Washington Post: Herman Cain Plays the Race Card and Plays it his Way

[Empowerer]

WAVERLY, Tenn. — Herman Cain scanned his overwhelmingly white tea party audience, jammed into a hall at a rural fairgrounds, and offered his assessment.

“I see 3,000 patriots here tonight,” he boomed, the crowd leaping to its feet. “I don’t see any racists!”...

Some African Americans have bristled at his tone, saying he is denigrating his race. Particularly controversial were his statements that many blacks were “brainwashed” into supporting the Democratic Party and that he did not believe that racism in this country still “holds anybody back in a big way.”

“He’s engaging in a very dangerous, irresponsible type of rhetoric,” said Edward DuBose, president of the Georgia state conference of the NAACP. “It’s almost like he feels the need to be accepted in a different class or community, and somehow, by portraying his own race or portraying the poor as a problem, it’s going to advance his cause. I think he’s going to find that that’s not true.” ...
In his public appearances, Cain often slips into vernacular in a way that strikes some as authentic and others as playing on a stereotype. Drawing on years as a minister, a gospel singer and a radio talk-show host, Cain works the crowd, lacing his policy pitches with jokes and colloquialisms.

As he bounded onto the stage at the county fairgrounds in Waverly, Cain gripped the microphone and offered a folksy greeting: “Aw, shucky ducky!”

He peppered his 35-minute speech with personal anecdotes. At one point, he extolled the importance of keeping national security secrets by telling a story of a childhood incident in which he hinted to a bully that he had a weapon in his pocket.

“I grew up in a tough part of Atlanta,” he said. “And sometimes I was confronted by some bullies that beat me and my brother up. So I put my hands in my pockets, but I didn’t tell them what was in my pocket. Rocked back and forth on my heels and said, ‘Sucka, if you feel froggy, then just jump!’”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-herman-cain-no-steering-clear-of-race/2011/10/17/gIQAdNkN4L_story.html

[dkf]

1. Is this a step forward or a step back?

"more respondents expressed aversion to voting for a Mormon than for an African American."

[Ken Burch]

2. He's in the Clarence Thomas/Walter Williams/Armstrong Williams tradition of right wing h___e s____s

I really think that, if the party asked him to do a minstrel "number" before each speech, he would.

Let's face it, Cain's whole appeal is about being a black candidate who says things about black people that that type of white people WANT to hear.

[izquierdista]

3. And eat

If they want anchovies, pineapple and jalapeno on their pizza, I'm sure he'll give it to them.

Why is it that when he plays the race card, all I see is a joker showing?

[Ken Burch]

4. I doubt he'll get the votes of anyone who's ever actually tried to eat

a Godfather's Pizza.

[CoffinEd]

6. And don't forget to include...

Thomas Sowell, Larry Elder, Shelby Steele, and Ken Hamblin. They are all opportunists who play the race card for nothing more than self-promotion and self-aggrandizement.

Several years back there was a right-wing radio dude up this way who was eager to join the club, but was later removed from the air for allegedly engaging in improper contact with a young female. I haven't heard from him since.

Actually, I knew he was a loser right off when he proudly announced that he was a Giuliani supporter. Shees!

[Enrique]

8. Shelby Steele, author of "Why Obama can't win"

He's due for another book, how about "Why Obama can't win twice"

[CoffinEd]

9. Bingo!

And I'll just leave it at that.

[Ken Burch]

5. The other issue here is...

...do we really WANT to put our nuclear stockpile in the hands of someone who says things like "Aw, shucky ducky!"?

:scared:

[Politicalboi]

7. ‘Sucka, if you feel froggy, then just jump!’”

Was he doing his Clint Eastwood impression? LOL! Feel Lucky Punk. While trying to sleep last night, I stumbled upon a 1950's video of a kind of Reefer Madness. They called the pot head group "Tea Party" LOL! Needless to say it was hilarious.