Herman Cain joke? Electrified fence on the US-Mexico border
| Washington
On NBC鈥檚 Meet The Press Sunday, Herman Cain said he had been joking when he called for a fence along the Mexican border with 鈥渆lectrified barbed wire鈥� that could kill people trying to enter the country illegally. He added: 鈥�America needs to get a sense of humor.鈥�
But The New York Times, which during campaign stops over the weekend in Tennessee, didn鈥檛 see Cain鈥檚 comments in the same light at all, writing that they had not been presented as a joke, but as 鈥渟erious commentary鈥� that drew 鈥渃heers,鈥� rather than laughter, from the audience.
Cain has in fact been making this 鈥渏oke鈥� - whether you see it that way or not - on the stump for some time. This video below was taken last May, in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Watch it for yourself. Here鈥檚 the text of Cain鈥檚 remarks:
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to secure the border. Truly secure it. I had a caller one night call in: 鈥楳r. Cain, you conservatives have got to stop this talk about building a fence.鈥� I said, Why? 鈥榊ou know that is impractical.鈥� Oh really? I think I had just got back from China, and I went to the Great Wall of China. They built a wall; I think with today鈥檚 technology we can build a fence. And if they were to put me in charge of the fence, I know we鈥檇 build a fence. Somebody asked me, well, what kind of fence would you build? I tell you, it would be a combination of technology and a real fence. It would be about 20 feet high. It would have electrified barbed wire on the top. And on this side of it, it would have a moat the depth of a football field. And yes, Mr. President, it would have alligators in it.鈥�
Like your politics unscrambled? Check out
