Keyboard Cat Plays Off Herman Cain

What did Herman Cain say in his suspension speech? Here is Keyboard Cat to help us listen and learn.

Anybody But (Women for) Cain

Linked to source: Talking Points Memo

When I started this site I said I was going to attempt to be open-minded and not attack anyone candidate. Sure, I have a favorite, and sure, my bias shows. But I know he may not win, and so I am open-minded to being swayed in the direction of another candidate. I'm more pro-the-cause, less pro-the-candidate.
That was all until I read this article, "Herman Cain Launches 'Women for Cain' With Brutal Attacks on Husbandless Accusers."
As a single woman, I can't even begin to express how much I strongly dislike this man. I've now completely changed my opinion about supporting all of the candidates. My new current mission? Make sure anyone BUT Herman Cain wins.
Does he really think that launching "Women for Cain" at this juncture is really going to convince people that he's not a womanizer, cheating, horrible man?
Sorry, Mr. Cain. Ain't going to happen.
The photo above is linked to its source at Talking Points Memo. And yes, they made it look a little creepy. But the banner of the women? That's for real! That really came from his new webpage. Does he really think a photo of a bunch of young women is going to help his womanizer cause??
This man and his staff are so cocky and full of themselves that they have completely lost touch with reality!
Anybody but Cain. ANYBODY BUT CAIN.

And just for fun- 2 more screen clips from his site-
First, here's the top of his page. Encouragement??? Unreal.

And then from the bottom of the front page- Ginger White: Another LOSER???
Who the hell does this man think he is calling his accuser a loser?

I'll tell you who the loser is, Mr. Cain. It is you!

Seriously, Herman Cain?

Seriously, Herman Cain, seriously? You want us to believe that for thirteen years you had a "friendship" with a younger woman, called her and texted her late at night (ahem, 4 am), gave her money from time to time, and your wife never knew about her! Sure! Because men have relationships for thirteen years with younger women that their wives don't know about! That sounds completely on the up and up!

You know, if the story had been that she was just an acquaintance that he kept in touch with, maybe I'd believe him. But no "friend" calls at 4 am. (In my case they wouldn't be a friend anymore if they did call at 4 am.)

The second you start sending your "friend" money to help out, and never mention it to your wife, it becomes suspicious.
You're making the GOP look like the sex scandal party, and not the family values party.

Herman Cain 'reassessing' his candidacy

Herman Cain Source: HermanCain.com

In light of yet another woman coming forward and accusing Herman Cain of infidelity and a 13 year romantic extra-marital relationship, Cain is considering dropping out of the GOP race. Or to put it more politely, he is 'reassessing his candidacy."
CNN is citing a top campaign official as saying that they will determine whether or not he's dropping out when they see how these latest allegations affect the fund-raising. (My words, not theirs.)
According to the NY Times, Cain "said that he had not lost his enthusiasm to run, but suggested it was a distraction that could be difficult to recover from."
Cain has denied all allegations of the relationship (and of all the other sexual misconduct accusations). However, he did tell his staff Tuesday that the accuser Ginger White was "a friend and he helped her financially but that nothing inappropriate took place."
“It’s also taken a toll on my wife and family, as you would imagine,” Cain said in a call to the National Review where he broke the news.“For some people, you’re guilty until proven innocent. And so, the public will have to decide whether they believe her or whether they believe me. That’s why we’re going to give it time, to see what type of response we get from our supporters.”
Of course, we're now up to five different accusations or allegations of marital infidelity by Cain. What's that old saying? Where there's smoke there's fire? One accusation, maybe even two, would be suspect. But five? And especially when the fifth one is producing financial and phone records to prove the relationship? Reminds me of another old cliche, "caught red-handed."
But of course, the real question is who will benefit if Cain drops out? Who will get his supporters? You better believe the campaigns are all kicking it into high gear right now to come up with that strategy. If you look at the polls over the past 3 weeks, you will notice that Cain was declining at nearly the same rate as Newt Gingrich was rising. So it is quite conceivable that if Cain drops out, we'll see another Gingrich surge. But my gut doesn't agree with that. Gingrich already soared by attracting the people who were on the Cain bandwagon. They were not necessarily all that supportive or informed about Cain, and then when Gingrich started to look good, they jumped ship.
I think the real question is what was it about Cain that attracted people to him in the first place? Other than his 9-9-9 plan, he's not all that different from the other candidates, but brings a side of pizza. He was an anti-candidate if you will. He was exciting for not having the same style as the other suits on stage. I think that is what drew in his supporters. If his supporters are still looking for the big business smarts, they will go to Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman. Or if they are just bandwagon types, we'll see them go over to Gingrich because he's the exciting flavor of the month right now. If his supporters are jaded and burned out over the extra-marital affairs issues I think they will go over to anyone but Gingrich.
No matter who the supporters go to, we're talking about a completely different horse race in just a matter of days. Nationally, Cain is pulling in at 15%, and in Iowa he is in second place with 17.7% of the votes. Considering he's only 4-8% behind Gingrich in most polls, and just behind or nearly even with Romney in most cases, that 15% can really change everything. If Cain comes out and throws his weight behind a candidate, we'll see huge things happen fast. But if he withdraws and doesn't back another candidate, it may be a few weeks before things really materialize.
Only 5 weeks till Iowa, and 6 weeks till New Hampshire. Let the games really begin!

