Herman Cain’s Potentially Crucial “Meet the Press” Interview
Former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain can get lots of dough (for making pizza and campaign contributions) and poll numbers (they are increasing seemingly with each poll and he is the GOP front-runner in one) but — to use a now-trite Rodney Dangerfield line — he can’t get no response, from most pundits and even conservative talk show hosts.
To be sure, pundits are impressed with how well he’s doing in the polls and how he’s capturing the hearts and minds of the conservative faithful. In monitoring some conservative talk shows this week, several hosts said how much they love Cain but most went along with the media conventional wisdom that a)he can’t really get the nomination in the end b)he could never be re-elected.
So all (political) eyes will be on NBC’s still compelling “Meet the Press” on Sunday when Cain undergoes the show’s famous political proctological exam.
If Cain wows ‘em, look for his poll numbers to go and for some of the old conventional wisdom about him being more a novelty, flash in the pan, flavor of week, yet one more high polling Tea Party favorite who will deflate as fast as he fizzled. And if he bombs or makes a major gaffe, look for him to be proven to have been a novelty, flash in the pan, flavor of week, yet one more high polling Tea Party favorite who will deflate as fast as he fizzled. The Hill reports:
Herman Cain’s presidential bid faces a big test Sunday as the newly minted front-runner takes center-stage on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
The appearance will mark the first time he has appeared on one of the Sunday morning shows since he became a top-tier contender. Cain has not had to answer in-depth questions on some topics since he became the center of attention.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday evening found that 27 percent of voters would pick Cain as their first choice for the Republican presidential nomination followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 23 percent and Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 16 percent.
“Meet the Press” Host David Gregory is known as a tough interviewer, and while Cain mostly held his own during last Tuesday’s GOP debate despite increased focus on his “9-9-9” economic platform, he has at times failed to show a depth of knowledge on some issues.
Cain took heat the last time he was on a Sunday show back in May when he showed a lack of knowledge of the details of Israeli-Palestinian tensions. On “Fox News Sunday” Cain stumbled through an answer on the “right of return” for Palestinians displaced from their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that led to the creation of Israel — one of the two key intractable disagreements between the two sides.
“That is something that should be negotiated … That is something that should be negotiated,” Cain responded after a pause.
He also joked last week that he’s not concerned with learning the finer points on some policy issues — like knowing the names of some world leaders.
That kind of joke is called a political “innoculation” where he’s preparing to get a question like that and is ready to say “See? I told you so.”
But Cain can’t win an election being a favorite of Tea Party member and Rush Limbaugh. He’s also going to have to be seen as someone who the GOP establishment thinks they can live with, who has the ability to get some independent voter votes — realizing that a chunk of the independent voters are also former moderate Republicans who feel their party has gone too far to the right and that they’d rather stay home and not vote (likely) or hold their nose and vote for Obama (unlikely since they did that last time and to them the smells was and is worse than they thought).
Can Cain cut it? Stay tuned (to NBC).
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Should be interesting, to say the least.
I don’t understand Cain’s popularity other than the fact that he is a really likeable guy. He’s got an “in you face” style, somewhat like Christie’s, and he is promoting radical tax and SS fixes that I think the majority of voters want to see. Romney and Perry are not. They are more “beholden” to the Big’s who are promoting status quo. Watch for both to come up with their own plans if polls show that this is what is driving Cain’s favorabel ratings.
I, personally, just don’t think Cain is qualified, anymore than I thought, and continue to think, that Obama is not qualified.
Don’t get me wrong. I would vote for him for Prez if he is the Repub candidate, but think that Romney is a better choice.
Rush Limbaugh likes Cain?
…and the Lord set a mark upon Cain….
I think that the Herman Cain phenomenon is absolutely fascinating, yet most people can’t see what’s happening. Remember how Ronald Reagan was said to go “over the heads of the media” and communicate directly with the people? Herman Cain is going “over the heads of the political establishment” in exactly the same way. Poll after poll shows that the public’s respect for Congress and political parties has never been lower. His message is resonating with the people, and the more they hear that he is “not serious” or “can’t win,” the more enthusiastically they support him.
Colin—
Simple messages work better. Especially if delivered piping hot and with a smile.
Can’t be refused.
He does seem “likable” but I think as soon as his extremeists views become known that will stop him from winning a national election. His comment on TV today stating that never under any circumstances would he appoint a Muslim to any post in the government was so blatant. He might as well have said he wants to bring back the time when only rich Protesant men were able to vote. It gave out the same vibe.
malcontent- You say Obama is not “qualified”. Well, after four years in office he is more “qualified” than anyone else running. Or are you saying, experience does not count as a qualifying factor?
Nanci1…let me put it this way since I just watched the TX Rangers win the AL pennant.
