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Friday 14 October 2011

The one Republican candidate who seems to have the courage of his convictions and no desire to co-opt the protests is Herman Cain. Last week he called the protesters “un-American” on the campaign trail, after arrogantly chiding them, “if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself.” At the debate on Tuesday Bloomberg’s Julianna Glover asked Cain whether that meant he was telling the 14 million unemployed Americans to blame themselves. Cain’s response was dishonest and nonsensical, but at least it didn’t try to harness false populism for his regressive tax proposals. “That response was directed at the people that are protesting on Wall Street, not that 14 million people who are out of work for no reason of their own other than this economy is not growing,” said Cain. Of course, going to a protest does not actually make you any more or less responsible for your employment situation. If the protesters are responsible for their unemployment, so are the unemployed people at home. Cain, like the other candidates, would like to have it both ways: convincing Americans that he understands their pain while opposing any effort to rectify it. Republicans Insult, Then Try to Co-opt, Occupy Wall Street

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