Herman Cain embraces his own stupidity

By Richard K. Barry

If you've been following the GOP presidential nomination race, I'll bet you think there is little that would surprise you. I'll wager you believe the stupidity of this group of candidates has gone as far as it is humanly possible to go, that there might be a nuance here and there, but we have seen and heard most of what there is to see and hear.

If you think this, I am willing to put down good money that I can convince you otherwise.

Yes, today candidate Herman Cain actually said this: "We need a leader, not a reader." Okay? Do I win my bet?

He really said that. Responding, in essence, to charges that he is a moron, he has decided that the best approach is to fully embrace his imbecility, as if to say, "sure I'm an idiot, which is exactly what America needs."

I have joined others in pointing out that the current wave of conservative politics is up to its Neanderthal brow in anti-intellectualism. Obama's Ivy League education is held against him. Rick Perry's inarticulateness is promoted as a sign that he is a man of action. Profession of a belief in scientific principles is considered dangerous for would-be GOP nominees.

We've seen all that and more. But I did not think we would see a candidate, a front-running candidate, declare that knowledge, and the reading required to obtain it, is something a president would be better off without.

I did not see that coming, which begs the question, how much sadder can this get?

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)