Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Come on, man.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Consistently wrong since 2002

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / Late Night Open Thread: Return of the Herminator

Late Night Open Thread: Return of the Herminator

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The Washington Post published this in its Style section, which seems reasonable:

Herman Cain returns to spotlight with American Black Conservatives group
… Herman Cain steps up to microphones at the Willard hotel on Monday after a two-day meeting of a dozen black conservatives that he pulled together. Mr. 9-9-9 has come out of the meetings with a catchy name for his group. They are the ABCs — American Black Conservatives.

After surging to the front of the GOP primary field in 2011 — before flaming out amid a wave of sexual harassment allegations — Cain returned home to Georgia to his radio show, relatively forgotten. Standing before the mikes on Monday he seems to sense another moment in the blazing sun on what happens to be an overcast day in the nation’s capital — a moment not solely for himself but for an entire cadre of “like-minded Americans who happen to be black.”

The former chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza acted as something of a godfather to the ABCs, including the famed neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has reaped his share of controversy of late for his remarks lumping together homosexuality, pedophilia and bestiality. The pair were joined by the founder of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, a former Ohio secretary of state, a former U.S. Housing and Urban Development secretary, a radio personality and a niece of Martin Luther King Jr., who has become a conservative activist…

Cain’s confab was also noticeable for the African American conservatives not in attendance: former congressman J.C. Watts, former Bush secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Republican Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.). Cain said the dozen people who came were those who were top-of-mind for him.

“There were one or two dozen others I could have asked,” Cain said. “I hope they’re not offended.”

Watts said he was invited and would have attended had it not been for a scheduling conflict. In a phone interview Monday, he said he was distressed about the state of black conservatives, whom he would like to see, along with others in the Republican Party, address a broad range of issues important to the African American community: development of low-income communities, minority health disparities, poverty and investment in historically black universities. Instead, attention has focused on the evocative language and aggressive tactics of black conservatives…

Maybe it’s just me, but I get the feeling that Herman Cain is no more interested in the “state of black conservatives” than Sarah Palin is interested in the state of conservative feminists, or Newt Gingrich in the plight of inner-city children from single-parent homes. Mr. Cain is gearing up his griftwagon for the new!improved! GOP minority outreach, and as a proud Democrat I look forward to watching Reince Priebus, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and the other current princelings of the party reach out to join hands with the Herminator… without diving for the hand sanitizer before the video feed switches away.

Reader Interactions

32Comments

  6. 6.

    Cmm

    Night off from work but awake at 5 AM anyway, from jumbled dream/nightmare about working as a cop at the Boston Marathon and taking evidence photos of the carnage. Back when I was a crime scene tech I took photos at the scene of an officer’s death (one from our department) on an interstate where he had been struck by a vehicle. Bits and pieces of vehicle parts, clothing, belt gear and…other stuff…were scattered over about a third of a mile and each had to be marked, photo’d and collected. In my dream I was doing the same job at the marathon finish line. Don’t guess I will be going back to sleep this morning. Glad there are people awake out there I can say this to! Don’t want to traumatized friends on FB who went through the same event, or wake up my peacefully sleeping partner.

  9. 9.

    Patricia Kayden

    I thought Republicans didn’t believe in interest groups that focus on racial differences. And I disagree that Cain was ever “relatively forgotten”. His name still draws chuckles among my group of Black friends. The man is a joke.

  11. 11.

    hamletta

    I’m so old, I used to read Bartcop back during the Clinton craziness in the ’90s.

    JC Watts was a wingnut whore whose own dad shook his head at his son’s political affiliation.

    His finding a sudden need to wash his hair when Cain came a-callin’ leads me to believe Bartcop may have underestimated Mr. Watts.

  12. 12.

    Rick Massimo

    I eagerly await a Jason Mattera wannabe asking to join the American Black Conservatives and screaming and yelling when they don’t let him.

  13. 13.

    debbie

    a former Ohio secretary of state

    Alas, Ken Blackwell rising from the ashes yet again…

  14. 14.

    Poopyman

    Day shift checking in.

    I read the title as “humidor”. Make of that what you will.

    @debbie: At least the WaPo didn’t name names, which would have pleased them all a lot more.

  17. 17.

    YellowJournalism

    Did they have pizza at this meeting? If not, that’s terribly insensitive in the context of a struggling economy.

  21. 21.

    maya

    Minority outreach? How bout a Corgi Conservative group? Or Esplanade Conservatives? Either would draw more than the Dusky Dozen.

  23. 23.

    Bulworth

    two-day meeting of a dozen black conservatives that he pulled together.

    A dozen black conservatives. New Tag can I haz pls?

  24. 24.

    Bubblegum Tate

    I can’t believe you’re so cynical as to believe that Cain is just giving his griftwagon a tune-up.

    Really, all he’s doing is slapping a fresh coat of paint on it. With a heavy-nap roller and a brush. Lookin’ good!

  25. 25.

    Bubblegum Tate

    @Rick Massimo:

    I eagerly await a Jason Mattera wannabe asking to join the American Black Conservatives and screaming and yelling when they don’t let him.

    While that would be funny, the more likely scenario is that they let Mattera join. Remember: Most “black outreach” or otherwise minority-facing conservative groups are staffed primarily by–you guessed it!–old white guys.

  26. 26.

    Trakker

    I know a lot of African Americans and some of them are pretty conservative. What they aren’t is stupid and they would never vote for a Republican. Herman Cain’s group is just a bunch of rich, successful blacks who despise the poor.

  28. 28.

    kc

    Watts said he was invited and would have attended had it not been for a scheduling conflict. In a phone interview Monday, he said he was distressed about the state of black conservatives, whom he would like to see, along with others in the Republican Party, address a broad range of issues important to the African American community: development of low-income communities, minority health disparities, poverty and investment in historically black universities

    Hey, maybe he should join the Democratic Party.

  31. 31.

    Plantsmantx

    They are the ABCs — American Black Conservatives.

    But…but…

    Doesn’t the current conservative line assert that “We’re all just Americans”? Isn’t that what “Yid With a Lid” told that black guy at CPAC?

  32. 32.

    Plantsmantx

    The pair were joined by the founder of the National Black Chamber of Commerce

    Talk about a grifter…

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