Herman Cain Quotes
Businessperson
People who oppose Obama are said to be racists - so I guess I'm a racist.
I am an American. Black. Conservative. I don't use African-American, because I'm American, I'm black and I'm conservative. I don't like people trying to label me. African- American is socially acceptable for some people, but I am not some people.
Don't blame Wall Street, don't blame the big banks. If you don't have a job and you are not rich, blame yourself!
Stupid people are ruining America.
We need responsible regulations, not regulations that have gone wild. For example, the EPA has a rule that is going to be implemented Jan. 1, 2012, where they're going to begin to regulate dust. That's right, dust. It's called PM 2.5. That is focusing on the wrong thing.
One of the things that I did before I ran for president is I was a professional speaker. Not a motivational speaker - an inspirational speaker. Motivation comes from within. You have to be inspired. That's what I do. I inspire people, I inspire the public, I inspire my staff. I inspired the organizations I took over to want to succeed.
African-Americans have been brainwashed into not being open-minded, not even considering a conservative point of view. I have received some of that same vitriol simply because I am running for the Republican nomination as a conservative. So it's just brainwashing and people not being open-minded, pure and simple.
Nobody motivates today's workers. If it doesn't come from within, it doesn't come. Fun helps remove the barriers that allow people to motivate themselves.
It is not someone's fault if they succeeded, it is someone's fault if they failed.
The 9-9-9 plan would resuscitate this economy because it replaces the outdated tax code that allows politicians to pick winners and losers, and to provide favors in the form of tax breaks, special exemptions and loopholes. It simplifies the code dramatically: 9% business flat tax, 9% personal flat tax, 9% sales tax.
I was Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. As you know, there are twelve banks and they have their citizens board, and I got elected to the Fed Chairmanship for the Federal Reserve Kansas City Bank back in the mid-'90s. It might have been 1995-'96.
Most of the ancestors that I can trace were born here in the United States of America. And then it goes back to slavery. And I'm sure my ancestors go all the way back to Africa, but I feel more of an affinity for America than I do for Africa. I'm a black man in America.
And I'm here to tell you, the reaction that I'm getting around the country, people are sick and tired of this word in Washington, compromise. This is why nothing ever gets done.
The American people, Neil, are sick and tired of excuses. They are sick and tired of the blame game. And they're sick and tired of the deception coming from this president and this administration. This is why I believe that I am doing so well in the polls.
It's time to get real, folks. Hope and change ain't working. Hope and change is not a solution. Hope and change is not a job.
Americans need accurate information in order to consider Social Security reform. Too bad the media can't be counted upon to provide it.
People sometimes hold themselves back because they want to use racism as an excuse for them not being able to achieve what they want to achieve.
Let me tell you what the Cain Doctrine would be, as it relates to Israel if I were president. You mess with Israel, you are messing with the United States of America!
I'm not a professional politician. I'm a professional problem solver, and I believe we should cut the salaries of senators and congressmen 10 percent until they balance the budget. I call that conservative common sense.
In order to fix Social Security, we must restructure it so that we continue to provide for our Nation's seniors that are approaching retirement age, but allow for younger taxpayers to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in private accounts.
I started at Pillsbury as a manager in one of their analysis functions, then worked my way up the corporate ladder to become vice president. Moving to Burger King was an important moment in my career.
Spending time at the Federal Reserve was a good learning opportunity for me. It helped me to understand economic philosophies and polices that I had not previously known about.
Most of the people who are in elective office in Washington, D.C., they have held public office before. How's that workin' for you?
If the world market believed that we were serious about energy independence and we were going to utilize all of our own existing resources, the speculators would stop speculating up they start speculating down as we get our own oil out of the ground.
One right decision doth not a great president make.
I didn't know I was a conservative when it didn't matter to me growing up.
We need to lower tax rates for everybody, starting with the top corporate tax rate. We need to simplify the tax code. The ultimate answer, in my opinion, is the fair tax, which is a fair tax for everybody, because as long as we still have this messed-up tax code, the politicians are going to use it to reward winners and losers.
My motivation for running for Senate was not for the stature of being a senator, but because I wanted to make a difference on issues I feel passionate about.
The past several months I have been able to meet with people across this country. One thing is clear: America craves for real solutions to the problems we face. That's why I'm running for President of the United States.
The one thing that the President can do is to establish a real energy independence plan. We have all the recources we need right here in this country to establish energy independence if we had the leadership.
The only tactic liberals have is to try to intimidate people into thinking that the Tea Party is racist. The Tea Party is not a racist movement, period! If it were, why would the straw polls keep showing that the black guy is winning? That's a rhetorical question. Let me state it: The black guy keeps winning.
The thing that differs me from a lot of other people running for the President of the United States is that I focus on the problem first. Then I focus on what the solution is.
I think that taxes would be fair if we first get rid of the tax code. This is the ultimate solution, not to just say we're going to trim around the edges, not to say that we will try to simplify a little of this and a little of that. The problem is, replace the tax code, so we can establish tax fairness for everybody.
This economy is on life support.
If I had been under ObamaCare, and a beaurocrat had been trying to tell me when I could get that CT scan, that would have delayed my treatment. I was able to get the treatment as fast as I could based upon my timetable, and not the government's timetable. That's what saved my life.
Republicans have been losing the war of words for years now. Now they are just caving because they don't even want to try. I don't agree with that approach.
They call me racist too just because I disagree with a President who happens to be black. You are not racists - you are patriots.
Chris Christie has been saying for a long time he's not interested in running. The media is trying to create a story by sucking Chris Christie into race, just like they made a story by sucking Rick Perry into the race.
This whole notion that all African-Americans are not going to vote for Obama is not necessarily true. I believe a third would vote for me, based on my own anecdotal feedback. Not vote for me because I'm black but because of my policies.
The way to connect with voters on the plan is to simply give the facts. Fifty per cent of taxpayers pay 97 per cent of the taxes. By most people's standards, that's already fair. The President is playing the class warfare card because he knows that a lot of people may never hear that particular fact. But it's a fact.
One of the questions that I often get is, 'Why are you running to be President?'. To Be President! What did I miss? I'm not running to go to Disneyland.
My presence in the social media and on the Internet is much bigger than many of the other candidates, including Mitt Romney. So, when you take the social media and you take the Tea Party citizens movement, you have a combination there that, quite frankly, 10 years ago, I wouldn't have had a chance.
Whether you were talking about Pillsbury, Burger King, Godfather's, the National Restaurant Association, in each one of those situations, I had a daunting problem that I had to solve. And I used the same business principles to approach the problem and, more importantly, solve the problem in every one of the situations.
The biggest - one of the biggest barriers to driving economic growth is the capital gains tax rate. I propose taking it to zero.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netyanahu made it real clear. They're willing to be generous on some other concessions but not on the border issue. And I don't blame him.
Uncertainty is killing this economy.
That's the biggest problem, is the tax code itself.
It's not about me, it's about the grandkids. That's what a lot of people don't understand about what Herman is up to.
I would have to have people totally committed to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of this United States. And many of the Muslims, they are not totally dedicated to this country. They are not dedicated to our Constitution. Many of them are trying to force Sharia law on the people of this country.
I don't have more money. I won't have more money than any of the candidates, even the Republican candidates. We know that already. But we are building this campaign team like I would build a business. And that is, we are building it so far with no debt.
I've never sexually harassed anyone, and yes, I was falsely accused while I was at the National Restaurant Association.
Just call me Mr. Cain. And in 2013, they can call me Mr. President.
I am suspending my presidential campaign, because of the continued distractions, the continued hurt caused on me and my family, not because we are not fighters. Not because I'm not a fighter.
My message of common-sense solutions is resonating with people. People around the country are starting to know who I am and starting to identify me with solutions, not rhetoric.
I ran for president in order to be able to try to change Washington D.C. from the inside. Our federal government is broken.
I'm very particular about the pizza that I eat. Godfather's is still a premium-quality product, and I cannot always find that. It's got to be as good as Godfather's or I won't eat it.
The Democrats co-opted the credit for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But if you go back and look at the history, a larger percentage of Republicans voted for that than did Democrats. But a Democrat president signed it, so they co-opted credit for having passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
I do not believe abortion should be legal.
The endorsement process is an evolution. What you try to do is you endorse someone that you believe in and their ideas and their solutions align with yours.
I used to vote Democrat.
I haven't learned to be politically correct yet.
I honestly believe that there's an element in this country, in our politics, that does not want to see a businessman succeed at getting the nomination for the Republican party, and does not want me to succeed at becoming President of the United States of America.
We as voters, have long hoped that we would get a businessman instead of a politician in order to help fix America's problems. Well, I am that businessman.
I believe in traditional marriage and I believe in the Defense of Marriage Act.
The real problem is clean up the bureaucracy that people have to deal with to become a citizen the right way. And we must truly secure the border. We can't leave it porous.
Polls are inaccurate in my opinion, based upon anecdotal evidence, based upon people that I know.
I challenge anybody to say that I wouldn't know how to approach foreign policy because, unlike some of the other people, I at least have a foreign policy philosophy, which is an extension of the Reagan philosophy. Peace through strength, and my philosophy is peace through strength and clarity.
My approach to cutting spending as president, is to do a ten percent across the board cut of all federal agencies, and then ask each of my new agency heads to find another ten percent by drilling down. That's what you do in business to come up with approximately 20 percent cuts for the first fiscal year budget.