Cain is gaining some much needed exposure.


Posted by WillisNYC (Diary)

Sunday, May 8th at 8:36AM EDT

5 Comments

In 2008, the MSM was allowed to control the ‘narrative’ regarding the selection of McCain as the GOP nominee.  One of the ways they exercised that control was through the debates.  Their commentators and ‘moderators’ cotnrolled the debates and the questions that were asked.  This control of the narrative is part of what the GOP must break in order to get a true conservative nominee selected for the GOP.   Otherwise we end up with another ‘middle of the road’ type GOPer. 
In this regard, the SC debate was brilliant.  It is the first one and it has a chance to set the tone for further debates.  Sure it was only covered mostly by political junkies like us, but it gave exposure to the guys already in the race.  These guys need expposure.   Every one of them deserves our criticism or support as we deem fit. 
This debate was covered by ALL the major conservative talk show hosts:  Rush Limbaugh covered it in great detail and even though he kept his comments ‘close to the vest’ he did say that Herman Cain made him think that he himself was up there giving Cain’s answers.  THAT is a pretty strong ‘non’ endorsement!   Sean Hannity represents the ‘establishment’ wing of the GOP.  He also only had good things to say about Cain.  He obviously favored Pawlenty and Santorum, but they are establishment guys.  He also said that Ron Paul gave one of his better debate appearances.  Mark Levine talked about the debate on his show.  Bill O’Reilly covered the debate on his show and highlighted Herman Cain’s performance.   Larry Kudlow, in his radio show had a segment with two political operatives who agreed with him that Cain could be one of the three guys with a ‘ticket’ coming out of New Hampshire!  On his TV show, Kudlow called him the ‘clear winner of Thursdays debate’   http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000020615     Coverage like this is priceless to the lesser known candidates such as Cain.

 So even though the MSM either trivialized the debate or barely covered it, that is meaningless.  The debate was covered by the mainstream CONSERVATIVE media and that is what counts at this point.  If we as conservatives want to control the narrative, then we should rejoice when a GOP debate this early in the election cycle receives as much coverage as it did!    This debate is all over the conservative mediasphere and I am appalled by my fellow members here who are trying to trivialize this first debate! 

I am terrified that the MSM will once again ‘control the narrative’ and have a huge hand in selecting one of our ‘lesser’ candidates that everyone (MSM) seems to agree are our frontrunners in the GOP nominee process.   IF we consider ourselves true conservatives here, then we should be getting behind the folks who are true conservatives in the race!  I didn’t disagree with the content of a single man on that stage Thursday night.  They all espoused ‘conservative’ ideas.  It is just that the presentation of those ideas fell short for some (Johnson) and was over the top outstanding (Cain) for others.  The establishment guys sounded like well ‘establishment’ guys (Pawlenty and Santorum)  Santorum had a passion that sounded better than Pawlenty’s much more reserved presentation.  I like Paul but I don’t think he is electable because many of his ideas are just too far out of the mainstream for America. (Not out of the GOP, just middle America.)  I am ready to legalize drugs in this country, but the country is not ready for that yet!  

So let us as true conservatives keep control of the narrative going forward and select our own true conservative nominee.  If the Dems can select the most liberal member of the Senate as their candidate, we should answer with the most conservative candidate we can muster.  We tried milquetoast John McCain, played it safe and lost in 2008.  We can’t afford to lose in 2012, and we can’t afford another near rhino or rhino as our candidate.  Herman Cain espouses the most conservative ideas of any candidate in the race so far and his presentation was head and shoulders above all the others in this first debate.  He won the poll here on Redstate not to long ago and it is evident that he is well liked by majority of the members here.  He is getting exposure in the major conservative media outlets and he is only going to get more.  I for one am hopping on the CAIN TRAIN and hope to ride it all the way to DC in 2012.


THE liberal nightmare!


