Cain’s not able. (I)
If there’s one thing CEO-of-Self Herman Cain is sure of — well, right after regressive tax policy — it’s his position on abortion. While some have accused him of oversimplifying difficult policy questions, the Hermanator’s views on abortion are not susceptible to such criticism. Three months ago, in a little-noticed interview with John Stossel, Cain revealed his logically innovative view of the matter:
Which reminds me. That’s just the kind of rationality bomb voters can expect from the self-inspirer-in-chief. As readers of This Is Herman Cain! by Herman Cain know, when it comes to the life issues, Herman Cain has thought of everything.
Just as Sundays were family time when [my wife] Gloria and I were growing up, they remain so to this day. In fact, in 2011, because I had to leave Atlanta on Sunday, June 12, in order to prepare for the New Hampshire debate the next day, Gloria decided to cook me Sunday dinner on Saturday. The kids came over with the grandkids and Gloria prepared a fork-tender roast, collard greens, green beans, candied yams, hand-shucked corn, and homemade cornbread. That’s the meal I want on my deathbed — that is, if I can still eat. [This Is Herman Cain! by Herman Cain, p. 40]
Tags: Herman Cain
If he wasn’t so sad, he would be a laugh-riot.
Sounds to me like the man is pro-life, am I missing something?
Yes, Mark, you seem to be missing something: the part where Cain says, “I don’t believe the government should make that decision” (about eight second into the clip) and the part where he says, in reply to a question about whether a woman should be allowed to end a pregnancy if it’s the result of rape, “That’s her choice. That is not government’s choice” (about forty seconds into the clip). He does seem to be prolife, but he also seems to be profoundly confused about what his own position entails.
I find it completely insane that we now have the second presidential election in memory in which candidates openly discuss killing their own grandchildren and nobody seems to think this strange… http://catholiclane.com/presidential-aspirants-clamber-over-mutilated-bodies-of-their-grandbabies/
Matthew–
He may have not been the most articulate in this 1 minute of his life, but at least he didn’t try to weasel out of the question by saying it was above his pay grade.
Mark, I would certainly never accuse Herman Cain of being a weasel. I would accuse him only of being intellectually unfit for the office to which he aspires.
Matthew–Your statement is probably true, but so is Perry unfit intellectually. President Obama is very fit intellectually, but that doesn’t seem to protect him from accusations of being inept.
No, Mark, you’re right. Instead, he gave nearly every possible answer to the question. As recently as last week, Cain offered the following discourse on abortion to CNN’s Piers Morgan: “It ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make” [in cases of rape or incest]. “It gets down to that family. And whatever they decide, they decide. I shouldn’t try to tell them what decision to make for such a sensitive decision.” Morgan asked Cain if he’d make these views a directive as president (not sure Morgan has a firm grasp of U.S. law, but never mind.) Cain said: “I can have an opinion on an issue without it being a directive on the nation. The government shouldn’t be trying to tell people everything to do, especially when it comes to a social decision that they need to make.”
That’s why Rick Santorum is now raising money on Cain’s abortion statements, calling them quintessentially prochoice:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/santorum-fund-raises-on-cains-abortion-statements/2011/10/20/gIQAZgEI1L_blog.html
And here’s how Herman Cain has responded to the dustup:
http://youtu.be/STouYrf3bvQ
So now he says that his position has always been “no abortion,” but “take the typical family in this country and you don’t know what they might do in the heat of the moment. That’s what I was trying to say.” He finally says abortion should not be legal in the United States. And that if abortion was made illegal and a women decided to get one anyway, “that would be the family’s decision. That’s all I’m trying to say.”
That clears it up.
I wonder how Cain is going to explain his latest ad with his campaign manager at the end of the ad smoking a cigarette to the sound of music playing “I Am America”. Then Cain comes on with a grin that turns into a smile that comes off to me as: “You don’t think I’m serious.”
Just my personal reflections, folks.
What does it say about the state of the GOP right now that a person can mount a campaign for its presidential nomination, and be called a “front-runner,” without having given any thought to how he will answer one of the most obvious questions he will be asked?
Granted that Cain does not have his messaging on this down yet, probably because he’s trying to appeal to as many as possible, here’s the part I don’t understand: As Catholics, should we not welcome a president who is, though confusedly and inarticulately, pro-life over one who is, though ardently and eloquently, not?