Ground floor…
It’s been fun, hasn’t it? Watching Obama come to earth? The lightworker. The One. What with the oceans and the jobs and the sick and the healing and the glaven.
Turns out the man expected to perform miracles lacked the basic, practical competence of a decent night manager at Wendy’s. No wonder — he’s never held a job as tough as that one. (Anyone who thinks minimum wage jobs are easy has never tried to be good at one).
Once that balloon popped, the landing was always going to be rough.
But, you know, there’s a floor. And I think we might be getting near it. Sure, the Magic Man turned out to be a plain old politician. But they — his side — they’ve voted for a politician before and they’ll do it again. Not with the same enthusiasm — they’ll never catch that lightning in a bottle again — but they’ll turn up.
Meanwhile, our candidate will evolve from Generic Republican to Actual Human Being and then Shit Will Stir.
I gotta tell you, I don’t like our field this time. I don’t like our field every four years, but I’m really meh on this bunch.
At this point, I’m rooting for Herman Cain. He’s no more flawed than any of the others, and it would be hilarious to watch. (“Vote for our guy — he’s at least three shades authentically blacker than the other guy!”).
Posted: September 26th, 2011 under personal, politics.
Comments: 33
Comments
Comment from Scubafreak
Time: September 26, 2011, 10:51 pm
I think it would be fantastic to see Cain vs. Not Able. The Libs would be tying themselves in knots trying to find ways of attacking Cain that didn’t smack of a KKK rally, and Cain has the advantage of REALLY having his shit together…..
Comment from Laconic
Time: September 26, 2011, 10:57 pm
Well to tell the family secret, my grandmother was Dutch
Comment from Alice
Time: September 26, 2011, 11:10 pm
Is pic of Cliffs of Moher?
Comment from Oceania
Time: September 26, 2011, 11:11 pm
So – CheeseHeads are in the family?
Comment from Cynthia
Time: September 26, 2011, 11:17 pm
Will that make us all racists? It would truly be hilarious to watch. I would be proud to cast my vote for Herman!
Comment from Oceania
Time: September 26, 2011, 11:21 pm
Oh I believe that Everyone should be Proud to be Racist!
Never trust anyone who Isn’t!
I would like to see the RO Rev Manning as A Senator!
No buggar that – President!!!
Comment from Deborah
Time: September 26, 2011, 11:55 pm
The media will try to pick the Republican candidate for us again—which is how we ended up with John McCain. So if the media really go after one Republican in particular, we’ll know which one scares the Democrats the most.
Comment from Oldcat
Time: September 27, 2011, 12:19 am
Sorry Scuba, but they will just use the KKK terms and be damned to it all. It will cause them no difficulty at all.
Comment from Feynmangroupie
Time: September 27, 2011, 12:23 am
CONDI RICE 2012!!!!!!!
Too bad we can’t draft candidates.
Comment from Uncle Al
Time: September 27, 2011, 12:31 am
H. Cain recently said of his 999 tax plan that (and I quote) “it will be revenue neutral.” That’s govt-ese for we will not cut taxes, we will never cut taxes, and “tax reform” will forever be cosmetic at best.
What’s more, Cain says he will push hard for an increase in military spending, and wants to spend even more than Pres. Toast has spent.
The result will be an even larger budget and larger deficit.
So, No, Mr. Cain won’t get my vote. In fact, I’ll not vote at all unless I can cast my ballot for someone with Ron Paul’s principles (either the man himself or some as yet unannounced black horse [and if he/she is an actual black person that will add to the entertainment value of it all if nothing else]).
Comment from Scubafreak
Time: September 27, 2011, 1:15 am
Thank you, Uncle Al, for your vote for Obama’s second term…..
Comment from Uncle Al
Time: September 27, 2011, 1:40 am
@Scubafreak – The system is rigged. I won’t vote unless it is for somebody committed to unrigging it. Looks like you’ve been taken in by the scam, my friend. I beg you not to let them count you as part of a “mandate”.
As Richard North says, “Govt as our servant is just about tolerable. Govt as our master…is our enemy.” The particular focus may vary, but they all – but one – want to be your master.
Comment from EZnSF
Time: September 27, 2011, 2:08 am
Winning Florida gave me license to root for Cain. Had high expectations for Perry, but when he kicked me in the balls in the debate, I decided better.
