The Other McCain

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Pundette Likes Herman Cain

Posted on | October 12, 2011 | 100 Comments

Our longtime blog-friend has a nice aggregation about the surging GOP presidential candidate who — in case you didn’t notice — is black.

I’ve written entire 1,200-word columns about Cain for the American Spectator that never mentioned his race. And it’s funny at times to see MSM reporters try to find a less-than-awkward way to introduce race into their stories. Unencumbered by the conventions of mainstream journalism, Bill Quick at Daily Pundit takes the issue head-on:

I have a gut feeling that when push comes to shove, the GOP is not going to in the end nominate a Black man with no political experience as their candidate.  I think the attitude will be, “Been there, done that, not happy with how it worked out.”

Which may be true — except that Obama’s problem was not a lack of political experience, but rather a lack of private-sector experience or executive experience, which are in fact Cain’s trump cards.

Obama was very good (and is still very good) at campaigning and giving speeches. But his neo-Keynesian economic policies were the exact opposite of what was needed to foster recovery. And whatever you think of Cain’s “9-9-9” plan, he is at least oriented toward a supply-side approach to economic growth. As I said way back in December: “Steve Forbes with charisma.”

Many policy-oriented pundits — e.g., Charles Krauthammer — clearly distrust charisma. They’d prefer a wonk like Mitch Daniels or a bore like Tim Pawlenty to a charismatic populist like Cain. They don’t want Cain as a candidate for the same reason they didn’t want Sarah Palin as a candidate: Both Palin and Cain are personalities whose appeal to voters is their status as Ordinary Americans. The “hockey mom” from Wasilla, the pizza guy from Atlanta — they aren’t part of what Angelo Codevilla famously called “The Ruling Class,” and fighting back against the Ruling Class is what the Tea Party is all about.

The question now is, can the Tea Party elect one of its own to the White House? Is the Tea Party movement serious about taking on the entrenched power of the Ruling Class? And will they rally to Herman Cain’s banner? Let me remind you what I wrote yesterday when Chris Christie endorsed Mitt Romney:

Thanks to commenter Joe for reminding me of this headline from last year:

N.J.’s Christie Backs Castle in Del. Senate Race

Yeah. That explains a lot, doesn’t it? Guess that means Herman Cain is this year’s Christine O’Donnell. Even if Cain gets the GOP nomination, the Establishment insiders would rather see Obama re-elected than to let an outsider win an election.

It may be, as Bill Quick says, that Cain’s race is a factor in GOP resistance to his candidacy. Certainly his political inexperience is a greater factor. The last president with no previous political experience was Eisenhower, elected in 1952, and being Supreme Allied Commander in WWII was a somewhat stronger qualification than being CEO of Godfather’s Pizza.

Nevertheless, at a time when recession may be turning into a depression, Cain’s business experience and optimistic attitude makes him “a breath of fresh air,” as Pundette says. And if “raaaaacism” is indeed a factor in Republican resistance to Cain, please notice that it’s not coming from the Tea Party grassroots, but from the Ruling Class elite. Just sayin’ . . .


Category: Bill Quick, Election 2012, Herman Cain, Pundit & Pundette, Tea Party

Comments

100 Responses to “Pundette Likes Herman Cain”

  1. Robert Birch
    October 12th, 2011 @ 10:49 am

    And then the Herman Cain shipped sailed. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/ron-paul-calls-out-herman-cain-at-republican-debate-debate-video/2011/10/11/gIQAUDo1dL_blog.html

  2. Animal
    October 12th, 2011 @ 11:08 am

    I’m rapidly becoming a Cainiac myself.  I think he’s just what the doctor ordered:

    1) Not a professional politician
    2) Extensive and successful business experience
    3) Not a professional politician
    4) A sound economic plan
    5) Personal appeal, an engaging life story, and charisma
    6) Not a professional politician
    7) Grit!

    Did I mention that he’s not a professional politician?

  3. Andrew Patrick
    October 12th, 2011 @ 11:08 am

    I think you’re being a little unfair to Krauthammer. His distrust of “charisma” as you put it, is due to the suspicion that charisma covers callowness. We have had enough presidents who talk purdy yet are incapable of meeting the demands of the job.

