Your morning jolt: Herman Cain and the power of ‘9-9-9′
The topic of the morning is the mnemonic device – that little trick of memory that allows us, or forces us, to associate a little thing with a larger thought.
GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, derided as a pizza salesman with little political experience, may be demonstrating that he knows something more important than policy – at least as far as campaigns go. Cain is proving himself to be a master marketer.
Take a look at the video clip below from Channel 2 Action News. This is a catch-up piece – Cain makes no news. But after he and reporter Lori Geary are booted from the Four Seasons Hotel in Atlanta, a sidewalk interview turns up two passers-by who are able – 13 months before a general election – to connect a recently obscure candidate to his “9-9-9” policy:
The idea is easily understood: A 9 percent corporate tax rate, a 9 percent personal income tax rate, and a 9 percent national sales tax.
The implications of Cain’s pitch – selling a new, 9 percent sales tax in a general election? – haven’t been fleshed out. But for now, the Stockbridge resident has to be satisfied that voters are making the connection.
***
The previous GOP king of marketing today is re-launching his 1994 success – a new Contract With America. The Des Moines Register has been given an early copy.
Shannon McCaffery of the Associated Press’ Atlanta bureau previews the unveiling, and the former U.S. House speaker’s fortunes, with this stark lede:
A floundering presidential bid has fractured what was once a rock star Republican image. Not long ago, Newt Gingrich sat atop a lucrative political empire, the sought-after intellectual guru of the GOP.
Now, all but broke, he’s traveling coach. His vaunted political operation, American Solutions, has gone under. And he’s finding himself fighting for air time — if not respect — at Republican presidential primary debates.
Gingrich has become an asterisk in the race.
On Thursday, he will try to prove he’s still a player by rolling out a “21st Century Contract with America” — a campaign manifesto he hopes will evoke the glory days, when he stood at the helm of the Republican revolution in the 1990s as the GOP won the House and he won the speakership. Aides cast the new Contract with America as the start of a discussion with the American people about the direction the country is headed.
Is Gingrich still running for president? Or simply seeking to repair his brand, damaged by a campaign that imploded almost as soon as it began?
Maybe both.
Gingrich insists he has his eyes on the White House and argues that the campaign overcame a key obstacle simply by surviving the summer.
“Now we have to see if we can break out or not,” he said recently.
***
The seven-member Georgia Immigration Enforcement Review Board, charged with ensuring compliance with immigration-related state laws, meets for the first time at the Capitol today.
Thousands of people have signed petitions delivered to Nathan Deal urging the governor to rescind his appointment of Phil Kent to the board, calling his views on race and culture “extreme.”
Kent serves as national spokesman for Americans for Immigration Control, which calls for deporting all illegal immigrants and opposes any amnesty or guest worker legislation.
Rascals in building claim tickets for the entertainment are going for as much as $150 per head. We counsel against paying more than $25.
***
State Democrats continued on Wednesday to press for a Senate ethics inquiry into an $80,000 settlement with an African-American secretary, allegedly for racial discrimination.
Walter Jones of Morris News Service was finally able to catch up with the two Republican senators who supervised the secretary, Ethel Blackmon, for three weeks during the special session. Barry Loudermilk of Cassville and William Ligon of Brunswick, both freshmen, say they know nothing about the matter:
“I have never discriminated against her or anyone else,” Ligon said. “The individual did work for my Senate office for a very short time, but she never raised these issues – or any other ones – to me.”
Loudermilk expressed his frustration in a telephone interview.
“I feel like I’ve been dragged down the street, and that’s all I know,” he said. “I don’t get a choice of my secretary. That’s above my pay grade.”
Loudermilk, by the way, is marketing a new book, called “And Then They Prayed,” – a collection of anecdotes from U.S. history. A description from the website:
Stories of these fascinating events which were once quite commonly known among Americans have, for the most part, been forgotten. Stories that were once prominent in our school textbooks, have been removed due to their references to God. As a result of this censorship, these inspiring and true events that shaped our nation have been nearly purged from our national remembrance.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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155 comments Add your comment
bucket
September 29th, 2011
11:52 am
Great point Ramble On!!! The Democrats had the white house, a fillibuster-proof margin in the Senate and an ungodly majority in the house FOR 2 YEARS and they could not pass the legislation that would turn the country around. If they couldn’t do it with those odds they are not able to effectively govern!
