Calling Herman Cain a “minstrel” is out of bounds
To my regulars: The subject of this post requires maturity and civility. If you cannot act responsibility, please don’t comment here.
A black writer who posts under the name Chauncey DeVega has written a vicious, sophomoric and unfair takedown of black Atlanta businessman Herman Cain, calling him a “minstrel for CPAC.” (h/t Dave Wiegal)
Instead, Herman Cain’s shtick is a version of race minstrelsy where he performs “authentic negritude” as wish fulfillment for White Conservative fantasies. Like the fountain at Lourdes, Cain in his designated role as black Conservative mascot, absolves the White racial reactionaries at CPAC of their sins. This is a refined performance that Black Conservatives have perfected over many decades and centuries of practice. . .
In the money shot, Cain gives the obligatory “black folks who are not Republicans are on the plantation” speech to the joyous applause of his White benefactors. And he doubles down by legitimating any opposition to President Barack Obama as virtuous and patriotic regardless of the bigoted well-springs from which it may flow.
I find that kind of criticism of black conservatives deeply offensive because it presumes that they are not entitled to think differently. Isn’t that the essence of racism — the notion that all black folk must think and act alike? Don’t racists make that very assumption?
There are very few things that Cain and I agree about. He has adopted the most rightwing views of the current Republican party, including the deluded notion that U.S. currency should be based on the gold standard. He is dead wrong about the Affordable Health Care Act, which he compares to health care in Great Britain or Canada. It has little in common with the health care systems of those countries. He believes in a fantasy called the FAir Tax.
But black men and women gave their lives in the civil rights movement so black folk like Herman Cain come applaud those rightwing principles if they chose. He is a wealthy businessman — and the more wealthy black businessfolk there are, the more black Republicans there are likely to be.
Besides, Cain was no more a ‘minstrel” than any of the other speakers who came before a rightwing audience trying to tell them what they wanted to hear.
On Wednesday, I wrote about Cain’s flirtation with a presidential campaign:
WASHINGTON — Herman Cain received no ringing endorsement for a presidential bid here last week, when he spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of hyper-conservatives. In the ritual straw poll of delegates, Cain received only two percent of the vote — clustered near the bottom of a list of 15 possible contenders.
That’s not the only suggestion that conservative activists would greet a Cain presidential bid — should he decide to run — as a wealthy man’s folly. At National Review Online, a must-read for inside-the-Beltway conservatives, writer Jonah Goldberg dismissed Cain’s chances in December. “. . .it’s hard to imagine him amounting to more than an exciting also-ran,” Goldberg wrote.
Indeed, Cain himself is given to joking about his prospects. A black businessman, radio talk show host and motivational speaker, he likes to refer to himself as “a dark horse.” He’s never held elective office; he came in a distant second to Johnny Isakson in a 2004 bid for the GOP Senate nomination.
Still, Cain, an Atlanta native and Morehouse grad, has spent a long career challenging the odds. He says that his Web site, set up for his presidential campaign exploratory committee, has drawn volunteers in the tens of thousands. Affluent donors are also ready to support him, he told me last week.
As for CPAC, Cain has at least moved up a bit in the pecking order. Last year, he said, he was given an 8 a.m. speaking slot, when very few delegates filled chairs in the main ballroom. On Friday, he had a 4 p.m. speaking slot and received, at a few points, enthusiastic applause.
But he used his time to give a very un-candidate-like speech — full of slogans and platitudes but lacking substance. It was the very opposite of that given by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose speech laid out substantive points of policy — he would replace the Environmental Protection Agency, for example, with an “environmental solutions agency,” he said — as well as the standard Obama-bashing rhetoric.
Still, as Cain would likely point out, Gingrich, who has a national profile, didn’t do much better with the delegates, polling only 5 percent. In an e-mail, a Cain spokesman said: “Mr. Cain came out ahead of other potential contenders such as Haley Barbour, John Thune and Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, all seasoned Republican leaders.”
So, will Cain run? A spokesman said he is “a few months” away from making an announcement. There’s no hurry since none of the 15 potential candidates in the straw poll has formally declared a candidacy.
