Posted on 05/23/2011 7:36:21 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
D.G. Myers of Commentary thought it was a huge gaffe, Jonah Goldberg was “underwhelmed” by Cain’s performance, and Jim Geraghty thought the resulting kerfuffle over the “right of return” answer was much ado about nothing. I’m somewhere between Myers and Goldberg. Jim’s right that this is, for 90+ percent of the public, a boutique issue that won’t affect how they vote. It’s hardly disqualifying. But then he says:
All Cain’s comment did was reveal that he hasn’t given more than a moment’s thought to what the Palestinians — you know, the folks who elected Hamas to run their government and who danced on 9/11 — are demanding. I suppose that if you cling to the idea that only thing holding back peace in our time is a sufficient number of White House all-nighters on creative cartography, then yes, you would want a president familiar with “right of return” and the whole cavalcade of Palestinian demands. If you think the root of the problem is a culture that celebrates suicide bombers more than doctors and entrepreneurs, then this looks like small potatoes; all the presidential familiarity in the world with the “right of return” argument won’t make much difference.
It’s one thing to hear the argument and to rule it out as a red herring, it’s another never to have heard it in the first place — in which case, how can you make the sort of bold pronouncements about Israeli/Palestinian negotiations that Cain’s making here? Watch what he says at the very end of the clip, after he blanks on the phrase “right of return.” Quote: “I don’t think they [i.e. Israel] have a big problem with people returning.” Really? They have an existential problem with people returning, actually; Bibi himself made that point in the course of his now-famous lecture in the Oval Office last week. Cain obviously cares passionately about this issue, but then so do a lot of conservatives and yet somehow they’ve seen fit to acquaint themselves with the “right of return.” Are the writers at Commentary, say, poorer advocates for Israel because they know the Palestinians’ arguments? Was Bush?
This wasn’t the only case where Cain took a de facto pass on foreign policy either:
GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain said Sunday he doesn’t have a plan for the war on terror and won’t share his thoughts with voters until he gets into the White House.
“The right approach is that the day I’m elected, I would start on that plan,” he told “Fox Sunday News.”
Mr. Cain, former Godfather’s Pizza CEO, said he can’t make those decisions until he sees intelligence files that he is not privy to at this point.
How would an Obama/Cain presidential debate on foreign policy and counterterrorism proceed if he can’t outline a plan until he’s sworn in and starts getting CIA briefings? As Reason’s Mike Riggs recently noted, there’s an odd dynamic here where on the one hand Cain is modest almost to a fault about making any commitments abroad until he has maximum information from U.S. intel, and on the other hand he’s fiercely pro-Israel despite seemingly not knowing the most basic basics about the Palestinians’ most basic demands. Why?
I’m curious to see where commenters come down on the Myers/Goldberg/Geraghty spectrum. There were a lot of facepalms in yesterday’s Headlines thread about this, but whether that’s because people agree with my take here or whether our very large, very strong Palin constituency is eager to score points on Cain before he poses a serious threat in Iowa, I don’t know. Let’s find out!
CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO
BUMP
cain’s honesty will work for him.
Cain just issued a clarification to his “Right of Return” remarks
http://secure.campaigner.com/Campaigner/Public/t.show?KiIe—7yBR-eH60S8
(Stockbridge, GA)- In an interview this morning on FOX News Sunday with Christopher Wallace, Herman Cain addressed the issue of “right of return” for the country of Israel. In clarification of these remarks, Mr. Cain released the following statement: I have long been a vocal and unwavering supporter of our friend and ally, Israel.
All Israeli governments have rejected the “right” of large numbers of Arabs or Palestinians to return to what is now the state of Israel. Such an en masse return would unbalance Israel’s demographic makeup as the world’s sole Jewish state.
In this light, should the “right of return” “be negotiated,” as I said, “if that is a decision that Israel wants to make”? Certainly, and to reiterate, it’s Israel’s call. Israel has a long record of being more gracious to its enemies than its enemies are to it, and this would be yet another example of that. But is the “right of return” a moral imperative? Is it something Israel must grant? Is it something the United States ought to encourage?
The answer is no on every count.
Our policy on Palestinian affairs must be wholly a function of our policy on Israeli affairs. Israel is a friend. Israel is an ally. Israel shares common values with us. Israel shares common interests with us, especially in the eradication of terrorism and the need for bringing peace to the region. As President, I will never lose sight of these basic facts. Any aspirant to the Presidency must have the unshakable US-Israeli alliance at the core of his or her strategic vision in the Middle East.
As your President, I would.
Cain did fine. I heard the interview.
