Atlanta businessman, radio talk show host, and presidential candidate Herman Cain isn't afraid to mix it up a bit and make the occasional bold or controversial statement. He's done so numerous times (stating he would not have a Muslim in his Cabinet or that, if elected, he would be the first "black" president) during the few months he has been running for president. But now he has trumped his latest comments about black people being brainwashed by the Democratic Party with the assertion that 81 percent of all Americans have been brainwashed by the Democrats.
Appearing on MSNBC's "The Last Word" with Lawrence O'Donnell, the anchor steered the discussion to Cain's recent remarks about "brainwashing." The presidential hopeful had stated that blacks were "brainwashed" by the Democratic Party (why so many African Americans were Democrats) and would not consider an "alternate view." When asked if he had insulted blacks, Cain said he had not. He said he had only "insulted the attitude of those that will not consider an alternate idea."
Prior to that comment by Cain, O'Donnell had decided to proceed by extension, reading from an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that noted that 81 percent of Americans support the idea of taxing at a higher rate those who earn over a million dollars per year. He asked, since Senate Democrats had proposed that a "millionaire tax" be levied to pay for the president's proposed American Jobs bill, if the American people had been "brainwashed" by the Democratic Party as well.
"The answer is 'yes,'" Cain told "The Last Word" anchor. "The Democrats have succeeded at brainwashing a lot of the American people. First of all, taxing people more that make over $1 million isn't going to solve the problem. Secondly, they have just taken class warfare to another level. When for decades you are telling the American people that we ought to take more from the rich in order to help pay off our debts but yet the debts don't get paid off, they're just playing the class warfare card. I would counter that, Lawrence, with a 50 percent of the taxpayers now pay 97 percent of the taxes. I that's pretty fair already."
O'Donnell then noted that there had been "an awful lot of successful brainwashing by Democrats." He added, "You're now saying that Democrats have successfully brainwashed Republicans, brainwashed Democrats, brainwashed 81 percent of the country into thinking that there should be higher income taxes on incomes over $1 million. You're willing to take your brainwash idea and accuse 81 percent of the American public of being brainwashed?"
Cain then said that there were a lot of blacks that were brainwashed and a lot of Americans as well. "But a lot of people haven't," he said. "So, you know, that number could be 81 percent or 85 percent. That just means that they've been succeeding. Now, what I'm doing is to try and unbrainwash people by presenting solutions that will allow everybody to try and achieve their dreams based upon their own individual effort in this nation. That's what this nation is supposed to be about."
Candy Crowley, who spoke with Cain on CNN's "State of the Union" attempted a different tack. She wondered if the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza himself might just be out of touch with the American people. When asking about comments he had made (and written in his book) that President Obama's disconnection from the American people was "absolutely unbelievable," Crowley quoted from an ABC News/Washington Post poll that revealed 75 percent of Americans wanted a surtax on millionaires.
"No. No," Cain replied. "The American people are being deceived with this class warfare stuff. And I'm not going to perpetuate it because that poll says it. The same people that took that survey I challenge them to tell me what's in that jobs bill. I challenge them to tell me what percentage of the taxes are currently being paid by 50 percent of the taxpayers -- 97 percent.
"You see," he went on, "D.C. has a definition of fairness and Webster has a definition of fairness and the president keeps talking about, well, in all fairness -- when he's not sharing with the American people. If the American people knew the facts about how the taxes are being paid I think they might have a different opinion."
And they might not. Tossing up the questionable fact that 50 percent of Americans pay 97 percent of the taxes is a disingenuous argument. It does not reflect the fact that nearly 50 percent of the unemployed (about 7 million individuals out of approximately 14 million) have been so for over a year or that nearly twice that number have yet to find work (teens and graduates, those entering the workplace for the first time, and those who have been fired, quit jobs, work part-time, and are part of the 99ers and permanently unemployed). It also does not take into consideration that 45 million Americans (1 in 7) live at or below the poverty level, which was established by the U. S. Census Bureau in 2011 to be an annual income of $22,350 per year for a family of four.
Still, regardless of perspective on the brainwashing issue, Cain has proposed what he calls the "9-9-9 Plan" to provide fairness in the tax code, pay for government expenses, and generate economic growth. The plan would do away with the current progressive tax code and implement a taxation system of 9 percent on corporations, 9 percent on personal income, and a 9 percent national consumer tax.
President Obama's American Jobs bill, which Herman Cain and other Republican presidential candidates have blasted as another stimulus plan in disguise, will face a vote in the U. S. Senate on Tuesday. It remains to be seen just how many of the "brainwashed" Republicans will vote with the "brainwashed" Democrats on the measure, but if history is an accurate guidepost, the vote could possibly be split down party lines and far from the 81 percent of the American electorate that would like to see the bill pass -- or at least the measure concerning taxing millionaires.
Apparently, Senate Republicans are part of the "unbrainwashed" 19 percent.
