The Other McCain

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

Herman Cain = AuH2O?

Posted on | October 28, 2011 | 35 Comments

My old friend Jeff Kuhner dares to make the comparison:

Like with Barry Goldwater in 1964, grass-roots Republicans are revolting against the Eastern establishment. Mr. Cain has many of Goldwater’s traits – the fire, the intensity, the passion and the willingness to challenge the GOP status quo. Goldwater was unlucky in that he ran in a year following the assassination of President Kennedy. The national outpouring of grief and sympathy made a Democratic victory inevitable. Yet this time, the country is in crisis and the Democrats are poised to be crushed in a landslide.
Mr. Cain’s rise stands as a stark warning to the GOP establishment: Tepid conservatives like Mr. Romney do not have the answers to the nation’s woes.

Read the whole thing.

Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain

Comments

35 Responses to “Herman Cain = AuH2O?”

  1. Anonymous
    October 28th, 2011 @ 8:26 am

    How can he write this drivil? “Tepid conservatives like Mr. Romney….”  Conservative?

  2. Chakam
    October 28th, 2011 @ 8:38 am

    Brilliant link!  So many of us out here in Internet Land have been screaming about Romney’s lack of Conservative substance, but we are, of course, dismissed as peasants.

    Romney is The Establishment’s poster boy.

    Cain is the anti-Establishment.  Mr. Cain will definitely get the small “r” republican votes, like mine.  But he will not get the GOP vote.  Big difference.

    It’s a shame, too.  America needs the fire and enthusiasm Mr. Cain brings, like some kind of resurrected Reagan.  After the mental abuse and limp-wristed “leadership” of President Obama, America needs a Mr. Cain to heal our Nation.

  3. Joe
    October 28th, 2011 @ 9:02 am

    tepid works.

  4. Joe
    October 28th, 2011 @ 9:05 am

    I am growing worried by the MSM starting to focus on Cain.  it is like he slipped into Modor undetected and is soooooo close to destroying the ring. 

  5. Joe
    October 28th, 2011 @ 9:05 am

    I mean tepid is a good way of describing Mitt. 

  6. Joe
    October 28th, 2011 @ 9:19 am

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/27/herman-cain-campaign-hits-brakes-after-missteps-in-2012-gop-race.html

    This is actually good news

  7. AngelaTC
    October 28th, 2011 @ 9:31 am

    Has Herman Cain called for smaller government?  I was under the impression that he just wants to fix it, not slash it.

  8. McGehee
    October 28th, 2011 @ 9:38 am

    I think history doesn’t repeat so much as rhyme. If there’s been a Goldwater figure lately in presidential politics it wasn’t a presidential nominee but a vice-presidential one.

  9. ThePaganTemple
    October 28th, 2011 @ 9:40 am

    He wants to slash regulations, and if he is really serious about implementing 9-9-9 the only way that would work would be by reducing the size and scope of the federal government, if he intends to get us out of red ink AND pay down the debt.

  10. steve benton
    October 28th, 2011 @ 9:52 am

    How about the word “imaginary” instead of tepid. I think its more accurate.

  11. Joe
    October 28th, 2011 @ 9:59 am

    Romney is not imaginary…he is real.  Just really tepid. 

  12. Joe
    October 28th, 2011 @ 10:04 am

    How about putting the words “hubris” and “experts” and “Herman Cain” together?

  13. Poll: Mitt most qualified « Don Surber
    October 28th, 2011 @ 10:11 am

    […] Cain supporter Robert Stacy McCain confronted the question: “Herman Cain = AuH2O?“ CommentsPowered by Facebook […]

  14. Joe
    October 28th, 2011 @ 10:47 am

    The New York Times is getting that they and their cadre of experts has been mostly wrong about Cain. 

  15. Joe
    October 28th, 2011 @ 11:10 am

    Imagine there’s no Romney.   It’s easy if you try.  Just Herman Cain.  Above him only sky. 

  16. Anonymous
    October 28th, 2011 @ 11:47 am

    Romney is real, but in no way, shape, or form a Conservative, tepid or otherwise. Yes, he’s right of Obama, but not by much.

  17. Anonymous
    October 28th, 2011 @ 12:03 pm

    The only to slash regulations in the long term is to slash the regulators, and then destroy their temples.

  18. Jorge Emilio Emrys Landivar
    October 28th, 2011 @ 12:08 pm

    Now the question is:
    Will the establishment types sabotage Cain like they did Goldwater?

  19. Anonymous
    October 28th, 2011 @ 1:16 pm

    I find the comparison downright scandalous.

    I’m no Ron Paul fan, but if there’s a Goldwater analog in this election, he’s clearly it.

     Cain is about as “anti-GOP-establishment” as Goldman Sachs is “anti-finance-establishment.”

  20. Tennwriter
    October 28th, 2011 @ 1:47 pm

    No, Mr. Landivar, the Establishment will treat Mr. Cain with courtesy, honor, and justice.  They will listen to his arguements, and evaluate them fairly with an open-mind.  They will not threaten to leave en masse to vote for Obama, nor willl they after he is nominated, send Karl Rove on national TV to talk down his campaign.

