The Other McCain

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

Mitch Daniels Won’t Run in 2012; Cites ‘Overwhelming’ Herman Cain Momentum

Posted on | May 22, 2011 | 33 Comments

OK, he didn’t actually say anything about Herman Cain:

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels told supporters in an email early Sunday that he will not run for president in 2012, a decision he said ultimately came down to his family’s reticence about a campaign.
The announcement by the former Office of Management and Budget director and favorite of much of the Republican establishment will again roil the unsettled GOP field — and likely intensify efforts to convince another major candidate to join the race, such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Dear God, please not Jeb Bush! But you see the pattern: Barbour quit, Trump quit, Huckabee quit and now Daniels quits, while Herman Cain — the man who all the pundits say can’t win — just keeps going and going.

(Via Memeorandum.)

UPDATE: Jazz Shaw and Ed Morrissey ponder the imponderables.

UPDATE II: Some commenters at Hot Air were not impressed with Cain’s performance on “Fox News Sunday”:

Chris Wallace: “What would president Cain offer the Palestinians to make peace?”
Herman Cain: “Nothing. Because I’m not convinced the Palestinians are really interested in peace. If the Palestinians comje to the table with Israel with a genuine offer that the two of them can sit down and negotiate, the United States would, in fact, facilitate that discussion. But if we look at history, it has been clear that the Palestinians have always wanted to push the Israelis, and push Israel, for more and more and more. I don’t agree with that, and I respect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or taking a stand and saying they cannot give that up.”

Criticize that however you wish, Cain’s strong pro-Israel position aligns very closely with the views of most Republican primary voters.

UPDATE III: A pity party for the GOP Establishment:

Mitch Daniels’s overnight decision against a presidential bid will immediately raise the volume on the low-hum grumbling among Republican insiders that they’re gearing up to face President Obama with the weakest primary field in recent memory.
The pressure on a handful of Republicans who’ve insisted they won’t consider running but would be potentially strong alternatives to Mitt Romney will now significantly intensify, but the ultimate beneficiaries of Daniels’s absence may be two candidates already on course to run: Tim Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman.
At the moment, though, the Indiana governor’s exit illustrates the degree to which the GOP race is being shaped by who’s not running.
Consider the list of would-be candidates who’ve passed on a campaign in the last four months: Mike Pence, John Thune, Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump and now Daniels.
Add Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan and Rick Perry – Republicans with star power who’ve said flatly they won’t run – and it translates into a GOP establishment deeply worried that the flawed options they’re left with won’t be any match for an incumbent president who seemingly won’t face a primary but is likely to shatter campaign fundraising records.

The discomfiture of “Republican insiders” is a very good thing. Can we get a show of hands of anybody who thinks “Republican insiders” (you know, the guys who backed Dede Scozzafava and Charlie Crist) have a clue as to how to win elections? Anybody?

Linked by Marfdrat and Scared Monkeys — thanks!

UPDATE IV: Just a Conservative Girl has video of Cain’s Saturday announcement rally, and Left Coast Rebel comments:

So on a 90 degree Saturday in Hotlanta, Herman Cain drew 10,000 – 15,000 supporters. I’d say that’s not bad for a “long shot” presidential candidate ? particularly considering the fact that the crowd came out to hear Cain officially announce what he had already officially announced that he would officially announce…
How big have your crowds been lately, Mitt?

Good question.


Bookmark and Share
Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain

Comments

  • http://2011.ak4mc.us/ McGehee

    We need a betting pool on who’s next. I want it to be Mitt RomneyCare.

  • http://thepagantemple.blogspot.com/ ThePaganTemple

    Somebody buy David Brooks a Shirley Temple.

  • Pingback: Mitch Daniels Will NOT Run for President. Herman Cain, Anyone? | marfdrat

  • thirteen28

    I wouldn’t lose any sleep over the possibility of Jeb Bush, even if he did get in.  He’s as toxic to the base as he is to liberals and has virtually zero chance of winning the nomination.