Independent voter
September 29th, 2011
11:54 am
Maken pizza does not fix foreign policy, maken pizza does not bring million of jobs, 999 does not fix the economy, fix healthcare.
Which republican have experience bringing million good paying jobs.
DannyX
September 29th, 2011
11:54 am
“Of course, he is going to believe that government is the answer to every problem with that kind of work history.”
Is that how that works? The same kind of work history as say Nathan Deal? You know, the career politician who is personally BANKRUPT and keeps running to DC begging for federal funds? The Governor who has a very well protected no-bid government contract?
Is that why Georgia ranks last in everything?
DannyX
September 29th, 2011
11:55 am
“a fillibuster-proof margin in the Senate and an ungodly majority in the house FOR 2 YEARS”
Now you are making stuff up!!!!
Obama 2012
September 29th, 2011
11:57 am
4 more years, please prove me wrong. (you can’t)
Independent voter
September 29th, 2011
12:00 pm
Atlanta worst metro area for job loss because of republican nathan deal is putting in good ole boy in his office. That why Georgia is one of the worst poverty state and red state under the republican party. 8 years of republican running Georgia in the ground. Perdue and Nathan are the worst governor Georgia ever had.
bucket
September 29th, 2011
12:01 pm
No sir I am not. Beginning in January of 2009 check the stats. The Dems held 59 seats until the Minnesota election was settled and then they had 60. BTW, I didn’t vote for Nathan Deal, but nice try to bring up something totally unrelated to Obama’s inexperience and futility in turning around the economy. The way a true debate works is that I say someone is inexperienced and then you tell me why I am wrong. Since you can’t do that you bring up unrelated topics and challenge the facts.
Independent voter
September 29th, 2011
12:03 pm
I dont see Nathan Deal is trying to fix the poverty and bring jobs to Georgia.
Where is Nathan Deal you never see him out trying to fix the issues Georgia has especially with the unemployment.
RAMBLE ON!!!
September 29th, 2011
12:05 pm
“Atlanta worst metro area for job loss because of republican nathan deal is putting in good ole boy in his office.”
Umm, he’s the Governor of the STATE OF GEORGIA.
I’m sure the MAYOR OF ATLANTA has nothing to do with any of this.
honested
September 29th, 2011
12:08 pm
Luckily, the Country doesn’t hide it’s head under the same bucket as GA…..
So, Obama supporters need to show up at the primary and vote heartily for cain, or perry, or bachmann, or failin, and help free up plenty of money for Congressional races. We have to wrest the country back from the DoNothingHouse before there is no Country to wrest.
Putting somebody like cain in place to run hard for second place frees up huge amounts of money for the General Election while providing huge comic relief along the way.
RAMBLE ON!!!
September 29th, 2011
12:08 pm
Maybe Danny X has been in a coma for the last 3 years.
Do you know who Nancy Pelosi is?
If you said the Wicked Witch of the West, your wrong, but good answer.
Ordinary American
September 29th, 2011
12:13 pm
Independent thanks for trying. Consider this though, I believe the majority of people voted conservative this past mid-term for a Congress to tell our President “No” to all his big government agenda he had pushed through. I agree Bush had done enough already, but do we need even more?
findog
September 29th, 2011
12:14 pm
ramble, you miss one important difference, Obama is following the 60 vote rule in the senate while Bush just had to have 51 for his big items like the tax cuts
Tea Party Hobbit
September 29th, 2011
12:15 pm
Independent Voter…yeah right. Georgia has been one of the bottom states for many decades. Well, since Reconstruction, honestly. Especially when looking at the public education system and poverty levels, this state suffers from the same fate as many southern states. A poorly educated electorate is a hard thing to overcome, especially when the national Dept of Education has done nothing (under Dems or GOP) to improve or even somewhat equalize education in the South. It has become a cultural paradigm, and several groups within southern society even try to play on education as being useless. Until those thought patterns are changed, there will be little progress here.
