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Millionaire Pizza Mogul Herman Cain: Occupy Wall Street Is A Conspiracy
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 5, 2011
Modified Oct 5, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 5, 2011
Modified Oct 5, 2011
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According to a new poll by Rasmussen Reports, 33 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Occupy Wall Street protesters (only 27 percent have a negative view, while 40 percent have no opinion). Most importantly, 79 percent of Americans agree with the protesters primary point that the “The big banks got bailed but the middle class got left behind.” But don't tell that to Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, because he thinks the whole thing is a giant pro-Obama conspiracy: "I don't have the facts to back this up, but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama Administration," he told the WSJ. At least he admitted there were no facts involved in his statements.
Cain, who has surprisingly jumped into a tie for first place among Republican presidential candidates in recent polls, says out of work people only have themselves to blame: "Don't blame Wall Street, don't blame the big banks, if you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself. It is not someone's fault if they succeeded, it is someone's fault if they failed." To Cain, who has essentially been a professional CEO his whole life, these protests stink of some socialist mumbo jumbo: "These demonstrations, I honestly don't understand what they're looking for. To me, they come across more as anti-capitalism."
Cain most sounds like Fox host Bill O'Reilly, who made similar statements about protesters yesterday to Juan Williams. He accused protesters of being lazy slackers: "They’re jobless because they don’t want to work! They admitted it to us. They won't work for the corporate man."
But there are some wealthy people who disagree strongly with Cain and O'Reilly: approximately $35,000 has been sent to protesters since their campaign started three weeks ago. Another $30,000 was collected by the fund-raising website Kickstarter, and organizers expect more money will come in as protesters prove that they're not going anywhere any time soon. As if that weren't enough, OWS also got an endorsement from Congressman Dennis Kucinich, who gave his support via video: "I say to you that your presence is making a difference."
Tagged
bill o'reilly
Congress
conspiracy
greed
herman cain
occupy wall street
poll
popularity
protest
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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