The Cain Campaign: Massive Fail 101

Record levels of ineptitude

WingnutsNovember 2011 • Views: 30,818

Herman Cain’s probably going to announce his bail-out on Friday late in the afternoon, the traditional dumping hour for news stories that are trying to go relatively unnoticed. Because, let’s face it, he can’t go on much longer; his campaign has been one unbelievably ridiculous joke right from the start.

Herman Cain is in the midst of “reassessing” whether to continue his 2012 bid, but its legacy is already settled: His campaign will go down as one of the most hapless and bumbling operations in modern presidential politics, setting a new standard for how to turn damaging press coverage into something far worse.

The botched responses to allegations of marital infidelity, sexual impropriety and his own gaffes — not to mention the puzzling strategic decisions — have, in the eyes of many veteran strategists, reached record levels of ineptitude.

It’s an operation that has repeatedly contradicted its own candidate, leveled baseless charges and put Cain in difficult political spots with little apparent forethought.

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49 comments

darthstar Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:29:36am

No, Herman! Don't go! Just say, "Nein! Nein! Nein!"

Political Atheist Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:31:10am

That Cain in the butt is finally going to quit? Whew. Now we can concentrate our attention on the good candidates. Err, wait, I mean the sane candidates. Um, hang on a sec, I'll get this....

Eventual Carrion Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:35:02am

Can't wait until Huntsman and Romney are the only "viable" candidates remaining.

mr.fusion Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:37:07am

This guy was leading in the polls 2 weeks ago.

What an utter disaster the GOP field is

OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:39:45am

Herman Cain is in the midst of “reassessing” whether to continue his 2012 bid, but its legacy is already settled: His campaign will go down as one of the most hapless and bumbling operations in modern presidential politics, setting a new standard for how to turn damaging press coverage into something far worse.

This, white conservative bigots tell us, is the apex of what it is to be Black in America. For them, this, not Obama's overachievement, is authentic Blackness.

Lidane Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:40:44am

The most mind-blowing part in all this fail is just how poor the GOP field is overall. Cain's supporters are jumping ship to Newt Gingrich, a man so hated by his own party that he was in the GOP wilderness for over a decade.

It's both hilarious and tragic.

Simply Sarah Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:41:02am

I hope there's still time for me to become the new GOP front runner, even though I'm not a Republican, disagree entirely with the GOP on just about everything, and am not actually old enough to hold the office. Personally, I think I have a good shot in Iowa.

Four More Tears Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:41:56am

re: #6 Lidane

The most mind-blowing part in all this fail is just how poor the GOP field is overall. Cain's supporters are jumping ship to Newt Gingrich, a man so hated by his own party that he was in the GOP wilderness for over a decade.

It's both hilarious and tragic.

Yes, Cain's long-term adulterous affair prompts them to back... Gingrich. Yeah. Hey, let's revisit the story of how he and Callista met.

HappyWarrior Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:42:40am

re: #7 Simply Sarah

I hope there's still time for me to become the new GOP front runner, even though I'm not a Republican, disagree entirely with the GOP on just about everything, and am not actually old enough to hold the office. Personally, I think I have a good shot in Iowa.

Call Obama a socialist American hating usurper and promise tax cuts, and you're not Mitt Romney. Why you could be the frontrunner by Christmas.

Lidane Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:43:28am

re: #5 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin

This, white conservative bigots tell us, is the apex of what it is to be Black in America. For them, this, not Obama's overachievement, is authentic Blackness.

Speaking of authentic blackness:

Allen West: Cain ‘Needs To Understand That He Is A Distracter’

albusteve Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:44:40am

another one bites the dust

OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:45:25am

re: #10 Lidane

Speaking of authentic blackness:

Allen West: Cain ‘Needs To Understand That He Is A Distracter’

Allen West is just another conservative male psycho.

OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:45:45am

re: #11 albusteve

another one bites the dust

hey, hey.

