Herman Cain: Relationship With Billionaire Brothers

Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain has cast himself as the outsider, the pizza magnate with real-world experience who will bring fresh ideas to the nation's capital. But Cain's economic ideas, support and organization have close ties to two billionaire brothers who bankroll right-leaning causes through their group Americans for Prosperity.

Cain's campaign manager and a number of aides have worked for Americans for Prosperity, or AFP, the advocacy group founded with support from billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, which lobbies for lower taxes and less government regulation and spending. Cain credits a businessman who served on an AFP advisory board with helping devise his "9-9-9" plan to rewrite the nation's tax code. And his years of speaking at AFP events have given the businessman and radio host a network of loyal grassroots fans.

The once little-known businessman's political activities are getting fresh scrutiny these days since he soared to the top of some national polls. His links to the Koch brothers could undercut his outsider, non-political image among people who detest politics as usual and candidates connected with the party machine.

AFP tapped Cain as the public face of its "Prosperity Expansion Project," and he traveled the country in 2005 and 2006 speaking to activists who were starting state-based AFP chapters from Wisconsin to Virginia. Through his AFP work he met Mark Block, a longtime Wisconsin Republican operative hired to lead that state's AFP chapter in 2005 as he rebounded from an earlier campaign scandal that derailed his career.

Block and Cain sometimes traveled together as they built up AFP: Cain was the charismatic speaker preaching the ills of big government; Block was the operative helping with nuts and bolts. When President Barack Obama's election helped spawn the tea party, Cain was positioned to take advantage. He became a draw at growing AFP-backed rallies, impressing activists with a mix of humor and hard-hitting rhetoric against Obama's stimulus, health care and budget policies. Block is now Cain's campaign manager. Other aides who had done AFP work were also brought on board.

Well, there's no doubt in my mind at least, who and what Cain looks out for, and who and what he will look out for going forward. He clearly represents the interests of the establishment, the Fed, Wall St. and the bankers.

I expect his numbers to drop as he comes under more scrutiny. It's not so much this one thing, but more that it's one thing after another coming out about this guy that I don't agree with. Anyway, this is bad timing for Cain, with all the OWS protests. He represents what many are protesting.

news.yahoo.com...

Wait, are you telling me....that somebody who used to be the chairman for a Federal Reserve Bank....is likely corrupt? It's good to see some names though. When I heard that he was connected to the Fed, that was an instant sign of corruption to me.

that's what america needs. a pizza pie maker as president.

Originally posted by randomname
that's what america needs. a pizza pie maker as president.

Well we had a peanut farmer from Georgia and a Hollywood Movie Star too Not to mention previous presidents who all came from some walk of life.

Maybe he might use the analogy of making a perfect pizza for making a perfect america. Who knows