Tell me something I don’t understand:
A new Public Policy Polling survey finds Herman Cain leading Mitt Romney in the GOP presidential race nationally, 30% to 22%, with Newt Gingrich at 15% and Rick Perry at 14%.
Truthfully, I can’t blame the Village for not taking Cain seriously, given that his chief economist is a financial adviser. But at some point, the fact that any non-Romney candidate who makes it through a week without publicly drooling on him or herself overtakes Romney in the polls has to put a damper on the feeling of Mittmentum, no?
NonyNony
No.
Look Doug, it’s really simple. For the Village, the only legitimate President is a Republican president who acts presidential. And the only suitably “presidential” Republican candidate this cycle is Mitt Romney. Therefore Mitt Romney MUST win the nomination. Last time they could pick between John McCain and Mitt Romney, but this time Romney is the only real choice.
There will be head-sploding going on in the Village if Romney doesn’t get that nomination. Extra messy explosions if Cain gets the nomination (though I imagine that a few libertarian think-tank types might just die of ecstasy that they finally have a legit CEO candidate on the ballot when they’ve previously had to settle for an “MBA President” like W or Romney who have actual governing experience.)
ETA: I should mention – this is part of the problem being a Courtier. When the King is a barbarian, the Courtier’s role is reduced. They can either continue to act the Courtier and look like a moron, or they can go against every fiber of their being and criticize the King for being a barbarian. Better for even a Democrat to win in that case – at least Democrats aren’t like Republican King Daddies and can be criticized and verbally abused rather than kowtowed to.
MeDrewNotYou
I’m still not convinced Cain is for real. His campaign acts so surprised to have any support, much less the level it does. It seems to me he started out with the idea of parlaying this into a Fox News gig but things got out of hand.
John PM
If Romney were a Democrat and this were the end of Obama’s second term, then I would vote for Romney. I really see no reason for Romney to belong to the Republican Party. I would feel sorry for him except for the fact that he is a shifty, bald-faced, lying sack of shit.
Wag
…but the problem is that they all DO end up drooling. Mitt is the only one who has managed to control his own spit since day one. You have to give credit for that, if you’re a villager
PeakVT
The media isn’t going to take Cain seriously because there’s no plausible way for him to win the nomination of the party of the Confederate States. Simple as that. Plus his positions are just too far out of the mainstream for the non-Fox media to take seriously on their own. Until 9-9-9 starts being pushed through the regular channels (Drudge->blogs->online pseudo-news sites->Fox) it will only be mentioned in passing.
Hill Dweller
Jennifer Rubin is a f’n hack.
Paul in KY
@John PM: That last sentence is why he makes a good Republican.
Although, I know we have our own.
NonyNony
@PeakVT:
I can tell you one thing – Cain’s 9-9-9 proposal has me interested.
I mean, I haven’t eaten a Godfather’s Pizza in a good 2 and a half decades, but advertising 9 pizzas with 9 toppings for 9 bucks each? That’s a pretty good deal these days. I mean when you have a big party and you need to feed a lot of teenage kids ….
Oh. It’s not a pizza deal? Are you sure? It really SOUNDS like a pizza ad…
well, nevermind.
4tehlulz
So assuming Cain wins Iowa and Mitt wins New Hampshire, which is what it looks like right now.
Who the hell wins SC?
gbear
@MeDrewNotYou:
Cain is on a book tour with benefits.
Sentient Puddle
I’m looking past Cain…are we about to see a Gingrich swoon now?
Cat Lady
The Villagers want Huntsman but acknowledge he’s their dream date for 2016. How can the teatards vote for Romney? He’s a magic underpants wearing cultist from
SodomMassachusetts who is on record as being pro-abortion, pro-health care, pro-taxes – the same as Obama. I don’t believe people vote for VPs, unless their name rhymes with failin’. I just don’t see him getting through all the primaries where he needs the morons to come out and vote for him big time, then pivoting for the general where he’ll have to flip flop his flip flops. He’s a beady eyed snake with all the authentic charm of a cyborg.dmsilev
@Sentient Puddle: No, I think it’s Santorum’s turn next.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@John PM:
But from the Villager point of view at least he is a shifty, bald-faced, lying sack of shit that you could trust with nuclear weapons and still be able to sleep at night (see: Nixon, Richard Milhous). Can’t say as how I blame the Villagers too much for that. Honestly, would anyone here trust the rest of the GOP field with anything more dangerous than a grenade launcher?
