frontrunner!

Herman Cain found out how tricky being in the national spotlight is on Sunday as he was pushed to admit that his signature economic plan, 9-9-9, would result in increased taxes for some people.

No, really. A national sales tax is regressive, since the poorer you are, the greater percentage of your income is spent each month. A 'wage tax' notably excludes capital gains and other 'ownership' derived incomes. And a 9% corporate tax rate is just a huge tax cut (about -75%) for the persons who need it the least. Cain's 9-9-9 is a transparent attempt to shift the tax burden onto the working and middle classes; I have no idea how anyone could be confused about this.

The Republican presidential candidate also sought to back away from fiery comments he had made just hours earlier, saying he was only joking about killing people trying to cross the border from Mexico with an electrified fence. And he said that the American people need to “get a sense of humor.”

I think a 9% corporate tax rate is pretty hysterical. But maybe that's not the joke?

Beyond that, Mr. Cain acknowledged that he was unfamiliar with the neoconservative movement, and was not exactly sure what the word “neoconservative” meant.

But I'm sure he knows what 'regressive' means, right?

All this was in the space of a 20-minute interview with David Gregory on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Of course, no amount of stupidity excludes you from being a Republican candidate for President, as long as you've got the minimum necessary levels of callousness (e.g. more taxes for poor people) and sadism (e.g. electrocuted immigrant jokes).

UPDATE: This graph outlines exactly how regressive 9-9-9 is. Basically, everyone making less than 200K+ a year would get a tax hike. And if you make more than million, you get a huge tax cut.