Kragar Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:46:48am

Coulter calls McCain a ‘douchebag,’ gets bleeped by MSNBC

Ann Coulter, conservative author and preferred provocateur among cable news bookers, was repeatedly bleeped during a recent appearance on "Morning Joe" on Tuesday. In the bleeped asides, Coulter apparently called John McCain a "douchebag."

Coulter was also cut for several seconds while discussing the consistency of current and former GOP candidates, including Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and McCain.

"What did I say, 'douchebag'?" Coulter, realizing she had been bleeped, asked Joe Scarborough.

"We'll just blur it all out," Scarborough said.

"Well, they got the general drift," Coulter added.
...
UPDATE: Coulter later clarified her comments via Twitter: "I didn't call McCain a douchebag. I said consistency is overrated because, for example, McCain was consistently a dickweed."

makeitstop Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:48:03am

re: #14 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

Coulter calls McCain a ‘douchebag,’ gets bleeped by MSNBC

Stay classy, Annie.
///

S'latch Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:48:35am

He won't quit until the campaign contributions stops coming. But, I hear they are drying up.

Varek Raith Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:49:33am

Cain Foreign Policy Plan Botches Geography: Lists Germany, Russia, U.K. In ‘The Americas’

Embattled Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, after a series of embarrassing gaffes on foreign policy, insisted that “leaders” don’t need to actually know about world affairs, but merely provide “clarity” and have a competent staff. If that’s indeed the case, Cain (if he stays in the presidential race) ought to consider firing whoever put together his foreign policy website — a case where advisers and staff, if not the candidate himself, showed glaring incompetence.

Cain’s campaign website on “foreign policy and national security” leaves a little something to be desired in terms of basic geography: It lists Germany, Russia, and the United Kingdom as countries in “the Americas.” Take a look at a screen shot of the campaign website, with those countries highlighted:

HappyWarrior Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:50:47am

re: #17 Varek Raith

Cain Foreign Policy Plan Botches Geography: Lists Germany, Russia, U.K. In ‘The Americas’

I knew Cain had the wrong idea hiring a piece of pizza to be his foreign policy adviser. Anyhow, even if this is a simple gag. It shows again how little Team Cain cares to understand the world around us.

Vicious Babushka Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:51:22am

re: #17 Varek Raith

Cain Foreign Policy Plan Botches Geography: Lists Germany, Russia, U.K. In ‘The Americas’

"The Americas" includes the whole entire world.

Vicious Babushka Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:52:08am

re: #16 Lawrence Schmerel

He won't quit until the campaign contributions stops coming. But, I hear they are drying up.

The Koch Brothers are his campaign financers. The earth will go dark before the Koch's run out of money.

Varek Raith Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:55:00am

Irony of the week
Mitt Romney Complains About Being Taken Out Of Context

Feline Fearless Leader Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:55:47am

re: #18 HappyWarrior

I knew Cain had the wrong idea hiring a piece of pizza to be his foreign policy adviser.

Heck, Pizza the Hutt couldn't get a debt collected properly.

Simply Sarah Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:55:56am

re: #20 Alouette

The Koch Brothers are his campaign financers. The earth will go dark before the Koch's run out of money.

Well, at the rate we're going the former will probably happen in the next 100 years, give or take, so yeah, I can see how that would be true.

wrenchwench Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:56:03am

“That being said, obviously, this is cause for reassessment,” he continued. “As you know, during the summer we had to make some reassessments based upon our financial situation. We were able to hang in there; we reassessed the situation and kept on going. We also did a reassessment after the Iowa straw poll and we made another reassessment after the Florida straw poll. When the previous two accusations, false accusations, came about, we made another assessment. The way we handled those was, we continued on with our schedule. We made an assessment about what was going to happen to our support. But our supporters, and even some folks that we didn’t have as supporters, they stood with us, and they showed it not only in terms of their verbal support, they showed it in terms of their dollars.”
“Now, with this latest one, we have to do an assessment as to whether or not this is going to create too much of a cloud, in some people’s minds, as to whether or not they would be able to support us going forth,” Cain said.

