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May 23, 2013
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 New Republican Front-Runner: Herman CainPosted on May 10, 2011NEW YORK—The funniest political debate I ever saw (and moderated) was between a half-dozen minority party candidates for governor of New Jersey. I was doing that sort of thing for WNBC-TV here, fairness rules and all that. My first question had to do with the traffic problems in Jersey cities after a thruway was built from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Brooklyn, dumping miles of cars across Staten Island onto the streets of Perth Amboy, N.J.
The candidate to my left was on the ballot as “The King of the Gypsies,” which apparently he was. His answer: “I could take care of that in a day.”
How?
“Magic!”
Things went downhill from there.
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Congressman Ron Paul, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Sen. Rick Santorum, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and Herman Cain, former chief executive officer of Godfather’s Pizza.
Other distinguished Republicans did not show up. That list included former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin and the national jester, Donald Trump.
They met in Greenville, S.C., though occasionally I had the impression they were on Mars. And, for the record, the Fox guys, particularly Chris Wallace, were foxy enough to ask one rough question after another. Pawlenty, in particular, seemed insulted by that.
The answers? Well, Paul, the audience favorite, saw no reason that prostitution or heroin should not be legal playthings. Pawlenty called the United Nations “pathetic.” Santorum attacked the idea of women working and was embarrassed when Wallace showed film clips of his flip-flopping on trade issues and budget-balancing. Johnson wanted Medicare cut by half and complained that no one seemed interested in asking him questions.
Cain, asked about his plans for Afghanistan, said he had none. He also said President Obama’s position on gay marriage “borders on treason.” And he added that all foreign aid, including aid to Israel, should be eliminated. But he did get among the biggest cheers of the night when he said: “I ask people ... how’s (government) working for you? We have a mess!”
So it ended. Cut to Frank Luntz, the Fox pollster, working with a focus group of 29 South Carolinians. Who won? Cain. Almost everyone, admitting they had never heard of him before, said Cain. Why? They all said he didn’t sound like a politician, which was true enough. “This is unprecedented,” said Luntz, almost hysterically—in the before-the-debate poll, only one person had named Cain. The others assumed he must be a plant, maybe the guy’s brother-in-law.
There must have been hysteria in the Fox control room as well. What the hell is going on here? As Luntz jumps up and down—“unprecedented!”—they cut him off and go to Sean Hannity, sitting with Pawlenty, the most “serious” of the Fab Five. Mumbling Washington talk, they pretend that Cain does not exist. Sitting alone in my living room, I am almost in tears, laughing. This is almost as good as “The King of the Gypsies.”
Hello, Young Republicans, wherever you are. You have a problem. You have no persuasive candidates so far. The default candidate is Romney, the father of Obamacare. The mystery candidate, if he runs, is former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Romney’s fellow Mormon and Obama’s ambassador to China. And then the winner has to pick one of these wackos as a running mate.
© 2011 UNIVERSAL UCLICK  TAGS:
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By anaman51, May 11, 2011 at 3:21 pm Link to this comment
With this sort of public stupidity taking the pre-election stage, I can only hope that Americans have finally learned something useful about the Republican Party. I can only hope the voters have finally awakened to the reality that no matter who the Republicans put up there on that official soapbox come the next Presidential election, that individual will be completely and entirely full of shit. The official platform will be constructed of scummy lies and shady half-truths, the usual Republican fare. Unscrupulous, slimy PACs with mysteriously bulging coffers will pop out of the woodwork ready to smear the Democratic candidate with everything short of mating with cattle. In other words, it will be business as usual for the GOP. Again, it’s up to us to sort out the lies and innuendo and come to a sane conclusion. Realistically speaking, can you picture Nazi Newt as our next President? Makes my skin crawl to think about it. Do you remember the Contract On America?
Report thisBy greenuprising, May 11, 2011 at 8:57 am Link to this comment
Trouble is, nobody but a Democratic apparatchik will turn out to vote for Obama. Or maybe that’s not trouble at all. Maybe we can end this two-party farce once and for all this time ‘round
Report thisBy TDoff, May 11, 2011 at 8:09 am Link to this comment
Do the same folks who follow circus elephants with giant shovels and push brooms follow the GOPer presidential-hopefuls around?
Report thisBy sharonsj, May 11, 2011 at 7:35 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
More proof that the Republicans—and a scary percentage of our population—are bat-shit crazy.
Report thisBy phil c, May 11, 2011 at 7:23 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Herman Cain would be our first President who speaks English as a second
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By csavage, May 11, 2011 at 6:34 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Never fear, the RNC will pick their candidate and he’ll be heavily shopped on Faux News and the dupes will think they picked him. And they’ll never have to address the elephants in the room-the birther issue, Obamacare’s origins with Nixon, Dole, and Romney, the contradiction of saying you believe in “small govt” while you actively install an intrusive theocracy, and the issue of imposing neoliberalism on public that doesn’t want it….get the popcorn popper ready!
Report thisBy SarcastiCanuck, May 11, 2011 at 6:20 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Don’t forget,it is thier constitutional right to be idiots.
Report thisBy benfrank, May 10, 2011 at 9:50 pm Link to this comment
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By Jim Yell, May 10, 2011 at 3:25 pm Link to this comment
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Like it or not the nations Gays are everyones dgts, sons, and sometimes even their parents. Gays more than pay there way thru life. Oh, yes there are some that are scondrels, but name me a group of people that aren’t a mix of good and bad.
Let’s see there is just been a news item about a father who beat his son continually and kept him in a dog kennel, until he died and then buried him with a Bible on his chest. Is this an example of the result of Fundamental Religion?
How can it be treason to recognize the rights of a group that have fought in all of America’s Wars, have been among the leading minds in every endeavor of the country? We don’t call it treason when a Coke Head President starts a war on lies and dismisses the electorate as unimportant to the dicates of his belief in a God who apparently was never able to turn the little jerk into a Man.
I have never voted Republican in a National Election because they have always been the whinning little boy in the room who thinks cleaning up after himself is an imposition. Why don’t decent members of the Party go out and form a Party purged of these racist, lying religously limited jerks?
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