What Sexual Harassment Allegations Mean for Cain
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If there’s one thing everyone across the political spectrum seems to agree on, it’s been a crazy week for Herman Cain, since Politico broke the story about accusations of sexual harassment by three women during Cain’s time at the National Restaurant Association.
There was a lot less agreement, however, on what the allegations mean — and how much they matter. So far, the story doesn’t seem to have hurt Cain’s poll numbers. He’s still tied with Mitt Romney at the head of the pack of potential Republican candidates.
Cain has denied the allegations, maintaining that he has never sexually harassed anyone. But the way he handled the denials has some people scratching their heads about how he could have been so seemingly unprepared for the story to come out.
He initially denied knowledge of a cash settlement for one of the women, but a few hours later, stated that “there was a financial settlement, and it was somewhere in the vicinity of three to six months’ severance pay.” It was later revealed that at least one of the women got a year’s salary — $35,000 — as a settlement.
Despite all the discussion, some people just didn’t want to talk about the allegations at all. On ABC’s “This Week with Christiane Amanpour,” House Speaker John Boehner gave his take on the matter: “I think he and his opponents will have a nice debate about this. I’m not going there.”
Most people though, had a lot to say.
All of the women involved in the cases are still anonymous, and one of them has stated through a lawyer that she doesn’t plan to come forward publicly, something several people this morning said actually helps Cain.
“I’m not going to brush off the anonymity point because I think that’s central to this. We don’t know exactly what he’s allegedly done,” Gary Bauer, president of American Values told Candy Crowley on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And we don’t have the names of any accusers, so I’m not surprised at all that it hasn’t moved his support and it certainly hasn’t changed my opinion of him.”
Others argue that the fact that there are any allegations at all — even anonymous ones — is a red flag that should raise more questions.
“I don’t have all the facts on this case, but sexual harassment is serious. We have to protect women in the workplace,” former democratic Gov. Bill Richardson said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I think Mr. Cain has to answer these questions.”
Still others say the accusations are just a distraction from more important policy issues, like jobs and taxes.
“The allegations against his program, his liking the Federal Reserve and his national sales tax — yes, they are very legitimate,” Rep. Ron Paul said on “FOX News Sunday.” “Those other allegations, these problems that he had — no … I think the media blew this way out of proportion. I think there are a thousand stories out there, and I think that dilutes the real debates.”
Cain also had a foreign policy gaffe this week, when he stated that China was attempting to develop nuclear capabilities; in fact, China has been a nuclear power since the 1960s. While the focus on Cain has mostly been on the sexual harassment story, at least one of his opponents says Cain’s apparent lack of awareness of foreign policy is a bigger problem.
“I think, at some point, the substance really does matter. And you’ve got to have a commander in chief who actually understands the world in which we live,” former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, one of Cain’s rivals for the GOP presidential nomination, said on “Meet the Press.” “It’s complex, it’s confusing, it’s unpredictable. And it would be nice to have a president in office who actually had a head-start and actually knew them intimately well in terms of the economics and the security issues involved.”
Huntsman also served as ambassador to China for the Obama administration.
Newsweek Columnist Niall Ferguson told ABC’s Christiane Amanpour that the foreign policy gaffe should actually be a more serious strike against Cain than the harassment allegations.
“I thought this Oriental embarrassment was worse for him, actually, than the sexual harassment, because not knowing that China was already a nuclear power seems like a bit of a game-changer for somebody’s credibility as a potential president,” Ferguson said. “So when I saw that, I must say, I wrote him off, because if you don’t know that, what else don’t you know?”
Nearly everybody who talked about it this morning said one thing Cain has to do, if he wants to stay alive in the race, is get out ahead of the story and release all the facts on his side.
“I’m not one of the people that thinks this is necessarily fatal. But people need to know what the facts are,” former Republican Party chairman Ed Gillespie said on “Meet the Press.” “And that’s the challenge for him right now — to get those out as quickly as possible. Get it behind him.”
Getting it behind him seems to be exactly what Cain wants. As the week went on, Cain seemingly got more and more frustrated with the amount of attention the media has paid to the story, lashing out at reporters who tried to question him on it.
After a debate with GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich — during which the allegations were not mentioned at all, by mutual agreement — Cain refused to answer any questions about the charges, telling reporters, “don’t even go there,” and asking his chief of staff to send reporters the “journalistic code of ethics,” when they pressed him on the matter.