What will really be fun is when Mittens gets clobbered in Iowa and SC and the Villagers have to scramble to explain that they were taken by totally by surprise by this shocking event because this is a very, very right-wing nation and our media is still way too liberal, thus justifying the next round of purges of anyone to the left of Sean Hannity from CNN, etc.
Roger Moore
I think those poll numbers are a sign that the people they’re asking are either apathetic or trolls. Herman Cain falls into the category of “latest shiny object”, which means he gets the votes from people who probably ought to be saying “don’t know” or “don’t care”.
smintheus
Anybody who claims that God forced him to run for president is going to make the DC courtiers nervous. How in the world do you suck up to that kind of person?
As for the credibility of the PPP results: Newt at 15%…c’mon.
NonyNony
@gbear:
A book tour paid via donations into his campaign committee coffers.
The Newt Gingrich lifestyle is great if you can keep it up. I’ll bet Cain eats well and travels nicely with money pulled from that account. And, if he does it right, he’ll never need to spend a dime on an actual campaign ad.
Turgidson
@John PM:
Perhaps that’s why he’s a Republican.
Edit: Paul in KY got there first.
Jenny
The Village doesn’t get it.
Evangelicals will never support a non-Christian.
b-psycho
A commenter at Chait’s new place had this to say about Cain:
Gotta admit that’d be hilarious, if only because of the struggles by the media to explain it.
Nellcote
Cain has all those Steve Forbes flat tax voters.
Turgidson
@smintheus:
I’d be somewhat astounded if Newt was polling at 15% among his blood relatives. I don’t have any relatives that can even approach Newt’s combination of narcissism, mean-spiritedness, and general dumbfuckery, but even if I did, I’d know better than to think they should be president.
Ben Cisco
@MeDrewNotYou:
That and selling a book.
__
He does have a look about him that screams, “Look what I found!”
__
@PeakVT:
The Confederacy has always had room for those who would turn on their own. That said, they’ll swallow their pride and allow Cain to assume the #2 slot, and that just to play the “see, we have one too” card à la Madame Mooselini.
__
For the good it’s going to do them.
scav
Might be simpler to posit that I’ve simply misunderstood the definitions of “solid” “front-runner” and “status” for lo these many years.
Roger Moore
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
I propose that we give them loaded, non-safed, automatic grenade launchers, lock them in a room for a day, and see what happens. It would be a great way of thinning out the field a bit.
Amir Khalid
@PeakVT:
How has Herman Cain been polling in those former Confederate states” Is his support much weaker there than elsewhere?
Jenny
Mittens has been running for 5 years and he has poured $100 million into the campaign over that time period, and even with the full support of the corporate media, he can only scratch out a third of the vote versus a pizza guy.
BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH
Zam
I’m pretty certain a lot of Cain’s support is coming from those people who got upset at being called racist for sending photos of Obama with fried chicken and watermelon to everyone they knew. These are the same people who claim that the one black person they have met is one of their closest friends, yet they never hang out.
dmsilev
@Roger Moore:
Finally, a GOP debate format that I could watch without the aid of alcohol.
PeakVT
@Amir Khalid: Polling is useless at this point. Look how much opinion moved during the Perry bubble.
eemom
@Jenny:
pretty pathetic, innit?
Also too, the way even the establishment repubs have been falling all over themselves trying to find someone to replace him with — first Perry and then Christie.
If he weren’t such a soulless, conscienceless, vacuous, rich asshole, I’d almost feel sorry for the motherfucker. But he is, so I don’t.
Quicksand
I, for one, am SHOCKED that this is (apparently) the first time “Cain in Vain” has been used as a post title.
cat
@Roger Moore:
You realize they were polling usual/likely Republican primary voters, right???
Chuck Butcher
Just as a “thought” exercise, suppose Obama loses to a Perry type – what would be the Democratic Party response? To move leftward or head right?
Me? I’d bet on DFH punching regardless of what exit polling shows…
smintheus
@Turgidson: Doesn’t Newt have some relatives who came out publicly against him, or am I misremembering? I mean, apart from his ex-wives. Then there’s the problem that his own campaign staffers keep turning against him. Even the state-fair fried pie concession guys aren’t all that wild about Newt.
