re: Bubble

It is surprising that Cain didn't either leave his answers as a general pro-life support or give a detailed explanation of his position, especially the thinking behind his caveats.  He apparently knew this might be a sticky issue as far back as his contemplated runs for office back in the 1990's.  If he has qualifications or limitations to his support of the pro-life agenda, he needs to get those out there and deal with them up front and clearly.  Because he should know that the other GOP candidates are going to try to out-pro-life each other (except for Mitt, that is).  I guess it is possible he gave an extended answer that got edited, but then again he should know the tricks that the liberal media does.  It is a fool's errand to talk fine points of social policy with the liberal media.

 

I think this is a more balanced, and better reported, piece on Cain's not-so-evolving views:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/280512/cain-and-social-issues-katrina-trinko

 

Cain's clarification here is more in keeping with his past statements, though actually seems a bit tougher:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/280951/cain-i-am-pro-life-conception-no-exceptions-katrina-trinko

 

The bubble bursting?  NRLC seems still satisfied with candidate Cain.

http://www.nationalreview.com/primary-event/280980/nrlc-confident-cains-pro-life-katrina-trinko

 

I'm not sure how much his refusal to sign the Susan B. Anthony pledge will hurt him.  I won't with me.  I think his objections to signing the pledge are appropriate...as are Romney's:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/269984/my-pro-life-pledge-mitt-romney

 

I think Cain's assessment of the hard-line pro-life activists was correct.  They don't leave any wiggle room for the tough issues, and one suspects they are not willing to leave those tough issues to the political process.  It is not enough to have a long and consistently held position.  You need to have a clear and concise statement of that position ready at hand.  And a candidate would do well to stay out of the minefield of personalized hypotheticals like the liberal media loves to pose.  The only candidate who could successfully navigate those would have been Huckabee, and he ain't running.

 

I don't see this helping Romney much, except perhaps to keep the not-Romney camp fragmented.  We'll see if this helps resuscitate Perry.  In Iowa, the latest Rasmussen, taken after the interview, has Cain in the lead:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2012/election_2012_presidential_election/iowa/2012_iowa_republican_caucus

 

Perhaps the news of Cain's "debacle" is slow to get out (quite possible given it's just now hitting Elephants in the Room) and his support will decay.  I wouldn't get too excited yet.  But Cain does need to step up his game.

 

--dmac