Posted on 10/03/2011 8:46:50 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
After Sunday’s Washington Post reported that Texas Governor Rick Perry had utilized a Texas hunting camp named “Niggerhead,” GOP candidate Herman Cain (a former pizza exec. and the only black candidate running for the GOP presidential nomination) wasted little time in accusing Perry of being insensitive to racial issues.
“Since Gov. Perry has been going there for years to hunt,” Cain told ABC’s “This Week,” 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.”
When anchor Christiane Amanpour pushed back — noting that the rock had actually been painted over — Cain doubled-down, saying: “But how long ago was it painted over? So I’m still saying that it is a sign of insensitivity.’’
(Cain made similar comments on Fox News Sunday — demonstrating that this was not a gaffe made in response to a question that simply caught him off guard.)
In a prepared release, Perry Campaign Communications Director Ray Sullivan responded to Cain’s attack, saying: “Mr. Cain is wrong about the Perry family’s quick action to eliminate the word on the rock, but is right the word written by others long ago is insensitive and offensive. That is why the Perrys took quick action to cover and obscure it.”
Sullivan reiterated that the rock had been painted and turned over, and that “The Perrys did not own, name or control the property, they simply rented hunting rights to 1,000 acres of the ranch.”
My take? Cain’s comments were — at best – premature — and at worst, highly irresponsible. It was a cheap shot, and, perhaps is a signal that Cain is willing to play the race card against a fellow Republican when it benefits him.
The fact that Cain spoke out so soon — basing his comments on a newly-posted and thinly-sourced article published by an outlet many conservatives believe to have a liberal bias — speaks to Cain’s lack of political judgment.
This isn’t the first time Cain’s penchant for talking has gotten him in trouble, but in this instance, Cain has aided and abetted those who wish to portray southern conservatives as racists. In so doing, Cain provides cover for anyone wishing to cast Perry as such.
Just last week, Sarah Palin noted that “Herb” Cain was the “flavor of the week.” By siding with the Washington Post and Al Sharpton — against a fellow Republican who appears to have done nothing wrong — Cain might just have proven Palin right.
Don’t blame everyone else for Perry’s self destructive behavior.
So Cain and the rest of our candidates should never comment on anything in the media?
I think Cain learned a lesson here, but I do not think he was malicious.
Yeah Perry apologized after he saw multiple polls of what conservatives thought of his double down on heartless.
If you want the same out of control illegal immigration, then vote for Perry.
Perry did nothing “stupid” regarding the epithet. He leased the land for hunting, found the rock, found it offensive, and painted over it. What’s “stupid” about that? You DO understand the concept of a hunting lease, don’t you? We lease our place out to hunters too. Perry did not OWN that land. Depending on the terms of the lease, it’s likely he could only hunt there.
How was this an error on Perry's part? For starters, he wasn't even on the lease when this term was visable on the rock. Secondly, Perry has stated that his father had the rock painted over and overturned when it was noticed almost 3 decades ago.
This is a hatchet job of the worst kind by the press, and the members of the party should not give the press an inch of ammo. Lord knows people on here are pushing this lie, and even saying that Perry put the words himself, then made sure that it was left there.
And this one response on the Perry thing has you calling Cain a “Al Sharpton impersonator”? That is some crystal ball you have there.
Show me where I said that, please. All I did was say that he made a mistake here -- I'm not allowed to honestly critique candidates for the actions without "wanting them out"?
In fact, Cain has been and remains my favorite candidate of those currently declared. But he's not perfect -- nobody is -- so he needs to recognize his mistake here and learn from it.
That was an article quote, not my comment.
An honest man would have answered that until he knew the facts of the matter, he’d whithhold comment. He could have done that, but the CHOSE to play the race card. That gave me an insight into his character I didn’t expect, and didn’t like at all.
Cain did not have this info simply thrown on him during the interview with the woman interviewer. Take a look at the video of that interview again, and you'll noticed that when the woman interviewer asks the question, she did not even mention the name, but Cain sure knew it and in fact, provided the name to the interviewer. He knew the story before he was ever asked a question even. He had the article's storyline before he ever went into that interview, and yet he chose to say what he did.
Even with a deceptive newspaper article which he was aware of before the interview (indicated by his knowledge of the camp's name not provided in the interview) and having knowledge of the article full of lies and deceit, Cain CHOSE to take it anyway and run with it to make Perry look bad.
See:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gop-candidate-cain-calls-racial-slur-rival-perrys/story?id=14650708
The interviewer asks the question around 2:26, and without being provided the name of the camp by the interviewer, Cain ALREADY knew the camp's name and provided it to the interviewer. You'll see it when you watch for this. He knew ahead of time, and he was prepared to USE the story. This one was Cain's call to be sure.
“I don’t think it was an ‘attack’ at all
I think Herman Cain just correctly pointed out something factual
No biggie”
absolutely agree!!!!!
No, you are being as obtuse as Cain. Read some of the comments up-thread. This was land he leased. It wasn’t his land. It wasn’t the “Perry ranch.” It was a hunting lease. The sign got painted over. What more COULD he have done?
Hardly.
Perry will seal the border, AS HE HAS SAID.
Perry does not agree with amnesty, never will, AS HE HAS SAID.
No, Cain said that Perry left the wording there, then said that he didn't know how long it was left there.
That's where Cain messed up.
No, CW didn’t write that. She quoted it from the link to “Will Herman Cain’s Reaction To ‘N*ggerhead’ Controversy Hurt Him With Conservative Base?”.
Sorry, I misunderstood your post then. I thought that your comment. It didn’t sound like you, and that puzzled me.
I knew it was a misunderstanding.
All this incident shows is that Cain doesn't like Perry and being honest about that.
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