Cain Stands by Statement Telling Unemployed "Blame Yourself"
By Craig Gibson on 10/31/2011 @ 11:00 PM
In case you haven’t been keeping up with the ever entertaining and often jaw dropping republican presidential debates, just over a week ago the nomination process headed into the desert for a trip to sin city. The “game show”, as republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman put it, was hosted by CNN’s own Anderson Cooper, and in true Las Vegas nature nothing was off limits. Everything from the immigration status of Mitt Romney’s lawn care workers to Bachman’s embarrassing gaffe on Libya were put on the table as the candidates bet big. By the time the debate had ended, with my hands clenched, I prayed for a bit of Vegas luck myself that the new motto for the gambling mecca would be “Those who debate in Vegas, stay in Vegas.” I was told however, the residents of Nevada were all too happy to see this side show hit the road.
New polling released only hours before the nomination gave some insight into the race for the nomination here in Ohio. Rising star, Herman Cain himself, has shot to the front of the pack leading Mitt Romney by a whopping 15 points. Maybe that wide margin provided Cain with the confidence to make his big gamble that night, or maybe the glitz and glamour of the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino just got to his head. Either way Cain went gutsy by defending the following statement he made in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal.
When asked by host Cooper whether or not he stood by his remarks Cain responded, “I still stand by my statement.” Cue wild applause from the crowd…wait…what? Yes, it seems the most recent victim of the republican debate crowd (now a personality of their own) along with the un-insured, and a gay active duty soldier, is America’s unemployed. Not terribly surprising from the party that has made defending the ultra rich from taxes into a profession I suppose. None-the-less, I thought the crowd in Nevada, the state who ranks number one in unemployment, would be a bit more empathetic.
Here in Ohio we can relate, because when big banks and Wall Street played a risky game of roulette and lost, the burden fell on our backs. Everyday Ohioans saw their homes fall into foreclosure and watched their jobs disappear. Herman Cain may not realize the struggles this economy has left on the people of Nevada and Ohio, but as a former CEO how could he? It’s the very people in his position who rolled the dice with this economy well knowing their million dollar bonuses would shield them from any ill consequences.
Yet again Mr. Cain made it ever more apparent who the Republican Party is looking out for. Defending corporate greed and pinning fault on the very people who have suffered as a result of it. Take Herman’s word for it, “If you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself.”
Craig Gibson is senior at The Ohio State University majoring in political science, and interning in the Ohio Democratic Party’s Communications Department.
