Herman Cain makes splash at first 2012 GOP debate
Herman Cain at the first debate for potential 2012 GOP presidential candidates.
/ Fox NewsTo get an idea of the strangeness of the first debate of the 2012 presidential cycle - the unofficial kickoff to the 2012 GOP race - consider this: Based on the Fox News focus group conducted immediately following the event, Herman Cain is about to run away with the GOP nomination.
If you're wondering who that is, you're not alone: The former Godfather's Pizza CEO, who barely registers in national polls, has never held elected office. And he is seen as having virtually no chance to win the GOP nomination.
Jan Crawford:At first GOP debate, substance and Obama bashing
But the vast majority of the people sitting in with Republican pollster Frank Luntz said Cain had won the debate with his directness and straightforward delivery. (This despite the fact that when asked about what he would do in Afghanistan, he replied that he would rely on "the experts and their advice and their input." The Fox News debate moderators seemed incredulous that he did not offer a position.) Luntz appeared blown away by the response to Cain, which he cast as unprecedented. "Something very special happened this evening," he said.
Perhaps. But the debate was seen as such a non-event inside the beltway that House Speaker John Boehner spent his evening not watching it, opting instead to have a few drinks at a Washington steakhouse. "I'll read about it tomorrow," he told Hotsheet.
The absence of the biggest-name potential candidates - Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, even Donald Trump - meant the event it generated little attention despite its status as the first debate of the cycle. Among the five men onstage - Cain, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum - only Pawlenty is seen by Washington insiders as having a legitimate shot at the GOP nomination.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty at the first debate for potential 2012 GOP presidential candidates
/ Fox NewsPawlenty's goal was to look presidential - despite his relatively unheralded company - and he largely pulled it off. The toughest moment for the former governor was when he was asked to defend his past support for a cap-and-trade energy policy, which got a smattering of boos. Pawlenty explained himself in part by saying, literally, "nobody's perfect."
In perhaps his most interesting response of the night, he notably declined to take a shot at likely rival Mitt Romney over Romney's Massachusetts health care law.
"Governor Romney's not here to defend himself so I'm not going to pick on him or the position he took in Massachusetts," Pawlenty said. The intraparty sparring, it appears, will have to wait.
Pawlenty did find a way to go after President Obama on foreign policy -- despite the boost Mr. Obama got from the killing of Osama bin Laden. He said that while the president "did a good job and I tip my cap to him in that moment," the raid on bin Laden is "not the sum total" of Mr. Obama's foreign policy record. In other areas, Pawlenty insisted, the president has been "weak."
"The issues that have come up while he's been president, he's gotten them wrong strategically every single time," Pawlenty said. At one point, he referred to the United Nations as "pathetic."
Santorum, who was relatively combative much of the evening, complained that Mr. Obama "sided with the mullahs" during the protests in Iran.
"If you look at what President Obama has done right in foreign policy, it has always been a continuation of the Bush policies," said Santorum, who said Mr. Obama has "gotten it wrong" every other time.
The 90-minute debate took place at the Peace Center in Greenville, South Carolina, a key early voting state. The candidates were not asked to engage with one another, limiting the fireworks.
Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Herman Cain, Gary Johnson and Rick Santorum
/ CBS/APThe first applause of the evening came for Paul, who said the killing of bin Laden was a good opportunity to end the war in Afghanistan. Johnson, a fellow Libertarian, echoed that sentiment, saying the troops should come home "tomorrow."
Asked if they would support waterboarding terror suspects under certain circumstances - an issue rekindled by the killing of bin Laden, Paul, Pawlenty and Santorum raised their hands. Paul and Johnson did not. Both Paul and Johnson also discussed their support for barring the federal government from making drugs illegal. (Moderators pressed Paul on heroin specifically.) Paul drew another distinction with most of the men onstage when he said all foreign aid to the Middle East should be cut and that America should not be running secret CIA prisons.
Johnson, who supports abortion rights, became frustrated with debate moderators at one point, complaining he was not being asked enough questions. He also received the most frivolous question of the night, asked what his reality show would be about if he were offered one.
Santorum was pressed all night on being an extremist - he denied being "anti-Islam" or too socially conservative to win a general election - and pointed to his past electoral successes to cast himself as electable when debate moderators asked if Mr. Obama is unbeatable. (Unsurprisingly, he left out the 18 percentage point drubbing he took in losing his Senate seat in 2006.)
The also-ran nature of the debate was reflected in the fact that moderators asked a cluster of questions focused on the potential candidates who were not present. Paul was asked if Rep. Michele Bachmann had taken his mantle of Tea Party leader; Pawlenty was asked his thoughts on Huckabee. ("I love the Huck," he replied, awkwardly.)
The economy is the most important issue for a plurality of Americans, and the candidates certainly seized on it. Pawlenty, for one, called the National Labor Relations Board's bid to keep Boeing from building Dreamliner 787s at a nonunion plant in South Carolina "preposterous."
It was a good issue for Pawlenty (and Cain, too, who also cited it), because it allowed them to rail against big government, cast themselves as job creators, and spotlight an issue important to South Carolina voters. That's an opportunity they weren't going to pass up. (Indeed, Pawlenty focused on the same issue in a CBS News interview before the debate.)
Polls show a wide-open Republican race led by Romney, Huckabee and Trump, and Thursday night's likely-little-watched festivities were unlikely to move the numbers all that much. For the unknown candidates it was a chance to make a splash - and from that perspective, Cain certainly seems to have acquitted himself nicely. But with most eyes focused elsewhere, Thursday night is likely to be remembered -- if it's remembered at all -- as a footnote in the march to the nomination.
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http://thecaintruth.com
http://www.cheatsden.com/mondays-gop-debate-michele-bachmann-ron-paul-newt-gingrich-herman-cain-tim-pawlenty-rick-santorum-mitt-romney-are-participated/
I would submit that even thought he may not have a chance of winning the nomination because of the incredibly neocon dominated republican establishment, he is certainly an honorable man who's ideas should be given real consideration.
I mean, that was the mistake McCain made when he selected Palin as his running mate. He had no more respect for woman to think they would vote for him because he selected a woman. Clinton supporters, and I was a delegate for her, wer pi%%ed that McCain thought we were that stupid. African Americans are not stupid either. They voted for the person who they thought would be best for them just like anyone else. As much as you all want to believe that all black people voted for Barack Obama simply because he is black are just deluding yourselves. Yes, some people did just like some people voted for McCain just because he was white. Most black people voted for him because they believed he was the better choice and that he would have their best interest in mind unlike John McCain.
I doubt very seriously if a host of black people would flock to the Republican party and vote for Mr. Cain just because he is black. Besides, they hate the way Republicans have allowed our President to be disrespected, demeaned and vilified. Most black people are not that gullible.
by troopf4 May 6, 2011 12:25 PM EDT light - "you're getting pimped and screwed at every turn by the dems."
Has to be one of the stupidest comments ever. What fool actually believes one party is better than the other? Sorry to burst your bubble troopy but they are both the same and each will pimp out your momma to get reelected and maintain the power swapping racket.
Silly people.
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That's funny. Then why does it always seem like it's Democrats who are advocating for ordinary working Americans while it seems like Republicons who want to screw ordinary Americans over to line their own pockets and those of their wealthy cronies?
In 2008, when a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll asked whether voters would refuse to vote for a qualified black for president, only 3 percent of Republicans said "yes." More Democrats -- at 4 percent -- than Republicans admitted refusing to vote for a qualified black for president. Republican presidents have appointed more blacks to positions of authority than have Democrats. Of the black members of the House of Representatives, the only ones from majority white districts are Republicans.
What tool does the Democratic Party often resort to in order to win elections? The race card.
As recently as 1960, the GOP attracted 32 percent of the black vote. Without the now-monolithic black Democratic vote, the Democratic Party could not survive. So it recruits and retains black voters by calling white Republicans "racists" -- and by calling black Republicans "sellouts."
The GOP, over the objections of the Democratic Party, backed the 13th, 14th and 15th constitutional amendments that freed blacks, granted blacks citizenship and granted blacks the right to vote, respectively. For over 100 years, Democrats fought against civil rights legislation, often reversing pro-civil rights legislation passed by Republicans.
Democrats started the Ku Klux Klan, once called the "terrorist wing of the Democratic Party." It was Southern "Democrats" like Alabama's Gov. George Wallace and Birmingham Commissioner of Public Safety "Bull" Connor who opposed integration. As a percentage of the party, more Republicans supported the 1964 Civil Rights Act than did Democrats.
Funny how these facts are never mentioned by the Democrats..... Can't rewrite history, you guys. But I'm sorry... REPUBLICANS are the racists... yeah. That makes sense.
The GOP should demand an apology.
It should demand an apology from Democrats who play the race card to divert voters from the destructive effects of their wrongheaded policies. It should also demand an apology from their co-conspirators in the media for allowing them to get away with it.
Now, let us all continue the pursuit of a society based not on color of skin -- but on content of character.
Does that last sentence sound reasonable??
I have never heard of Cain until this debate, and I refuse to throw my support to anyone from any party until I have heard more from both sides.