Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain has a “Rick Perry moment” while being questioned about Libya in a television interview.
Mr Cain, whose campaign has been hit by allegations of sexual harassment, stumbled badly when he was asked if he agreed with President Barack Obama’s support for the opposition in Libya.
His shaky grasp of the issue was reminiscent of Mr Perry’s perfomance in a presidential debate when he forgot the name of one of the government departments he was campaigning to abolish.
Mr Cain, businessman and former frontrunner in the Republican contest, paused repeatedly and lost his train of thought when he was questioned about Libya, saying: “Okay, Libya. President Obama supported the uprising, correct? President Obama called for the removal of Gaddafi. Just want to make sure we’re talking about the same thing before I say yes I agree or no I didn’t agree.
“I do not agree with the way he handled it for the following reason – nope, that’s a different one. I got to go back to, see. Got all this stuff twirling around in my head. Specifically, what are you asking me, did I agree or not disagree with Obama on?”
Okay, Libya. President Obama supported the uprising, correct? Herman Cain, Republican presidential hopeful
Asked by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel what he would have done differently if he had been president, he said: “Some people say as president you’re supposed to know everything. No, you don’t. I believe in having all the information, as much of it as I possibly can, rather than making a decision or statement about whether I totally agree or disagree when I wasn’t privy to the situation.”
Mr Cain’s team excused his embarrassing performance by saying he was tired, having only slept for four hours because of his hectic schedule. His wife Gloria also came to his defence, denying he had sexually harassed women.
“I know the person that he is, and I know that the person that they were talking about, I don’t know who that person is,” she told Fox News. “We’ve been married for 43 years, and if I haven’t seen parts of that person in 43 years, I don’t think I’m that simple that I would miss something that significant.”
He has always had too much respect for women to treat them in any type of negative way. Gloria Cain
Four women, including Sharon Bialek, have made allegations of sexually inappropriate behaviour by Mr Cain in the 1990s when he was head of the National Restaurant Association.
Referring to Ms Bialek, Mrs Cain said: “Now that one, I totally don’t believe. I watched her on the news that day because I wanted to hear her specific allegations, and the things that she was saying, I’m sitting there thinking, you weren’t in the car with Herman. He has always had too much respect for women to treat them in any type of negative way.”
But Ms Bialek’s former boyfriend Victor Zuckerman backed her claim that she made an improper advance towards her when she asked for his help in finding a job.