Justin Raimondo of Antiwar.com is one of the finest polemicists of the web, and I have been remiss in keeping up with his wonderful column.

So I am a bit late in applauding him for a blisteringly candid essay on the very dubious Herman Cain: Herman Cain: Nein, Nein, Nein! He’s a warmonger – and a liar November 02, 2011

"Thanks to the Daily Caller, which has compiled the foreign policy related aspects of columns written by Cain over the years, we can get a glimpse inside the mind of Herman Cain, the warmonger. This characterization is confirmed by his comment that the “war on terrorism” is a conflict that “will be fought forever.” Not even George W. Bush, nor even the most wigged-out neocon, was willing to concede that: according to the most pessimistic scenarios, the conflict was projected as taking place over an entire generation."

Raimondo draws an important conclusion by the simple procedure of considering what Cain has written:

"Cain’s militantly anti-Muslim views…are well-known. Less well-known, however, is his belief that “World War III” has already started…According to Cain, however, this world war is a little bit different:

“In WW III, our enemy is the irreconcilable terrorist wing of a religion – Islam – and a handful of nations that harbor terrorists and fund their activities. Those nations include Iran, Syria, Venezuela and North Korea."

I’m sure Hugo Chavez will be very surprised to learn he’s been lording it over a Muslim country rather than a staunchly Catholic one – and I can only imagine the look on Kim Jong Il’s face when he hears the muezzin’s call to prayer ring out over the streets of Pyongyang"

The conclusion:

"All of which raises the question: is Cain just plain stupid? Based on this kind of muddled thinking, unthinkingly committed to print, our answer must be an unequivocal yes.

This is not necessarily a deal-breaker in a Republican presidential primary: after all, look at Rick Perry…

Yes, Cain is as dumb as a brick…"

I think Raimondo’s analysis of the sexual harassment saga very astute:

"…it gives us the measure of the man under fire. His first response to the charges was a flat out lie: he denied even knowing about any such accusations. It was only later, when pressed, that he admitted that yes, there had been a financial settlement made – although even here, he only admitted to one such settlement, when there are apparently two women involved…what this incident tells us about Cain is clear: he’s a liar, and, more than that, he lies easily, while staring straight into the camera.

It also underscores, once again, the fact that he’s just not that smart. If indeed he was faced with untrue accusations of sexual harassment, and was forced either by lawyers or an insurance company to settle anyway, the smart thing to do would have been to come out with the whole story. It would have been fodder for his adoring followers..."

My take on Cain’s business career is that it demonstrates no special ability – except perhaps for public speaking.

AntiWar.com and Vdare.com are very similar as I have remarked before, although our paths rarely cross. How many other writers would break the taboo on faulting Blacks?

With the Republican Foreign Policy debate this evening producing the nauseating spectacle of every candidate (with the noble exception of Ron Paul – sob!) competing to promise war with an ancient nation halfway round the world offering no threat to America I see that I need to check with AntiWar.com regularly.