During this week's Meet the Press, Herman Cain was asked about a statement he made during a campaign stop in Tennessee this week where he said this:
ROANE COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) - A Republican candidate in the heated race for the GOP presidential nomination was in Roane County on Saturday afternoon.
For Herman Cain, a trip to Tennessee was a trip back home.
The businessman, born in the state, is trying to get its support while he applies for the world's most powerful job.
His road to the White House rolls through Rocky Top, and he got plenty of support.
"I expected to be greeted warmly, but this has just been over the top at every stop that we've made," Cain said.
Talking in Roane County to Tea Party supporters at Roane State Community College in Harriman, the man who never shies away from a controversial statement, got his biggest reaction when talking about securing the country's border.
"When I'm in charge of the fence, we're going to have a fence, 20 feet high, with barbed wire. It's going to be electrified and there's going to be a sign on the other side that says it will kill you." Cain told supporters.
Here was Cain's defense on Meet the Press this week:
GREGORY: On immigration, you said at an event in Tennessee that you would build an electrified fence on the border that could kill people if they try to cross illegally.
CAIN: That's a joke, David.
GREGORY: It's a joke, so that was...
CAIN: It's a joke. That's a joke.
GREGORY: That's not a serious plan?
CAIN: That's not a serious plan.
GREGORY: OK.
CAIN: No, it's not.
GREGORY: You got a big laugh out of that, but that's not what you'd do.
CAIN: That, that's a joke. that's a joke. I've also said America needs to get a sense of humor. That was a joke, OK?
GREGORY: OK. So that's not serious.
I'd love for anyone to watch the video below of the event and tell me if Cain did not look like he was serious. Or for that matter if the crowd that was cheering him on thought he was.
h/t Scarce
This is right up there with Republicans cheering for the death penalty after Rick Perry's remarks at one of the recent GOP debates.
And of course from TeaNN, who do we get out there defending Herman Cain and his "sense of humor?" None other than Red State's Erick Erickson who thinks that everyone just needs to lighten up and quit picking on poor old Herman now that he's the GOP's new frontrunner. As we were reminded of in this clip, it's not the first time Cain has made these sort of remarks, or necessarily the worst we've heard from him on the issue.
As CNN's other contributor in the clip here with Erickson, Robert Zimmerman reminded their viewers, there's really nothing most people would consider all that terribly funny about killing illegal immigrants and Cain's "joke" and the response to it are just a reminder of how far off the cliff the Republican Party has fallen with catering to the extreme right-wing of their base.
