Outside the Beltway

Herman Cain Relieved His “Foreign” Doctor Was A Christian

Doug Mataconis · Monday, November 21, 2011 · 4 comments

This story from the campaign trail has to be read to be believed:

Cain speaks for nearly a half an hour and despite a couple fleeting “999” mentions, keeps his speech to topics of faith and his recent battle with cancer. He begins with a story about how he knew he would survive when he discovered that his physician was named “Dr. Lord,” that the hospital attendant’s name was “Grace” and that the incision made on his chest during the surgery would be in the shape of a “J.”

“Come on, y’all. As in J-E-S-U-S! Yes! A doctor named Lord! A lady named Grace! And a J-cut for Jesus Almighty,” Cain boomed.

He did have a slight worry at one point during the chemotherapy process when he discovered that one of the surgeon’s name was “Dr. Abdallah.”

“I said to his physician assistant, I said, ‘That sounds foreign–not that I had anything against foreign doctors–but it sounded too foreign,” Cain tells the audience. “She said, ‘He’s from Lebanon.’ Oh, Lebanon! My mind immediately started thinking, wait a minute, maybe his religious persuasion is different than mine! She could see the look on my face and she said, ‘Don’t worry, Mr. Cain, he’s a Christian from Lebanon.'”

“Hallelujah!” Cain says. “Thank God!”

The crowd laughs uneasily.

I’d actually recommend reading the whole article since Yahoo’s Chris Moody does a great job of relating what was a really a bizarre campaign stop for the former pizza executive.

As for the story itself, I’m not really sure what to say. What would Cain have said if he’d found out if Dr. Abdallah was Muslim, or a Druze? Cancel the surgery? Demand a “regular American” doctor? What kind of person would even tell this kind of story to begin with?

Of course, as David Weigel reminds us, this isn’t the first time Cain has told the story on the campaign trail, and the reaction from the audience the last time was similarly uncomfortable:

Simply amazing.