LA Times<\/a>
\nBy James Oliphant Washington Bureau
\nRepublican presidential contender Herman Cain amplified his criticism Sunday of the growing Occupy Wall Street movement, calling the protesters \u00e2\u20ac\u0153jealous\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Americans who “play the victim card\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and want to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153take somebody else\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Cadillac.<\/p>\nCain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s remarks, on CBS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 “Face the Nation,” came amidst an escalating war of words between Republicans and Democrats over the merits of the movement, which has spread from New York to other cities across the nation, including Washington and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
GOP politicians in recent days have stepped up their criticism of the protesters, with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) calling them “mobs” who have pitted \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Americans against Americans.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
But Cain, surging in popularity among many conservatives, seems to have had among the most virulent responses to the protests.<\/p>\n
On CBS, Cain suggested that the rallies had been organized by labor unions to serve as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153distraction so that many people won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t focus on the failed policies of the Obama administration.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The banking and financial services industries aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t responsible for those policies, Cain said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153To protest Wall Street and the bankers is basically saying you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re anti-capitalism,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who appeared on the program with Cain, offered a more measured response, but blamed the White House for the discord.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There a lot of people in America who are angry,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Gingrich said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is the natural product of President Obama\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s class warfare.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Speaking on NBC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Meet the Press,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, also pointed a finger at the president, whom he accused of fear-mongering.<\/p>\n
“He’s preying on the emotions of fear, envy and anger. And that is not constructive to unifying America,” Ryan said. “I think he’s broken his promise as a uniter, and now he’s dividing people. And to me, that’s very unproductive.”<\/p>\n
Ryan cited protests in his home state of Wisconsin this year over collective bargaining legisation when asked about the Wall Street movement. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t disparage anyone who protests their government in favor of better government, no matter what perspective they come from,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
Asked whether Cain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s criticism was representative of the party, Ryan said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think Herman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s speaking for himself.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco on ABC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This Week,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d essentially called Cantor a hypocrite for criticizing the Wall Street protesters while embracing the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153tea party\u00e2\u20ac\u009d movement.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hear him say anything when the tea party was out demonstrating, actually spitting on members of Congress right here in the Capitol, and he and his colleagues were putting signs in the windows encouraging them,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Pelosi said.<\/p>\n
Pelosi said she supported the movement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153message.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I support the message to the establishment, whether it’s Wall Street or the political establishment and the rest, that change has to happen,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We cannot continue in a way that does not \u00e2\u20ac\u201d that is not relevant to their lives. People are angry.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LA Times By James Oliphant Washington Bureau Republican presidential contender Herman Cain amplified his criticism Sunday of the growing Occupy Wall Street movement, calling the protesters \u00e2\u20ac\u0153jealous\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Americans who “play the victim card\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and want…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[232,7],"tags":[368,167,631,658],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.latimes.com\/media\/photo\/2011-10\/283206380-09092152.jpg?resize=580%2C386\" "\\"herman")
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