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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2012 / FOX Picks Its Next GOP Novelty Act

FOX Picks Its Next GOP Novelty Act

by Anne Laurie|  May 6, 201111:23 pm| 95 Comments

This post is in: Election 2012, Republican Stupidity, Assholes

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David Weigel at Slate reports last night’s GOP debate as Sweet Nothings: In the South Carolina debate, Republicans tell one another what they want to hear“:

… The very first question to the candidates was about Bin Laden’s death; the first yes-or-no question was whether they’d want to release the military’s photo of a bullet-riddled corpse. All of the candidates save for Cain raised their hands, indicating that they would. Asked about the details of the raid, they found ways to bend the question toward their own theories of what was learned and how terror could be thwarted…
__
After this, the debate did Republicans a little less good. The mission of the GOP at the moment is to grind down Barack Obama’s agenda, cut spending, convince voters they can create jobs, and avoid other issues like they’re doused in insect pheromones. That last thing was hard to do in Greenville, because most of the party’s potential, orthodox candidates skipped out on it. (Buddy Roemer, the former congressman and governor of Louisiana, forked over a $25,000 filing fee but was excluded on the grounds that no one’s met a voter who actually supports him.) Paul and Johnson, the two libertarians in the race, made up 40 percent of the show and got something like 30 percent of the questions. The Fox News moderators, with stacks of research to draw on, raced across every issue that could possibly interest Republicans.
__
No one was particularly happy about this. Every candidate got at least one question about a possible political vulnerability, which was odd considering the pre-debate wisdom that only one of the candidates—Pawlenty—had the media and donor credibility to make it to the nomination…
__
Cain, the businessman and motivational speaker, just kept repeating that he had plans to solve problems, and the candidates with careers in politics didn’t have plans. The thing about repeatedly saying you have a plan is that an audience believes it. Cain did well in a post-debate focus group conducted by Frank Luntz for Fox News because, to use some of their words, Cain was “articulate” and he “had plans.”

I’ll bet that last line gave Joe Biden a chuckle.

David Swerdlick, at The Root, thinks “Cain Was Able at the GOP’s First Debate“:

Described by the Daily Beast’s Mark Latimer as a “whatever-the-opposite-of-thriller-is,” the event was clearly lacking star power. But while former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty wound up being the only “mainstream” candidate on the stage, the debate set the table for the coming political season — making clear that Republicans will be going after Obama on any and all issues, including foreign policy, even after this week’s killing of Osama bin Laden. Herman Cain — the only African American in the field — summed it up, saying, “One good decision doth not a presidency make.”
__
And yes, he did say “doth.”
__
Cain mostly served up predictable talking points. But unlike the meandering Ron Paul, Cain’s a seasoned talk radio host, and he connected with lines like “Government doesn’t create jobs; business creates jobs.” And Republicans liked what they heard.
__
Just minutes after the debate ended, an on-air focus group run by Fox News pollster Frank Luntz declared, almost unanimously, that Cain, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO, was the debate’s winner. Their reaction: “He’s a problem solver. He gives the problem, he gives the solution, and that just seems to be a breath of fresh air for Washington.”

Since Roger Ailes permits no unmediated results, sounds like Fox News has chosen Herman Cain as the latest potential break-out S*T*A*R in its quasi-reality show “GOP Presidential Race 2012: We Still Hate That Obama Guy Just As Much As Our Viewers Do”.

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95Comments

  1. 1.

    Spaghetti Lee

    May 6, 2011 at 11:30 pm

    Cain’s been drifting around in the ether for a while now. It seems like if he was going to become the Next Big Thing it would have happened already. The current rush of attention is over by the start of next week, methinks.

    But by all means, Goppers, nominate a guy whose only leadership experience is selling pizza. Pair him up with Trump or Bachmann and we’ll happily take 45 states in the general election.

  2. 2.

    Mark S.

    May 6, 2011 at 11:33 pm

    What is the $25,000 filing fee? Do all states charge that big of a chunk of cash? It’s also pretty damn early.

  3. 3.

    freelancer

    May 6, 2011 at 11:36 pm

    Cain, the businessman and motivational speaker, just kept repeating that he had plans to solve problems, and the candidates with careers in politics didn’t have plans. The thing about repeatedly saying you have a plan is that an audience believes it. Cain did well in a post-debate focus group conducted by Frank Luntz for Fox News because, to use some of their words, Cain was “articulate” and he “had plans.”

    The best laid plans of mice and man hybrid brains always gang agley.

    This is hilarous.

