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| Herman Cain |
In case you haven't heard, Herman Cain has announced his candidacy for president of the United States. Cain's basic platform appears to consist of a love for free market enterprise and an antipathy for too much government. It's no wonder that he's a Tea Party darling and the icing on the cake is that he's black. One person commenting on a news story about Cain's candidacy opined that Cain is a liberal's nightmare because, "His election would completely invalidate their lame argument that if oppose Obama, your a racist." (sic)
I checked out Cain's presidential campaign web site and I think that Palin writes his material. A verbatim example of his wisdom: To change the economic course of this nation, we must change the occupant of the White House, electing someone who understands the power of empowerment.
What does that sentence mean? What is the power of empowerment? Just what this country needs, another politician spouting meaningless rhetoric.
Another trait that Cain shares with Palin is that he also slept through civics class. According to news reports of his announcing his candidacy for president, Cain encouraged Americans to read the Constitution, admonishing us, “Keep reading,” he said. “Don’t stop at life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.” Herman, I hate to break this to you, but you're in the wrong document, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are not the same. Life, liberty etc.--that's in the Declaration.
However, Cain's bag of tricks extends beyond the usual assault on "entitlements" and government interference with the right to destroy the environment. Cain is a bona fide homophobe. According to Cain, “I believe homosexuality is a sin because I’m a Bible-believing Christian, I believe it’s a sin.”
Cain's pontification on the righteousness of his homophobic bigotry sits well with his likely supporters. I don't believe that there is any entitlement to be a bigot. I know that there is no entitlement to impose your bigotry on the rest of us. Backing up bigotry with the Bible doesn't change anything; Cain is an ignorant man who spreads hate in the guise of personal morality.
One of the most difficult truths for me to accept is that being a member of a group that has suffered oppression doesn't endow someone with any more insight into the evils of hate and discrimination than those that have traditionally played the role of oppressor. Nonetheless, it still assaults my sense of justice whenever a black person espouses a belief in the right to discriminate against some other traditionally oppressed group.
I wonder if Cain recognizes that he is being used. Maybe he doesn't mind as long as the payoff is 15 minutes of fame. He's the perfect poster boy for the Right; a black man with business credentials who opposes government spending, supports big business, and waves his Bible while advocating for bigotry. The Right can point to him and declare, "See, we're not racists." Gee, makes me want to run right out and sign up as a Republican; hell, I may even join the Tea Party. Then again maybe not, after all, I have chores to do.
16 comments:
Thank goodness you have your "chores " Bless you xx
Love Sybil xx
what about you standing ? I'd vote for you LOL
I don't understand why people like Cain, who obviously know they cannot be the nominee, choose to put themselves out for such ridicule. I guess power does corrupt.
That "power of empowerment" quote has to be requisitioned for my Read This And Tell Me What It Says blog widget!
Rip 'em up, tear 'em up, give 'em hell, Sheria! Herman Cain is in a very teflon position and he knows it, which makes him somewhat evil as well as dumb.
I've missed you. Was just about to send out the Mounties.
Karl Rove writes his material.
See Clarence Thomas, Michael Steele, et al.
How many Federal programs has Cain availed himself of?
And how much Rethug $$$$ does he collect from "funders?"
Just asking!
Love ya, Sheria!
Suzan
Hadn't heard of that man before...sounds a bit of a twit surely no one will listen to him.#I have come up with an idea..I think you should stand !! I will vote for you LOL...
LOve Sybil xx wonder if this will get into your comments this time. I am still having trouble getting the comments to "go"
I've read a lot about him lately.
Being used, perhaps. I get a sense that he is manipulating his benefactors to his own advantage...and the rest be damned.
And I'm a person who has voted Republican quite often. There are cerain things about him that are visually compelling(at least to me), but then I don't vote for great visuals(I believe some mostly do). ~Mary
Herman Cain is one of a long line of black men (Clarence Thomas, Alan Keyes, Colonel West in Florida) who need desperately to be perceived as iconoclastic. He's different than other blacks because he's conservative; he's different from other conservatives because he's black. Well isn't he special.
Log Cabin Republicans are the same. They're not comfortable with their gayness, so they make it okay by seeking acceptance from the very class that oppresses them. But they get off on being "different," a "rebel." Usually they don't have much real personality.
As for the racism charge, it's true that black skin in and of itself is no longer objectionable to even the tea party. But it's such a lame and tiny-minded definition of racism. Racism occurs when someone disagrees with you, and you attack them not on the issue, but on the basis of color. i.e. "Obama hates white culture" or the witch doctor posters in the healthcare protests, or birtherism. As long as Herman Cain toes the tea party line, they'll like him just fine. But can you imagine if, for example, he pulled an Anthony Weiner? "Mandingo" would be heard so fast it'd make your head spin.
I don't think it has anything to do with having experienced oppression... but the sample of his word salad speech show the truth of the matter... no imagination and no empathy as well as a lack of knowledge intensify ignorance and furthers one's association with the broader world...
Anonymous, you are a bigot. You are not welcome here. Don't come back. You are also a coward, hiding behind "anonymous" to state your beliefs. Who made you the arbiter of sin? "Judge not lest ye be judged." I am indeed intolerant of bigotry. I'm not a real big fan of ignorance either so I've decided to not publish your comment.
The guy is as big an idiot as all the other tea buggers, regardless of his color. But just because he happens to be black in a party of die hard racists, he's also a token. He doesn't stand a chance with them or with independents, so why is he wasting his money and our time? I guess the answer goes back to the word "idiot" in the first sentence.
Insightful post.
I read today that he's calling racism now because Jon Stewart made fun of him on The Daily Show. Dude, he wasn't making fun of your skin color. He was making fun of the stupid things you say. (In this case, it was that Cain said he would only work on three-page bills. Any longer, and it's too long to read.)
I have to agree with Ken regarding this candidate and others like Rick Santorum. What is their point?
Sheria we have a big problem with lack of empathy in our nation. Sometimes I think if we could just bestow it on every person, all our problems would be solved. Greed, hate, despair, lust, gluttony, envy, pride, all stem from a lack of empathy and I see them as some of our greatest problems. He's just another person without empathy who happens to have darker skin pigment.
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