The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Dept. of Not Getting It

Posted on | May 6, 2011 | 31 Comments

Frum Forum contributor Noah Kristula-Green has a post about last night’s GOP debate titled, “Why is Pawlenty On Stage With These Crazy People?” Kristula-Green includes this statement:

Herman Cain was not someone I gave high marks to during the debate but he “won” the Frank Luntz focus group that came on immediately after the debate. Cain would consistently answer his question giving a bullet-point response, arguing that you need to “identify the problem” before solving “the problem.” For whatever reason, this seemed to appeal to the focus group.

Yeah: Pragmatism is so . . . impractical.

Kristula-Green’s “conventional wisdom” about the Greenville debate was expressed by Ben Smith of Politico, who dismissed the other participants as “second- and third-tier candidates” and said Pawlenty was “widely viewed as the only candidate in Thursday night’s Fox News debate with any real chance of becoming the nominee of his party or President of the United States.”

“Widely viewed” is one of those phrases like “many observers” by which reporters embed conventional-wisdom opinions into their stories as if they were talking about established facts. In campaign coverage, this is a way of privileging the punditry over actual voters.

Tim Pawlenty is widely viewed as lame and boring, which is why many observers believe that Obama would mop the floor with him if the Minnesota governor actually got the Republican nomination.

Don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining, sources say.

CBS News was also stunned by Cain’s focus-group win. I don’t know why this seems so shocking to some people. As Cain’s spokeswoman Ellen Carmichael has been saying for weeks, “When people meet Herman, they like Herman.”

This is something the pundits might notice if they actually paid attention. I remember last year in New Orleans at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, when Cain’s speech was over, he had the darnedest time getting out of the ballroom because so many well-wishers wanted a chance to shake his hand and talk to him. And that happens at every gathering of Republicans he attends. He’s a likeable guy, very down-to-earth and approachable, and people relate to that.

Fire Andrea Mitchell was impressed with Cain.

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Category: Debates, Election 2012, Herman Cain, South Carolina

Comments

  • Colwalterkurtz

    ”
    CBS News was also stunned by Cain’s focus-group win
    . I don’t know why this seems so shocking to some people.
    ”

    It is because the media believes Republicans and conservatives are constantly conspiring to lynch black men, not elect or follow them. Conservatives getting excited about Cain publicly contradicts the elite media narrative and demonstrates not only that they are incompetent but that they have been pushing a lie for decades.

  • Joe

    Herman Cain messes with their minds on so many levels. Becuase their minds are messed up in the first place.

    Let the lefty media underestimate him for now. Otherwise they would be trying to tear him down. He has to convince GOP primary voters that he is a viable candidate to take on Obama and the Dems.

  • http://2011.ak4mc.us/ McGehee

    As Cain’s spokeswoman Ellen Carmichael has been saying for weeks, “When people meet Herman, they like Herman.

    That is a fact.

  • Joe

    Here’s another tip, when it comes to conservative commentary: Frum Forum = Don’t Bother.

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  • Anamika

    Herman Cain is a too ultra partisan liberal-hating Obama bashing nutcase who can only appeal to the most loony wingnut base (and pundits like RSM).

    Even if the GOP establishment grudgingly backs Herman Cain to be their nominee, there is a snowball in a hellfire’s chance of him actually winning a general election if he ran against Jesse Jackson, let along Barack Obama.

  • Joe

    Thanks “Anamika” for that Pro-Obama commentary! Because we really need to know which candidate Obama wants conservatives to run!

  • Anamika

    Should read “let alone Barack Obama”

    Sorry guys, i had to blow my lid off. I just can’t stand this guy. As a liberal i would welcome Pres. Sarah Palin given an alternative option of Herman Cain .

  • Joe

    That is the best endorsement Cain has gotten all night. Anamika, you remind me of Apollo Creed’s trainer in Rocky, who suddenly realizes that the no-body is an actual threat when he sees him training on TV in a meat locker.

