Yesterday, I remembered that I did podcast with Herman Cain back in 2007 where we discussed several different issues, including the 2008 Republican primary. I tweeted out a link to it in case anyone wanted a listen. Since I did it almost five years ago, I couldn’t remember much about it. But during the podcast, Cain said a lot of nice things about Mitt Romney and when discussing Newt Gingrich’s personal issues, but Chris Moody from Yahoo News found these particular comments interesting:
Back when the nation was wondering if Hillary Clinton would be the first female president, Cain, then an Atlanta-based talk radio host, sat down with the blogger Jason Pye for a wide-ranging podcast interview about the 2008 presidential election, why he supported Mitt Romney and why Republicans lost in the 2006 midterm election. Near the end of the conversation, Cain discussed how he thought that the infatuation with a candidate’s past was one of the worst parts of running for national office.
“People are too hung up on people’s baggage,” Cain told Pye during a discussion about whether former House Speaker Newt Gingrich would ever run for president. “Everybody has baggage! Let it go! This country is starved for leadership.”
“Being able to manage the public perception is absolutely critical,” Cain added.
My opinion on Cain’s politics have changed a lot since thin as he has shown himself to be just as much a statist as the next Republican. But those comments are relevent today given how badly his campaign has botched the response to past allegations of sexual harassment.