If he launches a bid, he will have to give up the considerable income he draws from the corporate boards on which he serves: Hallmark, Whirlpool and Agco — a Duluth, Minn.-based manufacturer of agricultural equipment. (He has already suspended his radio talk show, which aired on AM 750 WSB.)
But he actually has little to lose. A presidential bid would raise his profile — and likely increase potential income from speaking fees. He clearly enjoys the attention he receives as the rare black ultra-conservative who commands the respect of newly-empowered tea party activists.
Cain came to national attention in 1994, when, as the CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, he challenged then-president Bill Clinton about his health care proposals in a televised forum. Shortly thereafter, Cain was elected board chairman of the National Restaurant Association, an organization which dedicated itself to beating back what would have been “ClintonCare.” That makes Cain a go-to guy for conservatives who want an experienced businessman to denounce the Affordable Health Care Act.
In addition to tea party bona fides, Cain has the ambition of a man with a new lease on life, having survived State 4 colon cancer.
“I only had a 30 percent chance of being here talking to you today,” he told me last week. “God said, ‘Not yet.’ . That was one of those defining moments that got me to (this) point today.”
That point is a hair’s-breadth from a presidential campaign.
— Cynthia Tucker
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365 comments Add your comment
Keep up the good fight!
February 17th, 2011
10:51 pm
Scout Zero…did I hurt your feelings? You dont think that anyone who is of the Islamic faith might consider it personal? Or perhaps your racial attacks? You make it personal and offensive daily and yes, I make it my style to do point out the racists and xenophobes who post utter nonsense.
Thanks for your nonsense.
Thulsa the Doom
February 17th, 2011
10:53 pm
Willie,
Allan Keyes is too conservative for the rino republicans- that is why he left. Your idea that 10 Tea Party members couldn’t identity Steele, Williams, Sowell simply shows your vast ignorance- you know not of what you think. You just think you do and that is your opinion.
I think the tea party members know a heck of a lot more about the constitution than voters of a party who have to be rounded up like sheeple, given $5 to vote Dem, and driven by busloads to a polling place to vote Democrat. And that sir is a fact.
Thulsa the Doom
February 17th, 2011
10:54 pm
Willie,
Take the blog back. I’ll be back in an hour or so.
willie lynch
February 17th, 2011
10:57 pm
Thulsa the Doom
February 17th, 2011
10:54 pm
Doom, who are you, really?
StJ
February 17th, 2011
10:59 pm
“He clearly enjoys the attention he receives as the rare black ultra-conservative who commands the respect of newly-empowered tea party activists.”
But wait…how is this possible?
The Tea Party is just a bunch of looney racists, right???? Didn’t someone have photographic proof of this a while back? A sign, Confederate flag, guy wearing a sheet, oh wait, not to mention the entire crowd at the rally was white. No black people to be found.
Then how is it possible that a black man can command their respect?
november cant come soon enough
February 17th, 2011
11:05 pm
Interesting that you can organize yard sales in Chicago and you are qualified to be President , but if you are CEO of a multi million dollar company you are just a lap dog .
MJ
February 18th, 2011
12:09 am
Listen here people. RESPECT one another and try walking in love. All Americans have the right to choose as they may. RESPECT it. I say decide where you stand on issues important to our country, family, and society according to your faith and your knowledge of the truth. HATE what is evil and do what is GOOD always. We black republicans know our history from slavery to freedom, from voting rights to civil rights (thanks Republicans) and from Lincoln to present. That is why we are free, successful and independent thinkers. We know the true racist history of the Democrat party and decided to not be enslaved by them. RUN! Try something new since liberal led cities and towns are failing still today after over 40 years of democrat rule. Facts are being Hidden from you today but well documented. We desire change for a better life. That is why we are black conservatives. Stop hating us and get rid of that sickness in your hearts and love one another and respect each other’s choices. Black conservatives love you and respect your choice. You all need Jesus Christ! I am praying for all of you.