I’m all in for Cain, regardless what hell my come.
I love Ron Paul, but nirvana is for hippys and twenty-somethings.
Comment from Mono The Elderish
Time: September 27, 2011, 2:36 am
I’m Actually Of the opinion that were all buggered and no matter who we vote for it’s going to turn out bad.
Everybodys right, The dems make dead people vote and rig ballot boxes and so do the republicans (although much less so,) They all do it. They all have thier tricks. Like AL said, Unless its someone truly committed to fixing the system (good luck with finding someone like that) nothing will change. Most people that we need to be in office don’t even get into politics.
Although, If you vote, you can at least exercise your rights while you still have them and do limited damage control(hopefully) Keep in mind candidates say ANYTHING to get in office(with O’bugger in mind I mean, conservatives voted for him too right?). Then its to hell with the promises and time to get to work screwing us over.
Sorry for the text wall guys 😛
Mono,
Comment from Dan Patterson
Time: September 27, 2011, 3:06 am
If we only had a document, or a set of them, to frame our governance. And within it the ability to limit the power of the federal government to a written set of clear items. Then we could also clearly define the objectives of each branch of that government, with balanced powers and each checking the others’ rule. The states could set about their government within the federal system and function autonomously, with each citizen represented, locally and federally, without regard to property ownership, wealth, background, gender, etc.
If only.
Comment from some vegetable
Time: September 27, 2011, 3:09 am
My theory on McCain is that the Republicans figured that the election was lost no matter who they put up as candidate.
Unpopular (thanks to the press) Bush, unpopular war, and mostly dying economy. Even Jesus would have a hard time winning as a Republican. So why waste a good candidate on a losing cause? This was my take on why Romney et al backed down and left MCCain holding the bag.
Besides, the economy was going to be bad for 3 or 4 years no matter who the president was, so why take the heat for it? Let the Dem’s win one and watch things blow up their collective face. Come back as the voice of sanity and you’re almost assured two terms of power.
Unfortunately the R pattern has always been the same during my lifetime. First term some good things are done. Second term they start robbing the piggy bank for themselves.
At least they do SOMEgood things though which is more than I can say for the D’s. This is what keeps me voting R and drinking. Well it’s one of the reasons I drink, so there.
Comment from Pablo
Time: September 27, 2011, 3:28 am
Once you go black, you never go back.
Herman Cain – 2012.*
Comment from catnip
Time: September 27, 2011, 3:29 am
Cain is authentically conservative. He doesn’t have any foreign policy cred, but he’s not too stupid to learn. Trouble is, if your state primary isn’t until May, as ours is, you may not have a chance to vote for him. He doesn’t have any moneyed backers and has been depending on grass roots $10 and $25 donations to keep his campaign alive. The Florida straw poll was a PR boost, but fund-raising is still a day-to-day affair for him.
If you favor him, show him the money.
Comment from Nina from GCP
Time: September 27, 2011, 5:07 am
When my son was here visiting over the weekend (from Oslo, no less!) we talked about this very thing. He asked me what I though of the candidates so far, and I told him that I was going to put off getting excited until the field has been winnowed down a bit. Then I’ll see if there’s something worth getting excited about. 🙂
Comment from Uncle Al
Time: September 27, 2011, 5:47 am
@EZnSF:
…I love Ron Paul, but nirvana is for hippys and twenty-somethings.
I hear you. But Paul offers no nirvana. He offers what a lot of conservatives, a fair number of liberals, and most of the Tea Party folks say they want.
I can be as cynical as anybody, am no hippy, and am well into being sixty-something. And I’m no tyro: I’ve been engaged in political efforts for decades. County and state party boards, I’ve run for county office (didn’t win but did get about 30,000 votes), been senior staff for both state-wide and national candidates, including a stint as campaign treasurer for a U.S. Senate candidate.
At least I was so engaged. When the Supremes upheld most of McCain-Feingold in McConnell v. FEC in Dec. 2003, it finally hit me that the elections at all levels were too far corrupted to be salvaged and so I removed my name from the voter registration rolls. I’ve only re-registered once since then and that was to support a free market libertarian. When he lost, I un-registered again.
Please don’t think I take this position casually or without lots of thought and a lot of personally verified information and experience. I do know what I’m talking about: the system is rigged. Honest and knowledgeable people would do well by not participating except in unusual circumstances.
