The unrelenting awesome factory of awesome that is the Herman Cain Experience Featuring Rampant Denial is now saying the fact that he exists means racism isn’t holding minorities back. It’s all in your head.
When asked by CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley if he thought African Americans had a level playing field, Cain said he thought most of them did, using his own experience in corporations as an example.
“Many of them do have a level playing field,” Cain said. “I absolutely believe that. Not only because of the businesses that I have run, which has had the combination of whites, blacks, Hispanics – you know, we had a total diversity. But also because of the corporations whose board I’ve served on for the last 20 years. I have seen blacks in middle management move up to top management in some of the biggest corporations in America.”
As for African Americans who remain economically disadvantaged, Cain said they often only had themselves to blame.
“They weren’t held back because of racism,” Cain said. “People sometimes hold themselves back because they want to use racism as an excuse for them not being able to achieve what they want to achieve.”
I didn’t honestly think Herman Cain could be any more repugnant, but saying that racism is all in the heads of African-Americans is just ludicrous to the point of self-parody involving what people think about black CEOs running for the GOP White House ticket.
The cognitive dissonance is staggering to me. Herman Cain was in college during the civil rights era in the 60’s. When federal civil rights laws were codified, Cain benefited from them on the way to his lofty perch as Godfather’s Pizza CEO. At no point have I ever heard of Cain saying he was going to pass up civil rights programs or not take advantage of them because he thought the playing field was level. He admits in the interview that educational and economic disparity still exists, and then blames poor minorities for it. How does one escape a hell like that, you wonder? Through a college scholarship, perhaps?
Hell, look at the racism that spewed out when candidate Obama entered the race in 2007. It’s only gotten worse since then, and Cain honestly believes there’s a level playing field? Is he blind to all the assistance he received? Did he ever turn down a position because a company had an affirmative action policy in place? How the hell is he so damn sure that he received zero assistance from any of the civil rights measures that followed on his way to CEO?
Of course, Crowley asked none of that. But I sure as hell want to know.
Then Cain went on Face The Nation yesterday and said this about Occupy Wall Street:
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain claimed Sunday that the Occupy Wall Street protests going on in New York City and across the country were a conspiracy designed to help President Barack Obama.
“The proof is quite simply the bankers and the people on Wall Street didn’t write these failed policies of the Obama administration,” Cain told CBS’ Bob Schieffer. “So it’s a distraction. So many people won’t focus on the failed policies of this administration.”
“You’re saying that these people all got together to draw attention away from Barack Obama?” Schieffer asked.
“We know that the unions and certain union-related organizations have been behind these protests that have gone on, on Wall Street and other parts around the country. It’s coordinated to create a distraction so people won’t focus on the failed policies of this administration,” Cain replied.
“It’s anti-American because to protest Wall Street and the bankers is basically saying you are anti-capitalism. The free market system and capitalism are two of the things that have allowed this nation and this economy to become the biggest in the world.”
Yeah, it’s all Obama’s fault. Bankers had nothing to do with the financial crisis, see. Also, damn dirty effing hippies hate America and it’s a conspiracy to make you forget that President Obama destroyed the economy in 2007 with a time machine and an Excel spreadsheet.
Have I mentioned my strong dislike of Herman Cain in the past 37 seconds?
jl
Cain is smarter and more articulate than all the other GOP candidates combined.
So, good on him. He will do a great job at communicating.
And alienate the minority population in this country that still thinks race/ethnic prejudice is a problem (and that is more than just African-Americans).
And do a good job alienating everyone who thinks just maybe, the banks and financial industry might share in the blame for the economic problems.
Hope he gets nominated. He will do a great job.
Wait until the Xtianists realize that ‘999’ is ‘666’ upside down.
I think he is the perfect candidate for the GOP.
Edit: love that snippet that to be anti (too big to fail, bloated, incompetent, crony capitalist mega) bank is to be anti capitalist. I guess he is going after the small business owner and labor vote too.
JR
The thing is, a segment of the black middle class is likely to embrace this message as validating their own success. This is only a more offensive iteration of what Cosby said back in 2004 (Cosby conceded that racism was still a factor, but that it should have been overcome through determined effort within families and communities). That message was widely condemned, but also embraced in certain segments of the community.
