Herman Cain may have just had his Rick Perry “oops” moment.
In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board, Cain was asked whether he agreed or not with President Obama’s decisions on Libya.
The beginning of Cain’s answer then gave the impression that he might have been working from rote memorization — and struggling to remember his lines.
“Okay, Libya,” Cain said — then paused, looking downward. “President Obama supported the uprising — correct? President Obama called for the removal of Qaddafi. Just want to make sure we’re talking about the same thing before I say, yes I agreed, or no I didn’t agree.”
“I do not agree with the way he handled it, for the following reasons — No, that’s a different one. (Pauses) I gotta go back, see. (Pauses) Got all this stuff twirling around in my head. Specifically, what are you asking me, did I agree or not disagree (sic) with Obama?”
The interview then continued, with Cain laying out the situation, and saying he would have done a better job than Obama in assessing the situation, and the nature of the Libyan opposition.
However, the reporters still unclear exactly what his position was.
“I’m a much more deliberate decision-maker,” Cain said. “That is a point that I keep coming back to. Some people want to say, well, as President you’re supposed to know everything. No you don’t. I believe in having all of the information, as much of it as I possibly can, rather than making a decision or making a decision about whether I totally agreed, and didn’t agree, when I wasn’t privy to the entire situation. There might be some things that might cause me to feel differently.
“So I’m not trying to hedge on the questions. That’s just my nature as a businessman. I need to know the facts as much as possible. I need to hear all of the alternatives (takes a sip of water). For example, someone — you might have mentioned that even in the administration, there were different views. I would want to hear all of those views, look at all the information, and then I make the decision as the Commander-in-Chief. So this is the whole point I’m trying to make.”
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
Oh. My. God. Epic Fail. He had to many labias...I mean Libyas...twirling in his head.
all that stuff twirling in his head is not the stuff of substance. the teapublic wizard of oz is just as big a fraud as the cinematic one.
Cain's just trying to BS his way out of this & doing a poor job doing it too. LMAO Gawd I hope he get's the nomination. I will pay to watch the debates between Cain & Obama.
Riiiight,,,and without a teleprompter we are likely to hear more things like "in all 57 states" from Obama...come on, be fair, we are all human.
Bill Kichman This right-wing nonsense about teleprompters and "57 states" is low-intelligence guff. Ronald Reagan used teleprompters all the time. I never heard right-wingers complaining about that. Both George Bushes used teleprompters all the time. John Boehner uses a teleprompter. Mitt Romney uses a teleprompter. It's a normal tool used by politicians and other people who have to deliver long speeches that they can't easily remember. Barack Obama is completely capable of speaking convincingly and intellligently off the cuff and does it all the time.
As for the "57 states" flub, it's what's called a malapropism, a frequent linguistic error that occurs when two similar expressions are confused. In this case, Obama wanted to say that, while campaigning, he'd visited forty-seven states. However, the expression "in all fifty states" is very common and the first thing that comes to mind. In his flub, he starts out saying "in all fifty...." followed by a long pause "seven states". The phrases "in all fifty states" and "in forty-seven states" are simply overlaid, to confusing effect. It's a petty linguistic error.
Cain, on the other hand, is not simply flubbing a phrase; he repeatedly, despite being given several chances over a long period of time, fails to articulate a coherent Libyan policy or explain how it differs from Obama's policy. Comparison of Cain's repeated failure, which displayed ignorance of and disinterest in this important foreign policy area, with Obama's simple and easily explained language flub, is ridiculous. Republican inability to distinguish between the fundamentally important and the trivial is why they cannot be trusted to govern the country.
Thank you, David Bill Kichman Simply, thank you!!
@Bill Kichman LOL. You are right. Please, I beg you. Nominate this jackass.
Could you imagine if this guy was really President? Imagine that these reporters are national security/military advisors needing an answer to an important decision on a foreign policy issue.
I wonder how the Kochs are feeling about their investment about now (though I suppose it's not a large part of their portfolio).
C'mon, all, cut the poor guy some slack. He is new to this activity. All he needs is an old pro to coach him.....like Sarah Palin.....
A bunch of Americans are actually in favor of this incompetent fool being our president. Let's pause to marvel.
Not ready for prime time? Cain isn't even ready for public access cable.
Actually, making snarky comments at Cain's expense has grown far too easy and poses no challenge whatsoever...I'm invoking the mercy rule.
Herman Cain gaffe explained:
We at Glenn Beck University are proud to announce that Herman Cain was our top graduate for the year 2010.
End of story. End of candidacy.
Have we started a pool yet to predict when he issues the press release blaming the 'Democrat Machine'?
........what?
Way to go, Mr. Herman "Heimlich" Cain. I know BS when I hear it, and this guy doesn't even do that well.
You have just seen why so many workers hold upper management in such low regard. Too many excuses and too little real understanding.
Cain struggles to get his story straight, saying that he has so many thoughts "twirling around in his mind". The thoughts on foreign policy of a serious candidate would not be "twirling around" as if he just heard them for the first time last week and can't keep them straight (which is, of course, exactly the case). Other candidates have been dealing with these countries and these issues for years and can give their opinions without worrying about "twirling". Cain and Perry struggle to remember what their handlers told them they should say. This is not what future presidents do.
the more I watch the video the more I conclude that this is not an ops video-its worst. he just does not know the issues involved. its not a brain freeze-there is no information up there to freeze
This is what happens to unfortunate razzle dazzle con men who temporarily run out of big distracting talking points.
or con WOMEN like bachmann and palin Jgelling
this guy is a joke. cain has made himself unelectable for anything - including dog catcher
He chokes on the whole interview from beginning to end, which probably means choke is the wrong word. He has this eye twitch thing when he gets into real BS territory. My personal favorite when referring to attacking Iran not being a top tier alternative...."where ya gonna strike, its very mountainous."
