http://fastcache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2011/08/xlarge_herman_cain_s_pokemons.jpg
― clemenza, Monday, 5 December 2011 02:13 (twelve years ago) link
"they're there, and they're just avoiding this election like the herpes outbreak it is."
One thing in Cain's rise and fall that I think is kind of interesting is that in a way, just by riding the current media setup, he was able to become a household name in such a short period of time pretty much on his charisma. Forgetting what all he actually stood for, which was most likely just himself as to me it seems Cain obviously was just getting into this campaign hoping to raise his rep a bit to probably sell more books and get more speech appearances, I'd say by that measure it was entirely successful. Cain probably foolishly didn't realize if you have been playing grab ass in the office for the past 15 years and had a longtime mistress, it wouldn't come out, but he probably never figured he would have this much success to actually be vetted or have that level of scrutiny.
I'd think considering this phenomena and the fact that both political poles are so polarized with each side running even more polarizing candidates - it seems like a scenario where the odds of a third party middle candidate could have success.
― earlnash, Monday, 5 December 2011 02:31 (twelve years ago) link
was he really a household name? Only with those following primaries this early.
― Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 5 December 2011 02:34 (twelve years ago) link
No snark intended -- we overestimate the degree to which normal people follow this nonsense.
― Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 5 December 2011 02:36 (twelve years ago) link
I think so, Cain's more of a punchline at this point after all of the different allegations came out, but i think he got a pretty deep media saturation for someone who didn't really spend that much money to do so.
I think in the age of smartphones and all, people keep up a bit more with the daily headlines more than they did say a decade or so ago. I think it is more a superficial knowledge of events, but names and personalities get known. Cain was a reality level tv star.
― earlnash, Monday, 5 December 2011 02:39 (twelve years ago) link
I think he was a household name by the time he bailed; I don't think you would have had to be following very closely to have heard of him by that point.
― clemenza, Monday, 5 December 2011 02:39 (twelve years ago) link
yeah herman cain was definitely very famous the last couple months
― i already regret not just being 'some dude' again (Mr. Stevenson #2), Monday, 5 December 2011 02:41 (twelve years ago) link
I always figure one indicator of fame is how much of a person's name you have to type into search before he/she jumps to the top of the list. If you type in "h-e," herman's at the top.
― clemenza, Monday, 5 December 2011 02:42 (twelve years ago) link
On the other hand, "j-e-s" gets Jessica Simpson at the top and Jesus fourth. So maybe that's a flawed metric...
― clemenza, Monday, 5 December 2011 02:44 (twelve years ago) link
although about a month ago my young brother-in-law was staying with us and i was watching something that was talking about cain and he went "wait that's herman cain? herman cain is black?"
― i already regret not just being 'some dude' again (Mr. Stevenson #2), Monday, 5 December 2011 02:44 (twelve years ago) link
And this is from a guy that literally nearly no one knew from bubkus a few months back who's top political job was running Godfather's pizza.
One thing I always think is interesting is how you will see political items like this start to bleed into entertainment news. Where you will see those little factoid kind of things put into web front pages at yahoo or similar, where you get a quote by Clint Eastwood on Herman Cain or something similar and kind of odd out of context mentions.
― earlnash, Monday, 5 December 2011 02:47 (twelve years ago) link
― clemenza, Sunday, December 4, 2011 8:42 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink
Herpes 4th
― Matt Armstrong, Monday, 5 December 2011 02:50 (twelve years ago) link
If you go the full Herman, you get Herman Cain, Herman Miller, Herman Cain Wiki, and Herman Cain 999.
1) Who is Herman Miller?2) Doesn't anybody care about Herman Munster anymore?
― clemenza, Monday, 5 December 2011 02:53 (twelve years ago) link
Herman Miller is a brand of furniture.
― earlnash, Monday, 5 December 2011 02:54 (twelve years ago) link
where for art thou herman's head
― i already regret not just being 'some dude' again (Mr. Stevenson #2), Monday, 5 December 2011 02:54 (twelve years ago) link
First up on a "famous Hermans" image search:
http://media.washtimes.com/media/image/2011/10/08/famous-hermans-640_s602x400.jpg?afe7fcef6770e9ab85bc089b64083b85b1789cf7
― clemenza, Monday, 5 December 2011 02:56 (twelve years ago) link
https://twitter.com/#!/fox5atlanta/status/143528289187794944
― iatee, Monday, 5 December 2011 03:51 (twelve years ago) link
Two weeks from today the value of a Herman Cain endorsement will be near zero.
― Aimless, Monday, 5 December 2011 05:57 (twelve years ago) link
yeah it was really apparent how irrelevant he was even a few minutes into that speech yesterday
it's sad i actually kind of liked him for some reason
― k3vin k., Monday, 5 December 2011 06:00 (twelve years ago) link
who will sing for us now
― Hunt3r, Monday, 5 December 2011 06:04 (twelve years ago) link
― earlnash, Monday, 5 December 2011 02:31 (8 hours ago) Bookmark Permalink
idk about both sides running more polarising candidates - unless you go for the baseline of hillary/obama both being OTHERLY & therefore untenable, i think they're still p tame, the polarisation being kind of a choice of the opposition rather than a reaction to their intrinsic unpalatability
― Never translate German (schlump), Monday, 5 December 2011 11:59 (twelve years ago) link
I was gonna say, if "polarizing" now means "black or female" we have pretty much time jumped straight back into the 40s
― OH NOES, Monday, 5 December 2011 12:07 (twelve years ago) link
well this is fox news's political world
― big popppa hoy, Monday, 5 December 2011 12:11 (twelve years ago) link
I imagine it's close to worthless already, which is why he's rushing forward rather than dangling it out there. The only possible value I can see would be if Cain has organizational things in place (especially in Iowa) that Gingrich can use, an area he's obviously weak in.
