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Cain’s Knowledge-Deficit Disorder
National Review ^ | 11/18/2011 | Rich Lowry

Posted on 11/18/2011 7:26:16 AM PST by TBBT

He is running for president knowing little about major matters of public import.

Poor Rick Perry. His “brain freeze” is indelible, otherwise it would forever be eclipsed by Herman Cain’s more cringe-inducing meanderings on Libya.

At a meeting with the editors of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Cain was asked whether he agreed with Pres. Barack Obama’s handling of Libya. You would think he had been asked who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan, Cain’s joshing description of a prototypical gotcha foreign-policy question. What ensued was the longest five minutes of an editorial-board meeting ever.

Cain paused. Then he asked for a lifeline by trying to confirm with his questioner that President Obama supported the Libyan uprising. He started to say why he disagreed with Obama, but stopped after realizing, “No, that’s a different one.” He hesitated again. “Got all this stuff twirling around in my head,” he explained.

Cain hadn’t been asked about an obscure conflict or one distant in time. We’re not talking the War of Jenkins’s Ear or the Second Peloponnesian War. He seemed to all but have missed that there had recently been a Libyan War that had taxed the capacities of NATO, created an intense conflict with Congress over presidential war powers, teetered on the brink of failure, and divided conservatives. For Cain, Libya was little more than a rumor of war.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cain; circularfiringsquad
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To: CharlesWayneCT

Hate to say it CharlesWayne but you’re wrong on one of your Perry negatives.

Contrary to some opinion around here, Perry did not hold a ribbon cutting ceremony at the border and provide limos for illegals to come into Texas.

Illegals have been entering our country for years and little or nothing was done about it. People only started worrying about it maybe ten years ago and worrying more because our economy is so bad and blaming Obama aint enuf for some.

Therefore Texas is pretty dang full of Mexicans, both legal and illegal.

Right or wrong, illegals do get benefits. This is because although the vast majority of them work, they work at low-paying, menial jobs that (YES) Americans won’t do. So they get benefits, mostly food stamps and medicaid. It this is wrong, it should be stopped, but it wouldn’t be easy.

Except for the drug dealers and miscreants who’ve come through, most of the Mexicans are decent likeable people, with strong family values. They do those lowly jobs cheerfully and without resentment.

The Texas legislature in 2001 adopted a plan to try to help the children of illegals move out of that poverty class and into a class who could pay taxes and be more of a benefit to society instead of a drag on it.

A plan was instigated to allow CERTAIN children of illegals to attend college with the privilege of only paying in-state tuition. There were stringent requirements as to who would be able to receive this benefit; on the path to citizenship, high school degree, etc.

This plan does not cost the state a thing. In fact, it helps the colleges. So many people equate it with free tuition. However, hardly any of these people go to the more expensive universities like UT. Most of them go to community colleges or junior colleges where the tuition is already low.

This seemed like a good plan to all but 4 members of the Texas legislature when it was passed. If Perry had disagreed with it, he couldn’t have stopped it—it was veto proof.


101 posted on 11/18/2011 10:30:46 AM PST by altura (Perry 2012)
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To: CharlesWayneCT

>>Too many primary “voters” have been like a swarm jumping from candidate to candidate, not for good reason, but simply because that candidate had the “momentum”. The swarm will tire, and will break up, and will start serious evaluation.<<

I disagree. People aren’t swarming to a candidate who has momentum; they are supporting a candidate that they think shares their values, thereby giving that candidate the momentum you speak of.

As we find out more, and the warts appear, the momentum stops and a slide sets in, sometimes a near-vertical slide.

Gingrich proved that a candidate can recover from such a slide. Cain will not, I suspect, nor will Bachmann, but Perry just might. Between Gingrich and Perry, I suspect Perry would best represent the values of the GOP with consistency (emphasis on “consistency”) and that’s enough for me to think he’s got a comeback in him. We’ll see.


