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Cain On Libya Stumble: ‘Yes, I Was Embarrassed By That’

By Ben Armbruster on Nov 28, 2011 at 6:04 pm

GOP presidential contender Herman Cain was on CNN today defending against another charge of an inappropriate relationship with a woman other than his wife, this time, an alleged 13-year affair with a woman whom Cain said “is an acquaintance who I thought was a friend.”

But also during the CNN interview, host Wolf Blitzer asked Cain about his infamous rambling and incoherent response to a question from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about where he stands on Libya. Cain claimed the Sentinel “pulled out 40 seconds” from his answer (actually it was five minutes) and conceded the incident was “embarrassing”:

CAIN: Was it embarrassing? Yes. Was I caught off guard? Yes. Because of a number of factors. That was a forty minute interview and they pulled out 40 seconds to embarrass me and they did. Yes I was embarrassed by that but that doesn’t mean that I did not know the answer. What I was doing was gathering my thoughts so I wouldn’t state anything incorrectly.

No one has said I said something wrong, they just questioned the pause and the fact that, yeah I was exhausted I was probably too tired to do that particular editorial board that particular day. And it ended up biting me and I ended up having a very embarrassing moment that went all over the place.

Watch the clip:

Cain has used the “I was probably too tired” defense with many of his embarrassing foreign policy gaffes throughout the campaign, raising suspicions as to whether he’d be ready for that “3 A.M phone call.” But if Cain wins, he says he’ll get a chance to sleep it off and start fresh. “The day after the Election Day, when I win the presidency, the day after, I’m gonna take a nap,” he said recently.

NEWS FLASH

Why We Occupy: Visualizing The 2012 Federal Discretionary Budget | One reason so many people have taken to the streets as part of the 99 Percent Movement is because of the country’s lopsided priorities. The following graphic shows the makeup of federal discretionary spending in the Fiscal Year 2012 budget. As you can see, the military eats up a lion’s share of the spending, while social priorities fall by the wayside:

Update

For a more detailed analysis of Fiscal Year 2012 spending, see the National Priorities Project’s take.

By Zaid Jilani on Nov 28, 2011 at 4:03 pm

NEWS FLASH

Palestinian President: ‘Elections On May 4, God Willing’ | Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas set May 4, 2012 as the Palestinian election day. “We are planning to hold the elections on May 4, God willing,” Abbas said. The announcement comes after rival Palestinian factions — Hamas and Fatah, who hold sway over Gaza and the West Bank, respectively — held reconciliation talks last week in Egypt. The talks reportedly resulted scrapping the idea of an interim government before the May poll in order to avoid Israel cutting off funds to the PA. Hamas, an Islamist group that engages in terrorism against Israel, reportedly inched toward more mainstream and less rejectionist positions in the talks. A recent poll found that Palestinians increasingly object to armed resistance against Israeli occupation.

By Ali Gharib on Nov 28, 2011 at 1:39 pm

NEWS FLASH

U.N. Rights Council Says Syrian Troops Committed Crimes Against Humanity | A new U.N. Human Rights Council report finds that Syrian troops and security forces have committed crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, and rape, during their months-long violent crackdown on pro-democracy activists. Based on hundreds of interviews, the report documents incidents of excessive use of force and extrajudicial executions. The panel of independent experts said Syrian troops “received orders to shoot at unarmed protesters without warning.” The report also documents the rape and murder of young children. “One military defector stated,” according to the report, “that he decided to defect after witnessing the shooting of a 2-year-old girl in Al Ladhiqiyah on 13 August by an officer who affirmed that he did not want her to grow into a demonstrator.”

Update

U.N. Dispatch’s Mark Leon Goldberg notes some of the report’s other grim revelations.

NEWS FLASH

Marine Commandant: Marines Embracing Repeal Of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell | Marine Commandant Gen. James F. Amos, who was once the most vocal critic of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, tells the Associated Press that “Marines across the globe have adapted smoothly and embraced the change.” A female Marine even introduced her partner to Amos’ wife Bonnie, who warmly embraced the couple: “Bonnie just looked at them and said, ‘Happy birthday ball. This is great. Nice to meet you,’” Amos said. “That is happening throughout the Marine Corps.”

Related Posts

NEWS FLASH

National Press Club Reverses Suspension Of Journalist Who Aggressively Questioned Saudi Royal | Earlier this month, the National Press Club suspended journalist Sam Husseini for two weeks after he engaged in aggressive questioning of Prince Turki al-Faisal al-Sa’ud of Saudi Arabia, criticizing his country’s human rights record. Following an outcry in the media, the Press Club has decided to lift the suspension. “I welcome this decision and aim to ask ever tougher and sharper questions. I hope others will as well,” wrote Husseini in response to the lifting of his suspension. “I had asked the Saudi ambassador about the legitimacy of his regime, but if tough questions are not welcome at the Press Club, or at other media institutions, then their legitimacy is also undermined.”

By Zaid Jilani on Nov 28, 2011 at 9:45 am

National Security Brief: November 28, 2011

By ThinkProgress on Nov 28, 2011 at 9:00 am


– Even as Pakistan said it pleaded fruitlessly with NATO to call off strikes that killed 18 Pakistani soldiers just over the border with Afghanistan, Afghan officials said the strike was called in because Afghan and NATO forces were taking fire from over the border.

– Afghan president Hamid Karzai announced that his government would be taking over security responsibility for 18 new areas of Afghanistan, some of them contested by militants, in order to have the opportunity to train local forces alongside the U.S.-led coalition as it draws down its own presence.

– France is seeking international support for a proposal to establish “humanitarian corridors” in Syria to get aid to besieged areas of the country, where the government has turned its guns on protesters and armed insurgents demanding the ouster of President Bashar Assad.

– Syria’s economy minister called newly approved Arab League sanctions “a dangerous precedent” that will harm ordinary people more than the regime, as tens of thousands of government supporters marched in the capital and other cities to protest against the decision.

– After a week where demonstrators in a central Cairo square violently clashed with police forces, Egyptians lined up to vote in a historic election that will create a body to oversee the creation of a new constitution and transition to democracy.

– Despite the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year, U.S. ambassador James Jeffrey said yesterday that the United States will spend more than $6 billion in Iraq in 2012 on refugee programs and the State Department’s budget.

– A day after five online activists were sentenced to up to three years in prison for “insulting” the country’s rulers, the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced their pardon.

– Two months after announcing his intention to reclaim the Russian presidency, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accepted his party’s nomination for president on Sunday.

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