Dear Bill Kristol …

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PLEASE SHUT THE HELL UP ABOUT CHRIS CHRISTIE!

Seriously, you’re starting to piss me off here, with your . . . idiotic assertion that the 37 percent of Florida straw-poll delegates who voted for Herman Cain were voting for “none of the above.”

Did you notice that little . . . pause, Bill?

Kind of a hint, buddy. Because any liberal would have said “racist assertion” instead of “idiotic assertion,” and I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt, knowing that your college roommate was Alan Keyes.

Trust me when I say that I understand perfectly well why the Beltway commentariat has a problem taking Herman seriously. To start with the obvious: His campaign is unprecedented. The man has never been elected to anything, and the last guy we elected president with no previous political experience was Ike. 

Being Supreme Allied Commander is probably better preparation for the presidency than being CEO of Godfather’s Pizza. I get that.

I’ve called Herman Cain “Steve Forbes with charisma,” and I think maybe part of the problem you pundit types have with Herman is that you don’t trust charisma. This is why you were willing to say polite things about that hopeless dud Pawlenty and have such warm praise for the charisma-deficient Mitch Daniels yet constantly low-rate Cain.

Also, as a successful businessman, Herman Cain has an instinctive distrust of know-it-all advisers — he wants to do things his way —  so his staff is noticeably lacking in well-known campaign operatives, speechwriters, etc.

I get that, too. And trust me when I say that, as someone who has followed the Cain campaign closely for nine months now, I’ve heard lots of complaints about opportunities missed because of subpar staff work by Team Herman. The phrase “amateur hour” has become sadly familiar, and has been often heard from people who enthusiastically support Cain, but grind their teeth at the unreturned phone calls, the haphazard advance work, etc., etc.

All of these caveats aside, however, Herman Cain has three things: A compelling rags-to-riches narrative, an optimistic pro-business message and more charisma than anyone else in the GOP field.

So how about, instead of pining for Chris Christie or some other “acceptable” candidate, you start trying to figure out what you can do to help Herman Cain win this thing? Because you are underestimating the risk of your own embarrassment if Christie is foolish enough to listen to your pleadings, gets in the race, and then Herman beats him, too.

Don’t laugh, Bill. All those guys who jumped on the Perry bandwagon last month probably would have laughed if I had told them Cain would stomp their guy to smithereens in the Florida straw poll.

They’re not laughing now, are they?

HERMAN CAIN FOR PRESIDENT
Because He Keeps Making Fools of
All the ‘Experts’ Who Say He Can’t Win

UPDATE: Et tu, Insty?

75 comments

  3. I think Bill Kristol envies the relationship Bill Buckley and President Reagan had, i.e. he fancies himself as Buckley and is looking for a candidate to hitch his cart to. That was one unique ship, and I don’t think it will sail again anytime soon.

  4. You may think Cain has charisma (I don’t think he has near what you think he does), but what about policy?  Cain has stated things that make me to think he is deficient in several areas – and I’m not alone. 

    So far I’m left wishing for a candidate that makes me want to give them my vote cause there is no such person in the current field.  Heck, I may even forgive Palin quitting her job if things remain the same.

  7. Even if Chris Christie got in, so what?   Ann  Coulter whould have her chubby chasing fantasy fulfilled (and apparently so would Bill Kristol) but Christie would have to actually win some primaries.  Are GOP voters so stupid that they will be swept away by a pragmatic Northeast Republican.  If Rick Perry is too liberal, why is Christie such a good alternative?  Don’t get me wrong, Christie is great for New Jersey.  But do you seem him leading GOP primaries? (other than perhaps New Hamshire, and that is a long shot)?   I do not.  And who would Christie draw oxygen from?  Probably Mitt and Huntsman (not that Huntsman has much).

    So if Christie wants in, let him in.  The big if for the candiates is Sarah Palin, not Chris Christie.

  10. In the words of a great man, “We’ll start the war from right here!”

    Which is to say, stop sitting around complaining about what has gone wrong to put you in this unfortunate situation, and start thinking about what to do in the situation as it is.

    If Perry recovers and wins the nomination, OK. If Romney wins the nomination, OK. If Rick Santorum or Ron Paul or someone else stages a miracle rally, OK. If some other candidate gets in the race and wins, OK. But enough with the if, if, if — let’s fight the fight we’re in, and let the “ifs” take care of themselves.

  11. Kristol’s actions during this primary season have been puzzling.  I don’t know what he is thinking.  He has really been attaching himself to GOP squishies rather than solid conservatives.

    I still respect him, but certainly won’t follow him anywhere.

