Herman Cain Jabs Back at Today Show Host Who Questions His Qualifications
On Monday's Today show, substitute host Savannah Guthrie got snippy with GOP presidential contender Herman Cain as she played up his lack of time in government as a negative and demanded of the former head of the Godfather's pizza chain: "If you were still a CEO, if you were in business, would you hire someone for a key role who had no experience whatsoever in business?"
For his part, Cain jabbed back that his experience as a businessman, away from the Beltway, was exactly what government needed now.
(video after the jump)
Cain asserted: "If you look at any successful businessperson...they learn how to solve problems. Work on the right problems, surround yourself with the right people, and then make sure you put together the right plans. That's not happening in Washington, D.C."
However Guthrie would not let go of her attack line that Cain was too inexperienced to run for president as she huffed: "You've acknowledged that you have no foreign policy experience. And, in fact, you've minimized the importance of it saying it's something you can learn about later or you will just listen to experts. At a time this country is in two wars, is that sufficient?"
Cain countered that he has been consulting with former intelligence and military experts but then went on to insist: "You don't need foreign policy experience to know who your friends are and who your enemies are, you don't need foreign policy experience to know that you don't tell your enemy what your next move is."
The following is the full interview with Cain as it was aired on the July 4 Today show:
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Alright, NBC's Kristen Welker at the White House. Thank you. Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain is with us now from Philadelphia. Mr. Cain, good morning. Thank you for being with us.
[On screen headline: "Race For The White House, Can Herman Cain Take On GOP Frontrunners?"]
HERMAN CAIN: Good morning, Savannah. It's my pleasure, thank you.
GUTHRIE: Well you've been getting some momentum as of late. The recent Iowa poll from last week has you third behind Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann. Simple question to you: what is your message and why is it resonating?
CAIN: My message is common sense solutions and problem solving. I spent all of my career as a problem solver in business, and the reason that it's resonating is because the American people are saying -- and I've gotten this from all over the country – that they are ready for some solutions, rather than creating more problems. And the fact that I have been a problem solver in business, in various different types of businesses, that's resonating with people. They are rejecting the fact or rejecting the old notion that you must have had held public office in order to do a good job in leading this nation.
GUTHRIE: Well I wanted to ask you about that-
CAIN: Yes.
GUTHRIE: -because you said essentially your inexperience, the fact that you have never been elected-
CAIN: Yes.
GUTHRIE: -and never held public office is a plus. My question to you is, if you were still a CEO, if you were in business, would you hire someone for a key role who had no experience whatsoever in business?
CAIN: In business we hire people at a level based upon their experience and based upon their qualifications. And then they are able to work their way up and demonstrate their problem solving capabilities. That's what happens in business. And if you look at any successful businessperson, in any successful business, they learn how to solve problems. Work on the right problems, surround yourself with the right people, and then make sure you put together the right plans. That's not happening in Washington, D.C.
GUTHRIE: You think-
CAIN: The American, the American people, Savannah, they like the idea that I'm a problem solver and not a politician.
GUTHRIE: Well you've acknowledged that you have no foreign policy experience. And, in fact, you've minimized the importance of it saying it's something you can learn about later or you will just listen to experts. At a time this country is in two wars, is that sufficient?
CAIN: I wouldn't say that's sufficient. And I want to make one correction. I'm not waiting until I get elected. I'm already talking to national security people, former intelligence people, talking to former generals and people in the military to begin to develop ideas about how I would deal with those crises that we're in. So, no, I'm not minimizing that. But here's one thing. You don't need foreign policy experience to know who your friends are and who your enemies are, a you don't need foreign policy experience to know that you don't tell your enemy what your next move is. So I'm not minimizing it. I'm already working on getting up to speed on that topic.
GUTHRIE: Some of the statements you've made have been controversial. I want to ask you about something you said recently. You said that the liberal establishment is scared, that, quote, "a real black man might run against President Obama." What did you mean by that?
CAIN: Well what I meant by that, in the mode of a Martin Luther King Jr., a real black man that can be decisive. A real black man that has leadership experience. A real black man that understands how to address the right problems. And a real black man that understands that the business sector is the engine to growing this economy. Right now we do not have that leadership in the White House.
GUTHRIE: Herman Cain, we've got to leave it there. We're out of time. It's good to have you with us today, sir. Thank you.
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Comments
And Obamas foreign policy experience was?
Submitted by another_old_veteran on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 5:16pm.
I guess Chicago experience covers it all.
“If you take a highly intelligent person and give them the best possible, elite education, then you will most likely wind up with an academic who is completely impervious to reality.” - Halton C. Arp
Obama's foreign policy
Submitted by Schofield Kid on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 5:41pm.
Obama's foreign policy experience was exactly zero with less than two years in the US senate. Plus never held any real job in the private sector. These people are absolutely pathetic in their hypocrosy!