  4. 4.

    Yevgraf (fka Michael)

    May 6, 2011 at 11:38 pm

    “articulate”

    Can we haz a “rolling around on the rug while guffawing” smiley?

    kthxbai

  5. 5.

    Culture of Truth

    May 6, 2011 at 11:46 pm

    I hardly know what to say at this point.

    Good luck with all *that*.

  6. 6.

    gnomedad

    May 6, 2011 at 11:49 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    But by all means, Goppers, nominate a guy whose only leadership experience is selling pizza.

    There’s only four things we do better than anyone else.

    music
    movies
    microcode (software)
    high-speed pizza delivery

  7. 7.

    JGabriel

    May 6, 2011 at 11:52 pm

    Anne Laurie:

    Since Roger Ailes permits no unmediated results, sounds like Fox News has chosen Herman Cain as the latest potential break-out S*T*A*R in its quasi-reality show “GOP Presidential Race 2012: We Still Hate That Obama Guy Just As Much As Our Viewers Do[*}”.

    *But Not Because He’s Black

    Seriously, the Cain love is probably a Fox/GOP attempt to inoculate themselves on the race front, which means: expect them to go after race hard in the election.

    Admittedly, that’s kind of like warning that terrorists want to attack us. Duh.

    .

  8. 8.

    batgirl

    May 6, 2011 at 11:56 pm

    So is this the GOP’s Alan Keyes move?

  9. 9.

    freelancer

    May 6, 2011 at 11:59 pm

    @batgirl:

    Trojan race-agro.

  10. 10.

    junebug

    May 7, 2011 at 12:00 am

    Cain =too late.

  11. 11.

    Suffern ACE

    May 7, 2011 at 12:09 am

    @batgirl: Actually, its to find out who the best candidate is to present the republican plan without talking about what that plan is very clearly. Apparently, Cain does that better than the other candidates. Just say that you have a plan, the president has none, hope no one asks what the plan is (this worked in 2010), and convince people that the President has ties to people who wish harm to white people, a preference for helping blacks over whites. Cain for the most part would be able to do that this summer.

    Summer is coming soon, you see, and since the last two summers have been completely batshit insane, with death panels and beer summits and black panthers and ground zero mosques, and republicans have been able to fill the air with any nonesense all summer long as Democrats take vacations with their families, I would expect that this is the summer where they work finally establish the radical racialism of the President that they have been trying to do since 2008.

  12. 12.

    fhtagn

    May 7, 2011 at 12:11 am

    You have to admire the diversity promoted by FOX. They’ve got every variety of wingnut in the Cain to McCain range.

  13. 13.

    Anoniminous

    May 7, 2011 at 12:14 am

    @efgoldman:

    Huckabee still hasn’t officially made-up his mind. According to Rumor Mill News Agency, the Huck has until the end of this month to make a decision or Fox will yank his contract.

    ETA: What’s happening with Grizzly Mom? All of a sudden she seems to have vanished back into the frozen tundra of “Who Cares.”

  14. 14.

    MikeJ

    May 7, 2011 at 12:14 am

    @efgoldman: Hucklebee was told to decide by the end of the month have it decided for him.

  15. 15.

    TG Chicago

    May 7, 2011 at 12:14 am

    Shouldn’t the title of this post be “FOX picks its next paid contributor”?

    Clearly the idea is to put Cain deeply enough in the mainstream that they can make him a news commentator / contributor / host / whatever it is that they pay Palin, Huckabee, Santorum, and Gingrich for.

    By this time next year, the GOP will have their actual nominee and Herman Cain will have a FOX contract. Bet on it.

  16. 16.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    May 7, 2011 at 12:16 am

    looks like the exposure of their birther side, and the obvious implications, the republicans short term strategy is, BUT…BUT…hermain cain!

    meanwhile all the candidates they might actually want, or at least settle on, are told to stay away. they don’t have to go on record yet, this is the something for everyone phase.

    let the minor leaguers develop the messages, then the big boys will swoop in, with big dollars, recite the given lines, and one will be annointed, no muss, no fuss.

    it will all happen so fast, it will seem like it was obvious, and not carefully orchestrated at all, if the losing candidates, accept their stipends, and move on without questioning the process too much.

    i just don’t fear the gop, even with citizens united they have nothing in the tank. its time to build a mandate though, and make obama into the man who put the country back together.

  17. 17.

    freelancer

    May 7, 2011 at 12:17 am

    @freelancer:

    On second thought, “Trojan Horse Race-Agro” would make a great tag for posts about the GOP promoting Juan Williams, Michael Steele, Herman Cain, etc as proof that Republicans aren’t really racist.

