Herman Cain Bashes Occupy Wall Street Movement

Analysis

By David Magee: Subscribe to David's

October 10, 2011 7:47 AM EDT

One thing we can say about Herman Cain, the fast-rising Republican political star who has surged to the top of the GOP presidential nominee race in the past month: He isn't out to try and please everybody, not even the fast-growing Occupy Wall Street movement.

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Occupy Wall Street has gained momentum almost in exact timed accord with Cain, rising in the past month from seemingly nowhere to become entrenched as a strong political force in America, if not throughout the world. Yet Cain is quick to criticize the movement, calling protesters "jealous" Americans who "play the victim card" and want to take "somebody else's Cadillac."

The message is sure to resonate with Wall Street types, and bankers looking for a conservative to support in the presidential race. A businessman he's the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza who has never held elected office, Cain believes he is destined for the White House to held solve America's economic woes.

Ironically, America's economic woes and spending addiction leading to the massive federal deficit is a big item on the agenda of Occupy Wall Street, which claims both Republicans and Democrats have sold out America, pandering to big business and the wealthy while leaving the rest behind.

But Cain said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation" as Republicans and Democrats spar publicly over the merits of the Occupy Wall Street movement that those occupying New York's Lower Manhattan in what is said to be a months-long protest has been organized by labor unions as a way to serve as "distraction so many people won't focus on the failed policies of (President Barack) Obama's administration."

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Earlier in the week Cain, now leading most GOP presidential race polls since surging from the back of the pack with a Florida Straw Poll victory last month, said the Occupy Wall Street group represents "anti-capitalism" and is "anti-free market."

"They are not working on the right problem," Cain said at a social conservatives convention in Washington on Friday, according to ABC News. "Wall Street didn't write those failed policies. Wall Street didn't spend a trillion dollars. You can demonstrate all you want on Wall Street, the problem is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."

"If you never work on the right problem, you'll never get the right answer," Cain added.

His stance may not get votes with those involved with the Occupy Wall Street movement, but Cain clearly understands that's not his base anyway. Wall Street types, however, and conservatives who feel the Occupy Wall Street movement is more disruption that productive protest will likely line up with Cain.

In the past week, for instance, complaints from residents of the Wall Street area and many who work on or near Wall Street began to rise against the protest, as many of those whose lives have been disrupted by the month-long protest said it's time for New York City to disband the group.

One commuter getting off a subway stop at Wall Street blamed Obama for the problem. He promised them change, he said, but hasn't delivered.

Thus the reason Cain is going on the attack. The Republican candidate from Atlanta doesn't think protesting is the answer to America's economic problems. He thinks the U.S. needs to adopt his 9-9-9 tax code plan, which would put in place a 9 percent sales tax and reduce income and corporate taxes to a flat rate of 9 percent.

"This solution starts with throwing out the existing tax code, which is a mess, and replace it with my 9-9-9 plan," Cain said at the convention in Washington.

He also thinks the U.S. can save money by determining who its enemies are, and then stop "giving money to our enemies."

Such language is likely something the Occupy Wall Street movement agrees with -- it's just that Cain and Occupy Wall Street apparently have very different opinions of who the enemies are.

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