This interview failure is getting plenty of play, mostly because of the freeze at the start on Libya. I posted the Perry debate brain freeze, so what’s fair is fair:
We’re heading for the candidate of David Frum, Jennifer Rubin and Politico as nominee unless we unite around the only viable alternative in the race. I know that’s not what some people want to hear, but it’s the emerging reality.
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My enthusiasm has diminished greatly after watching this. I caught it earlier this evening and have been shaking my head since. This is the post-apogee Cain.
We had a guy run for county commissioner a few years back locally. His answer to every single question was “I don’t know, but I’ll sure look into it if I’m elected.” He won. I couldn’t believe it. Cain has been playing a similar card, and it sounds more and more like a smoke screen.
imho: cain has sucked from day 1. 999/909 ducked.
newt or mitt would each make a better potus than bhojr.
there is no ideal candidate in the race. there rarely is.
cheer up: ryan and jindal and mcdonnell and walker will all be there in 2020. so will palin.
I’ve read that Jindal has lost conservative support in Louisiana.
Don’t leave Marco Rubio off your list of contenders. Rubio belongs in the Ryan, Walker, McDonnell hot list.
2020 will be way to late to salvage our nation. We need a conservative victory in 2012 followed by decades of conservative administrations to root out the progressives in the 4th branch of government.
At this point I’m leaning toward Newt for the 2012 nominee, but would take Romney over BHO.
To really correct the predicament we have in this country, we need a series of conservative POTUS. I’d like all of the following in no particular order: Mike Pence, Rubio, Palin, Ryan.
“2020 will be too late to salvage the nation”
Listkeeper, you summed it up perfectly.
PRECISELY, why I will vote for who(m)ever is the Republican candidate.
BTW, Rush is vigorously defending Cain’s pause; he played the stuttering c*** audio of Sen Obama speaking in Bristol, VA during the 2008 campaign: 38 seconds of stuttering a string of incoherent words, which defied comprehension.
At the risk of being repetitive: ANYBODY BUT OBAMA.
Calling it a brain freeze is putting it kindly.
Cain has looked very tired in the events leading up to the debate.
While we’re being fair: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxBX8sz3tO8
Absolutely, I’ve played that one before. Perhaps our blog historian, LukeHandCool, can find it for me, or at least find one of his comments where he linked to it.
The business about pub-sec unions didn’t strike me as a gaffe, it struck me as what he thinks. He lost my support today, and I now revert into full cynic mode and throw my support behind a man I can’t stand – Newtopia, here I come…
It’s even worse than this. Michelle Malkin has another video from the same interview in which Cain states that federal employees have collective bargaining rights. When corrected, he takes the stance that they should have them. Game over.
http://michellemalkin.com/2011/11/14/the-real-cain-scandal-video-cringe-alert/
It’s what happens to a pragmatist without a head full of facts.
Newt is a pragmatist with head full of facts.
Obama is a pragmatist with a teleprompter full of facts.
I’d prefer a candidate with principles to rely on.
Having a head full of facts is very helpful in winning an election, especially when you have instant recall. Winning is by far the most important thing. Another 4 years of Obama will doom the country.
i don’t think perry is done yet. byron york suggested that perry stumbled because he hasn’t been out making stump speeches. perry should be all in in iowa and if he fails there, cut his losses. otherwise, go newt!
also, i’m so tired about hearing about newt’s “baggage.” as we saw with clinton, when it’s between a person’s money and the morality of a politician, money wins.
I am voting for Perry. He may have had a brain freeze, but he is a strong Conservative. He is strong on foreign policy, the second amendment,states rights, immigration and he’s always been pro-life. I like his energy plan and his flat tax. He has no skeletons in his closest, he doesn’t believe in government intervention to solve global warming. He has taken on Obamacare and the EP. He has helped Texas weather the recession and created jobs. I respectfully ask that people give him a second look.
I’d be OK with Perry as President, but I don’t think he can beat Obama.
The two videos I found on MichelleMalkin.com were brutal. I consider myself leaning toward Cain but this was painful to watch. I wonder if the campaign will respond? I can’t think of a lot of good explanations for this 5 minutes of babble.
