herman cain
Herman Cain
Former GOP presidential candidate who "suspended" his presidential campaign on December 3, 2011. Cain was previously the president of Godfathers Pizza, president of the National Restaurant Association, and chairman of a Federal Reserve branch.
Cain dropping out of the presidential race followed a series of allegations of impropriety prior to his campaign. The (possibly organized) effort to get him to drop out of the race was kicked off by Jonathan Martin and others from the Politico.
A video I made in September 2010. The video was about the Teaparties, not about Cain specifically. At the time I thought he was just a radio host who, like others, was simply glomming on to the Teaparty movement.
Lost in all the shuffle are more important facts about Cain:
* He was chairman of the Federal Reserve of Kansas City and CEO of the National Restaurant Association. Both groups are at least currently strong supporters of mass and illegal immigration, and probably were during Cain's tenure.
* His closeness with the Koch family. He appeared at a Koch brothers event during the campaign. His campaign manager, Mark Block, formerly headed the Americans for Prosperity chapter in Wisconsin. And, from this:
AFP tapped Cain as the public face of its "Prosperity Expansion Project," and he traveled the country in 2005 and 2006 speaking to activists who were starting state-based AFP chapters from Wisconsin to Virginia... Cain's spokeswoman Ellen Carmichael, who recently left the campaign, was an AFP coordinator in Louisiana. His campaign's outside law firm is representing AFP in a case challenging Wisconsin campaign finance regulations. At least six other current and former paid employees and consultants for Cain's campaign have worked for AFP in various capacities... "He has made a lot of important connections through AFP," [spokesman J.D. Gordon] said, pointing to Block and Lowrie, among others.
* His role as a representative of the aberrant Tea Parties ideology (see the link).
* His promoters included Andrew Breitbart and the more questionable Pajamas Media.
* On immigration, Cain did more harm than good. He presented absurd border security ideas, some jokingly and some not. That provoked the expected reaction by illegal immigration supporters, and Cain's supporters were completely unable to do anything about it. At the same time, Cain largely ignored the aspects of immigration away from the border. It's not like a former Federal Reserve hack associated with the Koch brothers is going to bring up the all topics discussed on immigration banks, Obama immigration, unemployment, or all the many aspects of the issue that would actually afflict those seeking to profit from massive and illegal immigration.