I'm wondering-- is possible that Herman Cain might "Forest Gump" his way into the GOP nomination?

[Douglas Carpenter]

Forgive me for besmirching the good name of Forest Gump. Now, I have to agree that by all reasonable standards it would be outrageous for someone like Herman Cain to be even considered as a serious contender for one single second. Even putting aside the question of his astounding ignorance about virtually every single issue that is important for the country - even putting aside his outrageous extreme rhetoric - the guy has a resume that might be appropriate for a contender for a low to medium profile race for the U.S. House of Representatives in a low to medium profile district - but anyone who would suggest that he is even remotely qualified to be President of the United States is simply being either completely disingenuous or completely and absolutely loony.

But in spite of all of this - there is no other candidate that seems to be surviving the scrutiny of the current Republican Party base. And he is only surviving the scrutiny because the current Republican Party base is as Frank Schaeffer puts it, "the fifth column of the insane." And Cain is the only one who seems to be sufficiently insane while having the additional benefit of being able to convince radically right-wing Republicans that they are not racist and that their patently immoral views are solidly moral. After all - a well spoken, deeply religious and very successful black American man told them that they are doing good. Herman Cain seems to have a unique ability to reassure white right-wing extremist that what they are doing and what they are supporting is not as morally reprehensible as anyone but a sociopath's higher nature would surely suggest.

The bottom line is Mitt Romney is simply not acceptable to the vast majority of the Party Republican base. Herman Cain is the only candidate who right now appears to be left standing who is acceptable to the majority of the Republican Party base - even though we are still well more than a month away from the earliest stages of the caucus and primary season. There is simply not a shred of evidence that some surprise candidate like Jeb or anyone else is waiting in the wings. I'm beginning to think that something too good to be true might, just might happen. - It is far, far from certain. - Sure the base might decide that they have no choice but bite the bullet, hold their nose and line up behind Mitt. Still, I cannot imagine anything more wonderful and I cannot conceive of anything that would calm my fears about the 2012 election more than if by accident or design the too good to be true happened and Herman Cain somehow, someway - became the Republican Party nominee. And let's face it -there is at least a good chance Romney could win a general election, an off chance that Perry could win a general election - even a very remote chance that a Bachmann - well - VERY remote - but still at least abstractly possible - but Herman Cain? Just the thought of that and what the nomination of Herman Cain would virtually guarantee for the November election - to truly crush the Republican Party in 1964 LBJ/Goldwater style makes me want to jump for joy.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Nice rant. Really nice. Still,

I have a deep-seated fear that the combination of lunatic Teabaggers, voter suppression & outright vote theft could put someone like him in office.

[get the red out]

2. Yep

Or someone even worse.

[pnwmom]

8. Me, too! There's a great danger in being too smug about this. n/t

[FarCenter]

3. Quinipiac poll has Cain 30% and Romney 23%

Of course all the previous front runners have flamed out, while Romney has remained constant at 23%.

"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public."
H. L. Mencken

[dkf]

4. The right can't stand Mitt Romney so yes it's possible.

[louis-t]

11. I still see repugs holding their noses and voting for Mitt.

Even though previously I predicted they will choose one of the craziest in the bunch.

[Cirque du So-What]

5. Personally, I can't see it happening - in this or any parallel universe

and I felt that way before the revelation of sexual harassment. If - by some cosmic fluke - Cain were to garner the repug nomination, I would be concerned that the entire nation had lost its collective fucking mind and that he would win in the general as well.

[pnwmom]

10. Did you think Nixon would get elected with 49 states? Did you think

Reagan would get elected when he was in the primaries?

I've long since given up thinking any Republican had no chance.

[DirkGently]

6. They've painted themselves into a Krazy Korner. Plain vanilla plutocrats like Romney bore them &

don't attract enough "Tea Partiers." But anyone loopy enough to talk about flat taxes and electrocuting Mexicans comes off as, well, insane and incompetent.

I don't think Cain has any real shot at the nomination. He makes for good television is all.

They've done this to themselves. They've served up so much Krazy Kool-Aid trying to get people to vote against their own interests that they can no longer go back to a Poppy Bush-style, Benevolent Old White Patriarch candidate -- the type who keeps his privilege-wielding under the radar a bit.

Their base now insists on True Believers, and no one who truly believes the extreme new corporatist and fundamentalist rhetoric is intelligent or stable enough to be elected.

So far, anyway. I think Jeb Bush could pull off what they want, but happily the common wisdom appears to be that the Bush name is a bit worn out for the moment.

[Jackpine Radical]

12. They don't require a True Believer,

just someone who can feign True Belief to their satisfaction.

A sufficiently skilled psychopath can generally fake the belief pattern well enough to convince the loonies that (s)he one of them.

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. I.e., Perry. nt

[Jackpine Radical]

15. Absolutely.

And GWB before him.

Reagan may not have been a psychopath, but he certainly had a good collection of basic acting skills overlaid on a deep narcissism.

[DirkGently]

16. Perhaps, but Romney's half-hearted mouthing of their nuttery apparently doesn't cut it.

Cain seems to have talked himself into believing his own nonsense, though. Reminds me of Sharron Angle, albeit he doesn't panic as easily when the conserva-bubble is popped and the real questions begin.

[GodlessBiker]

7. Yep, I hope so.

[piratefish08]

9. we can only hope...........

[MadrasT]

13. Yes.

We're talking about the party that put freaking PALIN on the ticket.

"Astounding ignorance" is obviously irrelevant to R's. :rofl: