I see it as a cross between “Dirtyhippywhippersnappers! I’ll make you git offa my lawn!” (in Grampa Simpson voice - with keel over ...) and “We’d have gotten away with destroying the middle class if it wern’t for you meddling kids!”.

Impotent rage over not getting special prizes for being white and male?  You bet! ‘Cause taking away unearned privileges is the same as taking away rights!

You can’t take away my right to fuck you over, you despot.

**raises hand*** Um…I don’t get it.  Are cranky old white guys the new gold standard for rebellion now?
Because I feel like I’ve just been scolded by my high school principal for running in the halls*  Doesn’t really make me want to get out and vote.

*Though my real high school principal didn’t smoke, at least in front of the students.

The singer at the end sounds like Lady Gaga. Which is why I don’t like her music. I admire her pluck, talent, savvy, even her message and playful crazy looks, but I don’t like her music. Because it sounds just like that BS.

Three comments in and no true Scotsman has already reared his head!

Alas, Libertarian, my time in Texas swiftly exposed me to the “I’m not a Republican, more of a libertarian, and Cain’s my guy” mentality.

It’s the Alan Keyes thing.  Republicans looking at their weak slate of candidates see that even though Obama is vulnerable, they don’t have a chance (polls show generic Republican candidate doing much better than any named candidate).

Illinois republicans pulled the same kind of stunt on Obama when their golden boy Jack Ryan turned out to be a pervert.  They imported Alan Keyes to carpetbag thinking that they would cancel out the black vote by running a black candidate.  Because black voters are stupid and just vote color.

Obama wiped the floor with Keyes.

This Cain thing smells the same to me.  Cain’s a Koch puppet, and those Birchers think that by running a black candidate they cancel out Obama.  We’ve already had wing nuts claiming Cain would be the first Black President since Obama is only halfrican and not descended from slaves.

Somehow they think black people are incapable of seeing that Cain’s politics are harmful and think “white guilt independents” will want to vote for history with a real black man regardless of policy.

Reality is different for them.

True Libertarians wear onions on their belts.

“The guy seems to have never thought once about a lot of issues.”

Very true, but how does that make The Last Best Hope for Amerika — Herman “the Black guy you can vote for, if there’s no white guy the Rethugs like better” Cain — any different from the other morons riding the GOP clown car for the party nomination?

Actual “thinking” is discouraged by our Galtian overlords, who much prefer to hand down talking points, like stone tablets etched by the finger of God, to Republican leaders, who dutifully pass them on to the unthinking Reichwing masses, who then swallow them up and repeat them among themselves as if they were some sort of deep and profound insights.

It’s best to understand the current Republican Party is a religious cult, with Ronald Reagan as their Jim Jones — a man who is conveniently dead so the 1% can foist any self-serving idea they want on the mouth-breathing teabagging wingnut masses in the name of someone who wouldn’t have a prayer if he were running for POTUS today.  It’s a sweet setup…for them…

If they really wanted him to look libertarian, they should have had him smoke pot instead, or be in a restaurant while smoking.  Also, I think he’s imagining long hippie hair when he swishes his head.

“The guy seems to have never thought once about a lot of issues.”

More proof he is the perfect Libertarian dream

Caren @7

Apparently true that Cain’s a Koch puppet.  The smoker in the ad is a Koch thug.

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/10/herman-cain-ad-tobacco

Koch Puppet.  Indeed.  Sounds like some sort of elec(li)toral tickler.

The interesting thing about “get involved” is that in most of the primary states, Cain doesn’t have an organization on the ground, like a normal candidate, to get involved with.  Reporters have gone to places like New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Iowa, and found no Cain offices at all, or just closed, empty offices.  The guy isn’t running for president.  He’s running for a Fox News commentary gig and some book sales.

I think gretchen may actually have hit on his initial intent; with him waffling now as he seems to think he may have an actual shot.

What I found interesting is that the ad mostly focused on the white guy narrator, and only showed Herman Cain’s face at the end. It’s like he doesn’t want you to know he’s black until the very last moment. Which is silly really, since everyone already knows what Herman Cain looks like. But that’s how it came off to me, nonetheless.

I read “smoking” as “his tone was smoky and insistent.”  But no, actual smoking!  Hahahahaha.

Cain’s recent surge in popularity comes in part because the hard-core conservatives don’t like Mitt Romney, both because he was a pro-choice, pro-gay-rights moderate before he ran for president in 2008, and because evangelicals don’t think Mormons are real Christians.  They’ve been casting about for anyone but Romney, but no one has been able to hold that position for long, as both Bachmann and Perry briefly held the not-Romney position but lost it.  Now it’s Cain’s turn, even though he’s not seriously running for president; we’ll see how long it lasts.

The man you see is Mark Block, his chief of staff.

But the imagined backstory of the ad this guy is on a break, and has to go outside to smoke because you’re not allowed to smoke indoors any more because of BIG GOVERNMENT.  And he’d fix that.  “Take America back” to a time when you could have an ashtray on your desk.  This resonates with a lot of people.

The smile at the end really is creepy.