  18. 18.

    GregB

    May 7, 2011 at 12:17 am

    President Obama decided to give the order to take out Osama Bin Laden. Herman Cain gave the order to try a different brand of mozzarella cheese on Godfather’s Pizza.

    By the way, start the countdown for the GOP to start screaming racism every time this asshole Limbaugh wannabe Cain gets criticism.

  19. 19.

    Uloborus

    May 7, 2011 at 12:18 am

    Let me point out that if the audience liked Cain most, that’s a clear sign that Obama’s #1 offense is to be a Democrat, not black.

    Which is not to say they’re not racist. Sarah Palin speaks volumes about their party’s misogyny, for example. I’m sure Cain will be similarly unintentionally eloquent.

  20. 20.

    JGabriel

    May 7, 2011 at 12:24 am

    @efgoldman:

    Didn’t I read that the Newtnick and, I think, Hucksterbee were released from their Fox contracts?

    No, that was the Newtnik and Anal Froth. Huckabee’s contract is still active.

    Edited to Add: Apparently till the end of the month, according to Anoniminous and MikeJ, who both got there before I did. Note to self: read subsequent comments first, before answering questions.

    .

  21. 21.

    Anoniminous

    May 7, 2011 at 12:27 am

    HuffPo has an article up on Will-He/Won’t He Huckabee.

  22. 22.

    Sloegin

    May 7, 2011 at 12:29 am

    Godfather’s Pizza is still around? I haven’t seen a retail in over 10 years.

    All this candidate roadkill, dressed and put on a silver serving tray, and the Republicans expect we’ll all come running when they ring the dinner bell. They probably won’t even have the decency to provide barf bags.

  23. 23.

    Roger Moore

    May 7, 2011 at 12:31 am

    @gnomedad:

    high-speed pizza delivery

    Notice that Stephenson never suggested that we lead in pizza production; most of that high speed delivered pizza tastes about as good as the box it comes in.

  24. 24.

    Spaghetti Lee

    May 7, 2011 at 12:39 am

    @Uloborus:

    I think it’s more that Cain is rich. There’s a lot of duskiness that can be forgiven on account of richness with the GOP base.

  25. 25.

    hhex65

    May 7, 2011 at 12:51 am

    if memory serves the only two Presidents who were CEOs prior to their Presidencies were Hoover and W– as always, the logic of Repub hero worship is slightly less than impeccable.

  26. 26.

    Suffern ACE

    May 7, 2011 at 12:53 am

    Damn moderation. Was it the word “summer” or “batshit” that isn’t allowed. Honestly, I think the GOP should run candidate V1aga ra or Socia1ist for President. I bet half the blogosphere would be rendered unable to even comment.

  27. 27.

    Suffern ACE

    May 7, 2011 at 12:57 am

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    In 2009, Cain founded “Hermanator’s Intelligent Thinkers Movement” (HITM), aimed at organizing 100,000 activists in every congressional district in the United States in support of a strong national defense, the FairTax, tax cuts, energy independence, capping government spending, and dismantling Social Security.

    Or maybe because he is both rich and holds republican positions on everything, he is an acceptable candidate.

  28. 28.

    Joel

    May 7, 2011 at 1:06 am

    Man, these guys are scum.

  29. 29.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    May 7, 2011 at 1:08 am

    Just minutes after the debate ended, an on-air focus group run by Fox News pollster Frank Luntz declared, almost unanimously, that Cain, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO, was the debate’s winner. Their reaction: “He’s a problem solver. He gives the problem, he gives the solution, and that just seems to be a breath of fresh air for Washington the right color and on the right side.”

    Fix’t.

    Cain has solutions to problems all right, he’s just not ready to tell anyone his solutions until he wins and can defer to his experts.

    As someone said in Dengre’s thread, every election from day one until 2008 had two guys of the same race battling it out. The right just wants to re-establish the natural balance of things, they want to see their black dude beat the black dude that they love to hate. It isn’t that Cain is competent, he’s black and that’s what they think they need to beat Obama.

    That’s all. It’s that simple because they are simple(minded).

  30. 30.

    r€nato

    May 7, 2011 at 1:08 am

    …

  31. 31.

    fhtagn

    May 7, 2011 at 1:11 am

    @Suffern ACE:

    You’d hope that anyone silly enough to call himself the Hermanator would just be laughed off-stage for gratuitous pomposity.

  32. 32.

    scav

    May 7, 2011 at 1:16 am

    Next season on Fox! “So You Want to Be A Republican Presidential Candidate?” followed by “America’s Next First Lady!” and “Dancing with the Lobbyists!”

  33. 33.

    Suffern ACE

    May 7, 2011 at 1:18 am

    @fhtagn: Or be chosen to pick up the keg for the party in the dorm tomorrow night, and not much more than that.

  34. 34.

    Anne Laurie

    May 7, 2011 at 1:22 am

    @fhtagn: If his Wikipedia entry is correct, Cain got a PhD/Computer Science from Purdue, not a ‘legacy reward’ MBA from one of the Ivies. He may be silly, but he’s not a trust-fund moron riding on Daddy’s accomplishments and his own ‘networking’ skills, like Dubya or Trump. There’s an old proverb about having to work twice as hard to be considered half as good…

  35. 35.

    DonkeyKong

    May 7, 2011 at 1:25 am

    What are they gonna say about him? What are they gonna say? That he was a kind man? That he was a wise man? That he had plans, man? That he had wisdom? Bullshit, man!

  36. 36.

    fhtagn

    May 7, 2011 at 1:27 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    Well, if you want to vote for him, Anne Laurie, be my guest. I find his self-awarded nomenclature idiotic. If you like it, more power to you.

  37. 37.

    Anne Laurie

    May 7, 2011 at 1:34 am

    @fhtagn: I’ll be voting for Obama, of course. I don’t agree with any of Herman Cain’s positions, even if he were running as a ‘conservaDem’ instead of a Republican. But it doesn’t denigrate President Obama to say that Cain is smarter than Dubya and/or Trump — silly self-appointed titles or not.

  38. 38.

    fhtagn

    May 7, 2011 at 1:36 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    And when did I say anything about Cain’s IQ relative to that of Dubya or Trump? If you want to raise that issue, kindly don’t drag me into it. I said the guy gave himself a ridiculous title, no more, no less. What’s your problem with that?

  39. 39.

    Roger Moore

    May 7, 2011 at 1:37 am

    @Anne Laurie:
    Yeah, he sounds as if he has a very compelling personal story. If he didn’t advocate consistently awful positions, I might even vote for him.

  40. 40.

    ABL

    May 7, 2011 at 1:37 am

    this is beautiful. watch the GOP throw its weight behind Cain. hell, at this point i wouldn’t be surprised if Cain ends up being the GOP nominee.

    pit one negro against another. the republicans will use him as their We’re Not Racist forcefield. white GOP voters will do whatever fox tells them to do. white liberal obama haters could use him as their Well at Least we Voted For a Black Guy trump card.

    Vote for Cain! He’s Black! Just like that other guy!

  41. 41.

    fhtagn

    May 7, 2011 at 1:39 am

    @ABL:

    Give them time and they’ll explain that “the Hermanator” is all black, so people who vote for Obama are really just showing how racist they are.

  42. 42.

    ABL

    May 7, 2011 at 1:43 am

    @fhtagn: FTW.

  43. 43.

    asiangrrlMN

    May 7, 2011 at 1:43 am

    I wanted to see how my C-list competitors did, so I checked out the debates. And, I wrote about it. I’m not losing any sleep over this lot.

    @fhtagn: You are on a roll tonight. But, yeah. I could actually see this one, sadly.

  44. 44.

    Malron aka eclecticbrotha

    May 7, 2011 at 1:49 am

    @JGabriel:

    Seriously, the Cain love is probably a Fox/GOP attempt to inoculate themselves on the race front, which means: expect them to go after race hard in the election.

    Yep.

    Herman Cain is the next Alan Keyes, and we all know how well that turned out for the GOP in Illinois.

    EDIT: I see batgirl already beat me to it.

  45. 45.

    Suffern ACE

    May 7, 2011 at 1:53 am

    @fhtagn: Well yes, I would expect them to do something kind of like that. Although it would more likely be that Obama is too black. Herman Cain never fist bumped his wife in public, I’ll bet. Also, we’ll see what kind of language liberals use to delegitimize his candidacy if it goes far. That should be interesting. It might be easier to paint white liberals as the real racists than one might hope.

    Regardless, Mr. Cain has never won an elected office. I doubt he makes it very far in this process.

  46. 46.

    Anne Laurie

    May 7, 2011 at 1:55 am

    @ABL:

    this is beautiful. watch the GOP throw its weight behind Cain. hell, at this point i wouldn’t be surprised if Cain ends up being the GOP nominee.

    I think this underestimates the baselevel racism of the average GOP voter. But I can certainly see the Kochsuckers running the party trying to promote Cain as this year’s version of Sarah Palin — the ‘novelty minority’ VP candidate. Since I’m still assuming Willard will be the eventual nominee, I’m kinda looking forward to seeing how Mr. Mormon deals with debating Cain on a level platform, assuming ‘the Hermanator’ holds on that long.

  47. 47.

    fhtagn

    May 7, 2011 at 1:57 am

    @Suffern ACE:

    Well, I am sure Der Trumpinator will explain that Obama was only elected president because of affirmative action. After all, Obama has never shown us his grades as a Senator in Illinois, which can only mean his work wasn’t very good, compared to that of certain walking white wig-stands we don’t need to mention by name.

  48. 48.

    Malron aka eclecticbrotha

    May 7, 2011 at 1:58 am

    @Uloborus:

    Let me point out that if the audience liked Cain most, that’s a clear sign that Obama’s #1 offense is to be a Democrat, not black.

    You obviously don’t understand the House Negro/Field Negro dynamic very well.

    From Der Wkithingipedia:

    House Negro (also House Nigger) is a pejorative term for a black person, used to compare someone to a house slave of a slave owner from the historic period of legal slavery in the US. The term comes from a speech, Message to the Grass Roots, given by African American activist Malcolm X, where he explains that during slavery, there were two kinds of slaves: “house Negroes,” who worked in the master’s house and “field Negroes,” who performed the manual labor outside. He characterizes the house Negro as having a better life than the field Negro, and thus unwilling to leave the plantation, and potentially more likely to support existing power structures that favor whites over blacks. Malcolm X identified with the field Negro. The term is used against individuals[1][2], in critiques of attitudes within the African American community,[3] and as a borrowed term for critiquing parallel situations.

  49. 49.

    joel hanes

    May 7, 2011 at 2:06 am

    I remember.

    Nixon had a plan for peace. It was a secret plan:
    New PeacePlan (now with additional Honor[TM])

    That claim was pretty much enough to get him elected.

    As nearly as I can tell, and to the extent the plan
    actually existed, it was to stonewall in negotiation,
    to bomb the holy fsck out of everything communist,
    and then to cut and run.

    The plan was a success, in that it got Nixon elected.

  50. 50.

    Suffern ACE

    May 7, 2011 at 2:10 am

    @joel hanes: There was also that part where he secretly (treasonously?) offered the South Vietnamese a better deal if they wouldn’t sign off on any peace deal before the election. If I were the reps, I’d be finding ways to funnel as many arms to Libya as I could right about now.

  51. 51.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    May 7, 2011 at 2:15 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    They will show Cain lotsa love just to prove that they aren’t racist but in the end they know that most of their voters will never vote for someone who isn’t white. Cain’s a distraction who knows that he can milk this for some attention but that’s it. Even if Cain were selected you can bet the rebellion would result in a white teahadist running, thus splitting the party and ruining it for the rest of the them.

    In the end, they won’t ‘go there’. The rich and powerful white dudes won’t allow it.

  52. 52.

    Yutsano

    May 7, 2011 at 2:16 am

    @asiangrrlMN: Let me just say that on general levels of teh cuteness, you are leading the pack over the other Republican candidates hon. Keep in mind this could change if Aaron Schock decides to jump in.

  53. 53.

    asiangrrlMN

    May 7, 2011 at 2:20 am

    @joel hanes: I also remember that McCain had a plan to get OBL, a plan he would only share if elected. Fortunately, we didn’t fall for that one.

    @Yutsano: Thanks, hon. I DO think I bring the sizzle factor. I can give major starbursts if you know what I mean, and I think you do. As for Mr. Schock–eh. Not my type. He’s all yours.

  54. 54.

    Yutsano

    May 7, 2011 at 2:26 am

    @asiangrrlMN:

    As for Mr. Schock—eh. Not my type. He’s all yours.

    I think he could be. He’s rather persistent in his bachelorhood plus he did wear THOSE PANTS!! once. I shan’t describe THOSE PANTS!! to avoid offending the delicate snowflakes that seem to be popping up here lately, but let me just say that both FH #1 and I were appalled.

    Speaking of which, where HAS that chile run off do? Did Pedro et him?

  55. 55.

    asiangrrlMN

    May 7, 2011 at 2:32 am

    @Yutsano: You cannot talk about THOSE PANTS without linking to a picture of them. You have me all agog now about the appalling pantaloons of Mr. Schock.

