Clash of the Titans: Cain vs. Clinton in 1994

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Ryan Cooper has a fascinating item over at the Washington Monthly about Herman Cain’s role in deep-sixing Bill Clinton’s healthcare plan. It’s worth a read before Cain’s 15 minutes are up and we all forget he ever existed.

It’s also fascinating because it includes a video clip of Cain debating Clinton at a town hall meeting in 1994. Go watch! Two comments:

  • It’s just awesome what a storehouse of knowledge Clinton is. Off the top of his head he knew the average payroll cost of a food service business, he knew how much health insurance cost them, and he knew how much an increase in insurance costs would likely raise the final price of their product. Holy cow! And he reeled all this off without seeming even slightly professorial or highbrow.
  • Cain hasn’t changed a bit in the past 20 years. Clinton’s math in this clip sure sounds right to me, but Cain’s answer was, basically, “You’re wrong,” followed by a blizzard of dodgy numbers. Sound familiar? He’s still saying this anytime someone tells the truth about one of his plans. “You’re wrong” appears to be his all-purpose answer to everything.

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate