Last night’s GOP Debate went for two hours with largely no new points brought up or any sharp criticisms delivered. That was until late in the event when Congressman Ron Paul challenged up-and-comer Herman Cain over his stance on the Federal Reserve.
Given the recent economic turmoil erupting in America, more and more citizens are rallying for a regular audit of the Fed — a statistic Ron Paul says is evident in more than three-fifths of America. As a result, Congressman Paul pinned a question regarding the central bank on pizzaman Herman Cain, a former bigwig with the Kansas City Fed.
“Mr. Cain, in the past you have been rather critical of any of us who would want to audit the Fed. You have said — you’ve used pretty strong terms, that we were ignorant and that we didn’t know what we are doing, and therefore, there was no need for an audit anyway, because if you had one, you’re not going to find out anything, because everybody knows everything about the Fed,” Paul said to Cain. The exchange came during a section of the debate in which candidates posed questions to one another.
“But now that we have found and we have gotten an audit, we have found out an awful lot on how special businesses get bailed out — Wall Street, the banks, and special companies, foreign governments. And you said that you advise those of us who were concerned, and you belittled — you say call up the Federal Reserve and just ask them,” said Paul.
“Do you still stick by this, that that this is frivolous, or do you think it’s very important?” the congressman questioned Cain.
Candidate and former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, Herman Cain was quick to respond by denied any allegations that he insulted those that stand by Paul in pondering the need of the Federal Reserve.
As the economic crisis and the role of the Federal Reserve has become a focal point of the 2012 election, much attention has been directed away from the fact that Herman Cain became a member of the Kansas City Fed back in 1992 and went on to serve as chairman of the bank for over a year.
Cain also dismissed the allegations that he called critics of the Fed “ignorant.” In response to Paul’s questions, Cain first fired back, “I don’t know where that came from. You’ve gotta be careful of the stuff you get off the Internet.”
In the hours since last night’s GOP Debate wrapped up, however, audio has indeed surfaced of Cain saying an audit was not necessary.
“Some people say that we ought to audit the Fed. Here’s what I do know. The Federal Reserve already has so many internal audits it’s ridiculous. I don’t know why people think we’re gonna learn this great amount of information by auditing the Federal Reserve,” Cain said in a speech delivered only months earlier on December 29, 2010. “I think a lot of people are calling for this audit of the Federal Reserve because they don’t know enough about it. There’s no hidden secrets going on in the Federal Reserve to my knowledge.”
It doesn’t stop there, though. According to the Daily Caller, Cain has previously written that Paul supporters have tried to “destroy” him by bringing up his affiliation with the Fed. Furthermore, he revealed that he has only become irritated by the nagging — as if the economy wasn’t in dire straits.
“How can a person randomly show up at a hundred events and ask the same stupid question to try to nail me on the Federal Reserve?” wrote Cain.
“It’s really becoming annoying more than anything else.”