Gallup has Newt at 7% fwiw, though his favorable rating has been creeping up the last 2 months.
catclub
@Quicksand: “I, for one, am SHOCKED that this is (apparently) the first time “Cain in Vain” has been used as a post title.”
So, is he going to come acropper in the plains states?
Cain campaigns in rain in plains, in vain.
… with a little bit o’bloomin luck.
geg6
@Jenny:
This. I mean, seriously, Mittens? They’re really not that into you.
But the Village loves their chosen idiots and this year is Mittens’ year.
catclub
@smintheus: “Doesn’t Newt have some relatives who came out publicly against him”
That would be one of his ex-wives.
jayjaybear
@smintheus: Newt’s sister is a lesbian, so she’s a good candidate for the “publicly against him” person. I haven’t checked up on it myself, though.
Bnad
@b-psycho: If Cain were to win it would be a big blow for the Repugnicans’ chances in 012. Galt worship is a poor substitute for good old racism in voter motivation.
Spaghetti Lee
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
“Honestly, would anyone here trust the rest of the GOP field with anything more dangerous than a
grenade launcher?whiffleball bat?”And the answer is still no.
Spaghetti Lee
@smintheus:
though his favorable rating has been creeping up the last 2 months.
Good verb choice.
Tom Q
I think, as usual, we here understand The Village better than they can understand themselves. They need Romney to be the nominee because he’s the only one who (barely) validates their Both Sides Do It/In the End Everyone Acts Responsibily scam. Thus, they’ve been pushing Romney inevitability for a year now, despite clear evidence that GOP primary voters DO NOT LIKE HIM.
But I must admit the poll movement has allowed Villagers to maintain this stance, even if it takes a skewed use of statistics. They see the fact that Romney manages to jump ahead in polls periodically despite a parade of challengers overtaking him one by one, and they label him some sort of survivor. I see instead a guy who stays in the low 20s, and keeps falling behind the latest right-wing-crazy of the month, which marks him as a weak, bound-to-crash-eventually candidate, a la Ed Muskie. Sooner or later, the Not-Romney field is going to thin out, and all those voters are going to coalesce around someone. It could be someone who’s already peaked and crashed — Perry, Bachman, etc. — who comes back the way Kerry or McCain did from seeming flame-out to take the nomination.
NonyNony
I think this might be correct, and damn I hope it’s Herman Cain.
Not that Cain would make the best President of the bunch but because I think of all Republican presidents anywhere, Herman Cain and Michelle Bachmann are the ones that would generate the most backlash from (and possibly – if we’re really lucky – introspection in) the Villagers.
And between the two of them I’m less scared of and more amused by Cain than Bachmann. Bachmann scares the crap out of me to be honest – she has the look of a True Believer to me. Cain feels more like a typical grifter – the expression on his face always seems like he’s found his calling and he can’t believe how much money and prestige he can get by shooting his mouth off about random nonsense. When it comes to Republicans in office, give me the grifter over the True Believer every time.
MeDrewNotYou
@Tom Q:
That sounds about right. I just can’t imagine Romney being nominated for all the reasons we all know (And I suspect to Mormonism is a bigger deal than most people think.) For all his failings, I think it’ll be Perry in the end. Even though the media mocks him, says he’s not ready for the national stage, etc., the base will probably come to him for saying all the right things and not being black.
EconWatcher
@geg6:
The Mittster seems to me very similar to Kerry in 2004. No one with any sense really liked him, but he got his votes from people who thought that maybe other people would find him acceptable and elect him.
There was a website back then, “kerryhatersforkerry.com” that claimed, “we’re probably his largest constituency!” And they probably were.
Didn’t work last time. The economy will have to be really ugly for it to work this time. But it might well be.
handsmile
I suspect that many of those who claim to prefer Herman Cain as the GOP presidential candidate (I assume the polling is conducted via telephone) could not correctly identify Herman Cain from Michael Steele.
The only coherent explanation for Cain’s current lead in certain polls is that it registers an implacable anti-Romney sentiment. But that interpretation does not comport with the dominant Village media narrative that NonyNony concisely stated above (#1):
wrb
@catclub:
I’m sure Doug has Ain’t no More Cane on the Brazos already teed-up for the inevitable day
Bruce S
Romney is the front-runner of the Goldilocks Party, which is supported by the majority of Americans…named Thomas Friedman or Fred Kaplan. Mainstream Mitt tried mandated health care and found it a little too hot. He tried Tea Party soundbites and found them leaving him a little too cold. So he’s now in the center – between the crazy people and the moderately liberal Democrats – where everything is just about right. Never mind that he tells lies every time he opens his mouth – what’s important in gauging his integrity is that, wink wink, he doesn’t believe most of them like the others.
