Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain will be making an unconventional endorsement in South Carolina, and it likely won’t be for Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry.
In an appearance on the Don Imus radio show Wednesday, Mr. Cain told Mr. Imus about the behind the scenes political advisers that mold the candidates and why he believes a lot of the media attention given to Mr. Perry when he first entered the race should not have been given to him.
After Mr. Imus called him “dumb” and “that poor, poor thing,” Mr. Cain gave his thoughts on the Texas governor.
“People around them create that image in their head that they can be president,” said Mr. Cain. “Let’s take Rick Perry’s campaign for example. He started out with a lot of hoopla, and it wasn’t deserved, because the media as well as the establishment wanted to make him a foregone superstar. As soon as he got in the race, he had the debate, people found out that he had very weak debating skills in my opinion.”
Mr. Cain was likely referring to the Texas Republican’s “oops” moment in a November presidential debate where he could not recall the third agency of government that he would eliminate if elected president.
Mr. Cain himself dropped out of the race because of the similar negative publicity that Mr. Perry received, however the former pizza magnet was scrutinized more because of the constant allegations of sexual impunity than his actual debate performances or policy views.
The Georgia Republican also claims that Mr. Perry’s lack of depth on important domestic and foreign policy issues is also damaging to his candidacy hopes. He also stated his belief that the only reason Mr. Perry is still in the race is because Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann dropped out after Iowa.
“He wasn’t very deep on any of the issues, I’m trying to be respectful” said Mr. Cain. “After Iowa, he announced that he was going to go back to Texas, and then when Michele Bachmann dropped out, he changed his mind. I happen to believe that this is not based on anything other than knowing how political operatives try to influence the candidates. They said ‘you shouldn’t drop out, because Michele Bachmann dropped out, you still might have a chance because you still have a lot of money.’”
Mr. Cain also went on to say that he likes Mr. Perry as “an individual” but would not want him elected as a public official in his own home state of Georgia.
Mr. Perry chose to skip campaigning in New Hampshire and has been aggressively courting voters in South Carolina, leading up to the South Carolina Republican primary election on January 21st.
The Public Polling Policy poll of South Carolina voters released Saturday shows the Texas governor garnering 5 percent of the votes in 5th place behind Texas congressman Ron Paul.
