In a week in which Herman Cain was not beset with multiple claims of sexual harassment and seeking to blame all his troubles on a nefarious plot by Rick Perry, we might instead be talking about the Godfather Pizza CEO’s latest foreign policy gaffe. But though the two stories appear to be unrelated, even his loyalists should be pondering whether this disconnect between Cain and reality on many issues is in some way related to the way he has mishandled the news about the sexual harassment charges.
As for the gaffe, in an interview on PBS with Judy Woodruff on Monday, the Republican presidential candidate was asked whether he considered China a potential military threat. Though his affirmative answer to the question was correct in my opinion, he lost whatever little credibility that judgment might have gotten by claiming that China has “indicated that they’re trying to develop nuclear capability.” While it is possible that a great many other Americans don’t know that the Chinese exploded their first nuclear weapon 47 years ago, it’s also true that surveys of historical knowledge also show that many think the battle of Gettysburg was fought during World War Two. But would you really want to elect any of those people president even if they knew how to sell pizza? It also makes you wonder what other events in world history that have occurred since 1964 that Cain missed (note to Herman: the Berlin Wall fell and Francisco Franco is still dead).
Cain is not merely unembarrassed by his ignorance or his inability to articulate the difference between “pro-life” and “choice” on abortion. He’s taken to treating these gaps in what ordinary Americans consider to be a normal body of knowledge for an educated adult as a point of pride about which we are invited to share a laugh with the candidate about the silliness of pointy-headed intellectuals who expect him to know this stuff. The sort of low-end populism that treats a grasp of policy as if it were a junior high pop quiz on algebra always has a certain appeal and it’s not surprising that a lot of people are prepared to laugh along with him.
Whether the harassment charges are true or not — and if we ever hear from those who made the accusations even some of those assuming there’s nothing to it but racism or political bias may change their minds — the arrogance with which he has refused to deal with them seems vaguely familiar to those who have watched him airily dismiss complaints about his lack of understanding of foreign policy or his inability to logically defend his tax plans.
Cain had to know that sooner or later these charges were out there waiting to be revealed but the candidate never made an effort to adequately explain them or even to keep his story straight about what happened. But rather than admit mistakes or to get ahead of the story and get it all out for the public to digest, Cain has prevaricated and now attempted to shift the story with a fanciful charge that it’s all the fault of Rick Perry and his staff.
To him, all questions about his record or his behavior are to be laughed at or ignored. Any person who wants to run for the presidency has to have a healthy ego but the sort of self-regard that Cain has demonstrated during this campaign is another thing entirely. His sense of entitlement is so great that those who support him are reduced to the idea that he can be taught about policy once he’s in the Oval Office. But given the sorry show that he and his staff are putting on this week the chances of that happening are getting slimmer every day.
People keep taking this one phrase out of his complete sentence and pretend it's about nuclear weapons. He not only mentions that he is referring to air craft carriers in the same answer, but in the same sentence that this is taken from. Why do you think none of his critics are using the whole quote?
This is really over the top. The man said "…they're working to develop nuclear capability, develop more aircraft carriers…" This is a written transcription of a verbal conservation. If he had inserted "their" as in "…they're working to develop their nuclear capability…" or used the cognate "improve" as in "…they're working to improve their nuclear capability…" you would have no story at all. You are looking to accuse the man of the most heinous ignorance for talking too quickly and swallowing a word. You as a writer may live by the written word but Mr. Cain was not writing, he was speaking, and some basic benefit of the doubt should be paid when parsing a transcript rather than drawing such a damning and tenuous conclusion. Pathetic.
Adding his mention of aircraft carriers does not change his exhibition of ignorance in anyway. Let’s not pretend this is some absurd, out of context quote – this guy really has absolutely no clue about world history.
At one point, didn't Obama say we have 57 states? n nGuess we'll just have to wait and see who wins…or horse-trades to get…enough delegates to clinch the nomination, and then gets enough votes to win the general election.
Dumb as he wanna be. ok by me.
Nonsense, while working for Navy he was calculating stuff related to Chinese nukes. He knows about this stuff a lot more than you. n
I suppose being a rocket scientist automatically means your a political expert who can say anything, including that China is trying to develop nuclear capability. n nCain clearly has supported the Tarp bailouts and the raising the debt ceiling, but is very eloquent. That would make him a GOP version of Obama. What kind of tea party is that. Oops I forgot to mention, Cain doesn't know being pro-life without exceptions doesn't mean a women can still get an abortion. Neither does being strongly for the 2nd Amendment mean cities and states can regulate guns. It's hard to comprehend the tea party infatuation with Cain?
um,r nr nthe guy is a university-level mathematician – a former ballistics expert for the US Navy for Pete’s saker nr nHerman Cain is not an idiot and articles like instantly become the dust of history
This is ridiculus. nCan you not understand what the man is saying? nThe Chinese are indeed developing nuclear deployment strategies, and have been since Bush's last term. If you'll remember, it was part of what Duncan Hunter ran on. nThis hatchet piece is just an attempt at kicking the threatening non-establishment contender, when he's already down. nPathetic, really
Yawn. You mean President Cain can't be "taught" foreign policy in the White House. But this is silliness of course. He will have John Bolton as Sec State, Newt as VP and Kissinger as an Adviser. He will have an EXCELLENT FP team. Better than Bush OR Obowma.