The latest poll showing durability to Herman Cain’s numbers has me siding with an argument that initially seemed wacky to me: that the sexual harassment charges against Cain might wind up doing him a favor. Here’s the idea: Even …
Herman Cain
Republican Romper Room: Cain and Perry Roil the GOP Race
One of the difficulties of print journalism is that news just keeps happening, sometimes right after your deadline–and so it was last night. I had just put to bed a column about the accelerating foolishness of the Republican …
Cain Unable: Have Harassment Claims Spoiled the GOP’s Last Chance for Inspiration in 2012?
At the lowest point of his quixotic campaign for president, Herman Cain burst into song, bringing a baritone rendition of an old Dottie Rambo gospel classic to the National Press Club. “He looked beyond all my faults,” …
The Other Cain Scandal: Campaign Transactions May Have Broken Federal Law
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a stunning piece on Monday unraveling the twisted, potentially illegal financial spider web connecting Herman Cain’s presidential campaign and Prosperity USA, a Wisconsin corporation founded …
Cain Game: Why Sexual-Harassment Allegations Won’t Sink Herman’s Campaign
It’s been such a long time since we’ve had a good, full-blown, as it were, presidential-campaign sex scandal that I feel the need to restate my position on such episodes: I never touch the stuff. Fleeting moments of human frailty, especially of the testosterone-addled kind, are inevitable and should remain private, absent extenuating …
Cain’s Planned Parenthood ‘Genocide’ Remark
Somewhat lost in the firestorm of sexual harassment allegations were Herman Cain’s comments on Sunday’s Face the Nation regarding abortion – chiefly, that Planned Parenthood clinics are intentionally placed in black neighborhoods to perpetrate genocide. They actually reflect a view that’s regaining traction among socially …
Period. End of Story.
Maybe it’s a just verbal tic for Cain and crew, but there’s only so much mileage they can get out of this blanket response to reasonable questions:
“I’m 100% pro-life. End of story.”
“I am pro-life from conception, period.”
“The Cain train takes the high road. End of story.”
Hermain Cain’s Hollow Iran Plan
Herman Cain appears to be digesting his foreign policy briefings. In an interview with the Israeli publication Israel Hayom–and by the way, where does Cain find the time?–the improbable GOP star sounds far more coherent on world affairs than he has at moments like, say, this. Check out Cain riffing on the relative production costs for …
The Cain Campaign: Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhm-22Q0PuM]
Wait for it. And then read James Poniewozik’s take on what’s going on.
The Mystery of the Missing Presidential Campaign: Cain Operation MIA in Key States
In early October, as Herman Cain caught fire in national polls and began to climb into the first tier of the Republican presidential race, the ex-CEO turned insurgent candidate puzzled political observers by diverting his …
Herman Cain Somehow Misses 40 Years of Abortion Debate
I have to spend some time unpacking Herman Cain’s description of his position on abortion because it’s a good illustration of why straight-talkin’, complicated-problem-solvin’ politicians succeed only in movies. In real life, it turns out that candidates who think they have a simple position that appeals to everyone don’t actually …
The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations
It’s sort of fun to watch as the right-wing press attempts to handle the phenomenally unprepared and unworthy Herman Cain with kid gloves. Here, for example, is the neoconservative Weekly Standard, explaining Cain’s cluelessness about neoconservatism on Meet the Press:
“Would you describe yourself as a neoconservative then?” [David]
…
Herman Cain’s Credibility: Questionable, but Will It Matter?
There’s some talk this morning about whether various things Herman Cain said this weekend will pop his super-inflated bubble. Maybe, but not everything plays with base Republican voters the way Washington thinks it does. Take …