    It’s not unreasonable elitism to demand that a presidential candidate demonstrate at least an understanding of the challenges that await him. Merely whooping up the base does not do the job.

  4. McGehee
    October 12th, 2011 @ 11:09 am

    The danger of letting people blog on a newspaper website is that people will look at the domain name and assume it’s not just a blog entry expressing somebody’s opinion.

    That writer acknowledged outright that Cain never referred to Ron Paul or his supporters and never used the word “ignorant,” and then had to reach back almost a year to find Cain opposing a Fed audit.

    That he went to that much effort to attack Cain in spite of the facts tells me plenty.

  5. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 11:27 am

    This is an example of why I don’t assume that anti-Cain attacks here and elsewhere are always coming from “Perry-bots.” 

    Unlike in this case, few of the previous such commenters openly declared their allegiances – whether to Perry, Paul, Obama, or other – but several of them dropped hints they were in the Paul army.

    In some respects, it makes sense that the Paul kids are hitting Cain, but in other respects it’s odd.

  6. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 11:39 am

    Just my opinion….I’ve said already that I don’t like Cain’s 9-9-9 plan, but from a strictly political point of view, I also don’t think he’ll ever get it through Congress even if the Republicans control both houses. I think he would be doing himself a favor by spending a little more time talking about other ways in which he can spur the economy, not to mention social and foreign policies etc…..

    I like him…..but I’m wary.

  7. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 11:44 am

    I think, in fact, that Obama didn’t even have much political experience, at least as far as campaigning or holding office prior to the Presidential campaign.  His state and federal Senate campaigns were largely won through media assassination using sealed divorce records.  And his time in office was so full of voting present that you cannot even credit him with legislative experience.

    This was a large part of why he was such a blank slate.  Cain is much less of a blank slate, due to his existing record (not just private sector, but stuff like his support for TARP, or even his town hall confrontation with Clinton) and taking explicit positions. 

    Now that he’s reached top tier, we’ll have to see how well the positions stand up to scrutiny.  So far, I’m not impressed by 9-9-9.  Sure, it’ll never pass, but scrutiny is showing that it’s effectively creating a system where we have national income taxes, sales taxes and a VAT.  Yikes.  Does that represent something intentional or a lapse in judgment?  Or both?

  8. Joe
    October 12th, 2011 @ 11:45 am

    http://althouse.blogspot.com/2011/10/point-in-debate-when-my-doubts-about.html

    http://althouse.blogspot.com/2011/10/michele-bachmann-when-you-take-999-plan.html

    Ann Althouse is dissing Herman (mere numerology according to Ms. Althouse, who did not let doubts stop her from voting for O)

  9. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 11:45 am

    I’ve got no problem with people supporting any Republican candidate. But there ought to be some kind of rule that requires people to declare their allegiance before proceeding to slag another candidate. Why? Because elections are about choices.

    I do not deny that there are legitimate criticisms of Herman Cain. But it’s kind of important to know if these accusations are being made by people who think Ron Paul is better qualified for the presidency. This puts the criticism in perspective.

  10. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 11:51 am

    This puts the criticism in perspective.

    Sort of.  It definitely puts the criticizer in perspective.  And that can be important, so long as you don’t get all ad hominem about the argument itself.  If you do go that route, you’re acting as liberals generally do.

    While I think Paul would be a disaster national security-wise, I would say that he’s generally right on target as far as economics and regulation goes.

  11. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 11:57 am

    I, too, like Krauthammer and you make a good point; however, I’d like to see Krauthammer extend that logic even further . . .

    A governing philosophy which assumes that a masterful, hyper-competent Chief Executive can “fix” socioeconomic problems goes hand-in-hand with a political culture in which “whooping up the base” is an integral component. 

    Actually, whooping people up has become part of the president’s job description. That’s partly how he gets political support to fix “the challenges that await him,” never mind that the president has no business – regardless of how competent he is – trying to solve every social problem. 

    That’s why I object to the false dichotomy between elitism and populism. They are two sides of the same coin. And I’ve yet to see any indication that Krauthammer understands that (he is, after all, a gifted technocrat of sorts).   

  12. McGehee
    October 12th, 2011 @ 11:59 am

    Sometimes there’s a lot to be said for focusing the discussion. That so much of last night’s debate focused on 9-9-9 was itself a sign of Cain’s substance.