Could the GOP actually believe that there are enough Obama haters that they can win with The Village Idiot?
Their group of Presidential Candidates (aside from Jon Huntsman) absolutely support that premise.
Nowhere near a political office does Cain belong. He needs to keep making that pizza or how about going into the ice cream business since he seems to know a lot about ice cream and the names of said ice cream
Cain couldn't find Libya on a map if you pointed to it.
Sorry I meant to say "That a lot of people watch Fox News and nothing else" . I wish I had edited it.
milesdigby
Your below comment was clear w/o edits except that if you watched Faux exclusively, you would know that Obama screwed up on Libya. You would not know how or why he screwed it up but you would be absolutely positive that he did and that the Republican (fill in the blank) would have done it better.
This video and all the Republican debates make me think I can be president! I am not so stupid to believe that is true.
I really do blame Fox News for creating a alternate reality. There are a lot of folks who watch only that channel. If I did, I guess I would know nothing of Libya. Libya was one of Obama's greatest foreign policy achievements. So I guess Fox did not cover it.
If you're interested in Wisconsin politics, you may like to know that the recall petitions are off and running; hundreds gathered at midnight to see Scott Walker off and bid him good riddance.
DavidThanks for the report. Forward!
I can see the political ad now: It's 3 a.m., and your children are safe and asleep. But there's a phone in the White House, and it's ringing. Unless the call is for a pizza, is this the man you want answering the phone?
Robert Sidonio Jr Methinks he needs to downgrade his OS, or just replace the MB and processor... Cain's obviously a Win95 in a Win7 world....
Robert Sidonio Jr Actually I was being charitable...
More like DOS 3.3
The headline makes it sound like this is Cain's first "oops moment." Everything he's said so far during his third-rate campaign has been an oops moment.
Mickey Bitsko
But this! Even his sycophantic "payoffs to victims of sexual harassment = unsubstantiated allegation" supporters cannot rationalize this bit of incoherent theatrics. Can they???
Keep watching. TeaBuggery Mickey Bitsko
"I believe in having all of the information, as much of it as I possibly can, rather than making a decision or making a decision about whether I totally agreed, and didn’t agree, when I wasn’t privy to the entire situation. There might be some things that might cause me to feel differently."
HERB! What the fuck are you talking about?
Holy shit!
Republican Primary Candidates = Clowns On Parade...
"I'm different than Obama."
"That's what I'm saying, I think."
"So I'm supposed to different, aren't I?"
"Cuz I'm running against Obama, right?"
TeaBuggery I actually had to stop listening somewhere around the 2-minute mark, take a break, and come back. Too painful. Cain is dumber than a Telatubby, but at least they don't grope.
Cain is holding his cards close, waiting to win the Republican nomination and then drop his foreign policy 'October Surprise' by announcing his Standardized Test of Ultimate Pizza Item Determination for vetting future 'rebel' groups. Cain knows that the choice of pizza toppings can tell you a lot about a man's character! (For those female leaders within a rebel movement who have certain 'assets' deemed to be of strategic value to the President, he will hold one-on-one, in-depth and confidential Prospective Rebel Employment Test Interviews.)
" i think obama did it wrong, but I don't know that he did it wrong"
"First off, I would have ordered air strikes on the most important and strategic Libyan entities, by which I mean Pizza Hut, Sbarro, Boston Pizza, and any and all franchises that compete with Godfather's."
And Down the drain!
Rick Oldham Do you suppose what Perry's got is catching?
MaybeRick Oldham Lack of knowledge on subject matter, resorting to memorization and the subsequent forgetting of their talking points... aka Shit For Brains syndrome. Basic extemp prep and opening a Newsweek every once in a while might help with the symptom of having shit oozing out of their mouths. Romneybot 2.0 is immune to it with the policy override chip and Newt is a genius at turning current events questions into proof of liberal "gotcha" type persecution.
When asked later to specify what he would have wanted to know about the rebels before taking action, Cain replied, "Mostly, I'd have wanted to know the exact location of the fabled lost city of Kuma, ruled by the supernatural and beautiful Ayesha, 'She who must be obeyed.' I'd love to check out her stash of gold, if you catch my drift."
Mickey Bitsko Her 'booty'?
dale0987654321 The sharif don't like it.
Mickey Bitsko I was going to say that She was queen of the lost city of Kôr, not Kuma, but I see now that it was Kuma in the 1965 film version. The city was called Kôr in the 1887 Haggard novel.
How bizarre.... "She" was on the tube last night. David Mickey Bitsko
I bet Gabby Gifford charts her speaking therapy progress by putting up a series of GOP candidate portraits.
Palin was left behind last month, today the Cain line is crossed.
Of course, she doesn't have anything swirling in her head, OTHER THAN THE DEVASTATING PATH OF A BULLET FIRED AT POINT BLANK RANGE.
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