Obama's foreign policy experience was exactly zero
Submitted by Tugboat Phil on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 6:37pm.
Not true! He has a half brother living in a Kenyan mud hut, and he grew up in an Indonesian madrassa.
Oh yeah, and in high school he consumed Mexican pot and Colombian coke.
You forgot
Submitted by Bodini on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 9:05pm.
You forgot the illegal Auntie from Kenya living on the public dole in Boston!
You also forgot that he
Submitted by talkradio55 on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 10:00pm.
You also forgot that he campaigned for president in foreign countries and trashed this country in front of people who are not eligible to decide who the president is.
That was a really rich quote.
Submitted by kg on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 6:39pm.
That was a really rich quote. OMG. Savy "I voted for Obama with no experience and no American ideals" Guthrie really embarrassed herself with that one.
"DumbAssity of Dope"
touting "no experience" is one thing but being ignorant of
Submitted by lrgon on Wed, 07/06/2011 - 10:41am.
the constitutional role of the president is another. Both Obama and Cain are in bad need of constitution 101.
Two wrongs still does not make it right
Submitted by lrgon on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 6:45pm.
Cain is still not the right man for the job.
On the economy the man has no clue. For heaven's sakes the CAIN supported the TARP bailout of Wall Street! How does TARP line up with conservative sound economic thinking? It doesn't and Ronald Reagan's top economic guru David Stockman who ran the Office of Management and Budget provided this assessment of TARP:
http://mises.org/daily/5113/The-End-of-Sound-Money-and-the-Triumph-of-Cr...
DAVID STOCKMAN "The triumph of crony capitalism occurred on October 3rd, 2008. The event was the enactment of TARP — the single greatest economic-policy abomination since the 1930s, or perhaps ever."
Surely the fans of Cain have some respect for the man Ronald Reagan chose to run the OMB and what he said about TARP?
Cain backed the man who created the prototype for Obamacare: Mitt Romney back when Mitt was still apologizing for Romneycare.
Exchanging Chicago dog man for Pizza man
Submitted by lrgon on Wed, 07/06/2011 - 10:37am.
is a "No win" for America. Cain just uses a few conservative sounding phrases to catch his anchovies that he'll use to decorate his liberal pizza pie.
What can you say about a guy who said in his radio show in Atlantic a few back that the economy was doing great. That was back shortly before the housing bubble broke and when he was cheerleading for congress' passage of TARP.
Guthrie's questions would have made. . .
Submitted by Gary Hall on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 5:18pm.
Guthrie's questions would have made a world of difference if they'd been put to one young inexperienced candidate named Obama.
(;`> gary
And the race card is once more misplayed by the MSM
Submitted by Grumpy in Arizona on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 5:29pm.
“A country that elected an inferior leader like Obama because of his skin-color is not a country that will reject a superior leader like Cain because of his skin color.” - Grump
Makes me wonder if these MSM fools have any idea who they are talking to???
- Grump :o)
Grumpy, your tag line Is the
Submitted by kangaroo on Wed, 07/06/2011 - 12:25am.
Grumpy, your tag line
Is the same flag I fly off my sailboat, with the skull and crossbones of course, ARRRRRRRRR
cheers
"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on"--Thomas Jefferson
Bananas Guthrie carrying F. Chuck Todd's child.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 5:33pm.
No, not like that. I just meant carrying the little lad around the studio.
Sorry for any confusion.
Savannahahahahahaha
Submitted by Tomorama on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 5:46pm.
And Sotero's foreign policy experience was what exactly?
My bad Moooochelle let him get Mexican, Chineese and they eat Belgium waffles by the stack.
Good enough for me eeeeeeked Savannah and her ilk.
Cain makes the excellent point about MLK, he was more a Conservative than people think.
He does know how to speak
Submitted by ant on Wed, 07/06/2011 - 1:32am.
He does know how to speak Austrian.
My question to Savannah or whatever would be, "It seems to me a lot of independent journalists are whipping your people's butt in trust and viewership, do you think hiring one more journalist experienced in the left-leaning "way things have always been done" format will make you relevant again?". The media have, for years, pretended to decry the fact that "Washington is broken..blah,blah..". Then when a real opportunity to change the business as usual arrives, they meet it with fangs and claws. They've been liars the whole time.
I like Herman Cain, and hope he will play a role in the new
Submitted by Rush Fan on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 6:06pm.
administration, when we elect a Republican in 2012. But he handled the interview as if he was talking to a fair and balanced reporter. He wasn't. Although Herman Caine is certainly more competent than President Obama, Caine just doesn't have the fighting instinct needed to win the presidency.
The interviewer left herself wide open as soon as she questioned Caine's experience. Caine should have, but didn't, come back with Obama's lack of experience. As those on the right have noted since Barack Obama first threw his hat (or perhaps his golf clubs) into the ring, Obama is certainly one of the least experienced and least competent Presidents in our nation's history.