Obama was saying he could hit major league pitching running up to the last Prez election. He looked good. He sounded good. He showed us his swing. He told us how good it was. He told us what he was going to do with it. It was Mighty Casey at bat #2. He did not have a track record. He had never been in minor league ball. He had never faced major league pitching.
I would consider governing a state the minor leagues… being a community organizer in a city that is one of the most corrupt in the country is Little League stuff. It does not prepare you for governing… it just gives you a lot of corrupt contacts.
Our current Prez doesn’t know exactly who he is or where he wants to go.
“I promise to end the wars in Iran and Afghanistan”. Ha!
“Elizabeth Warren is the person to sort through all the unregulated raping and pillaging being carried out by Wall Street gamblers.
“All negotiating will be totally transparent”.
Do I need to keep going?
I like Cain, but he is not ready for the major leagues either. Being a successful businessman does not prepare you for being the President of the United States.
The problem is, Cain’s the only likeable guy in the bunch-2012 is going to be another 2008, only this time, it’s the incumbents, not the challengers, who’re going to reap benefits.
Let’s look at our available field:
Romney: couldn’t beat John McCain last time, his name-rec is mostly because he’s the only survivor from the last batch.
Perry: Another “Newsreader” guy, like Obama-looks good in the still photos, gives a good speech, but past the image and you run into a pile of blow-dry fluff.
Bachman: Fun, like Cain, only freakier and a chick-no chance in hell, but she’s good for warming up an aging and shrinking ‘base’. No appeal to anyone outside of a very thin slice of the GOP’s ‘guaranteed’ vote, she’s 1988′s Jesse Jackson with heels and a bra, but a Republican.
Gary WHO??
and a bunch of guys who nobody cares about.
Cain’s interesting because he’s INTERESTING, that gives him appeal. He’s not a stereotype, he’s not another Ross Perot, though he has many of the same appealing characteristics, especially in this economy. He gives a good speech, and he comes across as at least halfway between intelligent, and approachable, with flaws that really don’t hammer his popularity.
But he’s not going to win the nomination, much less face off against Obama in 2012. If he does, well, that would be an interesting campaign to watch, but the result’s in the bag for BHO. Cain’s enough shark that other CEO’s won’t support him-he knows too much about how to play the influence game from THEIR chairs,and as a non-theorist with practical experience and success, he’s unlikely to be snow-jobbed in quite the same manner. Unions won’t have him for the two obvious reasons:
1, He’s a Republican.
2. He’s MANAGEMENT. A Cain administration is quite unlikely to push NLRB to go easy on Union Bosses, and IS likely to make them start enforcing the laws regarding pay and benefits ON union bosses. This is not something that those who control the day-to-day of the Nationals and Internationals desire.
He’s not going to appeal to the Green/Treehugger/Environmentalist vote-again, he’s a REPUBLICAN. Remember Bush 1′s attempt to look ‘environmental’ during the 1992 campaign? Recall how utterly it failed? Yeah. Nobody is dumb enough to fall for that, nobody’s that delusional…except maybe Karl Rove, and that’s a special case of someone who can believe ANYTHING HE WANTS as long as it serves the Client’s interests.
Lawyers don’t like guys like him.
AMA won’t either.
Any churches that don’t normally encourage their parishioners/congregations to vote GOP won’t touch him, in fact he might have the opposite effect, esp. in the South.
He’s not Coloured enough for NAACP, which is really a nice way of saying he’s not a socialist tool.
NRA “MIGHT” like him, but that’s a matter of knowing BHO’s positions and Eric Holder, and contributing to ANYONE who might have a chance-even a remote one-against Obama and his gun-running subordinates.
did I miss any of the big ones? Point is, even IF Cain can win the primaries (and he’s not looking that strong right now, the traditionalists who saddled the GOP with Dole in 1996 and McCain in 2008 are probably going to go for Romney, and they control the Party), when it comes to first-round picks for fundraising for the General Election, Cain’s screwed-the money men who weren’t already in the Democrat tank will go whole on for four more years of BHO.
and, anymore, with the majority of the people quite content to let Peter Jennings or that guy from Fox News tell them who to vote for, Cain’s toast.
Seriously? I find the logic absurd.
Obama was clearly unqualified. He was a “charisma choice”, certainly.
But I find the notion of “anyone but Obama at all costs”, which is basically what you’re saying, to be foolish. It seems to me that some continuity is preferable than simply slapping in another destined-to-fail President with all the disruption that would bring.
Obama should probably be a one-termer at this point, but a one-termer because we’ve found someone better. He hasn’t been that disastrous that we would put in someone just as bad (albeit in a different direction).
“Obama should probably be a one-termer at this point, but a one-termer because we’ve found someone better.”
Agreed, but where is this “better” person? Therein lies the problem. I suppose anyone truly sane enough and honest enough has little interest in being president.