The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

More Herman Cain Awesomeness

Posted on | December 28, 2010 | 22 Comments

The term “Herman Cain porn” was coined at Red State to describe videos like this one from Citizens4Cain:

The “next Reagan” label is a heavy burden, but even if Cain is not equal to the Great Communicator — is anyone, really? — he is at least a Doggone Effective Communicator. Like I said, “Steve Forbes with charisma.”

BTW, there were some negative comments on yesterday’s post — “Herman Cain: ‘We Have People on the Ground’ in Early Primary States” — which I’m hesitant to describe as the work of outright trolls. To the one commenter who said my “gushing over Herman Cain is starting to get embarrassing,” I’ll say this:

  • Which candidate do you prefer in the GOP primaries? If you want to make an argument on behalf of one of the other Republican candidates, please do so.
  • You really ought to read this 1994 Newsweek article that highlights Cain’s key role in helping defeat HillaryCare.
  • I became aware of Herman Cain during the 2004 Georgia Senate primary, when my older brother — a truck driver who still lives down home in Douglas County, Ga. — called me to share his support and praise for Cain. That really got my attention and, if you knew my older brother, your reaction would have been like mine: “Wow. This guy must be the real deal.”
  • I first interviewed Herman Cain in May 2007, after he’d returned to WSB radio following his cancer treatment. And in a post from April, Smitty described me as a “Herman Cain Fanatic,” as I spoke to Smitty by phone immediately after hearing Cain’s speech at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. All of which is to say that my enthusiasm for Cain shouldn’t surprise anyone.
  • My enthusiasm for Cain, however, is not to be confused with hostility to anyone else’s favorite candidate (unless your favorite candidate is Mike Huckabee, in which case you need to get back on your medication.) I like and support both Sarah Palin and Mike Pence, I’ve defended Haley Barbour, I’ve got nothing against Mitch Daniels, and I’ll remind you that I supported Mitt Romney in 2008 (as did Herman Cain, by the way). So it’s not a zero-sum game.
  • Finally, it’s more than a year until the Iowa caucuses and there’s no telling what’s going to transpire between now and then. So if any particular candidate is not your first choice, don’t sweat it — and be careful about going to war against a candidate who might be preferable to your least favorite candidate.

If Doug Hoffman’s NY-23 campaign and the “No One Red Cent” rebellion in support of Marco Rubio convinced you of nothing else, it should have convinced you that I love nothing better than to support a grassroots David against the establishment Goliath.

Look, I remember when Allen West couldn’t get the time of day from the GOP establishment; next month, he’ll be Congressman Allen West. And I also remember arriving in NY-25 on a Sunday when, barely two weeks before Election Day, the front-page news was a poll that had Ann Marie Buerkle trailing by 12 points. Next month, she’ll be Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle.

In a David-vs.-Goliath situation, you don’t start by trying to calculate the odds of success, because the odds are liable to be so daunting as to inspire helpless despair. But let me ask you this: What were Herman Cain’s odds in 2006, when the doctors diagnosed him with Stage 4 cancer? Think about that before you say Cain can’t win.

As my father used to tell me, “Can’t never could.”

Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain, Video

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