Comment from steve
Time: September 27, 2011, 12:03 pm
I am getting more and more on board with Cain.
He has about as much understanding of foreign policy issues as any capable, well connected CEO in this nation….and like any capable, well connected CEO, he has a vast capacity to learn. And I add to that my confidence that he will, on balance, make the correct foreign policy decisions when presented with the facts. (There’s nothing like the President’s morning breifing to cut through the clutter and focus the mind.)
Anyway…..here are some Herman Cain tidbits for you:
Herman Cain bio:
Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics.
Master’s degree in Computer Science.
Mathematician for the Navy, where he worked on missile ballistics (making him a rocket scientist).
Computer systems analyst for Coca-Cola.
VP of Corporate Data Systems and Services for Pillsbury (this is the top of the ladder in the computer world, being in charge of information systems for a major corporation).
All achieved before reaching the age of 35.
After he reached the top of the information systems world, he changed careers!
Business Manager:
Took charge of Pillsbury’s 400 Burger King restaurants in the Philadelphia area, which were the company’s poorest performers in the country. Spent the first nine months learning the business from the ground up, cooking hamburger and yes, cleaning toilets. After three years he had turned them into the company’s best performers.
Godfather’s Pizza CEO. Was asked by Pillsbury to take charge of their Godfather’s Pizza chain (which was on the verge of bankruptcy). He made it profitable in 14 months.
In 1988 he led a buyout of the Godfather’s Pizza chain from Pillsbury. He was now the owner of a restaurant chain. Again he reached the top of the ladder of another industry.
He was also chairman of the National Restaurant Association during this time. This is a group that interacts with government on behalf of the restaurant industry, and it gave him political experience from the non-politician side. Having reached the top of a second industry, he changed careers again!
Adviser to the Federal Reserve System:
Herman Cain went to work for the Federal Reserve Banking System advising them on how monetary policy changes would affect American businesses.
Chairman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. He worked his way up to the chairmanship of a regional Federal Reserve bank. This is only one step below the chairmanship of the entire Federal Reserve System (the top banking position in the country).
This position allowed him to see how monetary policy is made from the inside, and understand the political forces that impact the monetary system. After reaching the top of the banking industry, he changed careers for a fourth time!
Writer and public speaker:
He then started to write and speak on leadership. His books include Speak as a Leader, CEO of Self, Leadership is Common Sense, and They Think You’re Stupid.
Radio Host:
Around 2007—after a remarkable 40 year career—he started hosting a radio show on WSB in Atlanta (the largest talk radio station in the country).
He did all this starting from rock bottom (his father was a chauffeur and his mother was a maid). When you add up his accomplishments in his life—including reaching the top of three unrelated industries: information systems, business management, and banking—Herman Cain may have the most impressive resume of anyone that has run for the presidency in the last half century.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: September 27, 2011, 12:53 pm
That’s a hell of a resume.
It’s an odd phenomenon that businessmen hardly ever catch fire as political candidates, but this guy sounds like something special.
Comment from Deborah
Time: September 27, 2011, 1:14 pm
He did all this starting from rock bottom (his father was a chauffeur and his mother was a maid).
I strongly disagree that this is rock bottom. Cain came from an intact family with parents who worked, which is modest, but not the bottom. But perhaps we can work “bedrock” into our metaphors 🙂
I do agree that Cain’s resume is impressive, and I am impressed.
Comment from steve
Time: September 27, 2011, 1:27 pm
I strongly disagree that this is rock bottom. Cain came from an intact family with parents who worked, which is modest, but not the bottom.
I will not quibble about precisely where the “rock” in rock bottom begins and ends.
But I do sometimes notice the humble beginnings of certain public figures…and then I start complaining about the media and what it chooses to present and what it chooses not to present.
John Boehner’s “rock bottom” (or “near bottom” or “somewhat-above-the-bottom-but-clearly-still-benthic”)beginnings, or Clarence Thomas'(OK….for him I am sticking with) “rock bottom” beginnings (any interested parties are invited to google it)…..
And yet these people clearly understand and embrace the conservative principles that enabled them to achieve the successes that they have worked for….
