Is the Joke on Herman Cain or Us?

Anyone watching Late Night television last night has seen the new Herman Cain ad. I had planned this post before even seeing that. Now it is imperative. A staffer talking about Herman Cain standing against what looks like a cinderblock wall one might find in a prison tells us about his belief and devotion in the candidate. After telling us that Cain wants to put the United in United States, which seems like a fine idea , as the ad ends we see this staffer take a drag off a cigarette and then exhale. He looks like everyone's Uncle Leroy smoking on the front porch at Thanksgiving. Then we have a picture of Herman Cain come up on the screen in which he stares at us before proceeding to smile.

The scariest thing is that as weird and unconventional as this ad is it is not the strangest thing about the candidate.

In the last couple of debates Cain has advised that he would negotiate with terrorists to gain back hostages but then advised he would not after all. Then Cain speaks at a rally and advises that he would have an electrified fence on the border and have signs in English and Spanish advising that the fence could kill you. When called on this he says he is joking, and then later advises he meant it and would not run from it.

And yet he continues to rise in the polls. This says a few things. First off the active Republican faithful ( those heavily involved here in the early stages ) are the most conservative. They do not trust Mitt Romney. They certainly would take him over Obama but they are doubtful about his belief in their causes and experience some twangs about his Mormonism. What becomes more and more apparent too is that these party members want someone out there. This is the feel good stage of the primary, the eqivalent of a Democrat agitating Obama to the left on issues that if he goes too far left will hurt his chances for the Presidency.

Herman Cain will not be President. He does not want to be President. The fact that he is being taken seriously as a candidate says more about the state of the Republican primary than it does about him or any of his policies.