He likes that word. Is it because it has ass in it?

Kragar Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:56:17am

Cain blasts critics for 'character assassination'

A defiant Herman Cain tried to turn the tables on his growing legion of critics and accusers Wedneday, blasting them for allegedly engaging in gutter politics and giving no indication of any immediate intent to abandon his embattled presidential campaign.

"They have been trying to do a character assassination on me," Cain told an enthusiastic crowd in Ohio. "They are attacking my character, my reputation and my name in order to try and bring me down."

"I don't believe that America is going to let that happen," he declared.

Cain, who is dropping in Republican presidential horserace polls, urged his audience to "know the facts" and "stay informed because ... stupid people are running America."

Four More Tears Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:56:26am

re: #17 Varek Raith

Cain Foreign Policy Plan Botches Geography: Lists Germany, Russia, U.K. In ‘The Americas’

To be fair, the whole damn GOP has been ignoring Europe for the past couple of months...

Vicious Babushka Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:56:33am

re: #23 Simply Sarah

Well, at the rate we're going the former will probably happen in the next 100 years, give or take, so yeah, I can see how that would be true.

Koch's are making it happen.

wrenchwench Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:56:44am

re: #25 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

Cain blasts critics for 'character assassination'

He likes that word too.

Kragar Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:57:10am

re: #28 wrenchwench

He likes that word too.

Its been more like character suicide.

makeitstop Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:57:35am

re: #17 Varek Raith

Cain Foreign Policy Plan Botches Geography: Lists Germany, Russia, U.K. In ‘The Americas’

American Exceptionalism! We R Teh World!!!11ty
/

HappyWarrior Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:57:37am

re: #25 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

Cain blasts critics for 'character assassination'

Don't you have to have character to have character assassination? At least he's not calling it a blood libel.

Simply Sarah Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:57:38am

re: #25 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

Cain blasts critics for 'character assassination'

Herman, it's not an assassination if you commit suicide.

Political Atheist Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:58:32am

re: #5 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin

Herman Cain is in the midst of “reassessing” whether to continue his 2012 bid, but its legacy is already settled: His campaign will go down as one of the most hapless and bumbling operations in modern presidential politics, setting a new standard for how to turn damaging press coverage into something far worse.

This, white conservative bigots tell us, is the apex of what it is to be Black in America. For them, this, not Obama's overachievement, is authentic Blackness.

As if much of this would not have happened to a white candidate? Or have I misunderstood your point?

HappyWarrior Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:58:42am

re: #21 Varek Raith

Irony of the week
Mitt Romney Complains About Being Taken Out Of Context

Yeah after that ad they did of Obama, he has no room to complain.

makeitstop Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:59:04am

re: #32 Simply Sarah

Herman, it's not an assassination if you commit suicide.

Character seppuku.
/

makeitstop Wed, Nov 30, 2011 10:59:39am

re: #34 HappyWarrior

Yeah after that ad they did of Obama, he has no room to complain.

We all saw that truck coming down the block, didn't we?

engineer cat Wed, Nov 30, 2011 11:01:02am

to me, it's a story about a Corporate Master Of The Universe, used to the special privileges of being a Lord in the feudal domains that are corporations, finding out that running for office makes him a job applicant being interviewed by those peons who for some unaccountable reason are no longer so polite and easy to get rid

yes, wingnuts, corporations are really much less accountable to ordinary people than the government, and they have no reason, no reason at all, to care about you or the welfare of your children

so please stop trying to redirect 100% of the blame for our problems away from your beloved corporate masters and onto the government, which is actually an entity hypothetically devoted to our interests and where we hypothetically have some say

justaminute Wed, Nov 30, 2011 11:02:25am

Well they wanted a businessman. He's hanging around to see if the rubes will keep sending him campaign money and buy his books. He is on a book tour after all. And believe me, there are still some sending him money.