  13. Joe
    October 12th, 2011 @ 11:59 am

    As you can see below, Ann Althouse is slagging Cain without announcing her allegiance (I suspect she is going with Obama again this time, but she is trying to come up with some blogging proof to justify her vote).   I would keep that in perspective when people slog Cain, what is their motivation in doing so?

  14. Joe
    October 12th, 2011 @ 12:01 pm

    Distrust of charisma is okay.  There has to be substance on positions and frankly some of the criticism of Cain is legitimate.  He is being a bit evasive (you want to hold back things till they are fully worked out and some of his policies are more conceptual at this point). 

    That said, what concrete policies are any of the candidates putting forward?  I have not seen much from anyone but Cain. 

  15. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 12:08 pm

    Ideally, we construct the best version of our opponent’s argument, not worry about his/her credentials, and then see if we can overcome that argument with a better one.

    In our short-attention-span 21st century reality, though, we sometimes must rely on shortcuts. As long as we’re not overly-sloppy about it (disregarding “legitimate criticisms”), knowing that an attack is coming from a Paul kid helps, as you suggest, to put the “criticizer in perspective,” in part because one thing that Paul kids tend to lack is a well-rounded perspective.

  16. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 12:12 pm

    My trouble is that I’m no one’s “bot.” I was probably for Palin, but to be honest I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about her. Now I’m looking to be convinced.

    For the first time in my life I’m a genuine “Undecided.” But almost certainly not Romney, Perry or Bachman…..

  17. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 12:15 pm

    Oh….and not Paul. I don’t even consider him enough to remember to rule him out.

  18. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 12:21 pm

    Perhaps wrongly, but I see 9-9-9 as a “conversation starter,” not as a policy proposal that is now set-in-stone and must be encated as originally conceieved. I’m still undecided if 9-9-9 is a good way to initiate the conversation, but at least Cain has the guts to put it out there . . .   

  19. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 12:22 pm

    But that was different, Joe! 😉

  20. Adjoran
    October 12th, 2011 @ 12:23 pm

    Sorry, I reject the authority of Bob Barr voters – RINOs like you – to make the rules.

    I am yet uncommitted and feel free to criticize all of the candidates, and have, based primarily on their policy positions.  But I reserve even the right to criticize Huntsman for his fawning praise of Obama and Paul for his mental illness.

  21. Adjoran
    October 12th, 2011 @ 12:25 pm

    I don’t concede that Obama is even some great speaker.  Certainly his speeches as President have been lackluster and ineffective.  The electorate was sold the sizzle and it turned out there was no steak there, period.

  22. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 12:27 pm

    OK, but I’m not interested in electing a Conversationalist In Chief.

    There’s some back and forth on the NRO Corner about whether candidates tax plans are important.  My view is that they are, but only to a limited extent.  You don’t expect the plan to get through unscathed, but you should expect the President to, uh, lead in the direction of his plan.

    The current occupant never really had any plans and pretty much always deferred to Congress.  I don’t want Congress to simply bow to the President, but his idea of where we’re going is important.

    The more I learn about 9-9-9, the less I like it.

  23. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 12:31 pm

    I’m interested in Cain completely laying out the 9% national sales tax idea in detail, now that the simple sounding 9-9-9 has been imprinted in my brain (and even though they don’t realize it…Huntsman and Bachman further imprinted the 9-9-9 with their memorization helps through mocking).  I agree with Yikes…but he did say it depends on 1) scrap the whole tax code 2) including payroll tax going away.  I would rather Herman Cain be in the drivers seat of explaining the potential of a national sales tax than say Mitt Romney.  

  24. Christy Waters
    October 12th, 2011 @ 12:32 pm

    There wasn’t even a hot dog, but we sure have a weiner now!

  25. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 12:39 pm

    Yes, the elimination of the payroll taxes would be good, if only to avoid the shenanigans about how we finance Social Security and Medicare.  It’ll be interesting to see how employers react to this, too, since the SS tax is really 12% when you include them.

    The prospect of the triple whammy of income, sales and VAT is what really scares me.  The sales tax thing was obvious.  Less obvious is that the corporate stuff is more like a VAT than an income tax.  It starts to whiff of “you have to pass it to see what’s in it.”

