Could Herman Cain become President Rick Perry’s Secretary of Defense? It sounds like it could be a headline from a satire rag, but, according to a new statement by the Texas governor and Republican presidential hopeful, Secretary Cain could indeed be a serious possibility.
During his since-aborted campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Cain distinguished himself as a prominent voice on foreign policy in the race — but not so much for cogent ideas. Rather, he made himself famous for a long string of foreign policy gaffes and bizarre answers to questions. Before Cain dropped out of the presidential race, he’d already declared his willingness to serve as someone else’s Defense Secretary — a willingness he restated since suspending his run.
Now, it seems like Rick Perry might be ready to take Cain up on his offer. Responding to a question about whether he’d take on Cain in a cabinet position, Perry replied:
He has all the characteristics of the type of person I would bring forward.
Here’s a compilation video of highlights of Cain discussing his pizza-making approach to foreign policy and some of his other gaffes:
Perry’s had his own problems with foreign policy. Journalists pointed out that Perry distorted a key quote from a Texas historian in an oped on the Mideast in the Wall Street Journal and Jerusalem Post. Neoconservative Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin attacked Perry for having such an obviously ghost-written piece — with a “pretense of sophistication” — “because his own foreign policy views are rudimentary.” Among Perry’s top reported foreign policy advisers are top Bush administration officials Donald Rumsfeld and Douglas Feith, and he’s met to consult with deposed Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf. (HT Jonathan Martin)