Whether the sexual harassment allegations will seriously affect Cain’s campaign remains to be seen. He’s currently at the top of the polls, and in a campaign season that has seen the rise and fall of a number of possible candidates, it’s unclear if this is the beginning of Cain’s fall, or if the rest of the Republican hopefuls will have to continue playing catch-up.
“He was flavor of the month. I think his month is up,” former Rep. Tom Davis said on CNN.
“He can fix it, and he still won’t survive,” George Will said on “This Week.” “That is, I don’t think his is a viable presidential campaign.”
But on the other hand, according Ferguson on “This Week” “The Republican field is such a mess that anything’s possible. And it’s perfectly plausible, given the mood in the party amongst the activists, that they … will actually go for Cain.”
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As far as the sexual harassment allegations, it’s the way that he handled it that’s most damning. Once the allegations were revealed, he should have ‘fessed up and gotten it out of the way. The way he’s handled it reveals how unprepared he is to be a viable president of the United States.
Posted by: matyra | November 6, 2011, 9:59 pm 9:59 pm
Hey Cain, if you sexually harass somebody and it comes back to bite you later …IT’S YO’ FAULT!
Posted by: Juju | November 6, 2011, 10:38 pm 10:38 pm
2005 article by Herman Cain on China’s military:
“The U.S. should be less concerned about China’s economic potential than by the military threat it poses. Three Chinese spies were recently indicted in the U.S. for conspiring to steal numerous naval warship technologies. This summer China and Russia participated in a week-long joint military exercise. China’s build up of nuclear, military and space technologies to rival the U.S., and its saber-rattling over Taiwan’s independence, signals a commitment to more red, not green.”
Posted by: JAK | November 6, 2011, 11:04 pm 11:04 pm
Cain seems to have a cynical or distorted view of what it will take to put the allegatiosn behind him. If he thinks in terms of ignoring questions or attacking the media rather than getting all the facts out ASAP, he’s creating a much bigger scandal. If such allegations were made about Barack Obama, he and other conservative opponents wouldn’t accept anything less than full media coverage and total transparency. However, in this case Cain supporters appear to be very insensitive about the seriousness of sexual harassment in the workplace. They want it to be ignored or just go away. I wouldn’t count on that if I were advising Mr. Cain.
Posted by: cloteasboy | November 6, 2011, 11:23 pm 11:23 pm
They are ALL liars, manipulators, and are going to ONLY protect big business, big banks, and big insurance. If anyone thinks differently then you are blind, inept or living in a fantasy world. Doesn’t matter the party, it is all of them.
Posted by: Donsemora | November 6, 2011, 11:37 pm 11:37 pm
Hey Herman “Grope-ster” Cain, your 999 (9.99″) takes on a whole new meaning after this past week. Bow-chicka-a-wow-wow!
Posted by: atheist 1 | November 6, 2011, 11:41 pm 11:41 pm
Still not seeing a problem here. If his name was “Clinton”, his sexual harrassment would be a badge of honor. If his name was “Obama”, his china gaffe would garner no more attention than that half-wit visiting 57 states. Time for everyone to pull up their big person pants and get people working, and not at government jobs, but real jobs.
Posted by: Paine | November 6, 2011, 11:41 pm 11:41 pm
I am deeply disturbed, as a women, a women who has seen creepy guys definitely wield their status as boss to make female employees uncomfortable, feeling obligated to go out to lunch, or have private meetings, or even just take attention they dont want because the boss is the boss, and you smile and nod. I HATE that all these men say “oh, I dont think being accused twice of sexual harrassment is a big thing…” REALLY?????? I DO!!! PLENTY of women do. I’m not surprised that conservative republican do, because frankly, conservative republican hate women and professional women most of all, you know, smart ones, the same ones that probably like to have control over their lives and what the insides of their bodies do. Cain is unelectable. Period. half this population is women, and while it’s oh so lovely to see a panel of men think sexual harrassment is such a nonissue, let me tell you, THEY’RE WRONG! The women of this country will make sure Cain is NEVER president. I promise you that!
