There is a contender in the Republican primary who has not yet gotten a ton of attention outside of certain right-wing pundit spheres. Even when he is given attention, he is usually referred to as a long shot candidate.
But he has made a few waves. In the recent Republican straw poll in New Hampshire (and I know, these things must be taken with a giant grain of salt), Herman Cain came in sixth...ahead of more well-known candidates such as Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie and Mitch Daniels.
Also, recent evidence indicates that Cain may have gotten some strong behind-the-scene nods of support from the infamous Koch brothers--the billionaire oil magnates who have long funded a vast network right-wing organizations known as the Kochtopus, and who are currently major, although surreptitious, provocateurs of the Tea Party movement.
If the Kochtopus indeed has anointed Mr. Cain, we may be hearing a lot more from him. So here's an introduction.
Herman Cain is best known as the black host who sometimes subs for Neal Boortz on the nationally syndicated, Atlanta-based Neal Boortz Show. He also has his own program which just runs locally (although on Atlanta's WSB, 'local' covers half the South) in the evenings.
But for a local talk show host, he does have a interesting history. Herman Cain was named CEO of Godfather's Pizza in 1985, and he was able to turn around the fortunes of the struggling company.
He came onto the national scene in the early nineties, when stood up at a townhall meeting with President Clinton and made the erroneous yet very effective argument that it was impossible for the company that was currently making him rich to provide health benefits to the poor hoi polloi he employed. It's the kind of argument that drives me up a wall, but it's also the kind that plays well with a certain kind of big business-loving conservative.
Watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/...
Cain caught the political bug back then, but he hasn't had much success. In 2000, he worked on the campaign of Steve Forbes, and in 2004, he tried to run for Senate in Georgia, but he couldn't get past Johnny Isakson in the primary. He spoke to a ton of Tea Party rallies in 2010.
But Cain wants to be more than just a talk-show host. He'll jump on just about any bandwagon--he's a promoter of the FairTax, but mainly because he can then speak at Boortz-organized FairTax rallies. And thanks to the likely support of the Koch brothers, he may finally be getting his wish.
But why am I writing about this local talk show host who once had a pre-YouTube viral video and has then engaged in a series of failed political campaigns? Because I believe he may have been tapped by the Koch brothers as their standard-bearer.
Cain announced his Presidential Exploratory Committee a few weeks ago. Frankly. I thought it was mainly a publicity stunt for his radio show as a bid for greater syndication, aided and abetted by his buddies, Erick son of Erick at RedState, who also recently began a show on WSB and is brown-nosing the bosses, and Boortz, who is having fun pimping his protege.
But this weekend, Cain went to one of the Koch brothers semi-annual political strategy meetings in Rancho Mirage, California, where the king-makers set the talking points and choose the spokesmen. And on Monday morning, Herman Cain suddenly announced he was quitting.
Cain says a lot of stupid things on his radio program. But he can't be a total idiot. A man who more than anything craves big audiences does not put down the microphone unless he has good reason. And I think the Kochtopus gave him good reason over the weekend.
His main interests are rolling back any and all business and environmental regulations and cutting taxes. He doesn't think very deeply on most issues, and frequently falls back on very simplistic talking points or just starts babbling misinformation if he is challenged by a caller. He seems genuinely perplexed when disagreeing callers make good arguments--he cannot grasp opposing points of view. He also engages in Sarah Palin level hyperbole (hollering that the health care bill is 'treason.') He says things that are mind-bogglingly dumb some times, but wraps everything he says in this 'I succeeded in business, so I know everything' aura that the Tea Partiers lap up, but that quickly gets grating for most folks.
I may be wrong. Maybe Cain really is just being a fool and throwing away a chance at national syndication to tilt at a presidential windmill. But I think the country's going to be hearing more from Mr. Cain.
And as an Atlantan, I sincerely apologize.