Yes. Yes, I think he did. When asked if he could see himself as president swapping every terrorist in Gitmo for one captured American, Cain says he could. Really. The relevant passage begins with Wolf Blitzer’s question at the :50 mark.
This is not a gotcha, and it doesn’t leave a lot of room to come back and say “I was just joking!” He clearly isn’t joking. He also doesn’t seem to be doing much thinking.
Allah does a great job of distilling how awful an answer this really is. You simply cannot, as commander in chief, let yourself be held hostage by the capture of one American. You cannot, as commander in chief, contemplate freeing the likes of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as a swap for one American. Let alone freeing KSM and hundreds of his captive lieutenants. Capturing an American should not be a get out of jail free card for al Qaeda.
Update: Cain tried to undo the damage done in this clip, during the GOP debate, but failed.
Update: On a second try in the debate, Cain failed again. the problem is, his answer above can’t be hedged around. He said it. Now he has to own it, or explain forthrightly why he said it and why it’s wrong.
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