Posted by: LadyInWaiting | November 7, 2011, 12:02 am 12:02 am
Still not seeing a problem here. If his name was “Clinton”, his sexual harrassment —-CLINTON DID NOT HARRASS WOMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Look u pthe word HARASS!!! that means UNWANTED. Clinton’s probelm was HE WAS wanted…too much….by women. Clinton was WEAK. He GAVE IN to women WHO WANTED HIM!!! Jennifer flowers had a 12 year affair with him and then got mad WHEN HE BROKE UP WITH HER. Monica Lewinsky was mad at Clinton WHEN HE BROKE UP WITH HER. The women who came forward about Clinton ALL WANTED HIM and were UPSET HE BROKEIT OFF WITH THEM! That is OPPOSITE of harrassing someone who Does NOT want your attention. why is this so hard to understand???? Sexual harrassment is when you are harassing someone who DOES NOT LIKE YOU and you just do not let up and when you are the boss, you hint, or just blantantly tell you, if you do not give me attention, come to my hotel room, etc, you may lose your job! Clinton NEVER did such a thing. CLINTON was the one who was harrassed and that is fact. Lewinsky called him over and over and over trying to get him to see her after he told her they should not see eachother any more. Clinton’s curse was that he was attractive and weak. Cain’s curse is that he was a horn ball and ugly and obnoxious and NOT attractive to women.
Posted by: LadyInWaiting | November 7, 2011, 12:07 am 12:07 am
Cain for nominee = shoe in for Obama for his second term.
Posted by: Johnny Boy | November 7, 2011, 12:09 am 12:09 am
Lady is right. Clinton was seen as a weak man. Not a harrassing man. He cheated on his wife. But. women also could see, he is an attractive man, women are coming on to him. He is not chasing women, having to harrass women who do not want him. He was a man who needed to say no. But he did not have the repulation of a man who held someone’s job over their head as blackmail to get sex. Cltion was not an abusive man. A person who is charged with sexual harrassment is a person who has been charged with abuse. If Cain’s employer thought that paying someone $45,000 was comesurate with the charges of abuse leveled at him, then he did something abusive indeed. If it was a frivolous threat, they could have gotton away with nothing or less than $5k. Half a hundred grand for a settlement says volumes
Posted by: Astrid | November 7, 2011, 12:19 am 12:19 am
” ‘I thought this Oriental embarrassment was worse for him, actually, than the sexual harassment, because not knowing that China was already a nuclear power seems like a bit of a game-changer for somebody’s credibility as a potential president,’ Ferguson said. ‘So when I saw that, I must say, I wrote him off, because if you don’t know that, what else don’t you know?’ ” Perhaps Cain meant North Korea and China was just a slip of the tongue. Is it worse than claiming that there are 56 states as did Obama when perhaps he meant 56 states and U.S. territories?
Posted by: Publius | November 7, 2011, 12:56 am 12:56 am
The state of the Republican party today is directly attributable to “The Days of Darkness”, the 8 years Bush and his weak band of war criminals spent destroying this country. The fact that the Republicans have spent the last 3 years automatically opposing every single step that President Obama has proposed, is going to mean that Obama will be re-elected. If all of his supporters actually get out and vote instead of making excuses because they’re too lazy and too – lets’s say, unintelligent to actually go vote. 20 million Obama supporters were just too lazy to vote for him in the last election.
Posted by: Bob Hamilton | November 7, 2011, 1:19 am 1:19 am
~ AMERICA CAN’T AFFORD TO BR SADDLED WITH HERMAN CAIN’S PROBLEM ~
There no doubt Mr Cains ongoing troubles are from trying to doge or nu-willing to fully con-front them with the world press and the American people only shows his lack of leadership in confronting or dealing with any real problems of crisis that may confront or is confronting our country today. It appears at this point Me Cain is only wanting to use fabrications with race card commercials and finger-pointing to the media and his competitors to evade his issues only is showing his pettiness in handling the matter and his lack of control. To see or not to see a settlement now or ever, is not the unifying issue, The American people need to be solving its own problems it is facing today, and its future , Not any more ongoing or past problems dragged out by Mr, Cain. Just the shock of knowing about his perpetual sexual harassment with woman past or present is enough, and enough is enough ! and his ongoing crisis, enough means enough ! Mr Cain should take a honorable dis-charge from the race if he truly wants to put the best interest of the American people and our future first.
Posted by: mikeokla | November 7, 2011, 1:36 am 1:36 am
LadyinWainting: Clinton was accused of sexual harassment by Paula Jones (not “anonymous”) and of actual rape by Juanita Broderick (not “anonymous”). If all accusations by women are presumed true, why not these? Also, what Clinton did with Monica Lewinsky is by definition sexual harassment in the workplace. A boss cannot have sex with his underling. If you do, it pressures other women (or men) to have sex with the boss to perhaps advance their careers or keep their job.
