a memo was sent out to the staff that said, quote do not speak to cain unless you are spoken to. and some former staffers couldn t believe he focused on a book tour smack in the middle of the campaign. inch they can go to this is herman cain.com. that happens to be the name of the book. folks, we re getting a look at the real herman cain. joining me now is chris hays, host with up with chris hays here on msnbc. thanks for being here tonight. great to be here. you know, the commercial that everyone is asking about. i did my own rendition the other night. it was weird, but do you know there were other weird commercials. they seem to have overlooked the
is being skewered by the ad s writers. it is delightfully entertaining, but extremely baffling, which is a good way of summing up the campaign so far. but he still has that smile. weird. the iconic slow-motion cain smile. there s something about the cain phenomenon who speaks to the conception of what is authentic, and there is a degree to which he has managed to project a certain authenticity, even if the weirds in of the campaigns, even in the sort of going around book tour when he should have been it clearly has some traction. they re looking for something that is authentic. all his weirdness, his strangeness, that seem completely out of the norm for what you re trying to do as president, i think may work to his benefit.
it endear him to a base that views it as repudiating the culture of politics they re so set against. all jokes aside, let me talk about why what you say is disturbingly true. he s number one in the polls, he s leading, and this guy, as laughable as he is to some of us, he is being supported by a lot of people. yes, and he has i mean the way to interpret the cain s leadership status in the field right now is, a, there s a certain percentage that wants the reddest of the red meat thrown to them reliably, and the sound bites they crave. second of all, he has an appealing air. i thought to myself, of all these people standing on the stage, forget about substance or what they believe in, they seems like a pretty nice guy. i don t necessarily feel that way about rick perry when i m
whatever people s views, you re saying then treat me like i m legally married, don t say i m legally married, but then take away the rights i would have that any other married couple would have for someone putting their life on the line for this country? exactly. well, josh snyder, thank you so much, thank you for your reaction to what happened. thank you, reverend. ahead, herman cain inside his campaign, and the chaos behind the scenes. every month brings hormonal changes, and that means acne flare ups. olay challenges that. with new olay professional prox clear designed to balance oil and moisture levels and help bring breakouts under control for consistently clear skin. [ female announcer ] under eye circles. pile on the products.
this is what it is, and none of them have successfully brought it out. no, and that s why i think the new york times article today was important, because it took aims at the center conseat of the cain candidacy. the article de25i8d i thought the fact that he s a terrible manager, the campaign is a terribly run enterprise. i think that s going to be a problem for him. we ll see. the real question is, does the primary reporter want this symbolic figure, or are they going to develop in such a way that they actually care about the possible abilities and qualifications of the person they re voting for. and when you look at the allegations, and we all get them in any campaign, about you when you look at the fact that he said he was more interested in the book tour, look at the