Of course, Cosby has credibility that Cain can only dream of, but the message is a variant on the original theme.
Calouste
Can we please not use the name of Jimi in vain? Use Herman Cain on the Block or something like that instead.
4tehlulz
Don’t be silly. Everyone knows that Obama only uses Soshellist-approved open source software.
Walker
I am in Austin for a conference this week. In the line for lunch, some conservatives behind me lamented how badly Perry did inthe debates, but said they “heard really good things about Cain.”. If only we would be so lucky.
jl
I forgot about Dr. Paul, sorry. So, Cain is tied for smartest and most articulate than all the others put together.
Edit: too bad most of what they say is crazy.
El Cid
No, it was Obama’s fault that it got worse.
The ones who caused it were Jimmy Carter, Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, and Chris Dodd, because CRA & Fannie-Freddie, because all them damn blacks getting free houses they couldn’t afford. The End.
David Hunt
Cool. Now we can say, “By Herman Cain’s ‘reasoning,’ the fact that Warren Buffet says that his taxes are too low means that no one making more than 250K can complain that there taxes are too high. It’s all in their heads.”
Walker
OT: Also on this trip I had a libertarian taxi driver who lamented that the city was allowing too many taxis for him to make a living. Ah, Texas.
Loneoak
@Calouste:
Wallstreet Boys?
kdaug
@Walker: Conservatives in Austin?
Sly
@JR:
Not as much as the white-rump of the GOP will embrace it as validating their own petty and ill-informed biases.
A black dude in a suit is telling them that black people are just being lazy and want to complain all day instead of working hard like good white people do. That’s like manna from White Heaven.
cleek
there’s a lot of qualification in “people” and “sometimes”.
he’s not saying “Black people always hold themselves back because they want to use racism as an excuse for them not being able to achieve what they want to achieve.”
it’s some and sometimes.
but that’s all the defense Cain gets from me.
the worst part of that bit is: “They weren’t held back because of racism”. as if he could possibly know such a thing!
BGinCHI
Herman Cain IS the Big Lebowski.
ETA: Obama abides.
Too Many Jimpersons (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
This guy is only slightly less offensive than Clarence Thomas, and only because he has less power. I really hate people like him. I guess conservatives will call me a racist because I believe, as they might say, “You don´t believe black Americans have the right to be conservatives? Damn, you´re just a racist poverty pimp who wants to keep the blacks on the liberal plantation! And Robert Byrd once belonged to the KKK!”
But, damn, I mean how fucked up do you have to be to belong to a party, to work for a party that actively makes life harder every day for people like you? A party that just plain fucking hates people like you? I mean, yeah, I know conservatives think it´s racist to ask this, but how can Cain and Thomas be willing to belong to the Republican party? (And for the record, I acknowledge that conservatives are right, and that to even ask that question is exactly the same as being a racist poverty pimp who wants to keep the blacks on the liberal plantation by forbidding them to belong to the Republican party. There´s no difference at all. I´m a bad, bad, bad person.)
LittlePig
Heads we win, tails taxpayers lose is NOT capitalism, so I don’t know what the hell Herman is on about.
Walker
@kdaug
The people in line were business critters from another convention. But the libertarian taxi driver (who railed against Solyndra and Fast and Furious) was local.
jwest
Talk about racism, just look what a white republican wrote to a black public servant.
http://republicans.oversight.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1474:issa-to-holder-you-own-fast-and-furious&catid=22:releases statements
Quicksand
I support Cain, and I’m considering donating to his campaign so I can be considered as a possible nominee for ambassador to Ubekibekibekibekistanstan.
I hear it’s lovely.
Too Many Jimpersons (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
@LittlePig:
See, I don´t think you know what capitalism really is. “Heads we win, tails taxpayers lose” is capitalism, as espoused, word for word by Adam Smith, just ask any teabagger, who can quote Adam Smith for pages without even needing to stop to breathe, since they´re so well informed about all things political and economic. Hell, I bet you don´t even believe Hitler was a liberal either. And he was. And Obama is a nazi. A teabagger told me so, so I know it´s true.
Ben Cisco
The more he talks, the better it gets.
__
He embodies the exact type of black man the GOP finds (marginally) acceptable. This leads to the ultimate win-win.