Posted by: onepotatolawyer | November 7, 2011, 1:56 am 1:56 am
In 1997, Broaddrick had filed a sworn affidavit with Paula Jones’ lawyers, denying that Clinton had ever assaulted her: “During the 1992 Presidential campaign there were unfounded rumors and stories circulated that Mr. Clinton had made unwelcome sexual advances toward me in the late seventies… These allegations are untrue ….”……….. the state troops who brougth Paula Jones to Clinton’s room, at the ONE incident where she claims sexual harrassment, said that when Paula exited the room she said she wouldn’t mind being Clinton’s girlfriend. Neither of these allegations held any water as BOTH said at the time that Clinton was not harrassing him, in fact, Jones WANTED clinton, but alas, again, Clinton declined to make her his girlfriend and it seems once he dumps or rejects women ,they scorn him and either tattle, or claim he was improper even at the time, to friends, those around them, they say they wouldn’t mind getting into his drawers. In the eyes of women, we get it. Monica Lewinsky WENT AFTER Clinton full throttle and when he said he didn’t want to see her anymore, SHE HARRASSED HIM!!! Called him, cried to him, we all heard the tapes, she loved him, she wanted him,… please. Ridiculous you’d try to pass off some girl absolutely throwing herself at Clinton as HIM harrassing HER! For God’s sake, we all heard her! Clinton is the type of guy women chased and every women gets that. He was weak, but he had no need to ever make unwanted advances to anyone, because around the corner was another women throwing herself at him. He would never be lonely. I think this is actually a big cause of conservatives being jealous of him, they’re so tightly wound about not getting any. Cain is the type of guy who makes women’s skin crawl. As said, it’s all nicey nice that men sit around a table and theorize that Cain being accused of sexual harrassment is no big deal, but to women, who see how creepy he is, unattractive, unable to control his impulses in how he acts, how he talks, how overly proud he is of himself, how conceited, it’s VERY believable he would continuously push unwanted advances at a women and threaten her job if she continued to reject the all impressive him. American women will reject Cain en masse. I promise you. He will NEVER be president.
Posted by: LadyInWaiting | November 7, 2011, 3:08 am 3:08 am
A boss cannot have sex with his underling. If you do, it pressures other women (or men) to have sex with the boss to perhaps advance their careers or keep their job—-FICTION.. I’ve been in the professional work world for a long time ,and have seen more than one female sleep with her boss. It does NOT pressure other women to thnk they need to sleep with the boss but it does make other women in the office hate HER, the one sleeping with the boss, as she is a ultimate brown noser! WHen a women THROWS HERSELF at a man, women never blame the man when he simply says “ok”. So you know………………
Posted by: LadyInWaiting | November 7, 2011, 3:14 am 3:14 am
too many red flags are up on cain. he is like palin on foreign policy especially his remark about china and its development of nuclear weapons. one wonders if cain will say he can see china from his backyard. cain may have been a good ceo for pizza but he has absolutely no international relations or foreign policy credentials. one wonders if cain even has an idea of the workings of any level of government. then there are these sexual harrassment allegations which he has denied, then spun, then spun some more. cain is being evasive and secretive. why would anyone want cain to be potus? at least obama was a legislator in ILL, a u.s. senator, a law school professor on the constitution. all cain has, is how do you want your pizza?
Posted by: david | November 7, 2011, 3:32 am 3:32 am
These charges mean absolutely nothing. Politco’s Dan Rather Blunder has merely hurried their own demise. Politco and the mainstream media just took another nose dive. Way down there is popularity polss with Congress is the mainstream press. ABC,NBC, CBS all take a big tumble with this attack on Cain. People are not willing to put up with their trash after they brought us the worst President in history by omitting important information about Obama’s INEXPERIENCE and ineptitude.
Posted by: Kala | November 7, 2011, 5:31 am 5:31 am
To many flip flops with expressions of “they misquoted me” have all come back to haunt Cain. The biggest to date is the Chinese comment on nuclear weapons, the man is running a campaign on the cuff. He never really believed he could win, he was in it to sell his book and make money, just like Palin. So, go ahead nominate him and make yourselves look like the fool he is, Obama will get a second term.