    They love the Constitution as it was meant to be, and they respect the ordinary man.

    The RINO Establishment is not about getting big bucks from the Feds, and sleeping with their pages, or secretaries.  They agree that rich men should be bound by the same moral rules as ordinary men.

    They don’t hate Socons with a purple passion, or regard Libertarians as useful tools.

    The Establishment represents deeply held and principled differences with the Democrats.  Their primary goal is not their advancement as a class, but the restoration of Conservatism.

    So, Mr. Landivar, the answer to your question  is ‘no’.  Thank you.

  21. higgins1990
    October 28th, 2011 @ 2:45 pm

    Give Mr. Romney some more time.  Once he understands what conservatives want to hear, he will be a floppin’ all over it.

  22. Serfer1962
    October 28th, 2011 @ 2:56 pm

    Hahahahahahahahahahahaha
    gasp
    hahahahahahahah

  23. Joe
    October 28th, 2011 @ 2:58 pm

    I agree Romney is not a conservative.  He is just tepid.  Just above room temp.  Luke warm. 

  24. Red
    October 28th, 2011 @ 3:40 pm

    Dubbing Romney a ‘tepid conservative’ is a bit generous don’t you think?

  25. Anonymous
    October 28th, 2011 @ 3:50 pm

    Not really. Mitt’s an old-school Establishment Republican, the kind of conservative who thinks the best we can do is to slow or occasionally stop the advance of socialism. One could fairly call him a moderate, but not a RINO; the “tepid” fits him well as a description of his temperament.

  26. Joe
    October 28th, 2011 @ 3:56 pm

    I got to say, I did not get the Herman Cain smoking ad.  But Damn if it is not working.  Then again, I never got Friends or Two and a Half Men either. 

    Althouse seems to like it:  http://althouse.blogspot.com/2011/10/why-do-people-have-so-much-trouble.html

    Of course, Hot Air has to rain on the parade:  http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111028/ap_on_el_pr/us_cain_campaign_manager

  27. Red
    October 28th, 2011 @ 3:59 pm

    Nah. I wouldn’t describe Romney as a Republican. I would use the word ::ditto fingers::Republican::ditto fingers:.

  28. Joe
    October 28th, 2011 @ 4:18 pm

    Herman Cain definitely is not tepid:  http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=31660

    Cain is doing to do Lincoln Douglas style debates with Newt Gingrich?  Risky, but interesting!  I would rather see this than him on CNN. 

    Perry of course is not doing debates any more. 

  29. Anonymous
    October 28th, 2011 @ 4:57 pm

    I think we have accept the truth that what many call RINOs are actually the epitome of what it means to be a Republican. The underlying fallacy is that the Republican Party is a conservative party.

  30. ThePaganTemple
    October 28th, 2011 @ 5:12 pm

    To paraphrase Steve Martin in The Jerk-

    I, Sir, am a “RINO”

  31. Cain HQ: ‘Crazy, Hectic, But Fine’ : The Other McCain
    October 28th, 2011 @ 5:29 pm

    […] 28: Herman Cain = AuH2O?Oct. 26: James Carville Trashes Herman CainOct. 26: Cain Leads New Ohio Poll; Close to Romney in […]

  32. ThePaganTemple
    October 28th, 2011 @ 7:13 pm

    Maybe in some ways, but I think Goldwater was much more pro-military spending than Paul. Of course, this was during the height of the Cold War. Another way Goldwater was not like any of these guys is from what I understand, he was not in favor of tax cuts. In fact, he actually criticized Kennedy for lowering the top rate from 90% to 70% or maybe just cutting taxes in general. He was, however, one of the first of the big advocates of reducing the size and scope of government.

  33. Anonymous
    October 28th, 2011 @ 7:33 pm

    TPT,

    Yes, I know that Goldwater and Paul have substantial policy differences. I wasn’t referring to policy, I was referring to “orientation to the GOP establishment.”

    I don’t think I even need to make an argument that Paul and the GOP establishment are hostile toward each other.

    Cain, on the other hand, is pretty much Mini-Me to Romney’s Dr. Evil. There’s not an anti-establishment bone in his body. It wouldn’t surprise me to eventually learn that he was recruited by Romney’s team as a stalking horse who can go around babbling nonsense and drawing the other candidates into “circus” so as to throw Romney’s “serious” into higher relief.

  34. ThePaganTemple
    October 28th, 2011 @ 10:18 pm

    Somebody on Romney’s team, if not Romney himself, would have to have a better imagination and strategy than I’ve seen evidence of so far, plus they’d probably pick somebody with a bit of a higher profile. Like Santorum, for example, or maybe even Bachmann, somebody that might stand to dilute the potential support of Sarah Palin, who at the time in question would have been Romney’s penultimate concern.

  35. dad29
    October 29th, 2011 @ 1:16 pm

    Cain’s problem, Messrs Kuhner & McCain, is this:  Cain gets ‘tepider’ on the issues as time goes on.  Note his recent flip-flop on the abortion question. 

    Sorry about that.  I like him.  But his new position doesn’t cut it.