  • http://getalonghome.com/ GAHCindy

    That makes him just about perfect!

  • Anonymous

    As a liberal i would welcome Pres. Sarah Palin given an alternative option of Herman Cain.

    What Cindy said: “That makes him just perfect!”

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  • Anonymous

    Hey look, gg’s back! Persistent little booger, aren’t you?

    He’ll beat Obama like a red headed stepchild, and you know it. Obama’s a completely inexperienced doofus who hasn’t a chance against anyone with real world experience. His pitiful record as pResident proves it.

  • Anonymous

    I guess we’d best start putting together a Cain/Palin ticket, then.

  • Anonymous

    Oh yeah!

  • Anonymous

    Oh yeah!

  • Anonymous
  • http://saberpoint.blogspot.com Stogie Chomper

    Pawlenty was a lot better than I expected, but still give Cain the edge. I liked his analytical approach to questions and problems and I also like the bullet points.

  • Joe

    Rush was impressed that all the candidates were directing fire at Obama. But he had the nicest things to say about Herman Cain. And most of his callers did too.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1385852725 Richard Mcenroe

    Nothing worse in gg’s world than a successful businessman, is there? And I wonder what Kristula-Green hypothetically does for a living?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1385852725 Richard Mcenroe

    ”
    I don’t know why this seems so shocking to some people.”

    “I don’t know anyone who voted for Ronald Reagan…!” –Pauline Kael

  • Joe

    Meanwhile protestors in Pakistan burn tires to get US to change its ways. http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/113805988/AFP

    That seems like it would be effective.

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  • Dodd

    People biatching about answering every question by ‘giving a bullet-point response” or repeating a point a lot (like “that you need to ‘identify the problem’ before solving ‘the problem”) just don’t get the real point of a debate like this. Very, very few people actually watch them and the candidates have no way of knowing which 15-60 seconds of their verbiage from the event will actually get picked up and broadcast to the broader public. As such, while it can be annoying for a viewer of the debate itself while it’s happening, it’s essential for the candidate to make sure that his/her most crucial rhetoric is included in the inevitable soundbite. Cain gets it (Giuliani tended to take it a little too far).

  • Joe

    Oh Baby! And election is coming and Romneyfever is making Hugh Hewitt go crazy again:

    This is why the GOP needs to rethink its debate schedule and why the RNC should take over the operation of the debates and exile Cain, Johnson and Paul as well as every other candidate without a prayer of winning. (Santorum is a long shot, but he has a realistic though small chance of winning the nomination, while the others do not.) The seriousness of the fiscal crisis requires the GOP and its candidates to act seriously, and allowing marginal candidates to eat up time and distract from the enormous problems facing the country is not serious.

    http://www.hughhewitt.com/blog/g/ca8df70b-a2fb-43ba-84d0-1ad4d11675de
    Can we exile Hugh Hewitt from the conservative punditry? I hear David Frum is lonely and needs some friends. Because there is not too much different between those two.

  • http://2011.ak4mc.us/ McGehee

    I just can’t stand this guy.

    You need to go and meet him.

    Heh.

  • http://kingshamus.wordpress.com/ KingShamus

    “Frum Forum contributor…”

    See, right from the jump homeboy tells you that he shouldn’t be taken seriously.

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  • Brainard234

    >“Widely viewed” is one of those phrases like “many observers” by
    >which reporters embed conventional-wisdom opinions into their
    >stories as if they were talking about established facts. In
    >campaign coverage, this is a way of privileging the punditry over
    >actual voters.

    My pet peeve: just about all information attributed to anonymous sources, but particularly 1) insinuating that someone will run for office because someone else has “mentioned” their name, and 2) sources described only as being in the “camp” of the person being discussed.

    Wording like this is a red flag that the writer is likely making stuff up. How to read journalism critically should be taught in civics class.

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