Palin tried to pretend that she had some knowledge of world affairs during the campaign, but just wasn’t very good at it. There were reports of McCain staffers attempting to cram a stream of information into her so that she wouldn’t seem like an idiot every time she opened her mouth, an effort which failed of course. Later she obviously stopped giving half a damn, and quit her job as governor to ride across the country in an RV saying bafflingly stupider shit by the hour, plugging her reality show or asinine movie or something. But Cain never bothered with the pretense to begin with. Palin during the campaign would say things like, “Oh, I don’t know why you think up here in Alaska I don’t know what’s going on the world. I know stuff!” whereas Cain flat out says, “Dude, I don’t know what the hell you guys are talking about. Are you guys going to buy my book or what?”
In all seriousness, I heard some scuttlebutt that Obama really did not intend to win the 2008 election. Allegedly, his campaign was a trial balloon for 2012 or 2016, but when the electorate embraced him, he decided to run with it.
This isn’t really comparable to someone running for president as a shoehorn into another career, but I just thought I’d throw that in there.
I see what you did there.
Same for Clinton in '92. Everybody knew that Mario Cuomo was going to jump in and run away with it, and then it never happened. Then the draft-dodging issue and the pot-smoking issue and Gennifer Flowers came along and the next thing you knew, everybody knew who Bill Clinton was. The difference is, Clinton knew the issues and can talk coherently and at great length about anything, and suddenly we had a real race on our hands.
I think there are a lot of people, particularly conservative businesspeople, who really think that if they can run a business, they can run a country. The best insight into this type of thinking is the book “dot.bomb” by David Kuo. His boss at a failed dot.com startup really believed that he could be president. He even got some support from conservative organizations and Republican officials. Unfortunately his company imploded before he could put his plan for a political career into effect, but he was very similar to Cain. He had no sense of the enormity of the job, or the fact that knowing about history or global politics are essential prerequisites.
In short, I really believe that Cain is just that clueless.
I have a hard time believing that Maddow actually believes this is performance art. Rather I think it’s just another way of emphasizing how baffling his candidacy is. I’m sure she believes the same as many comments upthread have stated: he started his run as a springboard to more prestigious speaking gigs, book deals and news program rates.
If his campaign is really is an attempt to springboard on to something better, just think what kind of gig he could get if he wins. All he has to do is get sworn in, serve eighteen months or so, resign (some nonsense about being forced out by his liberal critics) and Fox News will give him a blank check.
Aye, but there be the rub. If he actually gets a glimpse of the real life nomination, I can guaran-fucking-tee you he will find some Palinesque excuse to back out of the running. He won’t just go for it, because he even knows he’s not ready for prime time, and would be a dangerous failure if allowed anywhere near the White House. He wouldn’t even do his book-selling 9 months and then quit. Of course, we’ll never have the chance to test my theory, as this campaign is bound for Nowheresville, but trust me, I’m right about this.
And I’d so looked forward to his first presidential visit to Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan.
I feel like we’re going to see this book in a few years: "How to Succeed in Politics Without Really Trying
Yeah, it doesn’t make sense. gonzomax once more plausibly stated that Cain is promoting the Cain brand. But book sales are small beer for Cain. I saw an article stating that his book was “flying off the shelves”, selling some 12,800 copies a week. That would probably net Cain $25 - 30k in royalties - what he earned before the campaign for doing just one motivational speech. Going through the electoral process is way more work and stress than simply doing one extra speech each week.
However, if the campaign means that he can subsequently command $50k for a speech rather than $25k, then that is a much more significant boost in income. His book sales will fall off long before his speaking career will end.
I dunno; how many motivational speeches does he usually give per week?
I’m not sure that is relevant. He could clearly have done a hell of a lot more had he not been campaigning. I don’t see the book sales as compensating for that.
I don’t buy this. I think if if gets the nomination, he’ll go through with it, because he probably thinks he can do it. Though, I could see him just quitting early … if there’s too much to read or something.
As to the OP, Maddow did pretty much the exact same schtick about Carl Paladino’s governor’s campaign. She ran with this theory over a period of weeks IIRC.
Ooh, here’s a better Maddow clip that lays out her Paladino theory. It’s almost all the same information, but laid out a little more formally.
I keep hearing the political pundits saying ‘oh and now Newt will be the flavor of the month now Cain is toast’ ‘No, really. He will be.’
Has… anyone seen any evidence of that?
It’s just based on the idea that it’s Newt’s turn to be on top for a few weeks. But there’s also still Santorum and Huntsman, neither of whom has had a turn yet.
I disagree. For one thing, Palin did serve as governor of Alaska before quitting (some nonsense about being forced out by her liberal critics). For another, I don’t see Cain being critical and self-aware enough to realize he’s not up to the job. And for yet another thing, if he is really so cynical as to co-opt a major party’s nominating process for purely self-serving purposes, what reason is there to believe he wouldn’t do the same thing in the general election and the presidency itself?
Well, his negatives are way up since this scandal broke, his organization seems shoddy, and he keeps spending a bunch of time in non-critical primary states while Romney works the voters in Iowa. So there’s that.
And none of those guys are going to have a turn.
Well, you say that now. Wait until somebody else hops to the top of the hill and implodes the next week.
This is really turning out to be a “last man standing” scenario. It will be Romney, but the base hates him sooo much they want to give everybody else a shot.