What would make the Washington Post editorial board swoon – and possibly bring David Broder back from the grave – would be Mitt teaming up with Michael Bloomberg for an independent run if he gets blocked from the GOP nomination by one or another of the crazies. Then we’d have two experienced, hard-working, down-to-earth guys who see the world the same way the overwhelming majority of common-centrist Americans see it – assuming they either type for the Washington Post editors or have “CEO” after their name.
grandpajohn
@4tehlulz:
ARG polled released yesterday has Cain leading Mitt by 1 Perry trails by 11
Dougerhead
@wrb:
Next one is This Is The Story Of The Hermann Cain.
ChrisNYC
Gallup had something yesterday where every GOPer since 1959 to have won the presidential after a GOP primary was the first choice of at least 40% of Republican voters by now. GWB was polling at 60% (!) among GOPers in Oct 1999. Romney can’t seem to crack 20. It’s fantastic news.
EconWatcher
@Dougerhead:
The Cain Mutiny?
Dougerhead
@EconWatcher:
That’s good too.
Spaghetti Lee
@Bruce S:
Obama, Cain, and Romney in a 3-way race. Jesus, the South would lose its fucking mind.
Hungry Joe
Before Perry and Christie, remember, there was The Donald. Didn’t he poll at close to 30% among Republicans for about the amount of time it takes for a neutrino to get from now to NOW?
But they’ll vote for Romney in the general, just like I (we) voted for Kerry: In their eyes he’ll be the much lesser of two evils. Pragmatism does tend to assert itself in the end.
Spaghetti Lee
Herman Cain is the name, and I worked on the Danville Train.
fasteddie9318
Really? We’re not taking seriously the guy who said he’d respond to a plot hatched by two Iranian dudes and the FBI to blow up some shit in DC by putting a missile defense system in the eastern Mediterranean? Has anybody else proposed so serious a plan?
gaz
@dmsilev: I can’t predict crazy.
But the debates really did clear something up for me. Ron Paul suffered a nomination crushing blow – and was utterly pwned… By his eyebrow
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/229352/20111011/republican-debate-ron-paul-eyebrow-falling-off-dartmouth-bloomberg-washington-post.htm
You simply can’t make this stuff up. too funny.
Santorum still has his google problem. And his santorum problem.
Newt is over. He knows it, which is why this is a book tour for him.
Unless Not Joe The Non Plumber is pushed into the limelight by Bill Kristol or Erik son of Embarrased – or the GOP finds a new even crazier candidate to lob red meat at the base, it will be Romney by a yard.
Of course, I fully expect to be wrong. Life has a nasty way of turning out even crazier than anticipated – especially when anticipating crazy =)
adding, did anyone ever think Herman Cain would win the nom?
He’s too Republican to get away with being black ;)
Anoniminous
@ChrisNYC:
H’mmmmm
Check this out.
McCain was running below 15% at this time, last time.
wrb
@Dougerhead: oooh.
That’s good
Joe
I recently told a phone pollster that I’m supporting Cain. I am on their lists because I usually vote in Republican primaries.
wrb
@Spaghetti Lee:
That one is even better.
He don’t care that the money’s no good
and he’s singing: La, la la la, la la la la, la la, la la, la la la
fortunately you can’t raise a Cain back up when he’s in defeat.
Jenny
@gaz:
WHWOHOHOHOHOHOOHOHOHOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOOHOHOHOHOHOOHOHOHOHOO
That’s tooooooo funny.
Paul wore a fake eyebrow. And the heat from the hot camera lights caused the glue to melt. Priceless.
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/02Z92uV6DOgZ7/610x.jpg
Jenny
Well, the Village is starting to cozy up to Cain.
Leading Village courtesan Howard Fineman just gave Cain a 10 minute hummer on Lawerence O’Donnell’s show, which means the rest of the Village isn’t far behind.
Ian
@Jenny:
Clarification- evangelicals will never support what they consider to be non-christian.
Taking you literally would imply a good deal of anti-mormon bigotry on your part. I sure hope most BJers have enough decency in them that they won’t stop to that.