Herman Cain Says Segments of African-American Community 'Brainwashed' to Vote Democratic

During an interview that aired on CNN's The Situation Room Wednesday night, GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain made the suggestion that members of the African-American community, might have been brainwashed into not being open-minded, not even considering a conservative point of view.

I have received some of that same vitriol simply because I am running for the Republican nomination as a conservative, the former Godfather's Pizza CEO said. So it's just brainwashing and people not being open-minded, pure and simple.

Cain: African Americans Becoming More Willling to Vote Republican

Cain did say that he believes between one-third and 50 percent of African-American voters are becoming more open to voting Republican, and the idea that black voters will automatically vote for President Barack Obama is not necessarily true.

I meet them every day. They stop me in the airport. And so this whole notion that all black Americans are necessarily going to stay and vote Democrat and vote for Obama, that's simply not true. More and more black Americans are thinking for themselves. And that's a good thing Cain said.

But this isn't Cain's first brush with provocativeness. This summer Cain said Jon Stewart of The Daily Show parodied him because he's a black conservative.

The comments follow Cain's surprise win in the Florida straw poll. And according to a Fox News poll released on Wednesday, Cain is running in third place Republican race. He's behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is in first place, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is in second place.

Political Analysis/Public Policy: Cain has to be given credit for saying what he really thinks, however inflammatory it may be. And while the view from here argues he is not completely off base, he doesn't clarify in which way he thinks blacks are brainwashed. Voting predilection is based on a number of variables. How one is raised, the media (and pop culture), which, let's be honest, is primarily left-leaning.

And the president himself. Because he has been the only significant, black candidate in the limelight, he was, and continues to be, influential to minorities (and some majorities) in the country. The issue may not necessarily lie with the issues themselves, but with the right candidate, whoever it may be. Because Americans, and therefore voters, want to see themselves represented in the country in which they live and love.

Every person has a viewpoint that makes them an individual -- the experiences that shape him/her as a person affect how they vote. And let's not forget our country has a personality all her own. But these individual views compel people to vote however they will. And that can't, truly, be something limited to African Americans.