This might be the ultimate Cain clip, just because his response is the perfect synthesis of his good and bad attributes. On the one hand, he’s not going to pander with a slick answer designed to reassure some reporter. He’s doing this the Cain way. If you don’t like his response, keep walking. On the other hand: What?

He clarified the Libya answer a few hours ago:

“My overriding philosophy relative to national security and foreign policy is an extension of the Reagan philosophy. Peace through strength,” Cain said earlier in Dubuque, surrounded by GOP activists and employees from nearby offices. “We need to clarify our relationship with friends and enemies around the world and make sure we stand with our friends.”…

“The Libya comment was a pause to gather my thoughts. I’m not going to back down from that,” Cain told reporters. “Remember, if you were being asked seven, eight different questions on seven, eight different topics, and then all of a sudden someone switches to Libya, and they are not clear with the question, before I shoot from the lip, I gather my thoughts. That’s all that was.”

Believe it or not, he was never scheduled to do that interview with the Journal-Sentinel’s board yesterday. Mark Block reached out to the paper and made it happen, even though a roundtable free-fire format with editors is practically guaranteed to produce a gaffe in a candidate who’s not as solid on policy particulars as he might like to be. Terrific.

Below the Cain clip, Krauthammer reacts to the challenge of handling “seven, eight different topics.” Since it’s been a tough couple of days for the Cain Train, I’ll say in his defense that he got a bad rap today from the press for telling the Journal-Sentinel that he offered to make 88-year-old Henry Kissinger secretary of state in his administration. You can watch the clip of his answer here; it’s clear to me that he’s joking, and even one of the editors laughs, yet this soundbite made the rounds on Twitter today as further proof that he’s out to lunch. Exit question: Maybe he’s joking in the clip below too?

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