CNN put Republican candidate Herman Cain in the spotlight on Friday for his apparent lack of knowledge, accusing him of "dodging" tough questions. Cain had multiple times answered tough foreign policy questions by saying he would need to consider "all of the facts" before making an well thought-out decision.
"One of the things that I've always prided myself on is making an informed decision based upon knowing all of the facts," Cain stated during the May 5 Republican presidential debate.
Apparently his conservative answers have raised the eyebrows of CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who questioned Cain's knowledge and readiness for the presidency because of his not already knowing "all of the facts." During Friday's segment, CNN's headline read "Cain Doesn't Have 'All of the Facts': GOP candidate dodges answering policy questions."
"Is that good enough, Steve, for a presidential candidate to repeat that when he may not necessarily have a great answer?" Blitzer asked a guest.
"Because it's obviously clear that to a lot of people out there he's a very likeable kind of guy," Blitzer said later of Cain. "People like him, but they also presumably at some point if he wants to be president, they're going to want to know where he stands specifically on all of these tough issues."
[Video below. Click here [1] for audio.]
A transcript of the segment, which aired on October 28 at 4:42 p.m. EDT, is as follows:
WOLF BLITZER: Continuing the conversation on arguably the frontrunner, in at least some of the national polls right now, Herman Cain. Listen to what he often says when he's asked a tough question on national security, some other issues. Let me play this little clip.
[HEADLINE: "Cain Doesn't Have 'All of the Facts': GOP candidate dodges answering policy questions"]
(Video Clip)
HERMAN CAIN, Republican presidential candidate: One of the things that I've always prided myself on is making an informed decision based upon knowing all of the facts.
After I look at all of the information provided by the intelligence community, the military, then I can make that decision. I can't make that decision because I'm not privy to all of that information.
DAVID GREGORY, host, NBC's Meet the Press: You don't have a view –
CAIN: I could see myself authorizing all of that kind of transfer, but what I would do is I would make sure that I got all of the information, I got all of the input, considered all of the options –
I, as President, want to look at the Department of Education and make that determination when all of the facts are considered.
(End Video Clip)
BLITZER: Is that good enough, Steve, for a presidential candidate to repeat that when he may not necessarily have a great answer?
(...)
BLITZER: Because it's obviously clear that to a lot of people out there he's a very likeable kind of guy, Steve. People like him, but they also presumably at some point if he wants to be president, they're going to want to know where he stands specifically on all of these tough issues.
- Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center