So … How Was Your Monday?

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Mine could have been better, as I was compelled to endure the mortification of reading these sidebar headlines at AOSHQ:

Iowa social conservatives, who are practically Kos diarists, urge Cain to clear the air.

Haley Barbour, who only became a conservative, like, this morning, advises Cain to get all the facts out.

Johnny-come-lately conservative Bill Bennett, who is just seeking liberal approval, urges Cain to come clean

The predicate of those gags, of course, was Ace’s previous assault on Rush Limbaugh for having asserted that all rock-ribbed True Conservatives are standing strong with Herman Cain. So Ace is in the Gloat Zone, which isn’t exactly good news for Herman Cain and therefore was also enough to make my Monday especially Monday-ish.

So . . . what are we to make of this weird little story?

A former employee of the United States Agency for International Development says Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain asked her to help arrange a dinner date for him with a female audience member following a speech he delivered nine years ago. . . .
“I couldn’t swear that he had some untoward intentions, but we all thought his tone was suspect and we didn’t feel comfortable putting him in touch with that woman,” Donella recalled.
“I think [Cain] should not be a serious candidate for the presidential nomination because of what I’ve seen,” said Donella, an independent who said she voted for President Obama in 2008 and probably will again next year. “He’s not a person I would want running the country.”

You see how the Penumbra of Suspicion envelops everything at this point, and causes us to ask how the shadow can possibly be lifted. Whereas last week, I could shrug at the Cain critics who were carping about what they saw as the ineptitude of Team Cain’s response, now I’m wondering: What would a “good” response look like, given the changed nature of the story? Is any “good” response really possible?

See, it was one thing to hear people criticize Team Cain’s media strategy, because there isn’t a Republican operative above the rank of intern who doesn’t consider himself an expert on media strategy. That kind of carping is therefore routine and expected, and I could play the same game, if I wanted to degrade myself to the status of Wannabe GOP “Media Strategist.”

Squawking from a bunch of dime-a-dozen assholes doesn’t bother me much. What started bothering me late last week, however, was the hunch that all the clever media strategy in the world might be futile, and that the fate of Cain’s campaign was really not contingent on “strategy” at all. If I were in a position to advise Cain at this moment, the only thing I could advise him is to pray.

Pray real hard.

It is not generally my practice to preach here. Yet there are times — and this is one of them — when I’m reminded of the awesome sovereignty of God. It’s a Calvinist kind of thing, and it takes an enormous amount of faith in the Almighty to grasp it. In our secularized culture, people tend to look at you like you’re crazy when you start talking about God’s sovereignty, and His power to work His will.

Nevertheless I do not hesitate to say that if it pleases God that Herman Cain should be destroyed, no mortal power can save Cain. Yet if it pleases God that Herman Cain should be preserved and uplifted, no mortal power can destroy Cain. Therefore, if Cain is true to his professed faith, then in this dark hour, he must be praying mighty hard, and thinking of a stanza in an old gospel hymn, “Here I raise my Ebenezer; hither by Thy help I’ve come; and I hope, by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.”

Having followed Herman Cain’s campaign since before there even was a campaign, I am struck by the fact that here we are — now just eight weeks away from the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses — with the long-shot underdog atop the national polls, where none of the political experts ever thought he would be. And I think any Christian must find this truly miraculous.

But for what purpose has such a miracle been wrought? If it has pleased God to bring Herman Cain this far, has he only been lifted up so that he might now be cast down? God moves in mysterious ways, and we cannot presume to know God’s plans and purposes. Yet if there is to be any hope for Cain now — when everyone thinks he’s doomed — that hope can only be for him to put his faith entirely in God.

So I’m willing to have people look at me like I’m crazy for expressing my belief in God’s sovereignty, and in His power to save whom He will, no matter how hopeless matters may seem to us, or to Brit Hume:

By all ordinary political logic, Brit Hume is right: It’s utterly hopeless. But if Herman Cain’s presidential campaign does somehow miraculously survive this crisis, you can be sure it wasn’t because of advice from “media strategists.”

Republican “media strategists” are mostly doomed to Hell, which is already overcrowded with Democratic lawyers.


103 comments

  2. Exactly, but that was kinda my point. I remarked that there are rarely clear, easy answers, so why would I favor politicians who are “gently trying to satisfy all the philosophical and policy questions” – just the opposite!