__
If lightning strikes and he gets the nod, the Talivangelicals and their Dominionist fellow travelers (yes, I KNOW it’s redundant) have to either live with the personal affront to their superiority and vote for him (only to watch him lose, badly) or (more likely) stay home.
__
If he doesn’t, the world gets to see that even a Rush-sniffing, acting-dumber-than-he-actually-is appeaser cannot gain traction with the party that swears it isn’t racist.
__
Need. Moar. Popcorn.
BGinCHI
@jwest: Headline: “Former car thief threatens DOJ.”
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Too Many Jimpersons (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.): What “people like him”?
Hill Dweller
@jwest: Wasn’t Issa briefed on ‘Fast and Furious’ while it was happening?
Valdivia
Zandar I just wanted to say: Love you! the last sentence of this post made my day.
Chyron HR
@jwest:
Please, share more of your brilliant political insights.
amk
“The unbridled free market system and greedy capitalism are two of the things that have allowed this nation and this economy to become the biggest fail in the world.”
There. Fixed.
Yutsano
@Hill Dweller: One would think so, since this was under Congressional oversight. But really you would think Issa doesn’t know when an operation goes badly that instead of scalps you determine the damage and minimize it. Issa just wants a trophy.
wonkie
Racism isn’t the block it used to be. But that doesn’t mean the red carpet is out for black men.
There are people who use victimization as an excuse. And there are people who have been victimized. And there are people who were targets but beat the odds.
There are also people who use the claim that racism doesn’t exist or has lessened or has changed as a force in our society as an excuse for attacking the safety network for everyone or as cover for their own racist attitudes.
Many rightwingers are not racist in their attitudes toward people of color that they are personally acquainted with in some way–its people of color in the abstract that they are predisposed to think badly of. That’s a kind of racism, of course.
It is hard to discuss racism as it works in American life today because because such discussions so often degenerate into strawman arguments, which are a form of bullying.
All young people who aren’t the offspring of the 1% are up against a bleak future. The deck is stacked even more against those who are poor, those who are recent immigrants, or those who are disabled, and/or those who are not white. The deck is stacked against those who come from disfunctional homes and don’t have much guidance to give them the skills to succeed. The Rethugs are looking for any excuse they can come up with to justify the selfishness of keeping the deck stacked against most young Americans.
To me the most offensive thing about Cain’s statement is that he is presenting it as another excuse for the selfishness of Rethug philosophy, another excuse to under fund education or student loans, or the jobs bill…another excuse to impoverish the 99% for the benefit of the 1%. He doesn’t care about trying to discuss the complexities of how raciosm effects lives today and he does’t want to contribute in any way to helping people help themselves.
MonkeyBoy
Cain’s just out book, “This Is Herman Cain!: My Journey to the White House” which he is heavily promoting could use some input on its Amazon tags page.
Yutsano
@wonkie: Or you take this path although I admit I haven’t worked this into actual practice yet. He’s a wise man. Nice to look at too.
Hill Dweller
@Yutsano: The real problem with the ATF is their lack of a permanent director/head since ’06. The Republicans won’t touch that either because their beloved NRA(and their puppets in government) are to blame for the vacancy.
John O
All right, hang on here. What Cain said was perfectly defensible in the real word, and I’m referring specifically to the first blockquote. Anyone who thinks racism isn’t used as an excuse from time to time is being very unrealistic.
That said, Cain is proof positive that you don’t need to be a genius to get wealthy or famous in this country, as if we needed more examples.
Elie
Cain is beneath my contempt…
Being a black midddle class person, I have known a few folks like this who are friends of friends or relatives. They are real but considered to be freaks by the majority of the black community. As someone upstring pointed out — what kind of self hate or denial is necessary to be a part of a political party that expressly hates your people in every policy and platform? I tell you what kind — a person who emotionally/psychologically does not identify as being black but as a white person with a deep tan, I suppose.
Anyway, I have said more than I wanted to about this creep, so that is all.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
@JR: I’m ashamed and embarrassed to admit “I was that guy.” As a well-paid engineer in the 1980s, having come from humble beginnings (no real connection to the black bourgeoisie), I really thought “I’d done it on my own.”
