Former Pizza magnate and presidential aspirant Herman Cain directly addressed the issue of his race at a conservative gathering in Iowa on Saturday, saying that liberals think he should “stay on the Democratic plantation.”
“I’m an American Black Conservative - an ABC — and I’m proud of it,” Cain said. “And because I’ve been affiliated with the conservative movement, and had the audacity to go on talk radio and do a talk show, and promote conservative principles, I’ve been called a racist too. Go figure”
Cain then went on to say he thought liberals were upset with him “because I won’t stay on the Democrat plantation like I’m supposed to.”
“It may shock you but some black people can think for themselves,” he added.
Cain was one of several presumed GOP presidential candidates who spoke at the Conservative Principles Conference on Saturday, an event organized by Iowa Rep. Steve King (R). Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R), Newt Gingrich, and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) also spoke at the event.
Cain won the event’s straw poll with 42 out of the 127 votes to beat out Gingrich (13), Bachmann (12), and Barbour (2.) Last month, Cain won a straw poll at a Tea Party summit in Arizona.