    But that also means that you’ll struggle to find a clear, easy blueprint – even a fiscal conservative one – for determing which politicians are doing things “your way” and which ones are not. The only path to a future in which the size and role of government is greatly reduced is when large numbers of citizens begin to see that it’s BECAUSE the policy “fixes” are beyond our cognitive grasps that we should rely more on markets, spontaneous order, etc.     

  3. Spot on post, Mr. McCain.  I’ve been saying that a “good response” is impossible from the beginning.  It is a lose-lose situation where, no matter what Herman Cain does or says, he will hit a landmine.

    I said a prayer for Mr. Cain, and for the real truth to be revealed to the public, just this morning.

    It’s about all you can do right now.  TC_LeatherPenguin’s point about the weird cluster timing is a good one.  All around, this whole thing just stinks and has little plausibility.

    After Clinton, how are we supposed to take any of this seriously, anyway?

  5. The answers are never easy but the more radical ones thinking the more clear the solutions are. Changing the people in power wont necessarily change the culture, not changing them certainly wont. Fiscal conservatism is a morally correct position.

  6. To further that point it’s notable that only two of the complaints thus far were even taken to the NRA HR department and those complaints never got any farther than HR attorneys.

  7. What tea partier would go to Gloria Allred?  But they figure if they throw enough mud, people will tire of it and Cain will be finished. 

  9. Just the same, if it can be demonstrated that she’s encouraged this woman to willfully defame Herman Cain, and knowingly lie, that would have to be grounds for charges to be filed. They should at least go through the motions. I don’t know how many states she is licensed to practice law in, maybe none outside of California, but each state where she does have a license should look into revoking her license. Somebody needs to look squarely into her associations, especially as regards this matter.

    And of course, this is all assuming that Cain’s telling the truth. I hope he is, because if he ends up getting the nomination, or just continuing to drain support through the primary process to the point where Mitt gets the nomination, its going to be a big mess if someone does come up with something substantive against him.

    That’s what I’m worried about. Either we end up with Mitt as the nominee, or Cain gets the nomination and then we get an October Surprise we’ll never forget.

  11. But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his
    righteousness, 19 and all these things will be given you
    besides.

  13. Doesn’t make any sense does it.  And typically you would expect this in a younger guy.  What was this?  A mid life crisis that hit just when he was in DC? 

    And DC sure as hell is not Vegas.  What happens in DC gets spread all around really fast. 

  15. Huh?  Have you watched her career over the years.  She makes mistakes all the time.  Only a few cases have to hit to make the dogs worth pursuing.  And Herman Cain’s case is not about a lawsuit (it is way too late for any civil action) it is about self promotion and free publicity for Gloria. 

    If she can screw the GOP in the process…bonus! 

  16. The Calvinist idea of God’s sovereignty is not shared by the majority of Christianity, nor was it shared by the Church before John Calvin. For Calvin to be right, God had to predestine *everything* that was to happen from eternity past, to eternity future. That also makes a mockery of the holy character of God. Some, like Victor Cheung, have no problem with God being the author of sin, but he is blaspheming God’s holiness when he does that.

    The law was a relection of God’s character. For Calvin to be right, sin is not a violation of God’s character, but a matter of positive enactment and sin is not sin when God does it, just when we do it.

    Scripture is filled with evidence of Free Will. We are commanded, repeatedly, to make a choice for life or death. While God does use people to work His will, most of what happens is simply allowed by God. That in no way wounds God’s sovereignty. He is still in control and the creator and master of the universe.

    All too often, we make our own future and are hemmed in by the choices we make earlier in life. If any of the accusations against Cain are true, then he made his bed and now he has to lay in it. Since none of the accusations have been shown to be true, and Allred’s involvement makes it close to certain they are not, then he may be forced out simply because the accusation alone stains. If I were in his shoes, and knowing his accusers are liars, I’d stand firm and keep going.

  18. I feel so bad for so many people involved in this.  And what we’re hearing is probably just the tip of the iceberg.  Although Paterno should have retired a long time ago, he’s a great coach and he ran a good program.  Unfortunately, that will be overshadowed by this.   You’re right, it’s no way to go out.   

  19. So Donella, an “independent” who is so far left she’ll vote for Obama twice, just happens to “recall” a request to set up a dinner date which sounds all too familiar in nature, except that the reason it sounds familiar is that it was Cinton’s modus operandi to use procurers to secure his “dates”.
    Another case of leftist projection of their bad habits onto our candidates.