Posted by: Indymind | November 7, 2011, 6:45 am 6:45 am
So, go ahead nominate him and make yourselves look like the fool he is, Obama will get a second term.————–absolutely. We call your bluff. Go ahead, Republicans, put him up. Do it. No fear at all here. Cain is Palin with a tan and horn ball disposition.
Posted by: Johnny Boy | November 7, 2011, 7:31 am 7:31 am
Neither of these allegations held any water as BOTH said at the time that Clinton was not harrassing him, in fact, Jones WANTED clinton, but alas, again, Clinton declined to make her his girlfriend—not to mention…Paula was, no offense, ugly. A dog. Have you seen the women clinton was with??? Jennifer Flowers, whom he had a 12 year affair, was gorgeous. And yes, you’re right, she was mad when he broke it off with her. The guy was married AND had gorgeous women throwing themselves at him, yet you want us to believe that this very ugly women is someone he accosts against her will for sex???? why? He just wanted to try sex with an ugly women? And that ugly women just happened to be heard saying “I wouldn’t mind being his girlfriend!” at the very moment he was later claimed by her to have been making unwanted advances????? the reason no one believed Clinton harassed women is because it was so unbelievable. Oh, I always believed Clinton had sex with many women, but those women threw themselves at him. He was a charming attractive man. He still is, at 65. He’s got “it”, and men are just jealous. Cain will NEVER be talked of as a man who had “it”. He wants it! But if someone walks out of a room saying Cain was after her and she didn’t want him. THAT Is believable in this case! I can hardly imagine anyone wanting to have sex with Cain. He is not an attractive man. He’s annoying and obnoxious and just too much. Just that too much ,ick, stay arms length away type of guy.
Posted by: Maid Marian | November 7, 2011, 7:37 am 7:37 am
At least 99% of men have been guilty of sexual harassment once or twice,when someone complaines of course they lie, now the complaints against women in the work are on the increase, GET OVER IT.
Posted by: pleasechooseanother | November 7, 2011, 7:50 am 7:50 am
First the “-stans”, now we find out that China’s not a nuclear power yet. Did his campaign manager tell him that he would get more votes if displayed a knowledge of foreign affairs that is literally lower than that of seventh grader? He’s giving more ammo to Obama with each and every passing day. I’m waiting for the next expose from the right to get this guy out of the game. We all know the ticket’s going to be Romney/Christi. Cain will be railroaded out.
Posted by: sameagain | November 7, 2011, 7:55 am 7:55 am
Assume he is guilty many times over, will that flaw in his character lessen his ability as president to lead a nation that is heading for default on our debt unless something drastic is done. Most have no idea of the world wide depression that will occur when that happens. He is the only one with a plan, the other candidates well it’s a continuation of the same policies (even Ron Paul has been in congress for years and has headed up the Federal Reserve and has been ineffective in bringing about any change). The same character flaw was a distraction for Clinton only when it became public.
Posted by: Karek40 | November 7, 2011, 8:32 am 8:32 am
What this means is that the media, uniformly have assassinated the character of an individual, with absolutely zero evidence.
They have done this just for reader / viewer sensationalism. Nothing else. We don’t have journalists anymore…….who investigate stories, and get real proof, before they publish……….now we have entertainers, who are have a license to assassinate individuals with absolutely no proof whatsoever.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | November 7, 2011, 8:48 am 8:48 am
The charges and settlement are done but gives insight to Cain’s character. The way he has handled this fiasco speaks VOLUMES of his ineptness. There is no way he could handle the office of the Presidency of the United states. But my biggest thing is this China mistake. NOPE! It was not a gaffe. Believe me when I write (and you read this) that I am not a fan of Sarah Palin at all but had she made such an awful mistake the press would have hung her. Why isn’t the media treating Cain in the same manner? Where are the women to protest this obvious double standard? Heck! Where is anybody to protest this double standard? Condoleeza Rice kind of put a light touch reprimand about these candidates not knowing about the world we liv in. It is important.
Posted by: MyTakeOnThis61 | November 7, 2011, 9:11 am 9:11 am
Hermann Cain was the CEO of a pizza parlor, what makes anyone think he has any knowledge or experience in foreign policy or ecomimics. Herman Cain is not qualified to lead the most powerful nation in the world, not because of these sexual allegations but because he’s just not qualified period.