With age comes wisdom… and in my case, a certain amount of anger driven by the fact that I was that
guystupid motherfucker.Yutsano
@Ivan Ivanovich Renko: Cosby also wasn’t stupid enough to say that racism had disappeared in this country. He himself was a target of racism throughout much of his career and life. Cosby’s message was rise above it, not pretend that it didn’t exist. If you walked up to him now and called him an N word he’d still coldcock you and not think twice. Then give you a ten minute lecture about how stupid you are.
krahbedad
Sounds just like Clarence Thomas…Harbors the same resentments for workers of color or anyone who doesn’t see things as “Just so…”
LongHairedWeirdo
Cain did not say racism was all in people’s heads. He said that people sometimes hold themselves back so that they can throw around charges of racism. That’s a lot more repugnant.
Too Many Jimpersons (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
Rich black dudes who blame poor black people for their own plight. They say, “Hey, I made it. I´m rich. If I can do it, then the only reason that you losers can´t is that you´re too busy whining about nonexistent “racism” to work. And I know there´s no more racism in America, since I didn´t see any on my way to the top; therefore it stands to reason there isn´t any in America at all, anywhere. In short: I got mine; fuck you all!”
Now, I don´t doubt that it would offend Cain or Thomas that I impute that kind of thinking to them; but I don´t see any other way to read them. Their whole beings just exude “Since nobody ever burned a cross in my yard, any talk of racism here is utter bullshit.”
Trakker
Cain:
Name them.
I would be astonished if even 5% of the top management in the biggest corporations in America are African American. How many are CEOs? How many are in the list of 400 most wealthy in America?
Yutsano
@Trakker: And Vikram Pandit doesn’t count.
Rafer Janders
“It’s anti-American because to protest Wall Street and the bankers is basically saying you are anti-capitalism.”
Wait a minute, so when the Tea Partiers were claiming to protest the bank bailouts and TARP, they were being anti-American? Has anyone told them yet?
daveX99
@Calouste: @Calouste: heh.
I’m trying to think of better band names, but coming up empty. I’m with you, though.
daveNYC
@Too Many Jimpersons (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.):
And I haven’t heard about him having as many issues with women. Republican is the new definition for daming with faint praise.
amk
@Rafer Janders: Bingo.
daveX99
@4tehlulz: That’d be Libre Office.
Glad to help.
Too Many Jimpersons (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
@Rafer Janders:
That doesn´t count. Teabaggers always get an excuse, whatever they do. When teabaggers get pissed off at banks, it´s hunky-dory, since they´re raeally protesting the way Barney Frank made the banks lend money to undeserving black people or how Freddy and Fannie have been taken over by communist radical black people or some bullshit; I can´t even understand it. When liberals get pissed off at banks, it´s because they´re godless commies who hate America. As I said, I can´t understand it; you shouldn´t try to, either; there´s no way you can. It´s like reading Sanskrit. If you aren´t a native speaker, you need to be an expert to decipher it.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
“It’s anti-American because to protest Wall Street and the bankers is basically saying you are anti-capitalism. The free market system and capitalism are two of the things that have allowed this nation and this economy to become the biggest in the world.”
When China overtakes America in around six years, will Cain turn Communist?
eemom
on a similar note, my dumbass wingnut sister in law whose express purpose in life is to be the ONLY wingnut on FB that I have the misfortune of being a “friend” of, “shared” last week a post that consisted of picture of Steve Jobs with a list of all the various disadvantages he had in life: abandoned at birth, etc…..but STILL he got to be a billionaire……and the punchline was “WHAT’s YOUR EXCUSE?”
God that made me furious. Insidious, “if you’re not rich it’s your fault” sicko propaganda at its WORST.
Too Many Jimpersons (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
@Phoenician in a time of Romans:
Damned right he will. He´ll be telling us that all real Americans are communists, and that anybody protesting banks is a dirty fucking capitalist pig.
The whole “capitalist-soçialist” or “capitalist-communist” crap is distracting. The real defining feature of American conservatism is totalitarianism, or at least authoritarianism. There´s a reason Grover Norquist talks approvingly of Lenin´s tactics. It´s the authoritarianism that lights up their eyes, not the specific ideology. Jim DeMint and people like him yammer on about God and America and Ronald Reagan, but with a slight twist of circumstance, he´d be just as rabid in his praise of atheism and Mother Russia and Lenin and Marx.
But brutality and domination are the real defining traits of these people. Republicans secretly yearn to set up gulags here, I´m convinced of it. Hell, if Perry or Bachmann took over, I don´t think the gulags would be too long in coming.
Too Many Jimpersons (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
I mistakenly wrote the s-word. Here it is again, maybe it´ll go through:
Damned right he will. He´ll be telling us that all real Americans are communists, and that anybody protesting banks is a dirty fucking capitalist pig.
The whole “capitalist-soçialist” or “capitalist-communist” crap is distracting. The real defining feature of American conservatism is totalitarianism, or at least authoritarianism. There´s a reason Grover Norquist talks approvingly of Lenin´s tactics. It´s the authoritarianism that lights up their eyes, not the specific ideology. Jim DeMint and people like him yammer on about God and America and Ronald Reagan, but with a slight twist of circumstance, he´d be just as rabid in his praise of atheism and Mother Russia and Lenin and Marx.
But brutality and domination are the real defining traits of these people. Republicans secretly yearn to set up gulags here, I´m convinced of it. Hell, if Perry or Bachmann took over, I don´t think the gulags would be too long in coming.
Too Many Jimpersons (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
@eemom:
Ha ha, how rich is she? You should ask her what her excuse is.
Too Many Jimpersons (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
@eemom:
That kind of thinking is even more offensive as I sit here in Tela, Honduras, at a small bilingual school where about 70% of the students need scholarships to come here. And they can´t even go to the public school, since they have to buy their own uniforms and books.
So this one family I know set up their own school, and they help as many as they can. And they owe almost $500,000 in a mortgage to the bank for the land the school sits on and the building itself. And I try to help chip in what I can by paying the English-speaking teachers, which, if I can pay for them all, would save them about $800 a month. Not enough, but it´s something.
So for the “Government can´t take care of everybody, that´s what we have private charities for” assholes, well, this is what a society looks like when there´s no social safety net: There are a few really rich families who live in compounds in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, and they most likely pay no taxes, and everybody else struggles along, some a little more prospèrously and others a lot less so, but “private charities”–which are sometimes nothing more than this family, who have a strong sense of social and civic responsibility–do what they can, which is never nearly enough.
And to those assholes, I´d ask of them, come on down here, and lend a hand for a few months. And then tell me that that´s what you want for the U.S.
Rafer Janders
@Too Many Jimpersons (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.):
Absolutely. There’s a little game that I play with myself, where I take prominent political/business etc. figures and imagine what they would have done in Nazi Germany/Stalinist Russia/Mao’s China, whatever. Would they have joined the ruling clique or would they have dissented?
And there’s no doubt — no doubt — that most prominent Republicans today would have been proud little Nazis, commissars or cadres had they born in another time and place. What distinguishes them above all else is their need for order, authority, hierarchy, and dominance. They don’t love “capitalism” or “democracy” for its own sake — they love those things because that’s the professed ethos of the ruling political class in this country.
Cacti
@John O:
And “common wisdom” like the above is used to minimize what is a real, ongoing, and structural problem.
4tehlulz
@eemom: Is “Same as yours.” considered an impolite response?
eemom
any semblance of logical response to the idiot would risk an explosion of her itty bitty brain. That one lone neuron is dreadfully overworked as it is.
I would, however, like to plant a swift kick in the balls of the scumbag asshole who came up with that post in the first place.
Cacti
@Trakker:
And you’d be right.
In 2010, African American men and women occupied 4.6% of Board of Directors seats in Fortune 500 compaines.
For hispanics, the most recent information I saw was from 2006 and put their numbers at about 3.1%.
So, that’s about 8% representation for two groups that make up around 29% of the US population.
Which ones have the level playing field again?
pk
When is Hermann Cain going to say that white men are being held back because of affirmative action. That is the next logical step to get his honorary white hood. Carry on like this and he may yet become the grand wizard.
isildur
In case any of you haven’t read it yet:
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/
The Authoritarians, by Bob Altemeyer.
dadanarchist
I had the exact same thought after reading Cain’s remarks.
“The bums always lose, Lebowski! Your revolution is over!”
Felanius Kootea
@Quicksand: I think whoever wins the presidency in 2012 (hint: it’s not going to be Herman Cain) should nominate Cain as the US ambassador to Uzbekistan. I mean it’s only fitting.