Most symbolic endorsements are probably meaningless. I think some are beneficial: when the two Kennedys endorsed Obama, that meant something, and Powell's endorsement towards the end was helpful. One that's timed right can be worthwhile: Bill Richardson normally wouldn't mean that much, but I remember he endorsed Obama right after a brutal couple of weeks over Wright. (Plus he was jumping the Clinton ship.) Edwards' endorsement, conversely, came so late as to mean nothing.
Herman gets close to zero on both stature and timing. But maybe he can bring along a few precinct captains in Iowa (whatever that means).
― clemenza, Monday, 5 December 2011 12:32 (twelve years ago) link
I suspect that he was hoping* to spin it into some sort of 'king maker' thing, like Sarah Palin (the difference being that she is crazy to the bone, while he's mostly just playing it on tv, when he remembers to).
Also having just seen the last season of the Wire, I was hoping that he could at least have gone full Clay Davis when defending his decision to selflessly give all this money to this poor deluded woman.
*or at least figures it couldn't hurt to try, which seems to be kind of his modus operandi.
― Andrew Farrell, Monday, 5 December 2011 13:33 (twelve years ago) link
Ixnay on the Ewtnay.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/12/pelosi-democrats-gleeful-at-prospect-of-running-against-gingrich.php?ref=fpnewsfeed
― clemenza, Monday, 5 December 2011 13:35 (twelve years ago) link
I'm sure he did have delusions of kingmaker, but that that lasted for about 45 seconds after he finished his speech on Saturday--at which point he realized, "I'd better do this pronto, while people still remember who I am."
― clemenza, Monday, 5 December 2011 13:38 (twelve years ago) link
econdedsay!
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 5 December 2011 15:32 (twelve years ago) link
cain's endorsement depends on context, a few more public endorsements can give gingrich a temporary air of legitimacy. positive press is positive press.
― iatee, Monday, 5 December 2011 15:38 (twelve years ago) link
'legitimacy' within the realm of crazy but that's still worth something
it's like if charlie sheen announced he was buying $10,000 worth of bitcoins
― iatee, Monday, 5 December 2011 15:41 (twelve years ago) link
I think a Cain endorsement is still worth something. To the extent that Cain supporters liked his platform (9-9-9 and the rest) and not just the man, an endorsement for Gingrich implies some kind of philosophical agreement, which could at least make former Cain supporters (of which there are a few) give Gingrich a second look.
― o. nate, Monday, 5 December 2011 16:22 (twelve years ago) link
OTOH, we're living in a bizarro GOP world in which Donald Trump is moderating presidential candidate debates, so my idea of whose endorsement carries weight may be way off.
― o. nate, Monday, 5 December 2011 16:24 (twelve years ago) link
anyone have a link to this morning's interview of donald trump by chuck todd? i hear it was a train-wreck, and i want to watch it later.
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 5 December 2011 16:35 (twelve years ago) link
At this point it may be useful to recall that, even though he was bugfuck crazy, Caligula was quite a popular emperor among those who lived outside of Rome.
― Aimless, Monday, 5 December 2011 16:38 (twelve years ago) link
His horse adored him.
― Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 5 December 2011 16:41 (twelve years ago) link
I think a Cain endorsement is still worth something.
It's worth more than, say, a Santorum endorsement. This doesn't actually mean it's worth anything, though.
― OH NOES, Monday, 5 December 2011 16:47 (twelve years ago) link
Every time I see the words "Santorum endorsement" I think it means "a successful gay date."
― Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 5 December 2011 16:48 (twelve years ago) link
it means free godfather's pizza for newt's whole campaign staff (of one)!
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 5 December 2011 16:49 (twelve years ago) link
It's morning in Newtonia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brdrjLavTzU
― clemenza, Monday, 5 December 2011 17:30 (twelve years ago) link
wau
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 5 December 2011 17:34 (twelve years ago) link
Some key tidbits hidden in all that goo-goo-eyed sentimentality: "replace the tax code", "return power to the states".
― Aimless, Monday, 5 December 2011 17:38 (twelve years ago) link
Meanwhile:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/05/ginger-white-herman-cain-accuser-on-his-exit-his-arrogance-and-sex.html
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 5 December 2011 17:42 (twelve years ago) link
this Newt thing still seems to be a spasm of irrelevance to me, but his miraculous nomination would produce the most vomitorious level of Bamlove from liberal invertebrates imaginable.
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 5 December 2011 17:44 (twelve years ago) link
my Facebook was covered with chunks last Friday.
― Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 5 December 2011 17:49 (twelve years ago) link
I wish Newt had included a brief shot of a hundred or so eight-year-olds in that ad, rowing away Ben Hur-style. (No embedding.)
― clemenza, Monday, 5 December 2011 17:55 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXh1tW16V-8
and from liberals with backbones, too!
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 5 December 2011 18:52 (twelve years ago) link
Offered a choice between eating gruel or excreta, I will choose gruel and think myself lucky. On the whole, though, I'd prefer my own cooking to either.
― Aimless, Monday, 5 December 2011 18:59 (twelve years ago) link
I'm talking about ppl who will pass off gruel as gravy, nectar, or manna.
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 5 December 2011 19:16 (twelve years ago) link
Manna tasted like whatever the eater wanted it to taste like, so in your case I suspect even Manna would taste like gruel.
― Mordy, Monday, 5 December 2011 19:26 (twelve years ago) link