*sigh*  I never thought I’d long for the good old days of the Republican Party, when faux-heroes had to fly planes and dress in flight suits with padded crotches before they could pull of the “looking manly to morons” schtick.  Now any idiot with a lighted cigarette can do it.

Since they consider Obama to be the ultimate affirmative action president (everybody knows “those people” couldn’t possibly accomplish anything on their own!), they’ve simply found their own affirmative action hire. Unfortunately for them, this is a presidential campaign, not a Goodwill jobs program.

“Welfare/Warfare” corporatist/statist/socialist syndicate

What kind of drugs do I have to take before the world starts to look like this?

...ignoring the Libertrollian…

Cain is in the race to help keep the rest of them headed further toward the Corporate Right’s interests.  He’s performing the service that Koch money is always used for.

Real candidate?  Hah!

Romney is this election’s John McCain, and Perry is this election’s George Bush Jr.  The rest of them don’t count except to allow wingnut voters to convince themselves that they’re tolerant because, “See!  We’ve got a chick and a negro and even a heretical semi-Christian running!”

The Wingnut Party is stuck in a real bind.  Romney might be acceptable to a majority of voters in the general, which makes him poison to the hard-core wingnuts and teabaggers Besides, Romney is hollow inside, attempting to transform himself into whatever is needed to get the nom — which is proof of just why he shouldn’t get it.  Perry is more their style, but has too much of a lunatic vibe at the moment.  Cain isn’t serious and has no chance in the general.

This year looks like the best chance for a brokered convention in my lifetime.  Keep your eye on Jeb…

But we’re still more than a year away from the general election.  A lot of things can happen in a year.

Obama’s closet has probably already been emptied of any vaguely skeleton-like issues.  He’s been under constant assault since the end of 2007.  There can’t be much left.

I’d bet that we’re just getting started mining for skeletons in Perry and Romney’s closets.  Cain is a living, breathing skeleton in his own closet…

I wish I could remember who/context where I saw a woman declare *months back* that Herman Cain was the most troublesome of the candidates because he was a stalking horse for the Koch brothers.

It might be that we’re going to see the big Republican smackdown in this primary being a clash between Rove’s pick (Romney), and the Koch Bros’ pick (Cain).

Do none of you have angry, unthinking fathers?

Cain appeals to people who are furious and don’t want to think, because they recognize a fellow man who is furious and hates thinking.

That’s a huge chunk of the GOP base.  They’ll forgive him the semi-pro-lifery, but wait for him to say something that’s not incredibly racist, like Perry.  Then they’ll drop him the exact same way.

Cain is deeply appealing to people who find thinking difficult, dangerous, and hateful.  He’s one of them.

So yeah, obviously he has cross-appeal to Libertarians.  Same pathology.

It’s true, Cain isn’t a M*rm*n, but he is a n****r.  I’m pretty sure which hate is stronger….

May I kindly encourage you to actually inform and educate yourself on what your supposed opposition actually believes before you publically criticize them for it?

Clearly, you would save yourself quite a bit of embarrassment.
Comment #19: r3VOLutionist777 on 10/25 at 12:23 PM

I suppose you will be embarrassed to know that your “no true Scotsman” defense has already been raised and discarded. 

More information for you should you need it
http://www.libertarianrepublican.net/2011/10/herman-cain-pisses-off-nanny-staters.html
“Herman Cain should win the GREATEST LIBERTARIAN OF THE YEAR AWARD for this ad. “

http://truebluenz.com/2011/10/16/peter-schiff-likes-herman-cain-libertarians-become-green-eyed-monsters/
“On his radio show, Libertarian economist Peter Schiff said he liked Herman Cain”

Do none of you have angry, unthinking fathers?
Comment #27: Punditus Maximus on 10/25 at 01:16 PM

And co-workers, and neighbors, and so on.  Yes, I have those, and I get the same vibe as you do.

Thanks for proving my point @19.

Work that No True Scotsman fallacy, Libertarian. Work it until no Scotsmen are left!

The last thing libertarians want is peace or prosperity.  I do believe that they at least want liberty for themselves, though they want to spend most of it on hurting me, like most conservatives.

I do believe that they at least want liberty for themselves, though they want to spend most of it on hurting me,

Libertarians tend to be big fans of the “freedom to oppress others” sort of “freedom.” The funny thing is each individual libertarian tends to be pretty dead certain that (s)he would definitely not be one of the ones oppressed in this scenario, because (s)he is just so special and self-sufficient.

It was the inimitable Susan of Texas who said it best:

Libertarians are authoritarian followers who believe they are authoritarian leaders.

I turn that one over in my head from time to time like a shiny gold dollar.

What kind of drugs do I have to take before the world starts to look like this?

As a gambling guy, considering the demographics of the people who tend to shout this sort of crap, my bet would be crystal meth.

BTW I decided to sell out and start a band that cathers to the Cain Conservative/Libertarian base of middle class angry white men who are ‘rebelling’ for the status quo. I’m going to call it Rage With The Machine.

Rage With The Machine

Love it.

Yes, benefits like “food” and “housing”. I can see how such demands are unreasonable AnonymousDog.