RanchTooth Wed, Nov 30, 2011 11:02:38am

re: #17 Varek Raith

Actually, It's just a typo. If you look at his description for Brazil, there's "Europe" at the end.

albusteve Wed, Nov 30, 2011 11:03:04am

re: #33 Rightwingconspirator

As if much of this would not have happened to a white candidate? Or have I misunderstood your point?

heh

rohan Wed, Nov 30, 2011 11:10:35am

I think he was in it to just sell books and get a fox show

leftynyc Wed, Nov 30, 2011 11:17:41am

He'l drop out the very same minute the koch brothers turn off the spigot.

Varek Raith Wed, Nov 30, 2011 11:21:27am

re: #39 RanchTooth

Actually, It's just a typo. If you look at his description for Brazil, there's "Europe" at the end.

Ah, I see what they did now.
Silly web design.

reine.de.tout Wed, Nov 30, 2011 11:58:58am

The botched responses to allegations of marital infidelity, sexual impropriety and his own gaffes — not to mention the puzzling strategic decisions — have, in the eyes of many veteran strategists, reached record levels of ineptitude.

It isn't just the botched "responses". It's the botched-up life that did him in.

OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin Wed, Nov 30, 2011 12:05:35pm

e_e

If you've misunderstood my point, it must be deliberate.

What white candidate would ever be touted as authentically black?

re: #33 Rightwingconspirator

wilburs Wed, Nov 30, 2011 12:09:07pm

The only thing left to determine here is which Godfather's Pizza Herman Cain will be delivering for starting next week.

lostlakehiker Wed, Nov 30, 2011 4:11:37pm

re: #44 reine.de.tout

It isn't just the botched "responses". It's the botched-up life that did him in.

Exactly. No amount of gymnastics, no degree of candor, no nuanced mix of the two, could have got Cain off the hook here. The U.S. isn't looking for a DSK in the White House.

If Cain had shown any knowledge about anything, perhaps total candor would have helped a bit. But when the man doesn't know the most basic facts of foreign affairs, such as that China is now and has for decades been a nuclear power, then his only card is his character. When that comes up a joker, he's o u t.

lostlakehiker Wed, Nov 30, 2011 4:21:15pm

re: #37 engineer dog

to me, it's a story about a Corporate Master Of The Universe, used to the special privileges of being a Lord in the feudal domains that are corporations, finding out that running for office makes him a job applicant being interviewed by those peons who for some unaccountable reason are no longer so polite and easy to get rid

yes, wingnuts, corporations are really much less accountable to ordinary people than the government, and they have no reason, no reason at all, to care about you or the welfare of your children

so please stop trying to redirect 100% of the blame for our problems away from your beloved corporate masters and onto the government, which is actually an entity hypothetically devoted to our interests and where we hypothetically have some say

Corporations are, in a sense, accountable. Every dollar gets a vote when it comes to corporations, and if the product doesn't answer the needs of consumers, the corporation pays in lost sales.

Both governments, and corporations, and while we're at it, unions, can sometimes rig the rules so they don't have to answer to much of anybody. The leaderships of all three types of organizations will naturally look for ways to cement their power and hedge against the risk of being discarded in favor of new faces. So it's a never ending struggle between the elites and the masses. We, the masses, need good elites. Joe the Plumber can't put a man on the moon. But any time anybody ascends, even if purely on merit, into a position of power, there's the temptation to try to stay there by fair means or foul.

We must be vigilant, and we must cultivate an ethos among those who will ascend to elite status that they're there not to cement their power but to serve, and to reap the just fruits of exceptional service. But no more.

lostlakehiker Wed, Nov 30, 2011 4:25:28pm

re: #17 Varek Raith

Cain Foreign Policy Plan Botches Geography: Lists Germany, Russia, U.K. In ‘The Americas’

You mischaracterized the content of the article. What actually happened was that a slip in typing html code caused the header "Europe" to not appear on the web page, but just on the downloadable version of the article.

There was no confusion at the conceptual level about Germany, U.K., and Russia being under the "Europe" heading.

Spy Mode Auto

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