    ETA: You’re not talking about this pic, are you?

    Have NO idea where FH#1 is. Hopefully, lolling about the house with his real hubby eating bon-bons and watching Portuguese soaps.

    How was your day?

  56. 56.

    Suffern ACE

    May 7, 2011 at 2:43 am

    @asiangrrlMN: I’ve been thinking about your lovelorn letter to FH from last night. If you’re still not trying to take that poor boyfriend you ruined back, i was wondering if you wouldn’t mind dating Marc Thiessen for awhile…I hear he has credit cards…

  57. 57.

    ABL

    May 7, 2011 at 2:45 am

    @fhtagn: Double FTW.

  58. 58.

    Yutsano

    May 7, 2011 at 2:45 am

    @asiangrrlMN: Oops, sorry, it wasn’t THOSE PANTS!!, it was THAT SHIRT!! that caused the great kerfluffle between us. Tell me what straight man on the planet wears that. Intentionally.

  59. 59.

    asiangrrlMN

    May 7, 2011 at 2:50 am

    @Yutsano: Hm. You do have a point. Or is it just wishful thinking on your part?

    @Suffern ACE: My ex UNDERSTOOD me! He KNEW I was going through a difficult time! Marc Thiessen, eh? I suppose I could do it for the good of the coun–oh, HELL, NO! I just Googled him and there’s not enough–what, it’ll make him shut up forever? BIG SIGH. The things I do for my country!

    ETA: Only if I get one night with Alan Rickman as compensation. This is nonnegotiable.

    ETA Part deux: And Helen Mirren.

  60. 60.

    Yutsano

    May 7, 2011 at 2:52 am

    @asiangrrlMN: One should only become a beard if one can be properly rewarded financially. Otherwise there really is no other reason to do so.

    As for his personal life, Mr. Schock is single and opposed to gay marriage, and he has told reporters that he is not gay. In the interview in his office, he mentioned a former girlfriend. He also said that while he is passionate about all issues, the social ones are “not what compelled me to run for office.”

    It would, of course, be irresponsible not to speculate.

  61. 61.

    asiangrrlMN

    May 7, 2011 at 2:54 am

    @Yutsano: Speculate away! That shirt really is, um, yeah.

    And, are you referring to me and Marc Thiessen? He’s gay? So I wouldn’t even have to sleep with him? Even better!

  62. 62.

    Xenos

    May 7, 2011 at 2:55 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    If his Wikipedia entry is correct, Cain got a PhD/Computer Science from Purdue, not a ‘legacy reward’ MBA from one of the Ivies.

    Big red flag: he is an engineer claiming to be an expert in entirely unrelated fields, with no sign of getting the education needed to take them on. Engineers who think human beings and their social problems can be sorted out with manuals and formulas are the worst sort of cranks, conspiracy theorists, and tyrants.

  63. 63.

    Calouste

    May 7, 2011 at 2:55 am

    @Suffern ACE:

    100,000 activists in every congressional district in the United States

    That’s 43.5 million activists, or about 2/3 of the GOP voting population. Even if you count “subscribed to an email list” as activist, you won’t get there because less than 2/3 of the population has email.

  64. 64.

    Suffern ACE

    May 7, 2011 at 2:57 am

    @Yutsano: I too had a former girlfriend. I’m guessing he took the foreign exchange student to prom, but she can’t come back to the country for visa reasons. But he still loves her.

    @asiangrrlMN: Don’t want him silenced. I want him whimpering and afraid to ever be touched by a woman again. I think Helen might agree, since it is for the good of the country.

  65. 65.

    Mnemosyne

    May 7, 2011 at 2:58 am

    @Yutsano:

    It’s not just the shirt. It’s the shirt in combination with the belt that screams out “Look at me, I’m GAY!”

  66. 66.

    asiangrrlMN

    May 7, 2011 at 3:04 am

    @Suffern ACE: Cool. I can do that. I will just think of my country–and Alan/Helen as my reward. What can I say? I’m patriotic in my own way!

  67. 67.

    Yutsano

    May 7, 2011 at 3:09 am

    @Mnemosyne: I freely admit to having some pretty bad gaydar (ask how bad that sucks for a gay man. Go on ask away. It’s my personal shame.) but this is more like gay-air-raid-siren alert here.

  68. 68.

    asiangrrlMN

    May 7, 2011 at 3:14 am

    @Yutsano: Really? I have pretty good gaydar for men–not so good for women.

  69. 69.