  20. A pointless existence as hers there has to be coin involved in some way, publicity in remuneration down the road would meet that standard. While she may be a moonbat, she is a mercenary moonbat.

  23. You don’t “go to” Gloria Allred.  She comes to you.  Wherever the click of cameras and the harsh glow of Klieg lights come together, she’ll be there.

  24. John Brown was a Calvinist.  He believed he was predestined from birth by God to lead the assault on a Kansas house, drag five men from their beds and hack them to death with swords.

    Some may say he was devout.  I say he was a sociopath.

  26. A big difference is that the Lewinsky-Jones-Willey-Broadderick cases all came to light when Clinton was no longer a candidate.  He survived through approval polls with the help of a Smear Machine against his accusers and their lawyers, compliant media, AND using the full power of the office of the President to protect himself.

  27. I agree with the prescription, and hope and believe our dire fiscal situation will finally force Republicans to do the necessary things.  But I know for a fact none of these things can possibly happen with Obama in the White House.  None of them.  PLUS, we will get hundreds of judges appointed for life to the federal bench which be screwing over our grandchildren, subject our liberty and industry to rule by fiat and decree, and damage our bond rating beyond repair.

    I know you are frustrated; so am I.  But it does us no good to take our frustrations out on the country. 

    As much as I am disgusted by choosing the lesser of two evils, I try to remember the alternative is always the Greater Evil.

  28. Ro 8 has nothing whatever to do with “predestination” as a religious doctrine.  Paul only asserts that when we make the choice whether to follow God, that God already knows what choice we will make. 

  29. If you don’t vote for the GOP nominee, you are voting for Obama, gridlock, and more Supreme Court Justices like Sotomayor and Kagan, not to mention up to 300 other judges appointed for life and more Holder, Sebelious, Lisa Jackson, Napolitano, etc.

    As long as you understand that, it’s your vote and you can do as you wish.

    You might as well slice off your nose to spite your face, though.

  35. Quartermaster,

    If you believe that God created the Creation — ALL of it — then He also created the ability to sin. To believe otherwise is to deny the omnipotence of God. We may not understand it, which is why it is called in Catholicism the Mystery of the Iniquity, but there is no doubt that God created the capacity for sin into the Creation.

  37. David Duke is also a registered Republican. And frankly, this only makes me more inclined to believe that ORomney is involved in some way.

    Bottom line: until there’s something more than he said / she said, I don’t believe her.

    She says she’s a Republican.
    She says she’s a Tea Party member.
    The only time we know she and Herman have met there was no confrontation.

    Doesn’t add up.

  41. Who is best served by Cain leaving the race?

    Obama wins by being able to retain full use of the race card, plus a multiplier because GOP was too racist to select Herman Cain.

    Romney wins because Cain also has a corporate business reputation as a turn-around artist. Where Romney excels in having generic frameworks for policy, Cain has principles.

    Perry wins because Cain is a thinker, and a polished public speaker.

    Paul wins because Cain is a thinker, and has even written some books.

  43. So my  choices would be  the father or the grandfather of ObamaRomneyCare. 

    How exactly is that a choice again?  Because I would really, really like to know. 

  45. I think any proposed conspiracy theory has less credibility than the accusers.  You really don’t need anything more than the 15 minutes they get.  And I think that Allred’s involvement backs that up.

  46. It took a long time for the bad things at the end of Woody Hayes’ tenure to leave people’s minds when remembering his great years as coach at Ohio State.

    It’s hard as hell to leave the big event, but not everyone gets to go out of office feet-first, like Sen. Byrd.  And what a miserable thing it is when that happens–being propped up like an old Soviet ruler, drooling in your stationery, being told what to do by people you no longer know.

    JoPa should’a retired years ago.

  47. It isn’t.  More and more are realizing this and preparing to write-in a candidate.  Some claim they’ll stay at home, but there’s not much point in that, since you can write in, or choose LP candidates.

    Don’t sweat the “it’s a vote for Obama” nonsense.  That’s just a little mantra people have to try to feel better about doing something the same old way and expecting a different outcome.

    It’s amazing how many people stay for the famine.

  50. Your GOP ticket will be Romney and either T-Paw or Gov. Fatass from New Jersey. This is not happening without a wink and a nod from the Cocktail Party GOP on one hand and a lot of George $oros$ money and planning on the other.

    Sorry, but I won’t vote for that ticket. I’d just as soon America go down in flames. We deserve it for allowing the corrupt Ruling Class to obtain as much power as it has.

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