I would have been much happier with the interview, if Caine had called President Obama an inexperienced flake.
I'll take it one step further
Submitted by IgnatzJFahrquar on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 6:26pm.
Not only should he have called her out on it, but he should have asked why she and her cohorts didn't pose these same questions of Oblahblah.
Not one of these R candidates have the gonads to do what they should be ... taking the attack to these media shills. I mean really, are they thinking that they will alienate them???
Not a good strategy
Submitted by HockeyKid on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 6:29pm.
That would put Cain in a bad position to criticize Obysmal further--essentially, he'd be equating his own lack of experience with the failure that is Obysmal.
Cain could have contrasted his own extensive executive experience with Obysmal's total lack of experience across the board, but that's dicey territory. He's stronger if he sticks to issues and positions.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
All that Caine had to do was to compare his experience
Submitted by Rush Fan on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 9:10pm.
with Obama's lack of experience. Then to finish, he should have asked her what qualifications Obama brought to the job. It certainly wouldn't change her mind about Caine's qualifications, but the question would be out there for those uninformed, foolish and stupid people who voted for Obama to contemplate.
So Savannah if you had it to
Submitted by Big Wally on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 6:26pm.
So Savannah if you had it to do all over again, would you still vote for a Community Organizer to run the U.S, Government?
Wow, you can really hear the
Submitted by deerjerkydave on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 6:54pm.
Wow, you can really hear the liberal passion in her voice. I always ask, if you ever see this type of passion from the media against a liberal politician? What about a black Democrat running for office?
Obama's lack of experience was NEVER an issue. He was a green freshman Senator from Illinois! He won his elections in Illinois as a shoe-in! Prior to that he was a community organizer! And the liberal media circled the wagons when the right made this point.
------------------------
"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal Government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State Governments are numerous and indefinite. -James MadisonRemember our goal
Submitted by Indie Dude on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 7:16pm.
It's not that Mr. Cain is the right person for the job. It's beating back these water carrying, kool-aid drinking so call journalist back to the hole they crawled out of.
Anyhow, If I were in that chair, all my responses would be, " And Obama was experienced in what again? ...And why is Obama qualify again?
Indie---
Submitted by matthewdean on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 7:41pm.
Zackly!
When asked about the level of my experience, I would point out that the liberal media not only accepted, but promoted Obama; and his profound inexperience was part of that package, therefore to question my supposed inexperience is hypocritical in the extreme.
Next question.
MD
MD, hot
Submitted by upcountrywater on Wed, 07/06/2011 - 1:48am.
key??!!!!
You Didn't Build That.
MD, This the moment msm became instant follower in space time
Submitted by upcountrywater on Wed, 07/06/2011 - 1:58am.
Dick O'bama Snake oil N' Rapture in a nut shell...(only 16 seconds)
Everything he's ever spewed, he's never ever looked soo convinced . A runner up to this photo
You Didn't Build That.
I don't think Savannah Guthrie knows the meaning of irony.
Submitted by drsamherman on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 7:30pm.
Maybe her assistant can look it up for her.
Racist
Submitted by dpc1212 on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 7:32pm.
Savannah Guthrie is a Racist! NBC News is a Racist organization!
Lapdogs...
Submitted by Scott Trent on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 7:35pm.
Journalism used to be about a group of people who were watchdogs for the people. Sadly, today`s main stream media journalists are nothing more than LAPDOGS for the Socialists. NBC, ABC, CNN and CBS. All lapdogs and are as big of a threat to Liberty and Freedom as al qaeda. This little Guthrie chick is a plain ole HACK! NBC never once questioned Obama about his inexperience and it`s causing the recession to drag on longer...
Pardon my language, but that
Submitted by poseA on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 7:58pm.
Pardon my language, but that bitch is dumber than a sack of hammers.
Hermain Cain is a true problem solver!!!
Submitted by freedomguardian on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 8:10pm.
Listen folks! Problem solvers try to get all the information they can before jumping in with both feet. The problem we have today is that so many 'know it all professional politicians' claim that they can solve every problem in the country and the world and refuse to listen, learn, and surround themselves with the best and brightest minds in the country. We desperately need a true leader in the White House that will make the best decisions for the United States of America. Not the best decision for China, Brazil, Mexico, etc. Herman Cain is a wise man with a great deal of practical business and real life experience. He's also a smart problem solver as well as a constitutional and fiscal conservative. I think it will take a man like Herman Cain to make the tough decisions and help get us out of this liberal mess we've been wallowing in.
Problem solver? Are you serious!
Submitted by lrgon on Wed, 07/06/2011 - 10:30am.
Cain the "problem solver" will give us another banking bailout! His support for Toxic Assets Relief Program shows he's a socialist on his approach to the economy.