  12. “I think maybe part of the problem you pundit types have with Herman is that you don’t trust charisma.”

    BS!  Obama had nothing but charisma, and they couldn’t/can’t stop sniffing his thong.  What they don’t like about Cain is the fact he’s conservative and black.  Cain taking his Christianity seriously also is very icky to them.

  13. Christie has loads of charisma (have you watched his press conferences?) .  So what.  He also supported Mike Castle, may be left of Perry on immigration, and is very socially moderate.  He is a fiscal conservative, which is big.  But not big enough to win the GOP. 

  14. If Rick Perry is too liberal, why is Christie such a good alternative?

    That question sort of answers itself, doesn’t it?

  15.  If you think Perry had a rough time, wait till Christie jumps in.  We might be calling him the biggest loser in a few weeks.  And not in a good way. 

  19. My last, and only as it were, political contribution was to Rudy in 2008.

    My $20 to Herman Cain feels….. different.

    Good, as a matter of fact.

  20. I’m guessing you did not mean “pragmatic Northesast Republican” in a good way. But as a pragmatic Northeasterner let me set you straight, New Jersey is not in the Northeast.

  21. Hey, the eventual nominee has my vote in the general, but I was talking (as I thought YOU were) of the primaries.

    It sure would be nice to have someone we WANT to win so that Obama doesn’t get Bob Barr surrogate votes like last time.

  23. Whoever becomes the frontrunner, the WH and its surrogates (the MSM and the professional pundit class) will spend their time tearing him/her down.

    That is a guarantee.

    So if Cain becomes the frontrunner, now that he’s won the Florida Straw Poll,  we can expect the left’s racism to go on full display for all to see. 

    Just wait… they’ll be calling him an Uncle Tom and an Oreo starting on the Sunday morning shows.  They won’t be able to help themselves.  After all, they’ve spent the last two + years telling us how racist the Tea Party people are.  Even when there’s no proof of said racism… it’s all “code.”

    Or better yet, they’ll say that conservatives voted for him in the straw poll to prove they aren’t racists.  It wasn’t about him doing a good job in the debate or Perry bombing and Romney being highly objectionable to conservatives.  Nope, the new narrative will be that they’re just trying to prove they aren’t what the left believes them to be, a bunch of racist redneck hicks.

    Heck, even Bill Kristol can’t accept that conservatives were actually voting FOR Cain.

    Sheesh.  It sucks when even the pundits on our own side secretly believe we’re all a bunch of racists…

  25. No I did not mean it in a good way.  I wish Christie was more conservative, but he is not.  And while I understand that New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and Delaware are mid atlantic states, they are also in the northeast  quadrant of the country.  Look at a map. 

  26. Kristol is a  neocon, not a conservative. Neocons are a curious breed of Marxist who who believe the nonsense that all history revolves around the class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeois but have opted to side with what they perceive as the winning side.

  29. And Jen Rubin knows less about Cain than Bill Kristol.  No Jen, all the fat fantasies of you and Coulter are not going to make Chris Christie some miracle candidate. 

  33. Christie also passed on a chance to demonstrate seriousness about energy. He vetoed an anti fracking bill but just to appease the moonbats put a one year moratorium pending “studies”. The only serious energy policy involves ignoring the hysterical shrieking of moonbats and their messianic “green energy”. Go for the carbon whenever where ever it may be found. He also has an Islamist problem.

  34. From The New Yorker The Thomases vs. Obama

    These tempests obscure a larger truth about Thomas: that this year has also been, for him, a moment of triumph. In several of the most important areas of constitutional law, Thomas has emerged as an intellectual leader of the Supreme Court. Since the arrival of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., in 2005, and Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., in 2006, the Court has moved to the right when it comes to the free-speech rights of corporations, the rights of gun owners, and, potentially, the powers of the federal government; in each of these areas, the majority has followed where Thomas has been leading for a decade or more. Rarely has a Supreme Court Justice enjoyed such broad or significant vindication.

  35. Thank you.  That is a damn fine article about Justice Thomas and coming from the New Yorker, it is amazingly balanced.  

  37. It is still biased in parts (such as concluding Anita Hill was telling the truth) but it actually admits what a very good justice Thomas has proven to be.  In fact, he was right all along and had the conviction to stick with his ideas and let the court catch up. 