Calouste
@Rafer Janders:
There are quite a few goons on the right wing (can’t remember all the names) who were Marxists until they realized that left-wing authoritarianism doesn’t pay as well as right-wing authoritarianism by a significant margin.
John O
@Cacti:
Most things that are “common wisdom” are for just that.
Look, Cain’s a moron wealthy black Republican, but at least he has a clue that until the tax code is fixed, nothing will be equitable in America.
AA+ Bonds
He is doing a great job of making racist white people feel good. There’s always a market for that.
John O
Right, AA+, no one has ever used their race, or their family or friends, or their depression, or their wife or kids or boss or substance of choice, or their job or their own goddamn circumstances not to mention their entire universe in any way as an excuse. Ever.
Is there a Godwin rule for charging racism?
BGinCHI
@dadanarchist: Glad someone else had that thought.
The Big L really speaks for that generation. Or at least the angry white people part of it.
Yevgraf
Herman Cain’s job is to act as chief apologist for the KKK element of the GOP, now that Alan Keyes is discredited.
jl
@John O: Problem is, is that Cain has basically said at least two thirds of African Americans are using race as an excuse, and are very happy staying dependent and enslaved on the ‘liberal plantation’.
Cain thinks maybe, if he gets the breaks, can get through to one third.
Does anyone buy that line? I don’t, and I don’t think Cain can get two thirds of any vote, except for desperate reactionaries. I am assuming one third of those can overcome, or have overcome already, any racial bigotry.
gbear
@daveX99:
Herman’s Hermits.
AA+ Bonds
@John O:
No, so that’s not gonna work out for you. Try again! I’m not sure why you’re defending Cain at all, that’s gotta be a lonely place to be.
Then again, I guess even offensive also-rans have their cheer squad, in this terrible place called INTERNET
AA+ Bonds
People who rise to the top in organizations that openly work against the welfare of the person’s community? Yeah, they are usually psychopathic weirdos who will say anything to please anyone. Cain is no exception.
The problem is not just that what he’s saying is objectively wrong, it’s that he’s saying it at all, in the venue he says it – it shows evidence of seriously flawed character.
Jay C
@jwest:
SRSLY: what an ass. Can you imagine the frothing rage Republicans would have ginned up if, say, John Dingell had sent a disrespectful screed like that to John Ashcroft or Alberto (The Nutty Professor) Gonzales back in the Bush Admin?
I mean, we know it’s Darrel Issa, but really….
AA+ Bonds
@John O:
Ohh, I see from your blog that you’re an “individualist” libertarian who stumbled upon this page by mistake. So you’re wrong by vocation, that’s cool, you have fun with that. Probably not here, though.
AA+ Bonds
@JR:
Cosby never made claims as ludicrous as this. Cosby proposed the “community failure” thesis. But Cain proposes that the disparity in welfare across demographics is an individual psychological problem that is somehow shared across the majority of the black population.
Cain’s claim is racist and insane and not a lot of people, black or white, agree with him.
maya
@Calouste: Instead of;
How about
Hermz in da Hood. or; One Slice $ Ninety-five.
AA+ Bonds
I honestly believe Cain’s appeal is based in part on a bizarre, crass, and unrealistic racial calculus by certain Republicans, who are trying to ‘cancel’ an issue by highlighting how poorly their party handles it.
The same issue arose with Palin and women: a few women identify with Palin, but most don’t, and don’t want to be seen as being like her, according to polls.
So it’s a net loss for the Republicans as their token achieves the exact opposite of the intent.
The main plus of Cain and Palin is that they can rag on blacks and women respectively in ways that the white male candidates can’t. This is the ol’ Phyllis Schlafly trick from the Moral Majority. Expect breathless speculation about Cain as a VP candidate who can go out there and give those blacks the tongue-lashing they deserve.
SiubhanDuinne
@MonkeyBoy:
“Profiles in Pepperoni” LOL!
harlana
@AA+ Bonds:
I think I just threw up a little in my mouth, but I think you’re right.
SiubhanDuinne
@Zandar: I just noticed/got your post title. Excellent!
Bruce S
There is absolutely no question in my mind that everything Cain-related is all in his head.