Posted by: tmferretti | November 7, 2011, 9:25 am 9:25 am
You’re pathetic digging up something he said about China in 2005, I wonder how many thing Pres.Obama has said and the backtracked?? Maybe the statement Pres.Obama made that raising the debtceiling is UNAMERICAN. How much did Pres.Obama know about foreign policy, noone ever ask him. It was always, nice tie, were will you eat tonight and tingles run up my leg when he speaks, plus the slogan Hope and Change, not one of the mainstream media ever ask him what it means, and when ask by a taxpayer he told the americans but the media immediatly dropped it and called the citizen an idiot and how dare he can ask questions like that.
Posted by: Lizzie | November 7, 2011, 10:10 am 10:10 am
“You’re pathetic digging up something he said about China in 2005,…”
and yet “the Right-Less” thought it absolutely acceptable to use Mrs. Obama’s college thesis which was how many years ago? In Cain’s case we are only speaking 6 years. The 7 year immunity clause still has yet to kick in. Yet, I would like defend him on something. With much respect TMFERRETTI, I always have a problem with people and some media dismissing Mr. Cain’s background as just a pizza parlor manager. I t come across to me like; “Oh! he’s only the janitor.” There’s nothing wrong with either job. An honest day’s labor and pay. Anyway… Cain has much lacking and far from ready to manage the USA.
Posted by: MyTakeOnThis61 | November 7, 2011, 10:25 am 10:25 am
MYTAKEONTHISS61
Nobody is criticizing Hermann Cain for being successful in business. The problem is he has no government or foreign policy experience. Look at those tea party members in Congress, they have no idea on how to compromise or negotiate. I know the republicans want someone whose never been in government, I find that insane, I wouldn’t hire a electrician who doesn’t know a volt from an amp. If elected this man is going to have to deal with world leaders who are tough and ultimate Politian’s, he’ll get lost.
Why do you republicans think business men are somehow smarter than anyone else. It shows where your mindset is.
Posted by: tmferretti | November 7, 2011, 11:30 am 11:30 am
It would have been worse if Herman thought that there were 57 states or didn’t know that Austrians speak German or that DVD’s are region specific!
Posted by: Common _ Sense | November 7, 2011, 11:56 am 11:56 am
You’re pathetic digging up something he said about China in 2005
Posted by: Lizzie | November 7, 2011, 10:10 am.
2005? Try TEN DAYS ago! Here is exactly what he said, in response to the question “”Do you view China as a potential military threat to the United States?”
“And secondly, we already have superiority in terms of our military capability, and I plan to get away from making cutting our defense a priority and make investing in our military capability a priority, going back to my statement: peace through strength and clarity. So yes, they’re a military threat. They’ve indicated that they’re trying to develop nuclear capability, and they want to develop more aircraft carriers like we have. So yes, we have to consider them a military threat.”
China tested its first nuclear bomb in 1964.
Cain addressed his statement in an interview with the Daily Caller website. “Maybe I misspoke,” Cain said. “What I meant was, China does not have the size of nuclear capability that we have. They do have a nuclear capability.”
Note that he only “misspoke” AFTER the story broke and AFTER everyone told him the reality of a nuclear China. He is not ready to be President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Period.
Posted by: Searambler | November 7, 2011, 1:12 pm 1:12 pm
Republicans think “harass” is two words…………
Posted by: Searambler | November 7, 2011, 1:44 pm 1:44 pm
SEAR…….Is Herman Cain unaware that China has nuclear capability? From his PBS interview Monday night (hat tip: Ace of Spades):
JUDY WOODRUFF: Do you view China as a potential military threat to the United States?
HERMAN CAIN: I do view China as a potential military threat to the United States.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And what could you do as president to head that off?
HERMAN CAIN: My China strategy is quite simply outgrow China. It gets back to economics. China has a $6 trillion economy and they’re growing at approximately 10 percent. We have a $14 trillion economy — much bigger — but we’re growing at an anemic 1.5, 1.6 percent. When we get our economy growing back at the rate of 5 or 6 percent that it has the ability to do, we will outgrow China.
And secondly, we already have superiority in terms of our military capability, and I plan to get away from making cutting our defense a priority and make investing in our military capability a priority, going back to my statement: peace through strength and clarity. So yes they’re a military threat. They’ve indicated that they’re trying to develop nuclear capability and they want to develop more aircraft carriers like we have. So yes, we have to consider them a military threat.
Posted by: Lizzie | November 7, 2011, 2:58 pm 2:58 pm