What to Read on Herman Cain
On the Ropes With Herman Cain -- T. A. Frank
In October, Cain had to undo damage from the following: a suggestion to put up an electrified fence on the Mexican border, statements endorsing a woman’s right to choose, an apparent unfamiliarity with the terms "right of return" and "neoconservative," a tentative thumbs-up to negotiating with Al Qaeda for prisoners and news stories of a completely mismanaged campaign.Now allegations of sexual harassment have drowned out pretty much anything else related to Herman Cain. And if that’s in any way a blessing, it’s only because it diverted attention from what may have been some serious violations of campaign-finance laws.Herman Cain gets away with stuff like this -- stuff like being inconsiderate or egomaniacal, or just stuff like saying absolutely the wrong thing. An ordinary candidate wouldn’t recover from saying that he wouldn’t appoint Muslims to his cabinet...Most of [Cain's] former staff members...speak of a man so egotistical that careful self-policing would never really enter into the realm of consideration.They also speak -- bitterly -- of a candidate with zero interest in policy... They speak of unrelenting self-absorption, even by the standards of a politician.
Cain’s proposed tax plan would replace all existing federal taxes with three new taxes: a flat nine percent individual income tax, a flat nine percent “business tax,” and a nine percent national sales tax.Moreover, under the 9-9-9 plan, the United States government would collect about $340 billion less in revenue in 2011 alone.
Herman Cain: Nein, Nein, Nein! -- Justin Raimondo
[Cain wrote] that the "war on terrorism" is a conflict that "will be fought forever."Cain promotes the views of Pastor Rod Parsley, an evangelical nut-job who not only teaches Islam is an "anti-Christ religion" based on "deception," and that the prophet Mohammed was a "demon spirit," but also claims "America was founded in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed."[Cain believes] that "World War III" has already started...: "In WW III, our enemy is the irreconcilable terrorist wing of a religion -- Islam -- and a handful of nations that harbor terrorists and fund their activities. Those nations include Iran, Syria, Venezuela and North Korea."I’m sure Hugo Chavez will be very surprised to learn he’s been lording it over a Muslim country rather than a staunchly Catholic one -- and I can only imagine the look on Kim Jong Il’s face when he he hears the muezzin’s call to prayer ring out over the streets of Pyongyang.
The Flat-Tax Fraud -- Robert Reich
[The] non-partisan Tax Policy Center estimates that Cain’s plan (the only one out there so far) would lower the after-tax incomes of poor households (incomes below $30,000) by 16 to 20 percent, while increasing the incomes of wealthier households (incomes above $200,000) by 5 to 22 percent, on average.Under Cain’s plan, fully 95 percent of households with more than $1 million in income would get an average tax cut of $487,300. And capital gains (a major source of income for the very rich) would be tax free.