Not having taken Herman Cain seriously enough to write about him when he was up, I probably should resist the temptation to write about him when he's down. But this is sure to become a You Tube classic:
The obvious antecedent is when Woody Allen is instructed to check the cell structure in 1973's Sleeper:
At the risk of ruining the fun by raising a serious question: How did Cain's experiences running a major corporation fail to teach him that if you want to be a success at anything in life, much less become president, you have to do your homework? He can't remember what U.S. policy toward Libya is, he doesn't know what neoconservatism is, and he outright mocks the idea that he should have to know anything about Uzbekistan.
"To say that Herman Cain has an imperfect grasp of policy," T.A. Frank wrote in the Nov. 6 New York Times Magazine, "would be unfair not only to George W. Bush in 1999 but also to Britney Spears in 1999. Herman Cain seems like someone who, quite frankly, has never opened a newspaper."
Is it actually possible to run even a crappy food franchise like Godfather Pizza on charismatic bluster alone? Is it possible to bullshit your way through running a major trade association in Washington? Or through being a talk radio host? I thought not, but then I'd have thought you had to have a little bit on the ball to be governor of Texas, too.