix. The law isn't an "obstacle" to Congress' objectives, the states wrote. .........

The states, in their filing, asked U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton to reject the U.S. injunction request. Bolton scheduled a hearing in the case for July 22." [end excerpt]

Michigan universities set own rules on illegal immigrant tuition rates...."As political hot cakes go, Gov. Rick Perry's support for his state's guarantee of lower cost in-state tuition for illegal immigrants attending Texas' public universities sizzled at a recent Republican presidential debate. Twelve other states have similar laws, even as others have banned the cheaper home state tuitions. But at Michigan's public universities, the rules depend on the school…………"

[Carling]

The Bush family isn’t part of the GOP establishment? Kay Bailey Hutchison isn’t part of the GOP establishment?

You made a foolish comment in an attempt to attack Perry.

Own it.

[Carling]

Herb Cain wants a 20’ high electric fence cutting off the US from the Rio Grande? Talk about a bad plan...

[Oceander]

Considering that your sentence is almost incomprehensible, I suspect you’ll be waiting for quite some time. Nice talking with you.

[prairiebreeze]

I don’t understand your post to me at all. I was commenting on the assertion about the Perry’s OWNING the Niggerhead land. Which is false. My comments were directed at these two news stories and the apparent false statement about that.

But since you addressed me (although I don’t know why) allow me to also ask Cain, as many other here are.....why is Romney preferable to Perry? Makes no sense from Cain unless he’s been a Mitt stalking horse all along.

[Carling]

Well, I’m damn sure that Mexico isn’t going to allow the fence to be built on their side of the Rio. So, according to our resident immigration experts here on FR, losing access to the Rio Grande and its water with a 20’ high electric fence is a perfectly acceptable trade. Try telling that to the farmers and ranchers who depend on that water.

Here is an interesting article detailing some of the absurdities of fencing the Rio Grande.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/28/nation/la-na-texas-fence-20110228

[GloriaJane]

"He is showing himself as a small man who has a race chip he is carrying. We don’t need another one of those."

Race chip on his shoulder? I feel the same way as Herman Cain does on that subject. And I'm white! That word on that rock was insensitive. And Mr. Cain said he believed what Perry said about it. So I don't know what's the big deal?

[DannyTN]

If Palin/Cain isn’t going to happen, then
Cain/Bachman

[Chasaway]

So you want to secure the border. And you think you want to build a fence. And you say Israel has a fence.

Okay…let’s build a fence.

But first, recognize that Israel. Doesn't. Have. A. River. Defining. Its. Border!

Second, in the United States of America we have a little thingy called "Property Rights".

But, anyhoo...

Now, you’re the King of Texas. You get to make the decisions and spend the taxpayers’ money. You tell us where to build it.

Let’s deal with the topography alone for now. AND you get to decide where to spend the money on it. Not your money, mind you…the taxpayers’ money. And not FEDERAL money…Texans’ money. (Because of course, the Feds ain’t doing it.)

It’s somewhere between 1500 and 1900 miles worth of border, depending on how you calculate it. That’s equivalent to a stretch from Massachusetts to Florida.

So first…where do you want to get the money for the fence? No answer for that, yet?

Okay, let’s move to the topography itself…

Where do you want to build it? In the middle of the Rio Grande River? On the Mexican side of the river? Or on the Texas side of the river, ceding part of Texas to Mexico?

Let’s take a look at the Texas/Mexico border.

Here’s what a LOT of the border looks like:

Mexico is on the left of the river and Texas on the right.

The Texas/Mexico border:

And:

The Texas/Mexico border:

And that's just the canyons...

So if an illegal wants to scale a 400' cliff, you think he'll have a problem with a 30' fence?

Next post, we'll deal with the desert...

[DTxAg]

That word on that rock was insensitive.

Except Cain didn't say the word on that rock was insensitive. He attacked Perry for being insensitive. His exact words were:

"Since Governor Perry has been going there for years to hunt, I think that it shows a lack of sensitivity for a long time of not taking that word off of that rock and renaming the place. It's just basically a case of insensitivity."

and

"That is a more vile negative word than the N word, and for him to leave it there for as long as he did before I hear that they finally painted over it is just plain insensitive towards a lot of black people in this country."

[DTxAg]

If Palin/Cain isn’t going to happen, then
Cain/Bachman

So do you agree with Bachmann in her latest campaign video that America suffers from excessive "employment"? She's gaffe-tastic! Who's running her campaign, a seven year old?

[beandog]

Freepers who are attaching themselves to this stupid rock being insensitive are only doing so because they don’t like Perry. It’s as phony as you can get. There really isn’t any reason to try to change their minds, they’re feeling all morally superior right now.

I guess Gov. Perry could have stoned the rock to death.:)

[jgge]

Excellent post that shows the futility of building the fence on the Texas-Mexican borders. Thank you for those amazing pictures that show the reality on the ground.

[pallis]

“The Bush family isn’t part of the GOP establishment? Kay Bailey Hutchison isn’t part of the GOP establishment?

You made a foolish comment in an attempt to attack Perry.

Own it.”

First, I didn’t say the Bush family isn’t part of the GOP establishment, did I? Go find another straw man. I could care less about Kay Bailey Hutchison, or inside Texas politics, for that matter.

I wasn’t aware of the fact that I was attacking Perry, but if my saying he is part of the Republican establishment is me attacking him, I own it, because it is true. I made my comment in response to a silly comment about Cain being a stalking horse, and I stand by what I’ve said. You can twist it anyway you want.

‘

[Chasaway]

(See first post at #191)

If you don’t think that a good use of taxpayers' money is to fence the canyons...how exactly do you disagree with "strategic" fencing of the Texas border?

Even FURTHER, if you haven’t been to South Texas, you might not be able to wrap your minds around the vast, desolate expanse of certain parts of this state.

There are places where the view is only limited by the curvature of the earth. Someone with binoculars/a spotting scope could see folks coming for 15 or 20 MILES!

(Uhm...think "boots on the ground...")

See the below pic of the Chichuahuan Desert:

Or here:

And please, please, please don't try to compare building the border fence to the building of the Great Wall of China...unless

1) You're willing to give up private property rights (your own?),

2) Recognize that that wall took over several hundred years to build, and

3) That we're NOT CHINA!

Now...you're King. You get to say. What do we do?

Can you get this built like you want, without using Texans' money...or maybe, just maybe, do you have to figure out some other, more effective way to get the results faster?

Can we mostly stop saying "Just build the fence!", now? Or get New Hampshire and Massachusetts and Idaho and everybody else in the U.S. to kick in to pay for it?

But can we at least quit blaming Texas for not doing it? And can we quit bitching at the one candidate who's actually BEEN on this border?

Doing it ain't as easy as wanting it. And it sure isn't as easy as posting on a thread...or even as easy as throwing stones in a debate.

Flame on.

[Chasaway]

Ping

[Servant of the Cross]

Good stuff. Thanks for posting. The unfortunate thing is that candidate Perry seems completely incapable of clearly saying that he is in favor of protecting the border but that he prefers different methods [boots, aerial, motion, etc.] rather than fencing, in most of the non-urban areas.

In this case, a picture REALLY is worth a 1,000 words.

[Chasaway]

Ping to posts 191 & 197.

1st post got pulled for too many pics.