Herman Cain stumbles badly on Libya question

[tawadi]

Source: washingtonpost

Posted by Rachel Weiner at 04:56 PM ET, 11/14/2011

In an interview today with the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain visibly struggled to explain his position on President Obama’s Libya policy.

The video is particularly damaging for Cain, who has struggled on matters of foreign policy in the past.

Asked if he agreed with the president, Cain said, “Okay, Libya,” and then was silent for about ten — yes, ten — seconds, before asking, “President Obama supported the uprising, correct?”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/herman-cain-stumbles-badly-on-libya-question/2011/11/14/gIQADxpoLN_blog.html?hpid=z1

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There is a video (http://www.jsonline.com/multimedia/video/?bcpid=13960334001&bctid=1275195602001). Yet another "brain freeze" moment. :eyes:

[teddy51]

1. Yesh, but to be fair he had only had 4 hours sleep the night before

so we should excuse him for this. :sarcasm:

[tawadi]

2. NOT what I would call Presidential material

Not AT ALL.

[lumpy]

3. Probably been awake mulling over his sexual peccadillos,

nt

[lumpy]

4. Probably been awake mulling over his sexual peccadillos,

nt

[joshcryer]

18. Man, the President sometimes goes *days* without sleep. It's one reason they age so quickly.

Cain is toast.

[AlecBGreen]

30. I truly feel for everyone who serves as president

they age soooo quickly. Obama looks 10 years older since 2008

edit - grammmmur

[Bonhomme Richard]

5. Could the republican party set the bar for President any lower.

It would take effort but I bet they could.
That party ought to be banned as a serious threat to the existence of the nation .

[elocs]

20. To be honest, the Republican party didn't chose any of these candidates, they chose themselves.

No Republican as of yet has voted for any of them to be their candidate either. Of course, after January that will not be true.

[Beartracks]

I hear God chose several of them... ;) n/t

[jkappy]

50. All but Ron Paul... n/t

[Thor_MN]

51. No, that was just god butt dialing...

[bongbong]

6. Cain's real policy

"I only need to answer well enough to stay alive for a while longer, to get more donations from the sheep!"

:rofl:

[Old and In the Way]

13. Or waiting for an exit pay-off from the RNC.

Better hurry, though...his stock price is falling rapidly.

[Fearless]

7. The man that could be in charge of this nation's nuclear arsenal.

Makes you feel all warm and tingly.

[teddy51]

11. Maybe the Mayan's had something there with their callender ending in December

of 2012. If one of these nut jobs were to win the WH, we are in deep shit.

[pokerfan]

15. It is absolutely terrifying

This guy is so clueless that he wasn't even aware China had the bomb and indeed has had it since 1964. It's as bad as Dubya not being aware of the conflict between Shia and Sunni.

[Fearless]

22. Might be worse considering the implications that China has on our wellbeing.

[Siwsan]

8. This guy is GW 'Bush league'

I can't remember the specifics, but I do recall GW being pretty lacking in global knowledge, when he was running. Herman's only saving grace seems to be not running every business he touched into the ground.

[Faygo Kid]

9. Sarah Palin and Herman Cain. That's the kind of junk the GOP would foist on this nation.

Depending on his defense of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, I will either be full-throated and open-walleted for President Obama, or merely vote for him.

But these losers the GOP are putting forward have no chance with me.

[buddysmellgood]

10. That is just too painful to watch.

[katty]

12. lordy, this guy is a one-man comedian

[DeSwiss]

14. ''We are led by the lest among us.'' ~Terrence McKenna - K&R n/t

[alp227]

16. In other news, Cain is unfit for politics nt

[Kablooie]

17. All these candidates are about as far from presidential material as you can get.

And the GOP is DETERMINED to replace Obama with one of these Gawfoons!?

THAT will fix America's problems?

What the hell is going on?

[sakabatou]

19. Idiot.

At least he wasn't doing this:

[left on green only]

46. Looks like Uncle Ream us gettin ready to tell de tale of Br'er Rabbit

Bend over everybody!

[SoutherDem]

21. I almost felt sorry for him...

till I remembered there are Americans who support this man to run our country! Ok they over look the sexual harassment charges, well I forgave Bill Clinton for the White House blow jobs. And, he has a good business record, but to vote for someone who hasn't a clue what is happening beyond our boarders who would have the nuclear codes scares the living shit out of me.

[leftyohiolib]

23. remember bill clinton's sex was consensual. herman the pervman's wasnt

youre comparing apples and oranges

[SoutherDem]

27. I didn't mean to compare the events,

but rather the willing for supporters to forgive/overlook.

[JDPriestly]

24. This is what I find truly sad about Herman Cain

Cain served as deputy chairman of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from 1992 to 1994, and as chairman from 1995 to 1996.<6>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Cain

He has already held a position of power.

No wonder our country is in so much trouble.

Pick any DUer, or just about any DUer, and you will find a person better informed and better equipped to lead the Federal Reserve than Cain.

[Little Tich]

25. He looks like a 8th grader flunking his oral examination.

All the hawing and hemming makes me nervous, especially as this guy is aspiring to the title of Mr President.

[and-justice-for-all]

26. He does not know where Libybeckybeckystan is...nt

[fantomas]

28. Clearly another "gotcha" question from the lamestream media

I'm sure Cain will fundraise like crazy off of this. The Democrat machine is at it again, daring to actually ask him a substantive question.

[yellowcanine]

32. The gotcha question was toward the end, "Do you know whether or not Obama made an assessment of the

opposition?" This was after Cain had repeated several times that this was what he would have done DIFFERENTLY from Obama. And Cains answer to this......"I don't know whether or not he did an assessment of the opposition. If he did, I HAVE NOT SEEN THE REPORT!" Yeah right, Mr. Cain, and of course the President of the United States should have shared that report with you. Unbelievable. While wallowing around like a hog in slop Cain also came up with the gem that he would have "assembled all of the facts before making a decision of Libya". again, implying with zero evidence that Obama did not do that.

