Herman Cain Makes His Presence Known In New Hampshire

Herman Cain, the first person to announce his intentions to seek the presidential nomination on the Republican ticket continues to impress folks. Last night the Americans for Prosperity in New Hampshire held a forum in which 5 alleged, or potential candidates were given a chance to give a short speech and then answer a couple of questions from the moderator. Granted this was friendly turf but by a wide margin Herman Cain won the night.

I watched the event streaming on the web and was waiting for videos to come out and now courtesy of The Other McCain I am able to get the video of Herman's speech.

A few quick comments on the others just from my seat on the other speakers.

Former governor Tim Pawlenty led off and was uninspiring while trying to draw distinctions between himself and Mitt Romney.

Rick Santorum was next and was all politician. A couple of buzz words and some catchy phrases designed to curry favor with the crowd but short on substance.

Mitt Romney was next and quickly went into his business credentials and was adequate in his presentation. Where Mitt got into trouble was when questioned on his health care legislation in Massachusetts now referred to as RomneyCare. He got a positive response when he said if Obama, who is constantly drawing comparisons to his plan had called him and asked him he would have told him not to do it. While that is good for a laugh it doesn't undo the harm done. He thereafter referred to RomneyCare as an experiment.

Then there was Herman. He was fiery and passionate and spoke with conviction, something none of the previous folks had done. He laid out his economic plans, which was the purpose of the forum to start with. As always you may or may not agree with all of his proposals but he has put his chips on the table and given a starting point to begin the negotiations. He quite literally stole the night and in so doing allowed folks to become acquainted with him since the regular talking heads and those in the media are ignoring him.

Last was Michele Bachman. First off she was unlucky to have to follow Herman, but secondly she then launched into a laundry list of stuff, all read off of notes prepared for her that quite simply had my eyes glazing over. She was putting out so much stuff that you couldn't keep up and if she had some good ideas they simply got lost in rapid fire delivery she employed.

So anyway enjoy the video of Mr Cain, truly the only one worth watching from last night.

Crazy Uncle Excluded From Debate, Meltdown Ensues

The Paul nuts aren't happy and see conspiracies around every corner.

Jesse Benton, Paul's spokesman, said it was a "big mistake" not to include Paul, especially given Paul's recent success in fundraising. He said the campaign has been trying to reach Fox News to get an explanation for the decision, but its calls had not been returned.

"There very well might be some bias," Benton said. "Ron brings up some topics that aren't very popular with Fox News, as in fiscal responsibility and withdrawing from the war in Iraq ... that does leave us scratching our heads a little bit about whether it was deliberate. Based on metrics, I don't see how you can possibly exclude Dr. Paul."

Some livid Paul supporters are distributing e-mails calling for a boycott of Fox advertisers.

A Fox representative did not immediately return calls for comment about the complaints.

Paul has been invited to a GOP forum that Fox News is sponsoring in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on January 10, Benton said.

The Paulians even have sample letters for the illiterates to send out.

Here's a portion of one. Remember now, they're peaceful and non-violent!

The supporters of Ron Paul are peaceful, non-violent, and law abiding. They desire to live peacefully with their fellow man and respect the rights of others. However, when they see injustice occurring (such as a corporation or network attempting to control the outcome of an election) they will peacefully use their first amendment right to speak up boldly and loudly. I urge you to please allow Ron Paul to participate in this upcoming forum of Republican candidates. There is zero reason to exclude him and every reason to include him! He has a growing campaign, supporters across the nation, and has a huge chest of funds to support his campaign! However, if you do not include him in this upcoming forum you can expect the supporters of Ron Paul to continue speaking up peacefully, boldly, and loudly about your unfair decision. This message will only be one of tens of thousands of additional messages from concerned citizens across the nation.

We know what your network is up to by excluding Ron Paul. Until you include him in this forum we will use our first amendment rights to proclaim far and wide (in a peaceful, non-violent, and completely law abiding manner)...

"WE ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

Waaah!

Funny, but I don't see Duncan Hunter supporters acting like children over him being excluded.