Franco de St Louis
February 18th, 2011
12:15 am
Cynthia, Although your work had long since forfeited the conceit of fair journalism, your choice of Herman Cain as your subject compels me to comment: Bravo! In the coming months, you just may find that white conservatives like me find Herman Cain every bit as compelling as we find Barack Obama repugnant, and on the same basis: his beliefs and policies. Race has never been an issue for me, but the monsoon of erroneous and pathetic complaints, from the professional Left, of racism against anyone who finds the Obama administration hopelessly naive and unprepared to govern, have given folks like me all the more reason to support a successful American businessman like Herman Cain…keep up the good (ideologically blind propaganda) work.
Hootinanny Yum Yum
February 18th, 2011
12:19 am
Why is calling Herman Cain a “minstrel” out of bounds, but calling people Flat-Earthers, Birthers, Lunatic Fringe, Repugs, Neo Cons, and Tea Baggers okay?
ken
February 18th, 2011
1:02 am
He has his name on pay checks. He is a producer and not a democratic LEACH.
ken
February 18th, 2011
1:04 am
He is black, I am white and he has my vote.
Bushie
February 18th, 2011
6:18 am
The underlying idea that you have to be a democrat or are some how sled loathing and a traitornto your race is really then racist idea. If amwhitenman used the languagenof the Internet poster, younwould agree that it’s racist.
The term racist actually means something . It’s more than a perjorative for people who disagree with you.
ck hall
February 18th, 2011
6:24 am
I would vote for him!
BitterEXdemocrackkk
February 18th, 2011
6:37 am
black conservatives have been practicing for ‘decades and centuries’? Chauncey needs to ’splain
dis.
BitterEXdemocrackkk
February 18th, 2011
6:38 am
Ron Paul / Herman Cain 2012 !!!
I.C. Bias
February 18th, 2011
7:06 am
I rarely agree with you, CT, but good column this time.
I find Chauncey DeVega’s remarks particularly offensive because what I read in them is an admonishment to Herman Cain for (in DeVega’s mind) getting too uppity and forgetting his place.
How dare a black man have the audacity to believe that he can succeed on his own … and that he’s not beholden to the federal government for his personal success!
I.C. Bias
February 18th, 2011
7:08 am
november cant come soon enough
Interesting that you can organize yard sales in Chicago and you are qualified to be President , but if you are CEO of a multi million dollar company you are just a lap dog .
____________________________
^5
Atlanta 1
February 18th, 2011
7:13 am
When our sitting President was elected I felt it was a mistake. With that said, I was happy for my African American brothers and sisters. This was a mildstone that many of color thought they would not see in their life time.
If Herman Cain runs, I will become a volunteer and do everything I can to help this man be elected, because I truly feel that he is exactly what this country needs. The fact that he happens to be African American has ‘nothing’ to do with the equation, except that it would help the country to continue to move forward.
It will be interesting to see how the left reacts to Mr. Cain, if he somehow becomes the Republican front runner. Do not count this man out. He has beat the odds his entire life.
Atlanta 1
February 18th, 2011
7:14 am
Forgot.
Thank you Ms. Tucker for stepping up.
Have a great weekend!
seabeau
February 18th, 2011
7:32 am
Im am conserative,white and I would vote for Mr.Cain I remember a time in Georgia that no black man was called Mr. A time when no black man would dare wear a hat in the presence of a white person. Great advances have been made in the advancement of my black brothers but their affiliation with liberals has engenered a generation of death and destruction for the black race. Dr.Martin Luther King,s Vision has been bestoed on a generation that has squandered it in sexual imorality ,depravity and lawlessness. These issues makes our intercities death traps for the black race.
hobby
February 18th, 2011
7:38 am
Herman could have had a chance if it were not for Obumer. Whites will not be so fast to vote for a black man — just because of his skin color — ever again! “White guilt” votes won’t be there for the next black candidate.
Walt
February 18th, 2011
7:39 am
Really disgusted
February 17th, 2011
3:57 pm
“I sure hope I’m not considered a regular!”
I’d be really disgusted if you were.
Walt
Jesse Jackson has a scheme for you......
February 18th, 2011
7:42 am
He believes in a fantasy called the FAir Tax.
This CT is why everyone questions if you truly understand finances and economics. The FAIR TAX is the ONLY thing that will bring the American Economy back to prosperity….