    I still contend that we’re too focused on taxes at the expense of regulation.  Stuff like the REINS Act seem like an huge opportunity for the candidates, which none of them are really taking advantage of.

  26. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 12:39 pm

    Fair enough, but I really don’t like the current tax code, either.

  27. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 12:44 pm

    We have a Michelle special: a lukewarm tofu dog on a stale bun, with shredded carrots, but no condiments.  

  28. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 12:57 pm

    Triple whammy scares me too.  I’m looking at this as a way to tell if Herman Cain is for real….or if his fallback position is as Romney’s V.P.  ( I know Romney was against national sales tax and now is amenable to it.)  So, laying out this 9-9-9 in detail and then tying it back to how this makes us a more constitutionally centered free market nation than crony capitalist nation that we currently find ourselves and our kids in is what I’m looking for.  At least Cain’s in a place in his campaign where he has the opportunity to explain it….  I hope he has someone with a track record on energy  development from an energy producing state in his roledex, as well.

  29. Joe
    October 12th, 2011 @ 1:01 pm

    The difference is Ann lives in Madison and they obviously put more in the water there than floride. 

  30. Joe
    October 12th, 2011 @ 1:05 pm

    Did you see Michelle on Paula Deen’s show.  I am no Paula Deen fan (her recipes for peas is the inspired open a bag of frozen peas, add butter) but she said Michelle wolfed down more fried food than any guest Paula Deen has ever seen.  Yeah Yeah.  (Sorry to channel Jim Morrison). 

  31. Zilla of the Resistance
    October 12th, 2011 @ 1:07 pm

    I like Cain, America is demoralized, beaten down, miserable, just like we were in 1979, back then we needed Reagan, and his sunny disposition went a long way to helping get us back on our feet, Herman Cain has that quality as well, and I don’t see anyone else in the running who does.  All he needs to do is get a running mate who is serious and smart about foreign policy issues and not ignorant of the islamization/jihad/sharia threat, someone like Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum and I will happily be on the Cain Train all the way to 2012 and beyond. Bush needed Cheney, Cain needs someone like that too.
    I still like Rick Santorum & hope he gets the attention his campaign deserves, but I have to admit that he does have some issues pertaining to how his personality comes across.

  32. Christy Waters
    October 12th, 2011 @ 1:31 pm

    There’s no such thing as the perfect candidate, although Romney would like us to think that he is. Herman Cain is no exception. However, we are in an unprecedented mess in this country, and unless we actually do something to get out of it, free America will no longer exist.

    Businessmen solve problems as a matter of survival in the marketplace, and they are more able to make adjustments and maneuver within a situation, because the goal is to solve the problem, not to please a political party or special interest group. Herman Cain is naturally wired to be a problem-s0lver. It’s an automatic response for him, and he’s made a successful career out of it.

    Politicians create more problems than they solve, so why do we want to go down this road again? Drastic times call for drastic measures, and putting a businessman in the White House might be seen as a drastic move, but I see it as our only option if we truly want to get ourselves out of this mess.

    Herman Cain gets my vote. As for Mitt Romney, he’s about as trustworthy as Eddie Haskell. “Those are lovely pearls you’re wearing, Mrs. Cleaver.”

  33. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 1:33 pm

    While there are advantages to the way a businessman thinks, there are also big differences as to what they can do vs what a President can do.  Also, appropriate action for a business are not necessarily appropriate for a nation state.

    I generally like Cain, but I’m not sold yet.

  34. Richard Mcenroe
    October 12th, 2011 @ 1:47 pm

    As a Concerned Christian Conservative, I’m worried that Cain’s…

    Remember those guys?

  35. ThePaganTemple
    October 12th, 2011 @ 1:50 pm

    When somebody asked Cain what would keep somebody from raising the sales tax part of his plan up to a 24% sales tax, his reply was “I’ll be president and I won’t let that happen.”

    Sorry RSM, Cain didn’t just jump the shark. He jumped it, did a mid-air somersault and screamed “BOOYAH”.

  36. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 1:54 pm

    Remember, originally, the top income tax was only 7%!  I believe similar promises of low rates forever were made when the 16th amendment was proposed.

  37. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 2:14 pm

    And the drain is stopped up.