    Yutsano

    May 7, 2011 at 3:16 am

    @asiangrrlMN: Slightly out there on the interesting front: I did get a lesbyterian’s phone number tonight. A co-worker’s mom died, so we’re gonna casserole bomb her. I think that’ll get coordinated this weekend.

  70. 70.

    asiangrrlMN

    May 7, 2011 at 3:21 am

    @Yutsano: Aw, that’s sweet of you. And, I love lesbyterian.

    And, I’m outie. Night, all.

  71. 71.

    Yutsano

    May 7, 2011 at 3:25 am

    @asiangrrlMN: I’m making a casserole I THINK I gave to BHF, but I’m not sure. It’s a cross between eggplant parmigana and a lasagna. Delicious, vegetarian, decadent, and pretty easy to make too. I think I’ll give the recipe with it in case she wants it.

  72. 72.

    Uriel

    May 7, 2011 at 3:54 am

    @Yutsano: So, just out of spontaneous, unprompted curiosity- how bad does that suck for a gay man?

  73. 73.

    Yutsano

    May 7, 2011 at 4:08 am

    @Uriel: Bad man. Bad.

  74. 74.

    Uriel

    May 7, 2011 at 4:12 am

    @Yutsano: That’s what I hear….

  75. 75.

    Yutsano

    May 7, 2011 at 4:15 am

    @Uriel: It’s not like gay men come with signs or discerning marks. And honestly nowadays you have NO idea who is and isn’t just on general demeanor alone.

  76. 76.

    Amir_Khalid

    May 7, 2011 at 4:31 am

    @Yutsano:
    One’s gaydar, I suspect, is like one’s ability to judge character: a lot of people overestimate their own. It might be that you are just more honest with yourself on this point than many people.

  77. 77.

    Uriel

    May 7, 2011 at 4:38 am

    @Amir_Khalid: That’s probably true- I tend to notice that most people’s gaydar tends to work excellently in retrospect. It’s the realtime operation that gets spotty.

  78. 78.

    Shalimar

    May 7, 2011 at 6:18 am

    Cain seems to be a classic pull-up-the-ladder conservative. Someone from a working-class background who was extremely successful through ambition and hard work who now wants to make it more difficult for anyone else to do what he did.

  79. 79.

    Calouste

    May 7, 2011 at 6:39 am

    Not to mention straight men are incapable of buying belts like that. I mean physically incapable of buying it. If we saw that in the men’s section we’d assume someone misplaced it.

    Someone won the internets for the day there.

  80. 80.

    bkny

    May 7, 2011 at 7:09 am

    odonnell had clips of cain and luntz’s group (frankie’s getting fat) and the blithering idiocy of him (cain) and them is frightening. his responses were canned nothingness; but that focus group loved the dude with his deliberate answers.

    these are the people made for scams. the gop leadership has to be shitting themselves about what to do to nullify these nitwits who donimate the early iowa/south carolina primaries.

  81. 81.

    WereBear

    May 7, 2011 at 7:34 am

    @efgoldman: Didn’t I read that the Newtnick and, I think, Hucksterbee were released from their Fox contracts?

    Get out! You better not be teasing me.

  82. 82.

    boss bitch

    May 7, 2011 at 7:51 am

    @WereBear:

    Didn’t I read that the Newtnick and, I think, Hucksterbee were released from their Fox contracts?

    Newt and Santorum

  83. 83.

    jinxtigr

    May 7, 2011 at 8:20 am

    White racists- will stay home.

    Good.

  84. 84.

    Marc

    May 7, 2011 at 8:43 am

    Best line from the article is this protester who’s incensed that Obama hasn’t released the photos of bin Laden:

    “What we should do,” said Kunst, “is cover him in pig oil and march him into a gathering of the victims’ families, and see what they do.”

    You do understand that HE’S DEAD AND BURIED, don’t you, dumbass?

  85. 85.

    gnomedad

    May 7, 2011 at 9:05 am

    @ABL:
    Hey Rocky! Watch me run a Neeegro against Obama!

  86. 86.

    Hal

    May 7, 2011 at 9:10 am

    Doesn’t the GOP always role out the minority candidate after an Obama success? When he won the election, suddenly they were promoting Bobbie Jindal. (Hey folks! Look over here! This guys dark and has a funny name too!)

    Now there’s Cain, who comes on the heels of what the GOP must recognize as a huge boost to Obama with the death of Bin Laden. Cain says one decision doesn’t make a leader, but that’s not really true. Leaders are made and unmade decision by decision.