CT, please please please STOP drinking so much Obama KoolAid…….it’s truly bad for you…..
hobby
February 18th, 2011
7:47 am
“He is a wealthy businessman — and the more wealthy black businessfolk there are, the more black Republicans there are likely to be.”
Is there a corrollation here? Is CT suggesting this is a bad thing? Or should people remain poor and dependent on the gubment (and democrat?)
How dare a black man become successful! How dare him not stick togethere with other black folk!
How dare him not make his skin color more important than his desire to succeed?
But wait——–CT says that this ’speaking with one voice’ is only expected of blacks—by whites, so they are racist.
WHAT A RACIST HIPOCRITE CT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Racism on the left? Never!
February 18th, 2011
7:48 am
I love how many of the lefties on here are saying it’s ok to call Cain an Uncle Tom because of Cain’s political views. That attitude is the essence of racism and bigotry.
tom turner
February 18th, 2011
7:51 am
Thanks for the second opinion, Ms. Tucker, but I think I will go with the first diagnosis.
CYNT U DESERVE UR JOB
February 18th, 2011
7:53 am
CYNTHIA MCKINNEY=FOR THE PEOPLE
HERMAN CAIN=FOR REDNECK RACISTS
BOTTOMLINE MARTIN LUTHER KING,HOSEA WILLIAMS AND MALCOLM X WOULD CONSIDER HERMAN CAIN A UNCLE TOM!
cosby
February 18th, 2011
7:54 am
Interesting, on one hand you seem to defend Mr. Cain, on the other, you seem to demog him for his conservative views. He has fought the battle both from the race issue to accumulation of wealth and he has won. He knows that it is not “GIVEN” to anyone, but that you must sacrafice and work to get to that point. We all make decisions and those decisons have consequenses. for some, the consequencs is living the good life, for others..well…So why put him down, CT., his views are right on. As for being a dark horse, was not your liberal man – Obama – one a few years ago. Dark horses can win.
wtf?
February 18th, 2011
7:55 am
To my regulars: The subject of this post requires maturity and civility. If you cannot act responsibility, please don’t comment here.
Kam,Granny, Willie,ect. you now have implicit marching orders from your momma CT. This must be the blog she wants to submit for Pulitzer consideration, so make sure to be on your best behavior. You wouldn’t want to think this blog is powered by web trolls, bad jokes and race baiters would you?
Kam – please spell check this for me as per usual
Next blog you can go back to your blind political and racial hatred.
hobby
February 18th, 2011
8:01 am
‘BOTTOMLINE MARTIN LUTHER KING,HOSEA WILLIAMS AND MALCOLM X WOULD CONSIDER HERMAN CAIN A UNCLE TOM!’
black racism at it’s finest!
Jimmy62
February 18th, 2011
8:02 am
I wonder what people think about the Wisconsin stuff? I’m not going to judge the teachers right now, but the Democrats reps that fled the state so there wouldn’t be a quorum as stifling the democratic process and abandoning the jobs they took an oath to perform. They should be kicked out of office, since they obviously don’t care to do their duty.
Bob
February 18th, 2011
8:08 am
Like Bill Clinton Said, ” just a few years ago, he would be getting us our coffee”. Or was Clinton saying that about Obama ?
buck@gon
February 18th, 2011
8:12 am
“The subject of this post requires maturity and civility. If you cannot act responsibility, please don’t comment here.”
HEY Civil Cynthia, I just LOVE the new you. You’re all cute and cuddly.
Hugs,
XOXO
Bob
February 18th, 2011
8:13 am
Lets see, the blacks that run this city are on polar opposites of Cain and we are #2 in crime. That crime stat does not include the criminals at APS that are trying to intimidate witnesses to cover their test cheating scam. So the people that call Cain Uncle Tom seem to be the ones that are fine with high crime and failing schools. If Cain were anti black, he would sit back and watch the current dem black leaders do what they do best instead of trying to fix things.
Cedric
February 18th, 2011
8:16 am
I find that criticisms like those leveled at Cain are more a self-reflection of the accusers’ inadequacies.
