The only thing about Cain that worries me at this point is if he’s gonna try to stick his hand up my dress.
Maybe all guys in kilts better watch out, too? :eek: … now THAT would derail him pretty quick. 
This.
I fear that Conservatives (who are often motivated primarily by fear) are simply projecting when they accuse Liberals (who are generally not motivated primarily by fear) of fear.
I just want to know one thing. IF, in the land of many nuts, Cain WERE to be elected - who would his puppet master BE?
Rove? Surely not Darth Cheney again…? Cantor? Maybe DeMint? Papa John?
Cheney’s too old and infirm to be a player. Cantor, DeMint et. al. don’t have the brains or the moxie to handle the part. In the unlikely event you suggested, I could maybe see Newt Gingrinch (sic) handling the puppetmaster role.
SS
You have to ask?
The Godfather.
Cain is done.
I’m as liberal as they come (in the US, at least.) And even I raised an eyebrow at the many and sudden sexual harassment claims that materialized overnight against Cain. Yeah, it does seem all sudden. Very “sudden”.
But even if I am still waiting to see real evidence on all of them, what is really damaging to Cain is how clownishly he’s handled the whole thing.
If - “IF!” - he had responded early, and said “Yeah, some people in my past claimed sexual harassment. It wasn’t true, but as a leader of the NRA my lawyers told me to just give them a pittance to go away” I would have thought that explanation pretty reasonable. I’m never going to vote for the guy, but I might have believed that narrative.
Instead, he’s bumbled and fumbled from “NO! IT’S ALL LIES!” to “Well, I don’t remember any of that happening” to “Well, maybe it happened, but they never won any settlement” to “Yeah, at least one of them got a settlement.”
Fumbling such a an easy candidate controversy is frankly non-presidential.
If the allegations are true - he’s fucked. I’m not convinced they’re true, though I’ll wait to see more evidence.
If the allegations are false - well, he’s handled them so poorly that he’s not ready for the presidency.
However, Cain notified his campaign management about this during his Senate race. Cite. It is hardly sudden - he’s been in the race for a while, and there would be no reason to bring it up again if he weren’t a viable candidate.
That the restaurant association paid off two women, at least, is not in dispute. We are not going to know the full details from their point of view until they are released from their gag order.
It was not really all that sudden, or unexpected to Cain. The reason that you get so many at once is that the victims realize that there is safety in numbers. He can’t just attack one he has to attack them all and having five women all telling roughly the same story it is a lot more believable then any Cain rebuttal.
Never underestimate the stupidity of the American electorate. You’re probably right, but I’d rather not see that proposition tested.
Good point. I remember not taking seriously the threat posed by a Reagan candidacy in 1980.
Not to mention what happened twenty years later.
The reason may be the Repubs want him out of the way. Cain blamed Perry and Romney at first, but they was against the narrative so he changed to blaming the Dems. There is no reason for the Dems to shoot down Cain. The Repubs are beating each other up on TV in so called debates . That is good for the Dems.
Cain is not much of a threat on the national stage. He is leading with 18 percent. That is not gaining traction. He is spinning his wheels.
At least the guy served two full terms as governor of CA. These days, if you have 2 years of governorship under your belt, and haven’t been kicked out of office in shame, everybody is wondering when you will throw your hat into the presidential mix.
This liberal isn’t scared of Cain. Or Palin. Or Paul, etc. There are checks and balances in most government processes that would somewhat diminish their ability to do true harm.
I’m scared of their followers. People who think Obama was too inexperienced to serve as President but who are okay with a man with no political experience whatsoever in the office. People who think that openly carrying guns to political rallies is an appropriate intimidation tactic. People who either think that people like me deserve fewer rights, or support candidates who think that. People who believe what proven liars and fear-mongers are peddling. People for whom compromise is a four-letter word. Who demand that one specific particular religious sect control the country and its laws. Who see disagreement as treason, and those who disagree as traitors. Who celebrate ignorance as a virtue.
Those are the people I fear.
What word is it?
The Sunday Times Magazine had an article about Cain this weekend. It seems he learned everything he knows about current affairs from hosting a right wing call-in show. Which explains a lot.
The article wondered why Cain seems to be immune from the consequences of screw ups that would doom other candidates. It seems to me that Cain appeals to the true believers, and has the advantage of being so ignorant that his appeals to them are totally sincere. Romney knows that much of what he is saying is bullshit. When Perry said something about education for the children of immigrants based on first hand knowledge he got into trouble. Even Bachmann has been exposed to the real world. Someone like Cain, whose economics adviser is some low level ML flunky, doesn’t have the disadvantage of seeing the nuances.
I guess I count as a liberal, for the most part.
I’m not scared of Cain. Or Romney, or Bachman, or Perry. People don’t fear me.
The fact that they are supported by the mainstream republicans scares me. The fact that republicans will fall in line (like they do) and pull the lever for whomever has the R scares me.
And the shortsighted hyper-partisanship currently being espoused as the “right track” for America scares me.
Not to get too serious here, I think we’re losing sight of the OP: obviously we all–liberals, Dems, radicals, progressives–aren’t happy campers if one of these rightwingnuts gets elected, but the OP tries to be a little more specific: balancing the prospect of the GOP running one of these (probably) unelectable candidates against Obama AGAINST the (minuscule) of that candidate pulling off a win in the general election, are you more pleased or displeased? Do you WANT Cain nominated, all in all, or would you prefer a more moderate (and more electable) GOP candidate?
Who is more electable,Santorum, Gingrich, Paul, or Romney? You don’t know who is more electable until votes are counted , suppressed or changed in a voting machine. Is it possible some right wing crazy can get in and make us long for BusH? As bad as he was, there is still more room at the bottom where a bad prez can drag us ,especially if he gets the house and senate .
Apparently people have forgotten the mess Bush made of a time of peace and prosperity, and want to drop it down another level.