But it will take a lot more than this to get me to vote for Romney or Gingrich…
These videos are so disappointing. My biggest fear with Cain is that he just doesn’t have the depth of knowledge I want in my President. Best case scenario is that Cain actually knows about these current events and he is trying to recall the correct set of pre-rehearsed talking points. Worst case scenario is that he is more lacking in knowledge than I expected. The sad part is even the best case scenario really hurts him in my eyes. I could excuse some lack of knowledge on current events, but memorizing talking points is pretty terrible, it shows that he’s not making decisions based on a solid set of principles, and is instead relying heavily on the coaching of strategists.
The weirdest thing about his comment is that he seems to be suggesting that he would have personally made sure that there was better intelligence on the ground in Libya. How is he going to do that?
I also like Perry. He has had a few bad debate moments, but has the best conservative record by a wide margin.
As someone who has watched every debate, I knew a moment like this was coming much sooner than later. You can only BS your way through for so long. Cain has been a broken record with the ludicrous assessment that fixing the economy solves all ills. I will never see what others saw in this man. Especially after his intellectually incoherent sharia law in America scaremongering. His campaign has been a complete disaster for the last three weeks. What a fitting end to this charade.
He’s right about sharia “law.”
It’s already been used here. It must be STOPPED.
I’ll stick with the Aggie from Texas. He has a solid record in Texas.
Ditto with the fellow Aggie. As Governor Haley Barbour said Sunday on CBS, “Mr. Perry has the time, money, and talent”.
You know, it should be a crime to treat candidates like the news media does, so disrespectful. I like Herman Cain’s life story which should be a lesson to poor black Americans much like Justice Clarence Thomas’ struggle to be successful. However, I think he was in the campaign to sell books and get famous not because he wants to become President.
Cornell alumnus Ann Coulter J.D. is spot on in her analysis of who is behind the smears of the so-called harrassment cases of Herman Cain. Why are they all from Chicago, a place Mr. Cain has never lived? Axelrod’s m o (method of operation) fits the smear, Bialek lives in his building,
Read at: http://www.anncoulter.com
November 9th column
I agree on the “BS our way through for so long.” (above) I think Perry is coming back, and I have no problems supporting Gingrich either. However, I cannot mark a ballot for Romney and won’t. And don’t tell me it’s a vote for Obama then. It’s just not a vote for Romney, and not a vote for Obama. Neither is a choice.
So, who are you pulling the lever for?
That’s the question that we will be facing long before the Republican convention.
How many of us were really lackluster on McCain until he chose Palin? We all know there won’t be magic like that happening at the 2012 convention.
We are facing yet another disappointment as the Republican candidate. His name is Romney. The man is not conservative and as such I can not support him.
So who do we choose to vote for?
How about a ticket of Gingrich/Romney? The reverse would be OK too, but I really want to see Gingrich debate Obama. If he has any political sense, Obama won’t get anywhere close to a debate with Gingrich. Remember, the only really important question at this point is who has the best chance against Obama.
@javau
Perry has been campaigning in SC and IA. He sat down with local media over the weekend before the debate after hangin with vets at the parade.
He’s also been doing townhalls and the clips are on youtube.
He’s doing 3 townhalls this week. one in Iowa and two in new Hampshire….He’ll be in NH,IA,NY this week.
11/16/2011 Granite State Manufacturing Manchester, N.H. Tour and Town Hall Meeting
11/16/2011 VFW Post 483, Large Hall Nashua, N.H. Town Hall Meeting
11/15/2011 Schebler Manufacturing Facility Bettendorf, Iowa Town Hall Meeting/Government Reform Speech
They raise money on the trail too. It’s a cruncher of a campaign schedule. Just sayin’
http://www.cpsc.gov/about/working.html
section 10.
More than half of the Federal government is covered by bargaining units, allowing unions to negotiate over various conditions of employment. They don’t generally negotiate compensation or other matters deemed to be in management’s sole prerogative.
many fed groups do have collective bargaining.
CB isn’t only about pay scale.
whats the issue ?
besides they shouldn’t be union of course…
Having spent my whole working career in and around the Federal Government, I can tell you that the unions don’t negotiate anything of much consequence. Sometimes they help employees accused of some serious shortcoming, but it’s almost impossible to fire a federal employee based on poor performance anyhow, so the unions don’t add much to that process.
In my last job, working for a federal contractor in government office space, the big thing the union did was to negotiate rules about who got which cubicle. The ones near the windows were more desirable.
true, but people are saying he was wrong saying they have CB when in fact they DO have it.
