Herman Cain has been something of an anomaly to those following the build up to the 2012 elections. The presidential hopeful is the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, a one-time mathematician for the US Navy, a cancer survivor and a dark horse candidate (though he refers to himself as a "black horse") in a motley Republican field filled with millionaires and some Tea Party favorites.
(Did I mention he also dropped a gospel album back in the day, and it actually sounds pretty good? You can listen below.)
Still, Cain is still known mostly as the other black man vying to be president. But in recent interviews, Cain comes across as self-assured and confident in his party's belief in him. He believes he has a chance to beat President Obama in the general election. He sticks by his assertions that he wouldn't appoint any Muslims to his Cabinet if elected and recalls the time he shifted from being an Independent to a Republican. And he continues to deflect charges that his race and candidacy are a smoke screen for racists lurking along the fringes of the Republican party and the heart of the Tea Party Movement.
Here's a sampling of some of Cain's recent and revealing quotes, in which he discusses beef with John Stewart, the debt ceiling, Barack Obama's blackness, among other things.
FROM GQ:
GQ: Let's talk about race for a second. You and Jon Stewart went back and forth a few weeks ago. Do you really believe he doesn't like you because you're black and conservative?
Herman Cain: I don't think Jon Stewart is a racist, I just think Jon Stewart is just a liberal.
GQ: So why make the statement "black and conservative?" Why not "Jon Stewart dislikes me because I'm conservative?"
Herman Cain: I didn't say he doesn't like me because I'm black. I said he disagrees with me because I'm conservative. The term "he doesn't like me" was probably a poor choice of words. He disagrees with me-I don't know whether he likes me or not-he disagrees with me because of my conservative views-it has nothing to do with my color. Even though he mocked me with his 'Amos n Andy' dialect because he didn't get the joke when I talked about bills being three pages long. For somebody to be a professional comedian, he should have gotten the joke.
GQ: A lot of people criticize Barack Obama for using race to his advantage. When referring to yourself as "The Black Horse," are you using race to your advantage?
Herman Cain: Absolutely not. I do not try to use race to my advantage. I don't even bring it up unless somebody asks me about it, and I have said repeatedly [that] this is not about color. This is about the content of your ideas, and your character. And so when I have been out speaking to Tea Party groups, citizen's groups, speaking at town hall meetings, I will joke about race to make people know I'm not uptight about it, I'm not defensive or overly sensitive about race. That's the only reason I bring up race-not to try to use it to my advantage, but basically to try and break the ice with people who are wondering am I going to be overly sensitive to race. I don't need to play the race card. My message speaks for me.
GQ: You've beaten cancer-can you beat Barack Obama?
Herman Cain: I can beat Barack Obama. It's going to be harder for me to get the nomination than it will be for me to beat Barack Obama, and here's why: He has no record to run on. The other people I'm running against for the nomination, they do, and most of them have held political office and they like to point to their accomplishments when they've been in office, or things that they have sponsored-may not have passed it, but they sponsored it-they like to talk about what they've sponsored, they like to talk about what they've supported. And there's nothing against that. And then in some instances they have a record. Mitt Romney is probably the most vulnerable in terms of people pointing to his record because of Obamacare. But, the reason that I believe that I'll be able to beat Barack Obama is simply because of his record. A lack of positive results.
GQ: As a Black American, when Barack Obama became the first black president of the United States of America, were you inspired?
Herman Cain: I was proud that he got elected. I prayed that he would be a success. I'm still proud that the country elected him, but I'm disappointed with his performance as president.
From The New York Times Magazine:
NYT: Before you announced your campaign, you said that the liberal establishment is scared that "a real black man might run against Barack Obama." Are you suggesting Obama isn't really black?
Herman Cain: A real black man is not timid about making the right decisions, that's what I meant. Look, I'm not getting into this whole thing about President Obama. It is documented that his mother was white and his father was from Africa. If he wants to call himself black, fine. If he wants to call himself African-American, fine. I'm not going down this color road.
NYT: But you're saying he's not really a black man.
Herman Cain: Not in terms of a strong black man that I'm identifying with. I identify with a strong black man like Martin Luther King Jr., or my dad, Luther Cain Jr., who didn't have a lot of formal education, but he had a Ph.D. in common sense.
NYT: It has been said that the Tea Party has embraced you partly to provide cover for some racism in its ranks - like, How could racists support a black guy?
Herman Cain: There's no validity to that whatsoever. People who are still making those accusations have no other way to intimidate the growing force of the Tea Party citizens' movement.
NYT: Why did you become [a Republican], by the way?
Herman Cain: When I was an adviser to Jack Kemp in 1996, I was still a registered independent. Jack took me and as many other big black guys as he could to Sylvia's, in the heart of Harlem. As we were walking into the restaurant, a very large black guy yelled out: "Black Republicans? There's no such thing." When I got back to Omaha, I registered as a Republican. It haunted me for three days that someone would dare tell me what party affiliation I should have.
NYT: You earned millions running Godfather's Pizza, but you once said that unlike Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman, you were unwilling to spend your fortune financing your campaign.
Herman Cain: O.K., don't use the term "fortune." I don't have a fortune. And since I made that statement, I have put some of my money in to prime the pump. What I learned is that a lot of donors were reluctant to contribute because I didn't have immediate name ID, I didn't have lots of money of my own and I've never held public office. Now things are starting to take off. Guess where it's coming from? Medium- to small-dollar donors: $25, $50, $100. Why? Because the regular people are getting behind Herman Cain.
TIME: What would be your first act as President?
Herman Cain: First, I'd get my hands around national security. Secondly, introduce some direct stimulus ideas. This economy is not recovering. In fact, it's probably getting weaker. Consumers have no place to get traditional costs for gas - that's going to further slow down any potential growth in the economy that we were hoping for. The first two priorities are national security, and direct stimulus: lowering the top corporate tax rate, lowering repatriation tax to zero, lowering the corporate gains rate. All those would directly stimulate the economy. Not spending a trillion dollars on more government spending. Some of us knew that wouldn't work from the beginning.
TIME: Some have said the Tea Party movement is racist - do you think it is?
Herman Cain: Bull feathers. Feathers is code for another word that is not politically correct. I was in Las Vegas in 2009. The local Tea Party there, they invited me to speak. They were expecting 600 people. They got 2,600. I have probably spoken at over 50 Tea Party rallies in the last two years. I lost count. Saying the Tea Party movement is racist is about as far from the truth as the Sun is away from the Earth. They want to try to stifle its growth. If the Tea Party were racist, why would they invite an American black man, Herman Cain, to speak? It is a name-calling tactic used by those who would like to see the Tea Party fail.
TIME: What advice would you give to Republicans to help them reach out to blacks?
Herman Cain: Give them the right information... Unfortunately many of them haven't been exposed to the truth. I would often have people call and voluntarily identify themselves as African-American and say that they have been misinformed for many years. The information I have been sharing with them is to open their eyes, gives them the truth about how some of these programs are not sustainable in the long run.
TIME: This is a race full of millionaires - Romney, Huntsman, you. In an election where Obama could spend as much as $1 billion, will you use your own money? And if not, how can you compete?
Herman Cain: Yes, I will put some of my own money in. But it will not be in the millions, because I don't have millions to put in. If the only criteria for winning is how much money you raise, that's buying the presidency. I've been getting a great response from people online. A lot of races won in 2008 and 2010, the person with the most money didn't necessarily win. The determining factor is going to be how many people u can get excited on the ground. When we formally announced exploratory committee the number of people who signed up exceeded our expectations. People from all 50 states signed up to donate time as volunteers. We had over 100,000 people sign up.
TIME: Should the debt ceiling be raised?
Herman Cain: It shouldn't be raised. Because they have no safeguards not to raise it again. Until there are some safeguards, it shouldn't be raised. The other side says old people, children and puppy dogs would be affected. That is just crap. You can make sure that Social Security checks go out and make sure military families get their pay and that's really all that matters. No, it should not be raised.