Former Godfather’s Pizza chief executive Herman Cain made headlines Thursday — President Trump confirmed he will nominate the 2012 presidential candidate to a seat on the Federal Reserve Board.
While pundits are debating Cain’s fitness for the role and wrestle with past allegations of sexual harassment against him, you may remember viral video of his foreign policy flub during an interview with reporters and editors at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in November 2011, when Cain was a contender for the GOP presidential nomination.
Let’s see if this rings a few bells: Libya intervention. Long pauses. Awkward questions from reporters at Lambeau Field later that day.
It was the beginning of the end for his presidential run.
“So you agreed with President Obama on Libya, or not?” a reporter asked Cain at the newspaper offices.
“OK, Libya,” Cain said, and paused. “President Obama supported the uprising, correct?”
In the five minutes that followed, Cain stumbled through his answer. “Got all this stuff twirling around in my head,” he said.
He talked about better assessing the rebel groups before intervening. Declined to say if he supported the NATO-led intervention itself. Talked about needing more information before making a decision.
“I’m not trying to hedge on the questions. It’s just that, that’s my nature as a businessman,” Cain said. “I need to know the facts as much as possible.”
At the time, campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon told reporters over the phone that the media's reaction to the video was exaggerated.
"He just paused to get his bearings . . . it's frankly a nonstory . . . it just took a little while (to answer), because of all the shifting around to different questions and four hours of sleep," Gordon told reporters, suggesting to them the clip had been edited in a way that took Cain's answer out of context.
The U.S. and other United Nations Security Council members voted in favor in early 2011 of military intervention in Libya as a civil war raged between dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi’s forces and rebel groups. The U.S. as part of NATO bombed Qaddafi’s forces, and by October rebel forces killed him.
At the time, many politicians saw the intervention as a victory for democracy and the Arab Spring movement. A stable democracy was never established after Qaddafi’s death, however, and today the county continues to struggle with security issues.
Cain’s gaffe was part of the landslide of negative press that led Cain to suspend his campaign Dec. 3, 2011. He also faced pressure from allegations of an affair and several instances of sexual harassment in the 1990s. He denied all the allegations.
Read reporter Craig Gilbert's of Cain's day of campaigning in Wisconsin.
Cain served in the Kansas City Federal Reserve between 1989 and 1996, according to Axios. While Cain appeared to struggle with foreign policy questions, he is best known for his ‘9-9-9’ economic plan — 9% taxes on individuals, businesses and purchases.
Contact Sophie Carson at (414) 223-5512 or scarson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @SCarson_News.
Thanks for reading Herman Cain is in the news again. Remember his viral Libya flub in a Journal Sentinel interview? - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Please share...!
0 Comment for "Herman Cain is in the news again. Remember his viral Libya flub in a Journal Sentinel interview? - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"