[yellowcanine]

29. This was painful. He stalls for time by going into a long narrative about his "decision making

process." He seizes on "I would have made an assessment of the opposition." After repeating that several times he finally admits when prompted that in fact he doesn't know whether or not Obama did make an assessment of the opposition and then hilariously notes that "If there is such a report I haven't seen it!" as IF the President of the United States should be sharing intelligence reports with a former pizza executive, even one running for President.

[truthisfreedom]

31. He doesn't say anything whatsoever of substance. He would have been much better off

saying that he was originally against the US getting involved without knowing what we were getting into, and that Obama just got lucky that Gaddafi was overthrown and killed, or any number of bullshit answers he could have come up with to undermine Obama.

This guy's just a bumbling klutz. The only good thing he's doing is demonstrating that even average people can run a business like Godfather's Pizza somewhat successfully, so hopefully he'll inspire some average people to get up off their butts and start businesses. Where they'll get the money to do that is another problem.

[BiggJawn]

33. Can he even find Libya on a MAP?

I doubt it.

They don't eat no manly pork products on their pizzas, either. So fuck 'em, says the Herminator...

[red dog 1]

34. Herman Cain Is An Idiot!

[applegrove]

35. Cain is just a salesman who was hired by the Koch brothers to sell a flat tax in the 999 plan.

Nothing more than that.

[unkachuck]

36. "President Obama supported the uprising, correct?"

....Libya for $100....Who claims he never put his hand up Gaddafis' robe?....bunga, bunga

[pampango]

37. Think Progress: Cain was against Libya intervention before he was for it.

Months Before Total Confusion On Libya, Herman Cain Was Totally Sure Obama Was Wrong

http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/11/14/368268/herman-cain-libya/

Former pizza executive Herman Cain has struggled with foreign policy throughout his campaign to be commander in chief, but never more so than an in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today in which he muddled through a flailing, nonsensical answer on Libya for five excruciating minutes. Ultimately, Cain lands on being generally supportive of the intervention, but says he perhaps would have a bit more cautious at the outset.

But this seems to contradict with his longstanding strident opposition to the Libyan expedition. “I’ve said many times before that US intervention in Lybia is inappropriate and wrong. The US does not belong in this war,” he wrote in a Twitter debate in July. That same month, he appeared on John Stossel’s show on Fox Business, where he clearly stated his opposition:

CAIN: Should we be in Libya? The answer is no.
STOSSEL: That’s clear.
CAIN: That’s because U.S. interest was not clearly defined.

It’s worth noting that Cain’s foreign policy slogan is “peace through strength and clarity.”

Watch the flip flop, along with a compilation of Cain’s less-than-clear foreign policy vision, produced by ThinkProgress’ Jeff Spross:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SS4EepYCfE4

[Javaman]

38. doesn't it appear that not one of these candidates actually study anything?

they think, rightly so (due to our very weak media), that they don't need to study history, foreign affairs, economic policy, etc.

They believe they can just wing it and get away with it.

all of their various arguments concerning policy of any sort is shot completely out their asses.

How completely insulting that is to their base. But then again their base eats up the stupidity as if it was the word of god.

these repuke candidates think any question that isn't a softball, is a "gotcha" question. As if asking someone running for president to think on their feet is somehow bad.

all these repuke candidates are cartoons.

[sakabatou]

39. Cain is "performance art."

[krabigirl]

44. Yep.

[LibertyLover]

40. It was painful to watch Herm squirm

I almost, but not quite, felt sorry for him. But when he had to ask the editorial board what Pres. Obama's policies had been and followed that up with some rather arsine and unamusing flubs on federal employees ("They have unions, don't they?", I decided that I didn't feel sorry for him, but rather for the US if this bozo gets within 50 yards of The White House.

[wordpix]

41. Not ready for prime time player

[Doctor_J]

42. You wouldn't think the Almighty would call on him to be president

and then leave him sweating and panting over a softball question. I wonder why God didn't pipe the answer into his thick head during the interview

[No Elephants]

43. Was someone under the impression Cain is a well-informed, highly intelligent man?

Whoever has that impression is in desperate need of discernment.

[No Elephants]

45. P.S. Just for the record, Cain's question was not about Libya, but about what the US had done.

So, it's even worse than the OP suggests.

[mvd]

47. At least it looks like Obama will win. While he has been..

far from what I wanted, there is no other choice. Maybe OWS and Obama's 2nd term will lay the groundwork for getting a progressive President. The Repukes do not like Romney, and the Cains and Gingriches wouldn't have a chance.

[NJCher]

48. he reminds me of

My university students when I they try bluffing their way through an essay question.


Cher

[DCBob]

49. Why do most Republicans seem so incredibly ignorant??

Is there something wrong with their brains?

[left on green only]

53. Asked and answered

[freshwest]

52. I don't think the GOP is serious about regaining the presidency. The Koch brothers are working...

At eviscerating government from the local levels on up with payola and after a while the POTUS will be like a news anchor at the rate we're going. The GOP has NO leaders, they are only cheer leading the ones that have promised them to escape the mess they are creating by buying themselves friends abroad to escape with. I'm finding it hard to get excited in either a positive or negative way about any of these candidates.

[IcyPeas]

54. Herman Cain DENIES this too.... (article)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/cain-defends-hesitant-answer-on-libya-by-denying-confusion/2011/11/16/gIQAPvTQRN_story.html?tid=pm_national_pop

deny
deny
deny

nine
nine
nine