As much as the incoherent response he gave to a rather simple question about Libya, Herman Cain is also raising questions for his response to a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editor’s question about what has been the biggest issue in Wisconsin this year:
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, during an interview in Wisconsin, supported the principle of collective-bargaining for public employees while opposing “collective hijacking” in an answer that might give his opponents an opportunity to drive a wedge between Cain and Republican primary voters.
“Yes,” Cain told the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel when asked if he supports collective bargaining for public employees. “But not collective hijacking,” he added, explaining that “if they have gotten so much for so many years and it’s going to bankrupt the state, I don’t think that’s good. It appears that in some instances, they really don’t care.”
Wisconsin passed collective bargaining legislation that sparked a tumultuous state Supreme Court election and a wave of state Senate recall campaigns, which ultimately resulted in Republicans retaining a narrow state Senate majority, despite losing three seats.
Cain also offered mild criticism of the legislation passed by Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, which was recently rejected by Ohio voters on a referendum. “I think in that particular case, maybe they tried to get too much and as a result it failed, but I do support collective bargaining,” he said when asked about the referendum. He reiterated, “In this case, they may have tried to get too much in one bill.”
This is hardly going to go over well on the right, I would think. More importantly, though, as you watch the video below, you’ll notice that Cain doesn’t even seem to know what the collective bargaining rights of Federal Employees are at the moment. Amateur hour.