    Besides, what other foreign policy is the GOP promoting that they contrast with Obama on? War with Libya, war with Iran. All war all the time, and most people don’t agree with that regardless of party affiliation.

  87. 87.

    Uloborus

    May 7, 2011 at 9:59 am

    @Malron aka eclecticbrotha:
    On the contrary. The ‘house negro’ phenomenon was exactly what I was referring to at the end. It doesn’t invalidate my argument. They hate Obama because he’s a Democrat. It is so unacceptable to them that a Democrat won the presidency after Bush that they have to invent conspiracy theories to explain it. However, the racist contingent (huge) among them will only be charmed by a black candidate who matches their image of ‘one of the good blacks’. Much as Sarah Palin was a ‘strong woman’. They show their racism not by attacking a minority candidate/official but by how shockingly, baldfacedly token their token minorities are.

    @Yutsano:
    That shirt is breathtaking, and the belt promotes anaphylaxy. But c’mon, what gay guy would wear those? He looks awful. I mean, he looks AWFUL. If he’s trying to look good for other men, why would he wear that grotesque combination? If he’s not, how can these clothes imply he’s gay? No, I’m guessing ‘badly closeted transvestite’, which of course may or may not be gay. He’s so repressed he wears girly colors as the only way he can safely express his yearning for sequined dresses and high heels.

  88. 88.

    Jim In Panama

    May 7, 2011 at 10:24 am

    I think polling wizard Nate Silver best described Luntz’s focus group methodology as a “parlor game for television”

  89. 89.

    Jim In Panama

    May 7, 2011 at 10:24 am

    I think polling wizard Nate Silver best described Luntz’s focus group methodology as a “parlor game for television”

  90. 90.

    Arundel

    May 7, 2011 at 3:38 pm

    Mustachioed homunculus Michael Medved is gushing like a schoolgirl over Cain at the Daily Beast today. Nauseating.

    Oh, also today : The Bush team reflecting on Bin Laden’s death with revisionist history , and “Should We Hit Gaddafi Next? by Paul fucking Wolfowitz. I guess Sully’s just surrounded by genius o’er there. Ugh, I don’t know why I even scan that site, it seems designed to annoy me.

  91. 91.

    Snowwy

    May 7, 2011 at 4:54 pm

    I see what you did there…
    But I’m sure you didn’t intend the obscure Black Hole reference to be the pun it can turn into…

  92. 92.

    Caz

    May 7, 2011 at 6:39 pm

    I mean, really, what’s your point here? Some republicans had a debtate in SC, so what’s the big deal? Debates happen before elections are held. I watched the entire thing and I didn’t see anyone really bashing Obama at all. All the candidates did was present their views on how they would help this country get back on track. The candidates were respectful, provided well thought out responses to the questoins, and there were different opinions among the candidates about the topics presented.

    So I guess whenever a republican (or several) speak in public, it’s time to post something about how evil republicans are.

    Do you ever actually feel the need to address the merits of anything a republican says, or is the M.O. on this site to just talk about how racist, bigotted and retarded republicans are?

    And you wonder why no one takes this blog seriously. Well, you probably don’t wonder that, because you’re too wrapped up finding new republican statements to present as racist or whatever.

    It’s really pathetic, but I keep coming back to this site because it’s great entertainment and it provides great insight into how liberals think – disagree with Obama and the progressives? Well then you must be a racist and a biggot and a retard. Merits schmerits!

    Keep up the good work. No, that doesn’t sound right. Keep up the…work. That’s better.

    Oh, and by the way, based on my comment, I’m a racist, biggot, retard, troll, and what else…hmm..I’m sure you can come up with more.

    Limited govt, fiscal responsiblity, adherence to the Constitution, preserving individual liberty. I don’t know why you progressives are so against those concepts. Those are the concepts that this country was founded on, so why wouldn’t you support them? Do you really think a socialist approach is going to work for this country? It doesn’t really matter though, because most Americans don’t want that approach, which is why Obama is going to lose badly in the next election.

    Troll out!

  93. 93.

    AxelFoley

    May 7, 2011 at 8:52 pm

    Caz, shut the fuck up. Just shut the fuck up.

  94. 94.

    Sheesh

    May 8, 2011 at 12:12 am

    The fact is, Caz, I’ve already bookmarked this!

    Why aren’t you guys ever constrained by reality?

  95. 95.

    ABL

    May 8, 2011 at 6:08 pm

    @Sheesh: hahaha. brilliant.

    I’m a racist, biggot [sic], retard, troll,

    you said it.

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