Atlanta is actually somewhat of an exception. A large influx of people from other areas of the country, where public sentiment towards education is higher, brought demands that somewhat improved at least certain parts of the metro region to having competent public education.
As for politics, there is basically no difference in the type of people representing us in Georgia politics. It has been and remains a good ol’ boy club. They abandoned the Democratic party after their skew to the left during the early Clinton administration, and the shift finally completed a few years back when the GOP completed their takeover of the Georgia legislature. But make no mistake, most of the reps would easily have had a D next to their name had they been elected 15 years ago.
findog
September 29th, 2011
12:15 pm
bucket, wrong again the first tea party senator is from Mass, so he had it for maybe a year
DannyX
September 29th, 2011
12:16 pm
“No sir I am not.”
Yes sir, you are wrong. The election of Senator Brown ended the Democrat filibuster proof Senate. Democrats had a filibuster proof majority less than a year.
And RAMBLE ON, I have heard of Nancy Pelosi, her district is about 100x richer and more prosperous than any of the Georgia House Republican districts. By far.
findog
September 29th, 2011
12:17 pm
bucket, only half right, after MN they had sixty until Kennedy died and was replaced by Brown
try again
Radly
September 29th, 2011
12:18 pm
We don’t need any more politicians….that’s the problem NOW!!!!!!!! We need men…with character who have: business acumen, a desire to lead this country, represent it’s people, and protect /practice Constitutionality!!!!!
Obama Supporter
September 29th, 2011
12:18 pm
Obama is doing a great job!!!
Stimulus spending has saved our economy.
Change we can believe in………………..
RAMBLE ON!!!
September 29th, 2011
12:20 pm
findog, Yup. So?
Are you trying to blame the THREAT of a filibuster as King Obama’s failed Presidency?
Another proof of a man who can’t lead.
Weak excuses for a weak leader.
AT
September 29th, 2011
12:20 pm
Here’s a link for the Godfather’s Pizza story. It illustrates leadership, something this country desperately needs. I like Cain’s matter of fact speech and ideas. There’s no class warfare or catch phrases or plastic political speech that is rampant in Washington these days. Agree with his ideas or not, he comes across as genuine and trustworthy.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2011/jun/10/did-herman-cain-turn-around-godfathers-pizza/
Tea Party Hobbit
September 29th, 2011
12:23 pm
findog, tax cuts are big items? what about a bloated, unconstitutional overhaul of the free-market health care system? The only way that passed is by the 60 vote majority in the Senate and a strong majority in the House. It would utterly fail in both chambers today. Tax cuts, esp back in early 2001, were popular and got some bipartisan support. I don’t remember a filibuster against them, and if there was one in the end it did not succeed. Also, don’t forget that he had to change his Supreme Court nominees a couple of times because he knew he did not have the 60 votes to shut down a filibuster. And while the GOP did not argue against Sotomayor or Kagan all that fiercely, ultimately they would have lost that battle, because they only held 39 seats.
findog
September 29th, 2011
12:23 pm
ramble, maybe you could stick to your own line of logic that he controlled everything, check with bucket on how a debate works…
Ordinary American
September 29th, 2011
12:24 pm
Obama 2012, prove to me he should continue, I need a reason to vote for him, not against republicans.
Democratic Plantation Dweller
September 29th, 2011
12:25 pm
Obama be the man. He has saved our country. The stimulus is working. Unemployment is declining, housing is improving and school are seeing gains in test scores.
Radly
September 29th, 2011
12:27 pm
Hey Danny X…….most of those idiotts in Washington don’t either. Honoring our friendships with allies, and not selling out, or being bought by the highest bidder….annnd, doing the next right thing…is all the Foreign Policy we need.
Jon Lester
September 29th, 2011
12:28 pm
Are people really anxious to see their sales tax jump to 16%? You’re out of your mind if you think Georgia or any other state will reduce their rates just because a national sales tax might come along.