I read the news so you don't have to

Welcome to another edition of "I read the news, so you don't have to!" Thanksgiving weekend is a fairly slow political news weekend, while the candidates let their staffs get some sleep, and the candidates pose for family photos. Or if you are President Obama you can catch up on college basketball.

Categorized by candidate, here are a few headlines-

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich spent Thanksgiving defending his stance on immigration. Apparently the crazy old man actually thinks we should let families stay together. An ironic position for a Republican to take on the weekend we celebrate a bunch of Europeans immigrating to a new land for a better life. He told a group in immigrant heavy and friendly Florida, "I am not for amnesty for 11 million people. I’m actually not for amnesty for anyone. I’m not for a path to citizenship for any people who are out here illegally. But I am for a path to legality for those people whose ties run so deeply in America that it would truly be a tragedy to try and rip their family apart." (Source: CNN)
He also added, "I think the vast majority [of illegal immigrants] will go home and should go home and then should reapply. I do not think anybody should be eligible for citizenship. I am suggesting a certification of legality with no right to vote and no right to become an American citizen unless they go home and apply through the regular procedures back home and get in line behind everybody else who has obeyed the law and stayed back there." (Source: MSN)

Former mathematician, minister, radio talk show host, and pizza aficianado Herman "the Hermanator" Cain, was the subject of a profile piece by MSNBC but otherwise stayed out of the limelight. Warning- reading this piece gives away all the spoilers in Mr. Cain's autobiography. He's American, he's black, and he's (mostly) conservative.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann can be found attacking Gingrich on immigration. She called him <gasp> a "liberal" that supports amnesty for illegal aliens. She cited a letter, co-signed by Gingrich and 14 other conservatives and published in the Wall Street Journal in 2004, offering support for President George W. Bush’s proposal at the time for a guest-worker program. (For an updated point of view from Mr. Gingrich please see approximately 10 lines up.)
Because Mr. Gingrich has clearly changed (or do we consider this a more educated or clarified opinion?) his position on amnesty, I present him with this lovely golden flipflop award. Wear it proudly, Mr. Former Speaker.

Rick Santorum could not be found in any new national news stories. Sorry Mr. Santorum.

Rick Perry could be found in a few stories, but nothing that was actually interesting. The Des Moines Register did let us know that the Gov. Perry released a Thanksgiving web video. It is worth noting that Perry is trailing the front-runner (Gingrich this week) in Iowa by over 16 points, according to the latest polls.  And in case you were curious, in a national election, Obama would beat Perry by about 9%.

Jon Huntsman also failed to make the national news, but apparently he did speak to the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Or as the Manchester Union Leader reported it the "New Hampshire House or Representatives." Maybe they were just confused. 