Quite the leap there Irgon, Here is a Cain comment.
Submitted by upcountrywater on Wed, 07/06/2011 - 1:07pm.
"I thought TARP was going to be an opportunity for the government to allow any bank that needed to to restructure its balance sheet," Cain said. "But it didn't. It only picked its friends. That's when I turned against TARP."
You Didn't Build That.
Two wars...?
Submitted by NeoKong on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 8:38pm.
Excuse me sweetheart but I believe that we are in three wars. You forgot the one Obama started that you are not allowed to speak about. P.S. Quite frankly Cain could have crushed her by mentioning that. Listen...I hate to say it because I admire Cain and Bachmann also but they get so easily boxed in by these know nothing Obama hacks. They have to do better.
Too bad Savannah. . .
Submitted by rickbren on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 8:43pm.
. . . wasn't around when Barry was a presidential candidate. . .
Savanah Guthrie
Submitted by ferv888 on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 8:44pm.
Where is Liz Trotta when you need her. Savanah got her law degree from Fleabag U and she just proved it. I wish that Hermanator would have taken the gloves off and pushed OBAMA right in her face. These people do not have a clue what it takes to get an economy going and we will continue to suffer these fools.
FERV888
Not Only Did Obama Have No Foreign Policy Experience...
Submitted by Tenebrous on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 9:00pm.
...neither did Bill Clinton! Remember his retort when asked about it? "It's the economy, stupid!" So Clinton ran on a platform of foreign policy ignorance. I don't recall W having any foreign policy experience, either, and the press railed on him about that. However, this is a really dumb question in the first place, because how do most candidates really get foreign policy experience? Either by being in a previous administration or by being president. That's a pretty small pool of people to choose from.
Visions and Principles blog
Cain on NBC
Submitted by wdvander on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 9:48pm.
I wonder what the response from the MSM would have been if Ms. Guthrie had asked PBO that same question when he was competing for the democrat nomination or campaigning for president. Me thinks she would not have even asked given the opportunity.
Stupid question
Submitted by Injest on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 10:53pm.
"If you were still a CEO, if you were in business, would you hire someone for a key role who had no experience whatsoever in business?"
Every 8 years, sometimes 4, we hire someone for a job that they have no experience with.
We just hired a guy 3 years ago with no business experience and extremely little government experience, how's that working out?
And he replaced a guy with 2 terms as a governor and 2 terms as President, how did that one work out?
What a stupid question!
whine endlessly for years
Submitted by Injest on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 10:55pm.
CAIN: Well what I meant by that, in the mode of a Martin Luther King Jr.,
a real black man that can be decisive.
A real black man that has leadership experience.
A real black man that understands how to address the right problems.
And a real black man that understands that the business sector is the engine to growing this economy. Right now we do not have that leadership in the White House.
Dang! He left out a real man who isn't going to whine endlessly for years about the job he got!
Could also be a real woman who isn't going to whine endlessly for years about the job she got!
If Obama is reelected we are assured of 4 more years of whining and blaming.
It's not His fault it's xxxxx fault
ATM's, airplanes, trains, buggy whips whatever and whoever.
Nor did they ask him
Submitted by Injest on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 11:38pm.
NBC never once questioned Obama about his inexperience and it`s causing the recession to drag on longer...
Scott Trent
Nor did they ask him,
“As a Senator what action did you take or not take that could have stopped this rescission?”
“What legislation did you author to counter Bush policy’s?”
The answer to both is “none”.
Herman the Cainator is out of his league
Submitted by lrgon on Wed, 07/06/2011 - 11:14am.
he needs to go back to his cushy job running that fake bank with all that fake money.
LOL
Submitted by RealVet on Wed, 07/06/2011 - 5:02pm.
... and Soetoro needs to go back to his cushy fake "job" of organizing fake Americans.
Herman try this the next time....
Submitted by jdripper on Wed, 07/06/2011 - 12:47pm.
Savannah if experience is so critical then why are you sitting there instead of a 55 year old, woman with gray hair? Is it experience or a nice looking pair of legs in your industry?
Jack
I hope the LSM gets stuffed.
Submitted by pbthinker on Wed, 07/06/2011 - 3:56pm.
With this line of questioning, I hope the media gets it handed to them. They just allowed the election of the least qualified candidate for president, in the history of the country, and they want to question Herman Cain?
Personally, I hope they keep up with that trend up until the election because it just doesn't seem like a winner to me. Obama is going to have to prove he's learned something these past 4 years and I don't believe he can prove it because he's saying the same stupid things.
Classic liberal hypocrisy!
Submitted by RealVet on Wed, 07/06/2011 - 5:03pm.
What a joke! Another liberal hypocrite harping about Cain having no political experience. It's media morons like this who insist that buffoons like Clinton and Obama (who never held down a real job in their entire America-hating life) are qualified to be president.