Herman Cain got some exciting news this morning: A Washington Post/ABC News poll has him tied with Rick Perry for second place. Obviously, Cain responded to this exciting news with a racially tinged metaphor comparing himself to ice cream.
“Black walnut isn’t a flavor of the week.”
Cain, who pulled off an upset victory in Florida’s Presidency 5 straw poll recently, suggested in an appearance on Fox News that he will not be fazed if Chris Christie decides to make a bid for the White House.
“So he’ll get a lot of attention, suck up a lot of oxygen for a while,” Cain said of the New Jersey governor, adding, “And at the same time, you’ll see black walnut moving up the charts.”
It’s a little reminiscent of Tim Pawlenty’s championing vanilla ice cream way back in June. Cain, though, is responding to Sarah Palin, who referred to her friend Herb as a flavor-of-the-week last time he did well in a poll; Cain also used the “black walnut” metaphor on a Tonight Show appearance following her comments, and it seems to have struck him as a winner.
But Herman, here is the thing: No one really eats black walnut ice cream. That’s why it’s not a flavor of the week! No one gets excited to order it. But before you get to work brainstorming other, possibly even more racially uncomfortable ice cream comparisons for the next round of polls, consider: Ice cream is something that other people eat up. Quickly. It is consumed so easily that they don’t even need to chew it. It melts, rapidly, in the heat. Is this really the best metaphor to telegraph your staying power?
Herman Cain: ‘Black walnut’ rising in polls [Politico]