Texas Congressman Ron Paul was also not to be found making any national headlines this weekend. But since I have been criticized for not covering Mr. Paul enough, here's a few facts about him. According to polls conducted by reputable national organizations, he is currently polling at his highest ever in Iowa at 13% (that is 9% behind the front runner, and puts him in 4th place. In national polls he is bringing his 8%, which is 15.8% behind the front runner, and at 5th place. He's not faring much better in New Hampshire or South Carolina either. However, if you take polls conducted among Christian home-schoolers in Iowa, he's in first place. (No, seriously.)

Which brings us to former Governor Mitt Romney. Romney was found in headlines all over the place thanks to the unhappiness from his first TV spot. Now before you go calling me biased for Mitt, let's review a few things. I, like so many others, absolutely agree that his TV spot was wrong, and he took Obama's quote on the economy completely out of context. I'm a little disappointed in straight arrow Mitt for that one. So let's see how his team is spinning and defending this foul ball.
In Slate.com we read, " The Romney campaign could have cared less."We want to engage the president," explained Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom in the spin room. "We look at him as our rival. It's all deliberate; it was all very intentional..." Romney adviser Ron Kaufman, an RNC committee member and longtime operative, simply said that the ad "worked."
Politico quoted Romney campaign strategist Stuart Stevens as saying, "It is now my goal for every ad we make to so upset the White House that they will force [White House Press Secretary Jay Carney] to go out with his light saber and do his thing." He also pointed out that Democrats have been more than willing to target his candidate in harsh terms. “These guys have attacked Romney in one form or another hundreds — yes, hundreds — of times over just the last few weeks,” Stevens said. “Everyone from multi-millionaire investment banker and brother to Ari, Rahm, to Wesley Clark to the legions of interns they have tweeting away as if they are trying to write Moby Dick by tweet every week.
The Washington Post story title even read, "Romney ad misleads its way to desired result." 
I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed in the Romney camp for intentionally misleading anyone (even if this ad only ran in a small media buy in New Hampshire). Isn't it just a little too soon for the smoke screens and mirrors? I expected a cleaner campaign from you, Governor. I get why you did it, I just wish you hadn't.

GOP 2012 Presidential Primary Polls, week of November 21

(click on images to enlarge)

Comparing this week's polls to last week's polls almost requires a degree in understanding polls and how even Real Clear Politics manipulates data to make things more interesting.

For starters, RCP doesn't keep the polling outlets in the same order every week, and doesn't fully explain the changes. Last week the big focus was on the CBS News numbers that showed Cain making significant gains. It is unclear if this week CBS just didn't do a poll, or if RCP just left their data out. This week the polls in the spotlight are the ones showing major improvements for Gingrich.

So just for fun, let's focus on the CNN polls over the past few weeks.

Put into this perspective over the past 4 weeks we actually see Gingrich has made significant gains, taking most of his points from Romney. Cain started high, dropped, and has come back up, while no one else has really made much of an impact. But four weeks ago Gingrich was trailing in fifth place. Just goes to show that this race really isn't close to fixing in on a winner yet.

For another interesting comparison, look at both the graph and at the numbers to watch how Cain and Perry switch places in perfect tandem. One rises, the other falls. They need to stop going after the front runner, and go after each other. If one of them could firmly take the other one's supporters, either one of them could be a real threat to Romney and Gingrich at the front.

But that's just my completely unscientific read on the whole thing. And of course, everything will change again tomorrow after the next debate.

Source: Real Clear Politics and their awesome polls

Exactly what makes Herman Cain so great anyway?

Herman Cain Source: HermanCain.com

I've been thinking a lot about Herman Cain and what it is exactly that bothers me about him. And then today it hit me as I looked over the headlines.