  • JeffS

    Does Cain’s pro-Israeli stance make him a RAAAAACIST?

    Exploding heads of lefties everywhere want to know.

  • Robbyahm

    Exactly what did he say was wrong in the FNSunday clip?  Palestinian muslims are a bunch of thugs, they murder Isrealites everyday with rockets, these people are so radical even Egypt built a wall to keep them away from the country.  If Israel cedes the Golan Heights as they did with Gaza and the West Bank, and along with Hezbollah in Lebanon, thats a 4 way side lauching pads for rockets against Israel. 

  • Pingback: Mitch Daniels is Out and Herman Cain is In for a Presidental Bid for the White House in 2012 | Scared Monkeys

  • Anonymous

    Cain Can! 2012.

  • Jonathan0815

    RSM said: “Criticize that however you wish, Cain’s strong pro-Israel position
    aligns very closely with the views of most Republican primary voters.”

    That wasn’t the problem.  The problem was that when Wallace asked Cain if he favored the Right of Return, he repeated “Right of Return?  Right of Return?” with a deer in the headlights look , and then after Wallace explained that meant return of Palestinian refugees, he went on to say that was something that could be negotiated.  It was obvious that Cain didn’t know what the Right of Return was, or why Israel’s opposition to it is nonnegotiable (it would demographically destroy Israel as a Jewish state). 

  • Al1q

    Can we get a show of hands of anybody who thinks “Republican insiders”
    ….. have a
    clue as to how to win elections? Anybody?

    Can we get a show of hands of anybody who CARES what “Republican insiders” think? 

    Aside from the GOP Establishment, I mean.

  • Serfer62

    Daniels out!!
    Oh what will the DC GOP do?…hey Dole is still around even McCain 
     

  • CalMark

    Meanwhile, their best presidential hope dashed, “Republican insiders” are feverishly working to find an alternative plan to lose the 2012 election.

  • http://twitter.com/yomimizuhara yomimizuhara

    15,000? Pah. That’s nothing.

    Sarah Palin gets 40,000. In Florida. On an incredibly hot day.

    The day Herman Cain does that, THEN maybe I’ll look at him for Vice President. Until then, hell no.

  • Robbyahm

    I dont think large swaths of people even knew what the heck was the “Right of Return?”  When Chris Wallace first mentioned it, my reaction was “Who has a right to return where?” Ive never of that phrase.  So I can sympathise with Cain if he never heard the phrase before.

  • Robbyahm

    Really? I didnt know she was running already?  How many people showed up for her presidential announcement speech? wheres the MsM on this story?

  • Quartermaster

     The fact he’s of the liberal plantation makes him a self hating black. The Libtards and race pimps just can’t handle such a man.

  • Quartermaster

     I don’t care what the beltway GOP thinks or feels, unless it’s total chagrin that their tame base is tired of being tame. That I can go for. I could also go for total chagrin when they see Cain accept the nomination at the GOP convention. At that point the establishment would go all out to sabotage the campaign. They’d rather have Obama than win like that.

  • http://912member.blogspot.com just a conservative girl

    His answer on right to return will be what people jump on.  It wasn’t good.  He needs to work on these types of answers.   

  • perrypollock

    I’m from Florida and just as much as I loved the way George W. handled 9.11, I loved the way Jeb handled Hurricane Charlie… That being said, I don’t want Jeb to be our next president…  Herman Cain is my pick as of now and no one currently running holds a candle to him…

    P.S.
    Long time appreciator of Rule #5, first time commenter…
     
     

  • http://www.leftbankofthecharles.com Charles

    Tim Pawlenty has stalled and Jon Huntsman and Jeb Bush are just figments of an overactive imagination.

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

     New RNC FLYER:  WHITMAN/FIORINA 2012!

  • Anonymous

    Recall the situation when Gibson sprang the “Bush Doctrine” question on Palin. The difference is she’s been developing her foreign policy chops since then and recently took it to the next level with hiring of Peter Schweizer as FP advisor.

    Cain, OTOH, told Chris Wallace that he wouldn’t even start on a security plan until after he’s elected.  Appreciate his candor, but it was the Wrong Answer. Too Pelosi, as in “we won’t know what’s in the ObamaCare bill until it passes.” Journ-O-Lost Media  will let Pelosi get away with that, but not a conservative running for president.

    Wrong Answer on the Right Of Return also. Cain said it was a matter for negotiation, but most Israelis (not just the Likud right) consider it non-negotiable.

    Cain is where Palin was three years ago on FP issues. Governors and businessmen were not expected to demonstrate expertise on FP in the past, even when they were candidates for POTUS. But those goalposts were moved in 2008. There’s no Right of Return to the days of Harry S. Truman, when free passes on FP knowledge were still available to candidates.

    The Hermanator is a fine man and a great conservative, but that don’t-ask-me-until-I’m-elected attitude will make him perceived as   cabinet-level timber, not the stuff presidents are made of. Unless he ditches that particular non-response and gets serious about FP, the Obamunist media will shred him quicker than you can say, “Which Bush Doctrine, Charley?”

    - JP

  • http://dad29.blogspot.com/ Dad29

    …anybody who thinks “Republican insiders” (you know, the guys who backed Dede Scozzafava and Charlie Crist) have a clue…

    You forgot your cousin.

    I think that Reince Priebus has a clue;  you’ll note that he is studiously avoiding ANY sort of public comment–or even a hint of public comment–on the matter.

    That’s because he DOES have a clue.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    It was a rookie mistake and he made the classic mistake and kept digging the hole.  Mr. Cain needs to hire some good people [not the from the GOP Etsablishment] and go to school on some of the issues.  He’s got to be better than good because the long knives are out for him on the Left and on the Will/Krauthammer Right.

    Stacy: he really should hire you and people like Ali Akbar, along with consulting with people like Allen West, Mark Steyn – those wise types who are not part of the Establishment.

    He’s got to do this quickly so the momentum he’s building does not get halted.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    I hope you’re proven right. 

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    I also wanted to say that Mr. Cain’s announcement video was one of the best I’ve ever seen.

    Considering the hat he wears in it, does this mean that if he wins, the Axis of Fedorable Members get free passes to The White House? 

    CAIN/PACO 2012!

  • Robbyahm

    Wow, one day after his announcement and hes already got people with the knives in their hand (especially on his own side)…that’s got to be a record.  Im still sticking with Cain cause im really sick of these damn politicians and their excuse for not solving simple common sense problems, that goes especially for the Republicans.  I do however wish Cain can get good people on board that can help him with good advice regarding foreign policy (John Bolton would be nice) and domestic policy.  One thing i REALLY like about Cain is that he can get people to pay attention to him and he gets his point across the political spectrum all because of his practice in radio, that communication skill can help the Republican party become like a magnet and bring in independents and conservative democrats.
     
    Another thing, have you noticed how the Palinistas have been getting more annoying lately, I adore Sarah but like Ron Paul their cultist  hardcore supporters are now becoming even more…oh whats a good word.

  • Joe

    This is very good advice!!! 

  • Joe

    Bob is absolutely right.  Herman Cain needs some very good people to get him up to speed on foriegn policy.  Cain can do this.  But he better be focused on doing it now (before it too late).   

  • Anonymous

    I didn’t see a deer in the headlights at all. He assertively prompted Wallace to explain what he meant and gave a reasonable answer, given that he wasn’t sure what it meant. Most importantly he didn’t get flustered or stammer around just because he didn’t have the information.  

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    Thank you, Joe.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    Quoted from and Linked to at:
    Herman Cain: The First 48 

  • Pingback: Lisa Graas » The Totally Electable GOP Presidential Contender News Round-Up

Performance Optimization WordPress Plugins by W3 EDGE