  38. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 2:16 pm

    Regulatory torment is at least half the problem.

  39. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 2:20 pm

    Was curious on why you were calling the third part a VAT (I assumed a corporate income tax).  Read a little more to clarify…thanks

  40. Finrod Felagund
    October 12th, 2011 @ 2:21 pm

     There’s no VAT in Cain’s 9-9-9 plan.  The 9s are for personal income tax, business income tax, and sales tax.  No VAT anywhere in there.  You could argue that someone could change the sales tax to a VAT but then you still don’t have a sales tax AND a VAT.

  41. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 2:26 pm

    You’re right that it’s not exactly a traditional VAT, but it has a lot of VAT-ness to it that make it different than a straight corporate income tax.  Here’s description of why it’s like a VAT (I linked this in a previous comment, too).  There are links there that also go into more detail, like this:

    The business tax in the Cain plan bears no resemblance to the present corporate income tax. The tax would apply to gross sales less dividends paid and all purchases from other companies, including investment goods. Thus, there would be no deduction for wages.

    Looks like a VAT to me, unless you’re paying your employees with dividends.

  42. Rosaliebreslin
    October 12th, 2011 @ 2:36 pm

    It’s pretty much how I feel too, except I was somewhat enthusiastic about Palin running.  

  43. Richard Mcenroe
    October 12th, 2011 @ 2:48 pm

    Is VAT-ness like “truthiness”, i.e., it’s not really so but oughta be?

  44. Richard Mcenroe
    October 12th, 2011 @ 2:49 pm

    Ann will vote for Obama again.  The hallmark of the so-called ‘independent’ is their inability to admit to themselves that they made a mistake they need to fix.  They meant well and that should have been enough.

  45. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 3:01 pm

    I’d like to think that VAT-ness-icity is the other way around.  It shouldn’t be, but it is.

  46. Finrod Felagund
    October 12th, 2011 @ 3:10 pm

    It’s still not a VAT, because VAT insinuates itself at every step, causing an administrative nightmare.  Cain’s 9 could be calculated on a postcard.
     

  47. Anonymous
    October 12th, 2011 @ 3:14 pm

    Are you deliberately missing the point?

  48. Cantremembermynic
    October 12th, 2011 @ 3:24 pm

    Cain is what we need in terms of raising moral in this country.  He’s a natural leader.  I like him.  I think his instincts are good.

    He has me concerned about his comments about Greenspan, who I thought was wholly responsible for the Tech bubble- he could have popped it well before it became monstrous.  Also Cain’s comments about not recognizing the housing bubble.  Although, to be fair, I don’t think anyone on that stage said anything back then, either.

    Quite a lot of people did recognize it, though, as early as 2002-2003 that it was a disaster waiting to happen.  These people, ironically were traders who participated in the whole debacle.  And made a lot of money off it, too.

    Cain could use some historical perspective reading about bubbles throughout history from tulips to today.  I’m not a Paulian, but Ron Paul is correct that these artificial bubbles with their manic/depressive phases cause much economic misery.  The current crowd has tried to get a “green” bubble going, but it’s fizzling.  I always wonder what the next one will be (so I can shamelessly try to profit off them, ehem) because we will just keep having them.

  49. Daily Pundit » Cain, Stacy McCain, and the Issue of Race in the GOP Primary Process
    October 12th, 2011 @ 3:33 pm

    […] Pundette Likes Herman Cain : The Other McCain It may be, as Bill Quick says, that Cain’s race is a factor in GOP resistance to his candidacy. Certainly his political inexperience is a greater factor. The last president with no previous political experience was Eisenhower, elected in 1952, and being Supreme Allied Commander in WWII was a somewhat stronger qualification than being CEO of Godfather’s Pizza. […]

  50. Finrod Felagund
    October 12th, 2011 @ 4:12 pm

    No, but it sure seems like mine sailed right over your head.

    VATs are administrative nightmares, because companies have to keep track of How Much Value They Added To Every Single Item That Went Through Them.

    The corporate tax code as it currently stands is an administrative nightmare, because Congress has screwed around with it non-stop for 100+ years, and rarely have any of those made it simpler.

    Cain’s 9 is trivial to calculate, and will save US businesses many billions of dollars not spent paying tax lawyers.

    Got it, yet?
     

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