And is Augusto Pinochet really who we want to emulate with tax policy? Look it up and ask yourself what other fascist ideas Cain might be open to.
honested
September 29th, 2011
12:28 pm
Ordinary
Because he is not a fully sold out mouthpiece for the top 1%?
Because he has presented proposals that do work and have worked for the lower 99%?
Two reasons for a start.
findog
September 29th, 2011
12:29 pm
tea party, wrong on the house vote, they had to violate their own rules for the hammer to twist enough arms to get it through. If you consider Zig Zag Zell as bipartisian support then you got it for the tax cuts; however if we had not passed them then we could have afforded at leasty one war
The supreme nomination Bush changed was because his personal lawyer was pro choice and the GOP fought him, not a filibuster threat by democrats. Remeber the nuclear option the GOP sentae proposed? Remeber one of the gangs they created to keep filibusters from stoping supreme nominations?
Jon Lester
September 29th, 2011
12:31 pm
@AT: how would you grade Cain’s leadership at Aquila?
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/05/herman-cain-aquila-lawsuit-2012
honested
September 29th, 2011
12:32 pm
jon lester
Now you will have to explain to the mis-guided masses who pinochet was and why his deplorable policies might appeal to a certain small segment but would be abhorrent to a clear majority.
Alabama Communist
September 29th, 2011
12:32 pm
at least as far as campaigns go. Cain is proving himself to be a master marketer.* Doug
Are you kidding? He should be arrested for Consumer Voter fraud and banished from the Planet into a Republican insanity Paradise………
RAMBLE ON!!!
September 29th, 2011
12:35 pm
findog, is that how we got Obamacare with those debates?
Ordinary American
September 29th, 2011
12:35 pm
Danny X , And Pelosi’s area is vastly liberal, I thought republicans were the only rich people, how do liberals become rich ? Why are some liberals richer than others? Are you rich Danny X?
bucket
September 29th, 2011
12:36 pm
Some of you guys are correct and the death of Senator Kenndy affected the majority for the Dems for awhile, however, the 60 margin was restored until Senator Brown was elected several months later. Also, their were plenty of moderate R’s around to help when needed and if his “common sense solutions” had been so common sense he had a great enough majority to accomplish whatever he wanted. The greater point is this: President Obama had all the cards stacked in his favor a long while and he blew it. He blew it because he lacked the business experience and managerial experience to lead through a crisis.
RAMBLE ON!!!
September 29th, 2011
12:38 pm
“Because he has presented proposals that do work and have worked for the lower 99%?”
BHAWHWHAHAHAAHAHA!!!!
Please, oh please tell me some of these things that have worked for the lower 99%. And no, free abortions don’t count.
Ordinary American
September 29th, 2011
12:40 pm
honested, the mouthpiece thing I’m not sure about, but what are these proposals that are working or do work?
RAMBLE ON!!!
September 29th, 2011
12:43 pm
Bucket you left out one big thing too.
He blew it because he spent 787 billion dollars paying back his union cronies and big campaign donors (see Solyndra).
DannyX
September 29th, 2011
12:51 pm
“And Pelosi’s area is vastly liberal”
That whole area of liberal thinking is destroying our country!!!
The liberal universities out there are cranking out grads that are feeding brand new mega corporations. The new, envy of the world corporations are are creating thousands of new jobs.
Google, Apple, Ebay, Yahoo, Intel, Adobe, I could go on and on. What are the liberals thinking!!!!
We have a new KIA plant!!!!!!!
Ron Mexico
September 29th, 2011
12:58 pm
9-9-9, that’s how much my pizza cost!!!!! they left off a couple of toppings. I see why they went out of business. If Liberal thinking is destroying the country, what did republican thinking for 8 years do? Destroyed the entire WORLD!!!!!!!!!
Cain is the ONE!
September 29th, 2011
12:58 pm
Talk about Cain not having any foreign experience…. LOOK at ALL the OTHER experience, this MAN has!!! He has MORE experience in managing, accounting, in taking RESPONSIBILITY, etc in his ONE HAND than THIS man, called the President, in the White House NOW!!! BESIDES, Cain knows HOW/take responsibility to select EXPERIENCED people in foreign policy and OTHER cabinet members, etc. Obama didn’t have ANY experience in foreign policy EITHER PLUS he selected “tax cheat” to head the TREASURY, ETC.