  39. Why would we want to listen to any of the establishment Republicans, particularly anyone in the misleading main stream media giving advice about who we should vote for?  It’s not just that they have their favorites but that they also want to limit our exposure to anyone but their favorites so that we can make up our own minds.  Good God! I hate being spoonfed by any of them and I don’t know about Kristol but the rest of the so called experts like Krauthammer and Rove are long time members of the Council On Foriegn Relations.  Why do you suppose these are the guys chosen to give us their views month after month?  Give me someone who’s not in the “conventional” good old boys club, who speaks intelligently and practically, reasonably, who is genuine, loyal and knows something about hard work leading to success.  Cain’s got all that and a sense of humor too.  Nothing at all like the arrogant ass in office. 

  40. RSM, you mut have learned that “hidden raaaaacism” mind reading from MoDo.  Remember how you (and others) were so upset when she ‘penciled-in’ the racism in her columns, a boy here, a boy there?  Bro you be doing the same dance with your Kristol line. 

    Why don’t you drill down on Herman’s foreign policy?  Answer?  Because he is an admitted dilettante.  He wants to the top political office in the country and he admits he has ZERO experience as a politician in any elected office.  Not even the CEO of a fast food outfit would hire a top man with no experience.  Imagine some guy comes to Herman Cain and says, I can think and talk my way through all your pizza problems.  No way whould he hire that man/woman at the top level.  He/she would be lucky to even get to be manager of a single store.  (Herman lost his primary for GA senate).  “But I’m a problem sovler, sir!  I did it in the “dog-walking” (fill in the blank) business and pizza is just the same, Mr. Cain!”

    Not only has he not done any serious writing or speaking in foreign policy he says he has no problem there and he will learn it all when they give him the ‘real information’.  WHAT?  This is his excuse?  Sounds like a good old-fashionned conspiracy theory to me.  Meantime, he says one thing, then backtracks for a while then reasserts then re-explains then laughs it off.  This is not leadership. This is just a smooth talker with nothing behind him in the (political) experience department. 

    Meantime, don’t lower yourself to the MoDo-Krugman level by running imaginary racism accusations against Bill Kristol who has written conservative columns in the NYT and given conservative lectures in front of Harvard professors and students thus taken the liberal best shots already in his own professional life. 

  41. In the summer of 1988, George Will wrote nonsense about Reagan being one of the top Presidents–of the “middle rank,” that is. 

    “Our own” pundits prefer to be Beltway-NYC “elite class”  first, conservatives second.  They look down on us plebeians, meaning they figure out reality–about Reagan, about everything–only in hindsight.  Then they pretend they were onboard all along.

    They hated Reagan when he was President, even for some time after he left office.  “Our own” pundits can’t be taken seriously in perilous times.

  42. Rick Perry was once a Democrat. Just once, in college. He was experimenting.

    Texas Gov. Rick Perry referred to the Mexican city of Juarez as the most dangerous city in America. In his defense, he probably just thought it was an American city because there were so many Mexicans there.

    It turns out that Texas Gov. Rick Perry got a D in Principles of Economics. So he can’t be president, but he can get a job on President Obama’s economic team.

  43. Bill Kristol is an idiot.  I am not even sure who he is.  There is only one candidate who can save the GOP, the country and the world. 

    Like I have to say it.  And I am tan, rested and ready. 

  44. Oh, yes it is.

    Here’s an exercise for you.

    What group of states have the highest income taxes, property taxes and sales taxes?

    What group of states have been dominated by socialist democrats in governorships, houses, senates, mayors?

    What grouping of these states all lie within an hours drive of at least two others?

    What grouping of states acts almost in concert in so far as lawsuits, taxes and other laws?

    These states also formed the heart of the colonies for centuries and had large populations of Royalists and/or people who didn’t really want the revolution. Tories I’m speaking of. As a result they became the focal point for many socialist ideas that didn’t take root elsewhere as self-reliance and discipline were predominant there due to the frontier and isolation.

    There is one but it ain’t New Jersey.

    (hint their state motto is Live Free or Die and they have NO income tax.)
     

  47. Good
    morning all you night owls and west coasters! What a glorious victory.
    As a Florida resident my heart is soaring. As an American – I am over
    the moon – God bless you, Mr Cain – from your #1 CAINiac! If
    you haven’t given yet – the server was in overload from donations last
    night – Let’s keep it rolling!! The campaign won’t ask for donations on
    Sunday – but I will :o) Let’s give Mr Cain a HUGE 3rd quarter
    fundraising report from “the folks” to congratulate him on the results
    of his hard work! https://www.hermancain.com/donate#fid=FUND23027&sc=HCARL3Q

  48. Perry got a D in Principles of Economics? Wow Joe I have to really commend you for pointing that out. It’s not often that you see somebody slam somebody as thoroughly as you did Perry here, but still be gracious enough to give him credit for something good. This Bud’s for you, Joe.

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