No collective bargaining in Texas. Link to a map.http://www.nctq.org/tr3/scope/#interactiveMap
There is collective bargaining for public employees in Texas, but it is a local issue (city by city, county by county); there is no collective bargaining for state employees.
Texas,Georgia, South Carolina,North Carolina, and Virginia have passed legislation making public sector collective bargaining illegal.
but thats not federal. the question was federal not state.
Thanks for that.
The fumbling about Libya was bad, but we knew he was weak there – still, the lack of prepartion surprised even me.
But the response the collective bargining issue really surprised me — he’s a businessman, this sort of thing is supposed to be his strong area; I’d have thought he’d have all this stuff down cold.
The fact he got some things “sorta right” does not help — asking interviewer: “Don’t they?” Very not good.
I see his campaign saying he only had 4-hrs sleep. If so, why’d they send him out there? Or why didn’t they arrange for him to get a decent night’s rest? (It’s not like he has a state to run…)
I am surprised they did not blame the Perry campaign ……………………………. again.
He should have said that he doesn’t believe that whether someone gets collective bargaining rights shouldn’t depend on how that person’s last name sounds, and anyone who doesn’t agree lacks compassion. That would be conservative statesman like.
ANYBODY BUT OBAMA!
What is reality is that Gingrich is just as duplicitous as Romney. If Cain ain’t up to the task, I’d side with Santorum. At least my conscience would be clear.
But, who can win? A little duplicity might make winning more likely. Santorum has no chance of winning. He couldn’t even win his last race for Senate.
Independent voters are the key to victory, are they not? i.e.: swing voters, who could go either way, depending on ‘x’ factors. Please keep the fundamental constraint in mind: get Obama out! Get the ‘republican’ in! Perry does not strike me as someone appealing to the marginal swing voter. Cain is not a credible electable candidate, given realpolitik. Of course, neither does Newt appeal to the swing vote, particularly. But Newt does seem significantly more capable of attracting swing voters than either Cain or Perry. He is smarter, better qualified and prepared to do the actual work of presidenting than Perry or Cain(duh). But the final bottom line has got to be: which one of these fallible human beings will get more electoral votes than Obama. I am hoping either Newt or Romney is the nominee and that we all get united in the one chance we’ll get, and i don’t give a rat’s a55 about anything other than getting Obama out of the white house. I’d switch party affiliation and vote for Hilary in a primary or almost anyone else if they’d run against Obama in a demo primary. I will vote for ANY rino in the presidential that gets the nomination, but only one will get it. Let’s not use the circular firing squad to pick the nominee. The others will be useful in the cabinet to help us unite and strengthen the things that remain.
My conscience will be clear if Santorum, Paul, Bachman, Huntsman or Ross Perot or anybody but Obama wins the general election. I will jump for joy. But I don’t have confidence that they will win the swing vote, which is what will determine the next president. Otherwise I will hold US(you) accountable for 4 more years of irreversible destruction. No disrespect, but we don’t really have the luxury of your clear conscience.
Very well said. We must nominate whoever has the best chance of beating Obama.
These aren’t the sort of “gotcha” ambush questions like they hit Bush with. No President of “Beki-beki-beki-bekistan” to name. In fact, both the Libyan action and the debate over public employee unions in Wisconsin and Ohio have been in the news nearly constantly for months, all since Cain declared his candidacy.
His answer always seems to be, “I’ll ask somebody really good and really smart and they will give me really good and really smart advice, and I will take it. Next question?”
If that’s his answer, then vote for the person from whom he asks for advice.
I was a Cain supporter, but I have real concerns about his grasp of issues. This has been in the news for months. You could learn about it in your sleep.
I like Newt Gingrich, but I have concerns about his electability. He may spend so much time/energy defending himself and his record, that the important issues will not be brought to the fore.
Maybe Romney/Gingrich is our best hope. Sounds contradictory, I know, but the focus will be on Romney who has been more vocal lately.
The problem with Romney is that there is not enough Shiner Bock to make him palatable to the South. His record as governor and his increase in “fees” (which were really taxes), his stance on Romneycare and his judicial nominees are not going to be easily swallowed by Southerners.
Debates are not Perry’s strong suit, and he admits it. But there is no one, not one person on that debate stage, that can campaign on retail politics like Rick Perry can. Already, Perry is running national ads (he has the money, his PAC already has $55 million) and he spends that money wisely, something he proved in Texas. When Rick Perry talks about Afghanistan to a veteran, he knows what he is talking about. Long hours through the night with Marcus Luttrell gave Perry that insight, insight that no other candidate has.