Posted by WillisNYC (Diary)

Saturday, May 7th at 4:07PM EDT

153 Comments

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Herman Cain substituted for Sean Hannity on his radio show sometime in 2009 or maybe 2010 and caused me to sit up and wonder, ‘Who in the world is this guy!   He sounds wonderful.  He is articulate and every bit of a constitutional conservative as Mark Levine.  Yet he has the optimism of Reagan and even better communication skills than the great communicator himself!   I quickly began to read up on him and was thrilled to learn later that he was considering a run for the presidency. Fast forward to today and the most encouraging thing that I heard was Larry Kudlow’s analysis that Herman Cain could emerge as one of three GOP candidates to emerge from the New Hampshire primaries and have a large impact on the GOP campaign.   This is just one of the many glowing comments I have heard from right  wing luminaries when they discuss the possible candidacy of Herman Cain since his outstanding South Carolina debate appearance.    I have yet to read or hear a single comment from Mr. Cain that I disagree with.   Implementing all of his proposed policies would totally change the arc of government in this country.  Even, if only a small part of his policies are implemented, the result would be a smaller, leaner government for the first time in my lifetime.   Changing the trajectory of government growth to one of shrinkage is the biggest dream I have had since I started following politics over 30 years ago. 

Imagining a Herman Cain presidency is a bit premature at this point, yet it is certainly not impossible, nor is it as unlikely as the MSM and much of the GOP beauracracy would like us staunch conservatives to believe.  It may never happen, but a Herman Cain presidency would be a true conservatives wet dream for many, many reasons.   Look beyond his solid economic plan credentials, that 90% or more of true conservatives and a majority of the country  would solidly support.   Look beyond his support of constitutional principals that would make us ecstatically happy.  Look at the absolute DESTRUCTION of the Democratic party that a Cain presidency would likely wreak!   The African American  voting block could be permanently realigned as part a Cain presidency.  I would not expect more than 20-30 percent of the African American voting block to desert the Democratic party.   But bringing the percentage of support of the Democratic party down from the near monolithic 90 percent they currently have to say 70 or even 60 percent would absolutely DEVASTATE the Democratic party.   A successful presidency could bring that number down even further. Imagine what would happen if the Democrats would actually have to appeal to the African American voting block rather than take their votes for granted as they currently do.   The change would result in the neutering or permanent reduction in the support of the Democratic party to such low levels that politics in this country could be permanently changed in a very conservative direction. 

Imagine a Cain/Rubio ticket in the election and the first 4 years of a Cain presidency.  With a newly supercharged economy as a result of the enaction of the Cain agenda, he will win re-election in a walk like Reagan did in 1984.  That would result in a Marco Rubio presidency in 2020 and a permanent realignment of the two voting blocks that the Dems currently take for granted.  Imagine the devastation wreaked on the Dems voting blocks by a successful African American presidency followed by a successful Latino presidency!  

Not only does a Cain presidency represent the possible enactment of nearly all of my conservative goals and values, but the wholesale destruction of the Democratic party!   This represents a two-fer that I could not imagine in the depths of my despair in 2008 when Obama was elected.   This twofer is not why I will support Cain in the coming primaries and elections, but it represents a goldilocks scenario that I think the Dems will shudder to consider!   I only pray that the Dems keep their heads in the sand and fail to consider the long term affects of a Cain presidency long enough to allow him to become the GOP nominee.   A SUCCESSFUL Cain presidency could result in a permanent realignment of the country in such a conservative direction that liberals/dems/progs could see their influence reduced so thoroughly that the Democratic party would have to totally reinvent itself to even survive as a party. 

If I can imagine the effects of a Cain presidency on the Dems, SOMEONE on the left will realize the immense danger to them of a Cain presidency.   To prevent this devastation, the Democratic party will begin to bring all of their heavy artillery to bear in the primary season to try to influence the selection of the eventual GOP nominee.    Preventing the liberals from interfering with the GOP nominating process is impossible, but minimizing its effects is what I dearly hope for.  In 2008, their media influence gave us John McCain and we all know how well that worked out for us!  Having Fox host the first GOP debate is a great first step.   Keeping the GOP candidates debating on a level ‘Fox’ type playing field and staying away from lame stream media events will help.  I would certainly like to enlist more ideas on how true conservatives can maintain their own narrative and control the GOP nominee process, rather than cede that control to the MSM as happened in 2008.  Conservative media outlets are more prolific and powerful than ever.  They don’t match the power of the MSM, but they are beginning to balance the scales.  If we can keep that balance, we have a chance to select a true conservative to serve as our standard bearer in 2012. If that is the case, I think Cain will win the nomination in a walk and get 55-60% of the popular vote in the general.  Dear God, please allow the destruction of our enemies on the left to begin next year!