What’s that you say, Anonymous Dog?  Mommy State?  Mommies Raising Your Taxes?  Waaaah!  Sounds like the slogan Amanda already coined a few days ago.

Republicans: Screeching About Their Taxes
Democrats: The Fucking Grownups

dopus dei, it isn’t even like most Republicans are screaming about their own taxes, they’re screaming about the taxes (sometimes) paid by some in the top 1%.  And they’re either too stupid to realize they are not and never will be in the top 1%, and will never get any closer to the top 1% unless they’re delivering a pizza to one of their Super Bowl parties — or they are perfectly aware of their position in society and want to make sure by selling out their class and being tools they will be rewarded by the 1% with a pat on the head and possibly a check.

It’s hard to tell if today’s libertarian trolls on this thread are in the first category or the second…

Today’s libertarian trolls are:

1) a computer lab proctor at Taylor University;
2) a manager at a Mattress Discounters in Ellicott City; and,
3) Ann Coulter.

So of course you’re right, Mike.  The updated slogan is:

Republicans: Screeching About Imaginary Taxes [Because the imagine they’ll be rich enough to have to pay them some day]
Democrats: The Grownups [because why remind everyone about all the fucking, it just makes them more jealous]

Illinois republicans pulled the same kind of stunt on Obama when their golden boy Jack Ryan turned out to be a pervert.  They imported Alan Keyes to carpetbag thinking that they would cancel out the black vote by running a black candidate.  Because black voters are stupid and just vote color.

Obama wiped the floor with Keyes.

This Cain thing smells the same to me.  Cain’s a Koch puppet, and those Birchers think that by running a black candidate they cancel out Obama.  We’ve already had wing nuts claiming Cain would be the first Black President since Obama is only halfrican and not descended from slaves.
...

Reality is different for them.
Comment #7: Caren-Sun-blocking Creator of Animorphic Pancakes on 10/25 at 10:26 AM

Exactly Caren; but you would think they might have learned from 2008.  It’s the same type of projection and stereotypel “reasoning”  that was behind their choice of Palin for VP in 2008, after Hillary did not get the nomination.  They thought all women would vote for Palin, just because she was female.  In racist, misogynist TeaTHUG Land, only white males have unique identity.  Women and minorities are faceless and interchangeable, in addition to being dispensible.

So, I take it that your idea of *rebellion* is dressing up in faux-hippie togs and demanding that the Mommy State raise taxes on someone else so it can give you more benefits?

No, their idea of “rebellion” is insisting the government and financial sector of America be committed to fostering long-term growth shared by all rather than short-term fluctuations to be exploited by the few.  Their radical idea is that America is a country and not a pot of resources to be looted.

You’re on the side of the looters.

>>Exactly Caren; but you would think they might have learned from 2008.

Half their base haven’t yet learned from the Renaissance, nevermind 2008.

So, I take it that your idea of *rebellion* is dressing up in faux-hippie togs and demanding that the Mommy State raise taxes on someone else so it can give you more benefits?

As opposed to supporting the Daddy State when it shoots union organizers in the head and dump them as warning to others, like Milton Friedman’s hero Augusto Pinochet?

Taxation is theft in the same sense that beating up your school bully and taking back your lunch money by force is theft.

Every time a wingnut accuses me—-the Ramones-loving, patchouli-abhoring, twice-daily-showering, dress-loving, folk-music-loathing person that I am—-of being a “hippie”, an angel gets its wings.

My understanding is that “hippie” is wingnut speak for “race traitor.”

That PWH clip is genius.

(And fuck Harley riders: get a goddamn quiet motorcycle you assholes.)

Eric: Word.  The neighbor with the Harley, he only has time to ride on weekends and so gets up at the crack of dawn on decent Saturday and Sunday mornings.  It gives all motorcyclists a bad name the way they 1 - seem to try to make their vehicles as loud as possible, 2 - dress in often stupid looking and/or unsafe “protective” gear (when they bother at all), 3 - ride like morons. 
So, think back to the most recent accident involving a street motorcycle you remember hearing about.  What kind was it?

AnonymousDog still hasn’t figured out whether you’re serious about women liking sex. His brain is very uncomfortable right now.

helen w. h.: “The neighbor with the Harley, he only has time to ride on weekends and so gets up at the crack of dawn on decent Saturday and Sunday mornings.  It gives all motorcyclists a bad name the way they 1 - seem to try to make their vehicles as loud as possible”

Loud pipes save lives.  Motorcycles are apparently invisible to a lot of people so if you can hear it you might not drive into it.  Maybe.  I have friends who ride highway and I do not begrudge them one decibel.

My BIL works for a motorcycle shop and he says there is no evidence that Harleys are hit less than other cycles.

No, but Harleys seem to be the ones everyone talks about, except when they want to claim sports are so much more dangerous. 
Loud pipes do not save lives.  The current sound canceling in those killer lux SUVs block out sirens.  Even most average cars have good enough dampening to block motorcycle noise.  The racket is only a problem for bystanders who aren’t inside vehicles - vehicles that seem to usually have rolled up windows, noise producing climate controls like fans, sound systems and road noise of their own.  Even so, I wouldn’t mind if the neighbor waited a bit, say to after 7.