Newt, is a policy wonk. And a good one. But he is also a lecturer, and Americans do not want to be lectured to, they want action. They want someone who will actually reverse the horror of the last three years. I like Newt, his books are great reading, but I worry he will wander off the farm, not knowing why, too many times. But he is, and remains, my Choice #2.
Sunday, a story broke on 60 Minutes about insider trading in the Congress. It has the potential of being a major scandal. While all of us were watching our 401(k) plans crater, certain Congressmen were getting even wealthier. Yesterday, Perry released a 25 second ad addressing this subject. No one else is. The ad is going to be aired in Iowa and South Carolina later this week. Perry is taking on the corruption that is D.C. head on. Will Newt do that with all his ties to that sewer?
I suspect that you are about to see the REAL Rick Perry. Not the man whose handlers tried to make him into a policy wonk to compete with Romney and Newt, but the guy who simply applies logical common sense to a problem and deals with it head on. “Inside trading in Congress is a problem; Congress needs to pass a law that disallows that. I will push for that law.” Simple; to the point; every American understand what he is talking about.
I think addressing the Congressional insider trading will be gold for Perry. I doubt anyone else will address it with any vigor. This will raise the hackles of everyone who was part of the Tea Party Movement; even stragglers like Senor Smokey.
Does it surprise anyone to read that 70% of the bad actors are Democrats? Drain the swamp? The other 30% should be ashamed.
I’ll wait for my candidate to be drafted. None of these guys have the balls to be a good rock-ribbed Conservative POTUS.
That’s not the most important question. The most important question is who can win. I would love a rock-ribbed conservative president, even as conservative as I am (Reagan was too liberal for my tastes), but that’s not gonna happen. The Country can’t afford 4 more years of Obama.
Interesting poll…(Battleground poll)
“Perry might glean at least a bit of good news in the numbers. A state-by-state breakdown in California, Florida, Texas and New York—the nation’s largest states—shows Perry leading Cain in Texas and California, and leading Romney in Texas, California and Florida. In the rest of the country, however, Perry only garners 8 percent of the vote, behind Cain, Romney and Gingrich.”
http://blog.chron.com/rickperry/2011/11/perry-leads-romney-in-texas-california-and-florida-but-gets-just-8-perc
rush says the polls are simply the media’s attempt toush a desired candidate – or to sink a feared candidate. don’t trust a media poll.
I was under the impression that there is a law about stocks and bonds owned by elected public servants. I thought they had to ut their assets into a blind trust so as not to profit from legislature. Like so many of our laws people go around them or interpre them the opposite of what heywere meant to be.
As for Cain. Has anyone thought he is just another affirmative action guy? He might be very smart in the business world but he lacks knowledge about anything else. He comes across as not only clueless about domestic and foreign policies but has the inability to explain his gaffes in a logical manner. It’s like he has lived in a bubble for all his life and has less knowledge than a high school student about the world around him.
Congressman only have to disclose what they own and even then not in great detail. They do have to name the investment. If it’s common stock, they have to name the company.
I’m hoping the latest foot shooting by Cain will lend credence to the Reconsider Movement for a Palin candidacy. She is the one we’ve been waiting for. Palin 2012!!
Could she beat Obama? I’m not sure, but her chances would certainly not be as good as Romney’s or even Gingrich’s.
[…] Stacy McCain’s not getting that ambassadorship to Vanuatu after all.William Jacobson provides the video, and lots of commentary at Memeorandum.And see Allahpundit, “Brutal: Cain blanks on Libya, […]
Maybe I’ve listened to too many college student answers to questions, but I think he did a good job on content. He did at least as good a job on answer pauses as President Obama does with a multitude of “uh”s–which serve to buy thinking time. Be interesting to count up the seconds that Cain used versus the “uh” second count for Obama on his presidential campaign answers on, say, Afghanistan.
Where is this perfection in speaking standard coming from? Not from history if what I recall from watching 50 years of presidential campaigns is right.
If your candidate gets flameed – sit on it for a couple of days! The print version came out after the video went viral and admitted Cain was correct on his answers – if slow with Fatigue.
My opinion is he’s being cautious about what he says ‘on the record’
http://www.libertarianrepublican.net/2011/11/cain-lets-it-rip-on-radical-islam.html
Speaking of
“On the Record”………