This is BS from Romney and Team Romney, backstabbers
that they are.
Ditto and agreed.
If you want an amateur then you have to accept the shortcomings thereof. Foreign affairs are not something most non-politicians are up on. There is a reason politics is a profession.
Agreed. Cain is doing fine.
They’re going to divide Israel and create a Palestinian “state”.
One of these days.
You can see it coming.
I've yet to see the interview. Is this an accurate description of what Cain said?
Herman thought the question referred to the right of returning obama to kenya.
The Arab-Israeli issue is intractable, as has been demonstrated time and again since 1919. The results since Oslo shows that the peace-process is a sham.
Or his open or closet supporters.
Harriet Miers for president.
Hopefully, after many years in the slammer.
The right of “return” (reallly a right of invasion) only matters to Muslim sympathizing liberals who will never vote for a Republican anyway. This is just the start of the anti conservative attack machine.
In Herman Cain’s defense: the “right” of return is such an illogical and preposterous demand that I don’t see any reason a rational man not steeped in the irrational world of international politics would know much about it.
“They want them to do WHAT?” is the only rational response.
He just had to have it later in life than most.
He DOES need foreign policy advice.......but he is STRONGLY pro-Israel.....and that’s good enough for me. I’m not giving up so easily.
“right of return” is hardly worth thinking about.
It’s as stupid as saying prior occupants of your real estate have the right to not only take that land back, but also to take all your stuff because it happens to be sitting on that land.
It is a rhetorical tool used by someone not interested in a legitimate solution.
Yes it is.
True, Cain has no foreign policy experience, but that complaint is made against every presidential candidate running against an incumbent. Besides, unlike Obama, Cain’s ultimate foreign policy goals, however his policies may evolve, are 100% focused on preserving America’s best interests and national sovereignty.
what recent president had any foreign policy experience. None since GHWB.
While Romney does fit that bill, I am not sure if he is the only one who would try to get Cain out of the way. There are some people who think that their candidate should get a free pass, and I am sure that they would be perfectly satisfied with trying to sabotage Cain to clear a path for their preferred nominee.
How could anyone’s foreign policy be worse than Obama’s?
W had some experience. He had to deal with Mexico and foreign delegations, businesses, leaders etc. as Governor. Certainly nothing like his dad but more than anyone since him.
I'm sure it has occupied a lot of your valuable thinking time over the last 40 years?
The fact of the matter is that for all intents and purposes Nobody has thought much about it. It hasn't been an issue. Not until Obama and Bibi went head to head on the issue. The fact is that Obama hadn't thought about it and then went and proposed it as part of his middle east (destroy Israel) peace plan.
Honestly, had YOU given it much thought at all before yesterday?
Allahputz strikes again.
Ouch. Given that the primary job of the president is to protect this nation, Cain's feeble response to that question is as puzzling as it is wince-inducing.
Hey, I would take Cain over Urkel everyday of the week and twice on Sunday but that does not change the fact that politics is played by professionals. An amateur has as little chance as a Park League player would have if elevated to the National League.
You cannot be serious if you think you can start at the top without years of training in actual politics.
Rich guys occasionally can buy a Senate seat: Kohl, Liebermann, Corzine, etc. But these are not that common.
Cain needs to forget a presidential campaign, throw his backing to Sarah and win a House seat.
I’d like to see a GOP candidate finally ‘fess up to the truth:
“We’re not about to solve the middle east’s problems any time soon, so I haven’t spent a moment thinking about an issue that doesn’t matter to Americans.”
AS Cain likes to say "and how is that working for you"?
I observe that Mr. Cain is running for President of the United States, not Prime Minister of Israel. I would expect his prioities to reflect that fact.
From all I can see Cain is a fine man but there is no chance he can win the nomination. He needs to start at a reasonable place in the political world to show he is at least realistic. Quixotic quests for the top without experience casts considerable doubt as to that realism.
I don’t give it even a milli-second’s thought. I don’t care what any candidate for POTUS has to think about it. It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other, and people who judge a candidate by his/her answer to a question on this issue should decide whether this is a silly question that the press hits GOP candidates with (like Bush being asked who was the president of Pakistan before 9/11), or whether the person who invests so much importance in this question might not better move to Israel and cease burdening Americans with what are domestic issues of another country.
He said he cant formulate a plan until he see’s the intelligence files.
That seems like a wise and prudent answer.