SiubhanDuinne
@daveNYC:
ruemara
@JR:
uh, no. Not even slightly. Not even in the same room.
quannlace
Ah, yes. There’s no black or white in Cain’s world. It’s all just pink fluffy clouds and sparkly unicorns! And super-duper positive thinking as the only thing you need to succeed!
wonkie
Well, racism is used as an excuse sometimes. All African Americans would have to be universally saintly to avoid that mistake. BUT the existance of the occassional person who uses racism as an excuse does not justify support for public policies that have the effect of marginalizing large swaths of the population. Nor does the existance of the ocasional faux victim justify the use of the odd faux victim to demonize a big subset of the population.
Again, there is a little true in Cain’s statemet. But he expresses that little truth to promote a bigger lie.
jron
I’m just gonna put this here:
thehermancainfacts
When I started it I thought it would be fun to make up quotes, but so far a quarter of them are things he actually said.
Rafer Janders
@Walker:
*Bangs head on desk*
The stupid, it burns…
Chris
@jl:
What I love about that is that one of their early arguments against Obama was that he was in bed with Wall Street, that they’d become an unholy political/corporate alliance, that all the big companies that would’ve failed should’ve just been allowed to fail and let new businesses rise up in their place, because that’s The Free Market.
Now those big companies in bed with the politicians are actually being “threatened,” all of a sudden, being anti-Those Companies is equated to being anti-The Free Market Itself.
So much for free markets, I guess.
AA+ Bonds
@harlana:
What they’re already underestimating: the actual impact of a black man telling other black men that the Republicans are good for them and not racist as all, and that racism is all in their heads, as he stands in the shadow of a white Republican, who is in turn taking on a black and Democratic sitting President.
They’re likely to lose the black vote for another fifty years.
Too Many Jimpersons (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
@jron:
I don´t know whether Herman Cain really said this, but I really want to believe he did, so I will:
Now, if he said that, and if it´s true, then–and take heed here, since I´ll never say this again–I agree with Herman Cain!
Chris
@LongHairedWeirdo:
Who WOULDN’T choose to remain in abject poverty just for the sake of being able to throw around charges or racism?
Christ. This one goes down as a close cousin to their general belief that poor people and the downtrodden in general are living the high life, but that rich people are a suffering underclass.
maya
@AA+ Bonds:
Just like Rush Limbaugh telling him to apologize to Perry only existed in Hermz head.
Chris
@Rafer Janders:
Here’s a good one, related to their professed patriotism and love of country: put the Republicans in the position of France in 1940. Having had their country crushed by a superior enemy, what would they do? Because my money says they’d have been the backbone of Vichy just like the old right of France (the guys who had never really accepted the republic) were its backbone in real life.
It’s easy to be patriotic and ultranationalist when your army’s sitting on top of the world – in the face of conquest, though, I have a feeling their noses would get real brown towards the occupier. And then you’d find out who the patriots really are.
Good Lord, YES. Mikhail Suslov and William F. Buckley might’ve been ideological opposites, but in terms of character, they’re fucking soulmates.
Chris
@AA+ Bonds:
I read “The Plot Against America” years ago (Philip Roth, historical fiction about Lindbergh beating FDR in the 1940 election and setting up a pro-fascist America). There’s a scene towards the beginning when a rabbi comes out and gives Lindbergh a warm endorsement, and one of the protagonists (a New York Jewish family) comments that “he’s not talking to the Jews, he’s koshering Lindbergh for the goyim.”
I mention that tidbit for anyone else who’s read the book, because it comes to my mind a LOT with Herman Cain. He’s the token black guy telling the racists that it’s okay to be racist.
Totally agree, but as with Palin, were women/black people really the target demographic?
mclaren
How long before we enter Zardoz territory and start screaming “The gun is good!” and “Go forth and kill!”…?
AxelFoley
@Phoenician in a time of Romans:
Well, he said his parents always told him not to rock the boat, so I’d say yeah.
Cool username, btw. ;)
MacKenna
Cain is courting the KKK vote. There is no other explanation.
MacKenna
Is Herman Cain Clayton Bigsby?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wITchV88Gjk&feature=related
Bruce S
And his 9-9-9 tax plan just rubs salt in the wound…
http://titanicsailsatdawn.blogspot.com/2011/10/9-9-9-raising-cain-or-just-raising.html