Herman Cain Flubs Mideast Policy on Fox

Herman Cain, the GOP candidate for the 2012 presidential nomination and ex-CEO of Godfather's Pizza, showed a depressing knowledge gap yesterday when Chris Wallace asked him about the Palestinian "right of return" on Fox News Sunday. He "stumbled hard," reports Fox News, and twice haltingly called it "something ... that should be negotiated." A few reactions:

• Though he did share some accurate points on the Middle East, Ross Kaminsky writes for The American Spectator, the gaffe "shows an extremely superficial connection with a huge foreign policy issue."
• Even harsher, Jay Bookman for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says Cain has forfeited "any claim as a legitimate candidate. ... As with the Afghanistan issue, it reflects not merely a lack of knowledge, but even worse, a basic lack of interest and respect for the high office that he seeks."
• Nonsense, writes Jim Geraghty over at Campaign Spot. "The idea that he’s committed some sort of epic gaffe ... strikes me as pretty weak tea." He continues: "Most Americans don’t pay much attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," and Republicans heavily favor the Israelis anyway, so even though the left is tearing into Cain, it's likely the 'gaffe' "will not cost Cain a single vote."

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