I'm breaking up
February 18th, 2011
8:20 am
@Cynthia – I find that kind of criticism of black conservatives deeply offensive because it presumes that they are not entitled to think differently. Isn’t that the essence of racism — the notion that all black folk must think and act alike? Don’t racists make that very assumption?
Watch it Cynthia, you’re being nice and that’s not like you at all. You are the definition of RACISM
Rev. Dave
February 18th, 2011
8:32 am
If I ever vote for a republican again it will be Herman and ONLY Herman.
Producer
February 18th, 2011
8:33 am
Saw the piece about Herman on Fox News last night. Go Herman! I’ll be interested to see his support all over the nation as his profile rises!
Bob
February 18th, 2011
8:34 am
Did the blogger really call Cain the monkey in the window ?
Tychus Findlay
February 18th, 2011
8:39 am
Black or white, Cain would make an excellent candidate for the Presidency because he ISN”T A CAREER POLITICIAN. He has visceral experience about what it takes to run an organization, operate within a budget, and produce a product that people want, not are forced, to buy.
THAT is what makes him viable.
The Ghost of Harry S. Truman
February 18th, 2011
8:39 am
Clarence Thomas put it very succintly: THOU SHALT NOT BE BLACK AND BE CONSERVATIVE.
USMC dawg
February 18th, 2011
8:50 am
“Calling Cynthia Tucker an honest Journalist is out of bounds…”
poisen pen
February 18th, 2011
8:51 am
Tucker states, if you’re a rich Black person than you are likely a Republican, WOW! She wants all Black people to stay poor so they will be on the dole and stay Democrats.
Tucker is what’s wrong with this country and she proves it everytime she writes an article.
poisen pen
February 18th, 2011
9:03 am
I think if Cain gets more popular Tucker & Jay will forget about Palin and start tearing him to shreads.
I am amazed at how many lap monkeys that Tucker has that actually believe her crap.
Plantsmantx
February 18th, 2011
9:04 am
Cynthia Tucker ticks off some of Cain’s policy positions that she disagrees with, implying that they are what Chauncey DeVega should have addressed, but goes on to say “But he used his time to give a very un-candidate-like speech — full of slogans and platitudes but lacking substance.” Exactly, and I think DeVega addressed Cain’s speech on the terms on which he delivered it. I watched the video, and he didn’t really talk about policy. That’s not the worst part of that column, though. The worst part is her refusal (and it is a refusal, because she has to be aware of it) to address things like Cain’s “some black people can think for themselves” crack, and his use of the “blacks on the Democrat plantation” rhetoric, while decrying the supposed black liberal presumption that black conservatives “are not entitled to think differently”. More than anything else, that column reveals Cynthia Tucker’s own fealty to the white political establishment.
MC
February 18th, 2011
9:05 am
Herman Cain’s resume is more impressive to me than Obama’s. He served in the miltary, he’s a proven business leader, and he grew up in America.
Gm
February 18th, 2011
9:07 am
poisen pen: No, the average black voter live in reality, there are plenty blacks who have business and hate the Rep party.
Hermain Cain will be like Richard Steele, white conseratives will use him.
How do these people like Cain think they have a chance especially in Georgia a state that has never elected a black Sen, Gov.
Look at Obama he has cleaned up George W mess and white conservatives hate his guts, Cain, Uncle Clarence and now reality check Steele when are you going to learn.
February 18th, 2011
9:11 am
“<i<Watch your crude language or be banned.”
Yes well you need to lay off this strong-arming.
I would remind you that it’s not possible to truly “ban” someone.
I’ve proven that several times.
jconservative
February 18th, 2011
9:12 am
I am writing the morning after an afternoon column so am late for the debate.
But I will note that Cain is far from being the first “black conservative” on the national stage. He is just another in a long line.
And the line will continue.
That alone makes Chauncey DeVega’s comments on Cain ludicrous.
Me? I consider Cain a CINO – to much of a Big Government guy for my taste.
ctucker
February 18th, 2011
9:13 am
jconservative@9:12, If Cain is too much the “big govt” guy for you, you must be a libertarian