The Nation: Herman Cain, the Polls and What Race Has to Do With It

The Nation takes a look at Mr Cain's sudden and recent "surge":

www.thenation.com...

Yes, they Cain! On Thursday, Zogby released a poll showing Herman Cain not just tying or slightly topping Romney and Perry in the GOP primary race, as he has been for a couple weeks now, but pulling 20 points ahead of Romney, 38 to 18.

And nobody believes those numbers.

You can say that again!

Maybe it’s a media hall of mirrors: Republicans doubling down on their love for Herman Cain because they don’t like the media laughing at them for claiming to love Herman Cain.

We're getting warmer... but not quite...

In an age when even the most rabid birthers and mosque molesters fly into a rage at the suggestion they might be bigots, it’s become impolitic to state the obvious: that a lot of Tea Party types are crazy for Cain because he shields them against charges of racism.

BINGO!

Some conservatives even want extra credit for favoring a “real black man,” as Cain calls himself, over someone like Obama.

Of course, Cain also spews all the right anti-Obama, anti-liberal fairy tales, like telling the Occupy Wall Street protesters “if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself!” and calling blacks “brainwashed” for voting Democratic. Coming from an African-American, that has tremendous value for the right. (Number 1 in Goldstein’s reasons to nominate Cain is “He Has No Sense of Entitlement.”) Like the motivational speaker he is, Cain is helping a lot of Republicans feel better about themselves.

But as Cain rises in the polls, he is undergoing more scrutiny and is inevitably tripping over facts that don’t fit his sales pitch. Cain told Lawrence O’Donnell Thursday night that he wasn’t involved in the civil rights battles of the ’60s because he was in high school. “If I had been a college student, I probably would have been participating,” he said. When O’Donnell pointed out that Cain was in college from 1963 to 1967, “at the height of the civil rights movement,” Cain went into brain-freeze, saying, “I graduated from high school in 1963, OK? I didn’t start college until the fall of 1963.”

Yikes...

In any case, I can't wait to see where he is in 3-4 months!

reply to post by negativenihil


Here is a good explanation of why Cain is doing so well:

Herman Cain is climbing in the polls because he's intelligent, he's not a politician and he has business sense. And, one of the things you left out about why he didn't join in the civil rights movement was because he was 17 when it started and his father wouldn't let him go. It's refreshing to meet a person who came from a stable family life and to know somebody that actually listened to their parents.

Herman Cain is one of those people that you really don't notice his color. He's above that. I think he would make a great president, and bring a little common sense back into Washington. If he's selected in the primary, I'll definitely be voting for him.

Originally posted by zapr1943
And, one of the things you left out about why he didn't join in the civil rights movement was because he was 17 when it started and his father wouldn't let him go.

Do you not read posts in full before replying?

He was in college at the height of the movement. His records are public and found easily with google.

www.morehouse.edu...

www.science.purdue.edu...

Originally posted by zapr1943
Herman Cain is climbing in the polls because he's intelligent, he's not a politician and he has business sense. And, one of the things you left out about why he didn't join in the civil rights movement was because he was 17 when it started and his father wouldn't let him go. It's refreshing to meet a person who came from a stable family life and to know somebody that actually listened to their parents.

Herman Cain is one of those people that you really don't notice his color. He's above that. I think he would make a great president, and bring a little common sense back into Washington. If he's selected in the primary, I'll definitely be voting for him.

I had a favorable opinion of Cain despite the fact that he was a Federal Reserve Chairman (huge negative). However then I learned that Herman Cain in 2008 did not see the bubble building up. He said the economy would do great. He also supported the banker bailouts. I'd rather write in Paul than support someone with no understanding of economics and the fact that he was supporting the bailouts makes me question his character. Very few people outside of Washington DC wanted that.

And there is something else very important. Where is Cains pledge to bring the troops home from the 700+ bases. It wouldn't bother me too much if he wanted to leave troops one or two places. Well, thats about 700 failures. The US will financially collapse rather soon with anyone who isn't going to bring those troops home. Therefore I think its a terrible idea to vote for someone who isn't talking about that. Ron Paul really is the one and only choice, and I suggest a write-in for him (or perhaps Kucinich if you lean left).

Cain is a former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He's a BANKER. That's why the media loves him and why the public will hate him when they find out.

reply to post by negativenihil


I listened to Cain explain his reasons for not joining the civil rights movement (WHEN IT STARTED:read my post) on an MSNBC video.

I also know he went to work for the Navy in a critical job classification which kept him out of Nam.My father had the same thing happen during WWII since he worked with an explosives manufacturer.

I agree with Ron Paul on a lot of things, but he's a little bit too open for me. Sorry.

Originally posted by zapr1943

I agree with Ron Paul on a lot of things, but he's a little bit too open for me. Sorry.

Don't be sorry!

He's a bit too racist for my tastes (and really, like anyone's even questioning who i'll be voting for :up

reply to post by negativenihil


You gotta be kidding. So now we are only going to vote for Herman Cain because he is black? We cant win. If we disagree with Obamas policies we are racists. If we happen to like a man who happens to be black and would make a heck of a lot better President then we have today, we are racist?

And to top it off they say Herman Cain is racist because he didnt march in the civil rights movement. Isnt it a little bit racist to think that a black man had to march for civil rights just because he is black, or he isnt black enough?

WTH?

Lets see the liberal view of why poor old Herman Cain isnt good enough, isnt black enough. He worked for the Navy during Vietnam but he didnt join, while Obama had never done a damn thing for the military growing up.

Herman isnt good enough because he worked and went to school and didnt find it a good use of his time to march in the civil rights march. So are we to assume that every black person in America in the 1960's marched in the civil rights movement?

This beats all.

Originally posted by Convicted
reply to post by negativenihil

 

You gotta be kidding. So now we are only going to vote for Herman Cain because he is black? We cant win. If we disagree with Obamas policies we are racists. If we happen to like a man who happens to be black and would make a heck of a lot better President then we have today, we are racist?

You're *wicked* good at playing the victim!

And to top it off they say Herman Cain is racist because he didnt march in the civil rights movement. Isnt it a little bit racist to think that a black man had to march for civil rights just because he is black, or he isnt black enough?

"They"? No one in this thread said Cain was a racist. I simply find it weird that one would opt not to stand up for one's civil liberties. I'm seeing you do not...

Lets see the liberal view of why poor old Herman Cain isnt good enough, isnt black enough. He worked for the Navy during Vietnam but he didnt join, while Obama had never done a damn thing for the military growing up.

You speak for all liberals now? This seems to be a common thing with the right wing trolls here - they really love speaking on behalf of liberals.

Herman isnt good enough because he worked and went to school and didnt find it a good use of his time to march in the civil rights march. So are we to assume that every black person in America in the 1960's marched in the civil rights movement?

This beats all.

He's a tool for the Tea Party. Plain and simple. He won't be in the race long, so you may want to save some poutrage for when it's Perry or Romney against President Obama.

The fact that he didn't feel supporting his own civil rights was "a good use of his time" is pretty weird in my book...