102 posted on 11/18/2011 10:36:12 AM PST by Norseman (Defund the Left-Completely!)
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To: CharlesWayneCT

My feelings on Cain the same as you. I got upset with the bimbos’ likely false claims and even sent him a donation. He wasn’t gaffing at the time and I had that “hope and changey” feeling again.
Fortunately, reality finally struck and I realized that we don’t need an on the job CIC. It almost seems like he’s just winging it...did he ever want to be president? Was the whole exercise a ruse to sell his book that spiraled out of control? Does he actually want out and not know how to deal with it? Any “Chance”?


103 posted on 11/18/2011 10:36:45 AM PST by sanjuanbob (Festina Lente)
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To: sanjuanbob
Good points. I suspect that Cain had his book certainly in mind, because he did little to use his time and energy to establish his campaign and Primary infrastructure. In stead, he went on a one month Book Selling Tour, and even used campaign money from donations to buy 18,000 copies of his book from himself. which would greatly enhance the book sales statistics and aid the effort to his the best seller list.

I think Cain believes that he really is not serious about winning, or else he would have studied harder about how the manage Government and Foreign affairs. Instead, I believe he is advancing his career as a media pundit as well as highly paid and demanded speaker/adviser, which will support him for decades to come after the election is over.

It worked for Palin and there are some obvious similarities with Cain's strategy.

104 posted on 11/18/2011 10:46:00 AM PST by PSYCHO-FREEP (If you come to a fork in the road, take it........)
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To: livius

Excellent, thoughtful post.

You will be attacked for daring to explain yourself well and for using words with more than three letters, but it’s refreshing to see a poster who doesn’t assume we’re all idiots.

I happen to like Cain, but the man keeps making these mistakes we here on FR seem to see coming a mile away. He seems to have appeal to people who like to be protective, but he’s simply not someone I would pick for the most powerful office on the planet.

Being likable isn’t enough, not by a mile.


105 posted on 11/18/2011 11:00:34 AM PST by Darkwolf377 (Obama: The stupid person`s idea of a smart person.)
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To: Lady Lucky
*sigh*

...

Are you comfortable with that, logically?

Sigh... yeah.

106 posted on 11/18/2011 11:22:05 AM PST by Never on my watch (WTF happened to my country?)
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107 posted on 11/18/2011 11:37:36 AM PST by TheOldLady (FReepmail me to get ON or OFF the ZOT LIGHTNING ping list)
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To: olezip
Herman Cain can turn that around with or without silly gotcha questions by useless reporters

Gotcha question?!?! Behind Iraq and Afghanistan, our involvement in Libya was probably the most significant foreign-policy event of the past year. Asking a general question about whether Cain agreed with the President's handling of the situation is most certainly not a "gotcha" question.

108 posted on 11/18/2011 11:43:31 AM PST by Conscience of a Conservative
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To: Conscience of a Conservative
Gotcha question?!?! Behind Iraq and Afghanistan, our involvement in Libya was probably the most significant foreign-policy event of the past year. Asking a general question about whether Cain agreed with the President's handling of the situation is most certainly not a "gotcha" question.

****

Absolutely correct. Beyond the foreign policy issues in Libya, this question should have been an excellent jump point for a rock-ribbed conservative like Herman Cain to speak to the Constitutional issue of Presidential overreach on war powers.

109 posted on 11/18/2011 12:06:51 PM PST by Sideshow Bob
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To: sanjuanbob

I think the so-called bimbo eruption was actually a blessing for Cain.

It was pretty lame and got him some sympathy support. But the best thing about it was that for over a week, nobody looked at his real deficiencies.

Come back, bimbos! You’re needed more than ever.


110 posted on 11/18/2011 1:11:57 PM PST by altura (Perry 2012)
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To: BagCamAddict

Thanks for your tagline. It makes me feel less guilty about thinking about you what I think about you.


111 posted on 11/18/2011 1:15:23 PM PST by altura (Perry 2012)
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To: PSYCHO-FREEP
Did you also know that you are a LIER

Did you know you misspelled LIAR?

112 posted on 11/18/2011 3:53:31 PM PST by calex59
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