Baloney. I'm a big Palin backer, and a determined opponent of Romney. I like Cain generally, but I saw with my own two eyes his look of bewilderment and his groping about to get his bearings. I knew enough about the right of return to experience shock at his one-size-fits-all plan "let them negotiate" their own suicide. To those of us who know the issue, it just cam across as a BS moment. Sorry. I've been to Israel. I have mingled with the people there in a personal context, and I can tell you this comment ... well, it's like the student whom the teacher call to the front to solve a differential equation and the student chalks out 2 + 2 = 4, sits down, and pats himself on the back, not even realizing how bad he looked to those who know the true nature of the problem. Underwhelmed is putting it politely.
If that’s a dealbreaker for you, you’re a fool.
There’s a learning curve to anything.
Silly HotAir post, as so many are these days. The (phony) “Right of Return” is a rather less well-known part of the Arab-Israeli conflict. So Cain - who made his name fighting ClintonCare in 1994, and stressing economic issues - can be forgiven for not being particularly aware of it.
Ron Paul much?
I don’t blame politics or politicians for our current quandry. I blame those who elected the latter. It is the electorate which falls for every flimflam man who comes down the pike. Is there any dumbassed scheme which it has not fallen for?
BUT it always has acted like this after the first three presidential elections. Starting with the 1800 election of Jefferson class warfare has been the dominant ideology of the Democrat Party since then with rare exceptions.
So the nation has survived despite all those democrats.
IMHO, I’m looking for a candidate that, when President, will stand with our allies 100%, and lead us in the utter destruction of our enemies. No helping them rebuild. Not one dollar to help them. Destroy their cities and infrastructure, then come home. Within 4 years, our military could destroy any and every middle eastern nation that engages in a war with us, ridding the world of these nazi-inspired psychopaths.
IMHO, our next President should get Congress to issue a blanket declaration of war against any muslim-terror nation who publicly or in other clear evidence declares war on us.
IMHO, Mr. Cain is the best man for that job, since I don’t think any candidate (or anyone) has mentioned a “blanket war declaration” yet, but certainly if we are attacked he would give the order to retaliate vigorously.
There’s nothing at all complicated about mideast politics: mooselimbs are murderous liars, that’s about all one needs to know. The only policy option is to ignore their “right of return” babbling and simply attack them if they look at you the wrong way. Works with any bully and that is what they are, they have no honor, they pick on the weak and defenseless.
To be successful with them, all a U.S. President needs to do is be tough on them.
“I’ve yet to see the interview. Is this an accurate description of what Cain said? “
No, that is a distortion of what he said.
Here, watch for yourself. It took me 15 seconds to find it on YouTube.
Make up your own mind, don’t let others tell you what to think.
“I’ve yet to see the interview. Is this an accurate description of what Cain said? “
No, that is a distortion of what he said.
Here, watch for yourself. It took me 15 seconds to find it on YouTube.
Make up your own mind, don’t let others tell you what to think.
“I’ve yet to see the interview. Is this an accurate description of what Cain said? “
No, that is a distortion of what he said.
Here, watch for yourself. It took me 15 seconds to find it on YouTube.
Make up your own mind, don’t let others tell you what to think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDG-uvE1UOM
He wasn’t prepared for the questions but it is early.
Stop jumping on bandwagons. Let’s see what the guy stands for first. Recent bandwagon candidates were obama, Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, and Scott Brown. All were initially though to be the best thing next to the Messiah, but turned out to be flawed (or worse).
Herman Cain worries me. He says the right stuff, but he’s an insider and “elitist” in the mold of a George Bush or John McCain. He supported TARP and RomneyCare.
Also, he was a Chairman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Board and basically laughs at the prospect of additional oversight. Some loudmouths have wrongly accused me of being a Ron Paul. I’m not, but I do like his position on the FED. Since 1913, the FED has destroyed the currency by 95%. Without the FED’s printing of fake money the government couldn’t keep spending like it is. At the least, I encourage people not to swoon for him ignorantly like the left did for obama.
Even those with slight familiarity of the Israeli-Arab conflict (there is nothing which makes up a “Palestinean” people) should know about this issue.
You can’t play in the majors if you can’t hit a curve ball.
I could forgive most people who do not know that the Palestineans are an entirely phoney creation of the KGB in the sixties. Created by their creature, Yasser Arafat, an Egyptian.
“If you want an amateur then you have to accept the shortcomings thereof. Foreign affairs are not something most non-politicians are up on. There is a reason politics is a profession.”
I like Herman Cain’s own answer to the absolutely ridiculous idea that politicians need to be “professionals” (i.e., “career politicians.”):
“I’m proud that I’m not an insider. You’ve got nothing but professional politicians running things now. HOW’S THAT WORKING OUT FOR YA?”
That answer put a lot of people in their place.
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