To me, it shows Obama not ONLY didn’t have ANY experience for presidency… He showed NO RESPONSIBILITY in selecting “his cabinets, etc”!!!!!!!
Go GET ‘EM, CAIN!!!
kreedham
September 29th, 2011
1:14 pm
It’s been years since HC was head of Godfather’s Pizza. Now they may have been successful under his run but they’re an also ran now! Only 3 in Georgia and not listed in the top 15 chains in America. Now HC may have got out while it was still going well knowing it was fixin’ to slide or he was a good CEO.
Bottom line, he won’t get the nomination. That might just be Christie or Palin….whomever gets in last, as the last person to jump in seems to rise to the top. HC has raised his profile and will now make plenty of money on the lecture circuit and probably a raise when he returns to radio or joins Fox as an analyst.
Independent voter
September 29th, 2011
1:15 pm
The Teaparty going to make the republicans lose because american people fear that the teaparty are racist and they dont want the world to look at american as a racist country.
Collin Powell will be a great president and he got my vote
Ordinary American
September 29th, 2011
1:42 pm
Danny X, why are they keeping all that money for themselves, they should be sending it all in to run the government programs? How can that be , they are allowed to do that? And why to they require such large salaries, shouldn’t they just donate their time? Why is their stae in such financial hardship and people are leaving?
UGA 1999
September 29th, 2011
1:42 pm
Independent….Racists? What a tired worn out word. It has no meaning anymore.
AT
September 29th, 2011
1:43 pm
Lester,
I had not heard of this before, so I looked it up past the uber-left Mother Jones take on it. There was never a court case only alleged allegations against the company in general. The plaintiff settled for pennies based on the millions that they said the company was responsible for stealing. Enron took down plenty of companies with them that did nothing wrong. The Mother Jones story tries to connect the dots, but it’s a pretty weak argument.
Wikijunkie
September 29th, 2011
1:49 pm
Independent voter, we all can clearly tell you were educated in the Atlanta Public School System. What horrible grammar your have. Can you not complete a full complete sentence. With every post you make your arguments just seem to get more and more ignorant. You have no proof that the Tea Party is a racist group, this is what you have been told by various media outlets and I am guessing your monthly liberal newsletter. If you want to see what real racist look like watch this video and you will discover what true political racist look like, it may surprise you.
http://www.hapblog.com%2F2011%2F09%2Fcbc-attendees-say-tea-party-is-racist.html&h=AAQDrKEePAQCR3kuSz7SfG9SCXE6yBaFlPDtteA3yu5MXXg
Lib in Cobb
September 29th, 2011
1:54 pm
It is really remarkable that the GOP is at this place with about 14 months to go before the next presidential election and the best bet you have is Romney. Herman Cain like Perry is a pan flash and no more. Those who drop in behind Cain are the same people who were screaming in 2008 that President Obama had no experience. Cain has no political experience and private sector experience does not translate very well into the public sector. Perry again is a pan flash, with too much Texan and too much of a dirty past to get elected. The rest of the field has no chance at all especially Newt, the only reason Gingrich continues is because he is gathering dollars for more gift buying trips to Tiffany’s which majically turn into BJs. So unfortuntely the GOP is back to Romney, his past will certainly come back to haunt him, especially the MA Healthcare Bill, which is very similar to the bill introduced by President Obama. Romney’s religion will also hurt him in a national election, especially here in the southern conservative bible thumping states. To all the bible thumpers out there, you have realized by now I am the “Poster Child for Heathens”. I will say at this point to all the conserves, good luck. To all the Progressives out there I will say, “vote early and often”.
Uga123
September 29th, 2011
2:02 pm
“Independent Voter” you are an idiot….never posted before, but felt compelled to state that.
UGA 1999
September 29th, 2011
2:03 pm
Lib…..hahaha…”much to Texan” that is great! Please tell me what you think Obama is going to run on? HOpe and Change garbage will not work this time. The truth is any of those candidates could beat Obama right now.