Cain bets that he can stay a Republican front-runner without acting like one
Source: WashingtonPost.com


Herman Cain Cancels Interview After Making Unusual Requests
Source: Huffington Post

Herman Cain's Unconventional Approach
Source: WashingtonPost.com

Cain quick to play the blame game
Source: The Daily Republic

I don't trust him. He is too full of himself. He acts like he's better than everyone else- a little too much swagger if you will. It is almost as if he's running for president just to put another feather in his cap. "I'm so great, I should do this too. America will thank me for being so great!" is my impression of him. And exactly what has he done that is so great other than run one company (and I never liked their pizza much anyway)?

And let's not forget that horrible video featuring his campaign chief of staff, Mark Block.


A lot of people questioned the purpose of this ad. First of all, who does an ad featuring their chief of staff, who is a complete unknown nobody? Well, the answer to that is someone who is so cocky that they think they can pull it off. Mark Block's responses to the video only made me think he's just as full of himself as Cain in. But in the end, I did catch the unspoken message of the ad- Cain is setting himself apart from Romney specifically, and the other candidates. By sending a gritty, darker, less wholesome image than the whitewashed, squeaky clean candidates, he emerges as the alternative. From a marketing standpoint, it is fairly brilliant. But I hated it. I don't want the gritty alternative. I want the bright, shining ensign to the nations to follow, and not the guy who leaves me with questions about his motives and morals.(I am absolutely referring to the sex scandal allegations that have suddenly quieted.) Now, to figure out who that bright, shining ensign is!

GOP 2012 Nomination Race Polls Nov 14, 2012

SOURCE: Real Clear Politics
(Click images to enlarge)

The polls released today may not look like they are showing any significant losses for Herman Cain after last week's sex scandal allegations until you look at the CBS News polls from the week prior- (but first, do you see that huge Perry blue line nosedive? OUCH!)

In the week of 11/6-11/10 Cain is polling at 18. In the week of 1019-10/24 he had a 4 point lead over Romney at 25. A 7 point loss is fairly significant.

It is also worthwhile to note that Romney did not gain those 7 points from Cain. Romney also went down 6 points in that time. The 13 points lost between the leaders appear to have been spread out fairly equally among the other candidates, but with 5 of the points going to Gingrich. It is significant to note that these polling numbers would have been taken before Perry's huge gaffe at the debates. Or maybe this is just an indication that the debates really don't impact voters' opinions as much as the media likes to think they do? Or maybe we just really learn from this that the CBS polls and debates are biased?

Scandalous Values

Herman Cain (photo linked to source: LifeNews.com)

With all of the news about the Penn State Scandal and Herman Cain's possible sex scandals this week, I've made a new level of standard for myself- I will only vote for scandal free politicians. Whether they be sex, drug, money-laundering, etc., scandals, this is my new litmus test. Any candidate attached to a scandal gets crossed off my list. Even if criminal charges are never brought, or the accusations never fully fleshed out, I believe that where there is smoke there is fire.

The current field of presidential candidates

Michele Bachmann
Herman Cain
Newt Gingrich
Jon Huntstman, Jr.
Barack Obama
Ron Paul
Rick Perry
Mitt Romney
Rick Santorum

And if we eliminate them by scandals-

Michele Bachmann*
Herman Cain
Newt Gingrich
Jon Huntsman, Jr.
Barack Obama
Ron Paul
Rick Perry
Mitt Romney
Rick Santorum


4 out of 9 candidates have been involved in well-known scandals. Pathetic.

According to a CBS News poll " 61% of Republican primary voters say the sexual harassment accusations against Cain won’t make any difference in their vote, but 30% say the charges make them less likely to back him, and that rises to 38% among women.  Cain has lost support among women since last month – from 28% in October to 15% now.  He has lost ground with conservatives and Tea Party supporters as well."

Personally I find it very sad that a man can sexually harass 4 different women, and it doesn't lower the public's opinion of him. How can any one choose to make a man with such little disregard for women, and who has abused his authority to disgustingly the most powerful man in the world?

*There will be some who claim that Michele Bachmann was involved in a scandal where her husband stated his very negative opinion about gays. That isn't a scandal, in my book. That's just stating your opinion. A scandal requires breaking a law and trying to cover it up.