Herman Cain tells Bryan Fischer "We need to split the GOP and form a third party"

Part of the fallout from the 2012 elections (after being stunned) is outright confusion and disarray on the part of  the GOP; Frank Rich of New York Magazine discovered indications of this confusion in September that if Mitt Romney did anything at all for the GOP, it was to divide them.  And here on God Discussion, we found when asked "Would Jesus Vote for Romney" that our commenters were divided on whether or not they (as good Christians) should vote for a Mormon.  Social conservatives thought Romney wasn't conservative enough, and the rest of the world outside the Fox News bubble were trying to figure out exactly what it was Romney did stand for. Whatever moderate Republicans were in the party have long fled and/or voted Democrat.

Betweeen beating up alternately on Mitt Romney and Karl Rove, some are making the connection that pandering to socially conservative religious extremists in the party  is not working out well for them.   Even Ann Coulter, on the Laura Ingraham show, said that men in the GOP need to stop "waxing philosophical' on rape. Herman Cain, sounding much like a man who is throwing in the towel, has decided that the solution is for Republican leaders to hive off and form a third, ultra-conservative party.  According to Raw Story, this is what Cain had to say to Bryan Fischer, president of the American Family Association:

“I never thought that I would say this, and this is the first time publicly that I’ve said it,” Cain told American Family Association President Brian Fischer. “We need a third party to save this country. Not Ron Paul and the Ron Paulites. No, we need a legitimate third party to challenge the current system that we have.”

Fischer heartily agreed:

“I said this to some reporters at the Values Voters Summit,” he replied. “If Mitt Romney loses this election, there is going to be a third party, because conservatives that make up the heart and soul of the Republican Party, that actually believe in the values enshrined in the Republican Party platform — those voters, they’re the ones that knock on doors, they give the small donations, they make the phone calls, they get out the vote — and they’re tired of being ignored by the Republican Party elites, dissed and having their values trampled into the ground. There’s only so much they’re gonna be able to take.”

Cain's proposal has been met with sarcasm by some on the right. Commenters on the conservative Free Republic alternately made fun of Cain himself and dissed the idea of a third party, saying third parties are ineffective for winning elections. Meanwhile, commenters on Conservativebyte.com were excited about the idea of the Tea Party being that third party. RLM357 was effusive in his praise of this idea:

I like Herman Cane and I totally agree with him and have wanted this for years! The Constitution Party exists but is dorment. The TEA PARTY is Alive and well and Now Need to FORMALIZE as a full fledged Political party. Being a member of both I will gladly Join the TEA PARTY party. The GOP committed Suicide at the 2012 Convention!

kaj, another commenter, was willing to dip their toes in the conspiracy theory that the election was rigged:

I really believe that this election was won by voter fraud. That being said, the Republican party is nothing more than moderate Democrats. A third party may hurt the conservatives, but right now we have nothing. So count me in.

A look at other conservative sites did not reveal any unified answer to Cain's suggestion–the party is literally roiling in confusion about why they lost, what the state of their party is, and what they want their party to be.  Until this confusion is resolved, another split may well be in the future.

Dakota O'Leary

Dakota O'Leary is a freethinker, and often sassy, scholar of theology and literature. She got her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Theology from the State University of New York College at Buffalo, and her Master of Arts degree in Theology and Literature from Antioch University-Midwest. She is a contributing writer focusing on eschatology, biblical prophecy, and general religious news. Dakota is a co-host of the God Discussion radio show, offering insight to the news stories of the week. We like to call her "our in-house Biblical prophecy expert" as her articles on eschatology have received over 200,000 views on God Discussion.

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  • sameolbs

    Herman Cain should start a 3rd Party called the 999 party. That or something to do with pizza…that's all I can remember about him. Thanks but no thanks. I'll stick with the liberty movement. Republicans are out of touch with the American people. Republicans talk about liberty but they don't have a clue what that actually means.

  • http://www.facebook.com/DennisBrettman Dennis Brettman

    Ron Paul is the founder of the real Tea Party. He started a liberty movement that has the real conservative message with a real understanding of liberty and the constitution. The GOP should gve up and let the Ron Paul Revolution take over from here. The irony is that it turns out that the establishment GOP is now "unelectable".

    • Deborah_B

      I have believed for a long time that the GOP ignored Ron Paul at its peril. Now they are lamenting an exodus of young voters and enthusiam. I agree that the real tea party movement began with Ron Paul…it changed when the religious right took it over.

      • Peter

        The problem is Ron Paul is 76, a little to old me thinks. But his son, Rand, is a possibility. But, who knows what will happen when the dust settles and the Republicans have time for some sober second thoughts. But, can they ever rid themselves of the religious right, that is a huge base they can't ignore but they did it to themselves.

        • Deborah_B

          The Ron Paul "movement," I probably should have said — his supporters are very enthusiastic and the GOP should not have dismissed them. I think their insight on war is something that resonates. I don't agree with all that they say, but do think that they can reinvigorate the GOP. Personally, I liked Gary Johnson a lot more than Ron Paul.

          • Peter

            Yeah, Johnson didn't get much press but I read was impressive. We need someone like that here in the frozen north.

            • Deborah_B

              He was a very successful governor and businessman, and respected separation of church/state. It is a shame that the GOP basically shut him down, as well as Jon Huntsman. If a candidate is not pro-war and not obsessed with gays and abortion, the GOP will not let him/her have the stage at the debates, which is not fair to the voters.