Clearly it runs against the media’s favored narrative of “take off your slippers, strap on your mukluks and lets stomp around the neighborhood demanding easier access to all that free stuff that we are ‘owed'”
Comment from nightfly
Time: September 27, 2011, 3:59 pm
I’m nicking the picture. You will be credited. I keep a folders of various classifications of picture for screen savers and such – this will be filed uder “wicked awesome.”
Comment from Mono The Elderish
Time: September 27, 2011, 4:29 pm
Well, Cain might be the way to go after all. He doesn’t sound that bad. At any rate, It’s not hard to beat Whatshisface.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: September 27, 2011, 7:06 pm
Nick away, nightfly. I love it when people pinch my stuff, credit or no credit. It’s what I put it out there for.
Comment from David Gillies
Time: September 27, 2011, 7:27 pm
Intrade has Obama at $4.79, the lowest I’ve seen so far. As for candidates, Cain is by far the most impressive (Ron Paul is an isolationist gold-bug, and I say that as a libertarian of very, very deep conviction.) Having said that, even though Romney is a RINO, he would still be better than Obama. Think what a second term means for him: he doesn’t have to run for re-election. He can do whatever doctrinaire socialist crap he thinks he can get away with. Sure, it’s likely the GOP will control the House and Senate, but when you have an EPA and an FCC and an SEC and a DOJ and an NLRB and a DOC all ready to do your bidding, then who cares about meddling political opponents?
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: September 27, 2011, 7:57 pm
I was in Romney’s camp in 2008, so I’m not an automatic Romney hater. But his performance seriously disappointed, and this is the one candidate who will never, ever repeal Obamacare…so…hm…
Comment from Schlippy
Time: September 27, 2011, 8:42 pm
I too am a Cain supporter about this point. Earlier in the year I had fired off a small donation to Bachmann, but she’s rapidly imploded with that conspiracy theory krapola re: vaccines and ‘big pharma.’
I know they’re needed in Congress, but I wish we had a Marco Rubio / Paul Ryan running. Those two are dynamite speakers, know what they’re talking about, and teleprompter-free.
Comment from David Gillies
Time: September 27, 2011, 8:50 pm
Oh, I can’t stand Romney. I had hopes for Perry, but he’s been screwing the pooch so hard the poor thing doesn’t know which way is up. Bachmann’s a flake, Gingrich has been making some sensible noises lately, but he’s too flawed and polarising. Huntsman is not even a RINO. Santorum I could perhaps get behind. At the moment I think Gary Johnson might fit the bill, but he’s too close to the Ron Paul isolationists. I’d love to let the miserable screaming Jihadists stew in their own juice if only they’d extend us the same favour. As for the the rest of the bunch – Tom Miller? Buddy Roehmer? Who?
Comment from Schlippy
Time: September 27, 2011, 8:58 pm
As to the Paul-bots that seem to interdict every thread on the entire intertubez,
While it’s a joy to hear the man speak about fiscal issues, the single reason he will never get the nomination, and the reason you have Stormfront racists and conspiracy loons following him out of the woodwork is his love of blaming America for terror attacks: http://tinyurl.com/3qu8n76
Meanwhile, in real life, we are to ignore the fact that terrorists have made attacks across the globe that in most cases have nothing to do with the US…
Saudi Arabia
Yemen
Qatar
United Arab Emirates
Egypt
Syria
Lebanon
Ethiopia
Russia
Sudan
Morocco
Kenya
Kurdistan
Israel
Majorca
Spain
Germany
England
Tanzania
Jordan
France
Italy
Bali
Indonesia
Scotland
Malaysia
Sweden
Turkey
Greece
Uzbekistan
Austria
Tajikistan
Chechnya
India
Iraq
Iran
Philippines
Australia
Uganda
etc
etc
ad infinitum…
The Ron Paul argument of how to handle foreign policy by simply hiding at home, not defending our friends, and avoiding taking battle to our enemies is at the least naive, a la Neville Chamberlain, and at the worst, highly dangerous thinking for a potential leader of the free world to believe.
May god have mercy on me for feeding the trolls. 😉
Comment from Elphaba
Time: September 28, 2011, 4:34 am
I really respect Herman Cain. Listened to his radio show regularly for years. He’s extremely intelligent, humble, sensible and authentic. The only other person who could likely run, and who I feel has the heart and the stones to fix the mess we’re in, is Sarah Palin. If Herman doesn’t win the nomination, he’d still make a fantastic cabinet member.
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