I’m talking about political experience and governing experience, of which Cain has none. He once unsuccessfully ran for office, and that’s it. As for the glibness, he’s somebody who has had his own radio show, and that’s simply one of the things that goes with the territory.
I don’t mean that he’s cynical and doesn’t believe the things that he says, but simply that he doesn’t always think before he speaks and things come out as sound-bites (which is precisely why he was so successful in the “debates”). Some of the worse ones, such as the electric fence on the border, he has had to walk back, but I think that if he actually does get to be the candidate, you’re going to see every blooper magnified to enormous proportions.
Gingrich did accomplish the “Contract with America,” btw, and was fine until dumped by the GOP when the Dems attacked him in revenge. Why he backed Scozzafava, I don’t know, and he should certainly be asked about this; IIRC, that was a very chaotic election for a variety of reasons. But by that token, why did Cain support Romney in the last GOP primaries?
As for sitting on the sofa with Pelosi, I can assure you that Cain would have done exactly the same thing if he had been invited to do so.
So you think political experience is the only kind that matters? Cain’s experience is in the real world—he understands business and the many ways the government can be the problem. That is superior to political experience any day. Look at the mess the politicians got us in. You want more of that? Or you want to trust a man [Gingrich] who’s all over the place, backing man-made global warming [news flash, you do NOT know that Cain would cavort w Pelosi on this subject, and it’s the height of arrogance to suggest you do. Who are you, God, that you know what’s in other people’s minds? Cain says man-made global warming is “popycock”. So why, according to you, would he suddenly jettison his own views and embrace a leftist meme just for the chance to sit near the queen of the moonbats, Pelosi???]
As for Scozzafava, she was Gingrich’s choice period. No excuses. She backed the Dem after she dropped out because the Dem was the only one who (as opposed to the tea party candidate) who according to her, would go far enough in backing ‘a woman’s right to choose’. So there is Gingrich for you: pushing a radical abortionist. Live w it.
PS: Help me out on the timeline. Gringrich has had so many adulterous affairs, I lose track of them all. Was his first affair anywhere in the vicinity of his leaving congress?
PPS: The only thing chaotic about the Scozzafava election was the degree to which the GOP went to push their Establishment darling and defeat the tea party conservative. That is why Gingrich’s siding w the Ruling Class against the tea party/conservatism is so odious and disgusting. The GOP pulled out all the stops to elect their party hack, and they at least succeeded in electing a like-minded Dem. Scozzafava endorsed the Dem after taking GOP $. Please furnish a quote where Gingrich called that ‘fraud’, and demanded that Scozzafava return the party’s cash.
livius, I regret it if my previous replies seem (or in fact are) a bit on the terse side. It’s hard online to remember, sometimes, that the same point can be made kindly or brusquely. You and I have a fundamental disagreement, and that’s okay. On the conservative side, there are many similar disagreements, but the hope is they will all be forgotten once a good nominee is in place. I for one don’t think Romney will get it—the memory of McCain is still (thankfully) too vivid. I hope Gingrich doesn’t get it because he is too uneven. For every conservative thing he says, there is a Dede Scozzafava or Pelosi/couch/global warming issue on the other side. However, if he does get the nomination, I will be behind him a hundred percent. Another four years of Obama is a disaster beyond contemplation. At least you and I can agree on the urgency of defeating him in Nov. ‘12.