re: "Cain survives"

Lemuel Calhoon at Hillbilly White Trash ("Commenting about politics, religion, firearms, food, Celtic music, beer, science fiction and the Asheville Vortex. Home of the Hillbilly Ecosystem.") shared his analysis of the Herman Cain presidential candidacy (and why it had to be stopped).

Money quote(s):

"In the fever swamps of liberal/progressive thought supporting Cain is absolute
proof positive that one is a racist!"

This came up recently in a Facebook discussion I was party to: bolstering his Dem. talking points about how bigoted Republicans are, a fellow commenter pre-emptively stated that Cain and Steele don't make the Republicans not racist.

(Personally, I can take-or-leave Steele; as a former Maryland resident CAA is about as impressed with the (relatively) conservative credentials of Md. politicians as he is with those from Massachutsetts. Now, Rep. West on the other hand....)

"This makes him a mortal enemy (as all conservatives are) to the political left,
but because he is black he occupies a place of extraordinary vilification in
that by his very existence, he disproves the left's narrative of American life."

And that must not be allowed to stand.

Mr. Calhoon concluded:

"This is to the Democrat party what sunlight is to a vampire. If even 20% of
black Americans voted Republican the Democrats would never win a presidential
election and would win damn few congressional contests.

Democrats know this and they are desperate to keep blacks in their place.It is
also why they are so desperate to open America's borders and get amnesty for the
millions of Mexicans illegally in this country. They need a replacement
minority that can be controlled in the event that the black population (or even
a large minority of it) wises up and realizes that the white liberals they have
been voting for are responsible for much of their misery and the black "leaders"
they have been trusting have in fact sold them out.

This is the essence of the furor to destroy Herman Cain as it was the driving force behind the
attempt to destroy Clarence Thomas. It is why every black conservative who
dares to step forward and declare him or herself is attacked is attacked and
smeared.

This is why the Chicago machine bestirred itself to vomit out a
small parade of women who were willing to falsely claim that Mr. Cain "harassed"
them. This is why Republicans have been unwilling to play along and boot him
out of the race. We know that they are trying to play us and we ain't going
along."

11/11

re: "Who's Afraid of Cain?"

Dr. Jerry Pournelle at Chaos Manor ("The Original Blog and Daybook") made some predictions and observations that have stood the test of a few months time.

Money quote(s):

"The reason for the increasing shrillness of the attacks is desperation: the liberal establishment has concluded that Obama is vulnerable, possibly even doomed, and of the Republican candidates only Romney appears to be someone they can work with, someone who can grow in office, who will reach across the aisle to continue liberal programs.

Note that Romney has nothing to do with the attacks on Cain. He’s just the guy the media consider to be the lesser of a number of evils. They can work with him."

Dr. Pournelle follows this observation with a reasonable man's analysis of the "charges" then being leveled against then-candidate Cain.

"Newt will be next. Then anyone else who isn’t Romney. The attack machine will be silent on Romney until he is the nominee. Then it will begin again, but it will be a different attack."

11/9

re: "The mysterious source: who’s most afraid of Cain?"

Neo-neocon ("slowly but surely leaving the fold and becoming that dread thing: a neocon") speculated on the man (or woman) behind the curtain.

Money quote(s):

"Most of the speculation on the sources’ identities has so far centered on Cain’s Republican opponents. That makes a great deal of sense because they’re the ones who are seemingly most threatened by Cain. Cain himself appears to think one of them bears the blame; he’s been shooting from the hip and accusing Perry consultant Kurt Anderson of being the culprit, although he’s walked back a bit from that charge in recent days.

Or Cain may have other antagonists, perhaps even personal rather than political ones, who possessed the lawsuit information and would like to see him brought him down. As in a detective novel, there’s probably a plethora of possibilities there; a powerful and successful man is likely to make quite a few enemies."

This is likely something that won't be known with any certainty for years, if ever. Still, the Chicago-centric nature of some of the accusers and accusations suggests.....

"One possible source that’s hardly been pointed to is Obama or someone in his camp. But why would Obama bother at this point? In fact, Cain might be a weaker opponent than some of the others, and Obama might even welcome a Cain candidacy.

Then again, perhaps Obama fears it for special reasons of his own. If so, it could be the result of what I’d call the Bobby Rush phenomenon. You may recall that Rush was Obama’s opponent in the 2000 Democratic Congressional primary, and the only person in political life who has (so far) ever gotten the better of Obama.

Rush is a black man of roughly the same age as Cain, although the former is an extreme liberal and the latter a conservative."

Who benefits?

Newt Gingrich benefited most immediately, surging to viability from far back in the Republican pack, but that surge is already tapering off and candidates Romney, Perry, and even Ron Paul are looking viable just before the Iowa presidential caucus. Longer term, obviously the incumbent stands to benefit. Read the whole post.

11/5