Herman Cain claims to be a small government, pro-business leader who would find solutions outside of the typical Washington beltway. During the campaign, he quickly became a Tea Party darling for his promises to reduce taxes and government spending. And while his campaign came to a quick end over the weekend, he clearly wants to remain a political player. But why would he ever in a million years plan on endorsing Newt Gingrich (as rumors currently say he will on Monday)?
Newt Gingrich, as Glenn has said on several occasions, is a big government Washington insider. Glenn has even said he’s your typical “Republican progressive.” Is Cain totally selling out his values with this rumored endorsement, and if so – why?
“Now, I have made mistakes in life. Everybody has,” Cain told supporters. “I've made mistakes professionally. Personally. As a candidate in terms of how I run my campaign. And I take responsibility for the mistakes that I made. And I have been the very first to hold up to any mistakes that I have made.”
Cain added, “The political elites don't think I handled it exactly the way the political elites handle it. I handled it my way because that's the type of person that I am.”
“What mistakes has he owned up to?” Pat asked.
“If anything, I think through his campaign, I would say that Cain became famous for never apologizing, which is one of the things I think people liked about him. When he said things that were controversial, he never admitted they were mistakes,” Stu added.
Fox-5 in Atlanta, the same station that broke the Ginger White allegations, is reporting that Herman Cain is going to endorse Newt Gingrich on Monday. Gingrich's camp put a late add of a press conference at 1:45 p.m. on his schedule.
“If he's endorsing Newt Gingrich. Is he? Because I mean, Newt Gingrich, like him, don't like him, whatever, he is a he's the quintessential Washington insider. Mitt Romney is the quintessential, you know, big business guy. Newt is the insider,” Glenn said.
“So how does that work with Herman?” Glenn asked.
“I thought Herman was a little more conservative than that as well,” Pat said.
The guys then went through Gingrich’s long list of big government policies, including his calls for a mandate with healthcare as well as his support for global warming legislation.
“Well, climate action and individual mandate. And the only thing is he only has a 20 plus year support record of the individual mandate in healthcare,” Stu added.
Glenn wondered how Herman Cain could possibly see Newt Gingrich as the guy with the same values as who Cain said he was while on the campaign trail.
“It will be interesting to see Herman's life from here. Where does Herman go?” Glenn said.
“Let's just watch the money and power trail from here. Important to watch it,” Glenn said.