              • Peter

                I like Obama, but I have feeling Iran is next. Hope I'm wrong.

    • Spuddie

      Why not, if the mix of religious reactionary, Gilded-age era economics, and sub-rosa bigotry were unelectable before, just double down on it.

      If you didn't drive away independent or moderate voters before, this will make it an absolute certainty!

      In all fairness he was the candidate of choice of the KKK and Neo-nazis

  • http://twitter.com/KeimgMeg Keimh3reg Peh2u Meg

    Herman Cain is owned by the Koch brothers. He is bought and paid for by the special interests in support of the Federal Reserve. He was made a candidate and supported by phony libertarians like Neal Boortz to steal momentum from Ron Paul by sound superficially like him. Except he was a taxer, a spender, an inflater, and a warmonger. The establishment had to drop him early because of certain "problems." Just like they dropped Rick Perry when he called Ben Bernanke a traitor. Then they had to settle for Romney, who policy-wise was to their liking, but incredibly bland and unelectable. They paid Romney to pick up Paul Ryan (also owned by Koch incorporated) instead of the obvious choice and winning choice, Ron or Rand Paul. Well, I'm not drying for them now. They deserve Obama. That goes for the Pizza-man as well. Why do you think he's calling for a non-Ron Paul third party? Because he knows a third party can win and his amsters want to co-opt it like they did the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street. Cain is a calls-A fuckup and has no credibility. Consequently he should shut his phony mouth and never be heard from again.

    • Spuddie

      Herman Cain and Ron Paul never had a chance of making it out of the primary. Ron Paul has way too much past baggage with his associations with white supremacy combined with a ridiculously unworkable notion of anti-federalism.

      Herman Cain's appeal was so plainly pro-wealth (as all "flat taxers") and he was incapable of handling the press in a professional manner. The man ran an idiotic campaign.

      Rick Perry had to split the religious reactionary vote up to 3 ways, came off as somewhat clueless in the press, and his record in Texas does not hold up to scrutiny.

      Romney was the only one among the misfits who ran a professional campaign, could work the press and wasn't trying hard for the religious right vote in the primary. Of course surviving the primary was nothing like surviving the election.

  • Peter

    If the GOP splinters and the radical right form a third party, perhaps a religious third
    party, some interesting scenarios emerge. I can see where this Christian
    Democratic Party (CDP) could take a number of states, especially those in the Bible
    Belt and perhaps Utah and Colorado and maybe others. As well, they'd might elect a significant number of fellow radicals to the House of Representatives. If so, they might siphon off enough Electoral College votes that neither mainstream party hits the magic 270 number. If so, according to the 12th Amendment, the House then chooses the President. Given this, a Republican/CDP coalition would then give the Republican candidate the White House, a weakened chief executive who would then kowtow to radical Christian rights demands. Could it happen. Don't know but in this mixed up political world anything is possible.

    • Spuddie

      If the religious right splits from the GOP, it will lose the ability to get poor people to vote against their economic interests. All it will do is make it easier to elect liberal politicians.

      For fiscal conservatives, the great thing about social conservatism was its ability to alienate enough people for it never to be significant from a legislation standpoint. Even when it passes, such measures seldom make it through the judiciary alive.

      The social conservatives would vote the fiscal conservative line and there was never any real quid pro quo from their fellow party members. Fiscal conservatives would promise to support a social conservative agenda and only go through token motions. Reagan and both Bush's only gave lip service to social conservatism but seldom did much for it.

      • Deborah_B

        Great point, Spuddie. Quite frankly, if the religious right creates its own party, it would lose a lot of power and influence. It is piggybacking and infiltrating the GOP because that's where the money and established power is. With an increasing number of "nones" in the US, I do not think the religious right would be able to get anywhere near its current influence if it had to operate on its own merit and not on the GOP's coattails.

        You're right about the judicial issues; however, I think a Romney supreme court would have served to advance religious right causes. There was speculation that at least 1 justice will retire and the president will select his/her replacement, thus shifting the philosophical balance of the court for many years to come.

        One thing that people are overlooking when it comes to third parties is how difficult they are to have political influence. There are various state rules that make it hard to get the third party on the ballot; additionally, the state parties are ignored during major debates, whether for state offices or federal offices. I think the American voting public would be much better served if we got to hear from the third party candidates during all major political events.

        • Spuddie

          The weird thing is how unpredictable SCOTUS really can be.Nobody predicted Souter or O'Connor were stealth centrists with liberal streaks. Two of the most famous liberal Justices, Warren and Blackmun were appointed by Republican (presidents Ike and Nixon)

          People are even saying Clarence Thomas is expected to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act.

          Third parties have never had much of a chance in US elections. Historically they been great for siphoning votes away from the mainstream parties they split from. (See T-R in 1912, Ross Perot in 1992 and Ralph Nader in 2000) Egotism of the third party candidates usually figures in more than their actual popularity.

          • Peter

            I think Perot caused H.W. Bush's defeat against Clinton in 92. I can't remember the numbers but it was enough.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/IUBRLFD2UOYLF4AUOH36UXSLX4 Philippe

    Herman Cain and anyone who agrees with him should join the Libertarian party. I'm a registered democrat who voted for Gary Johnson. If Herman Cain can see the division in the GOP, he should acknowledge this and take the side where 21st century conservatives are. LP.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1546749407 Maureen Hart

    A most excellent idea !!!! A party just for the crazies.

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