Karzai irritated on Cain2012:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/herman-cain-hamid-karzai-knows-your-name/Quote>>
Hey Herman Cain, Hamid Karzai Knows Your Name
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
KABUL, Afghanistan – The Republican presidential campaign unexpectedly made its way to Afghanistan on Thursday when Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, brought up recent comments by Herman Cain during a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
As reporters entered the room where the two met for the usual photo opportunity, Mr. Karzai was asking Mrs. Clinton about remarks Mr. Cain made recently in a television interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network.
“I’m ready for gotcha questions, and they’re already starting to come,” Mr. Cain said in the interview, which was broadcast on Oct. 8. “And when they ask who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan, I’m going to say, ‘You know, I don’t know. Do you know?’ And then I’m going to say, ‘How’s that going to create one job?’”
Mrs. Clinton, a former presidential candidate herself, has typically avoided overtly political issues as secretary of state, but she sought to explain on Thursday.
“He’s a former pizza company owner,” she said to Mr. Karzai.
“Is he that?” he replied in English.
“Oh, yes. He started something called Godfather’s Pizza,” she said.
“Yes, I see, I see,” Mr. Karzai said.
Mrs. Clinton then turned to the American ambassador, Ryan C. Crocker, and went on, laughingly. “The president was saying he saw a news clip about how Mr. Cain had said I don’t even know the names of all these presidents of all these countries, you know, like whatever …”
“All the ’stans whatever,” Mr. Karzai interjected, referring to the countries of Central and Southern Asia, including his.
“All the ’stans places,” Mrs. Clinton repeated.
Mr. Karzai did not seem to take offense, displaying what appeared to be an astute understanding of campaigning in a democratic country. “That wasn’t right,” he said, “but anyway, that’s how politics are.”
Mr. Cain, a former chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza (not the owner or founder) who is riding a wave of attention in recent weeks, went on in the interview to say that “knowing who is the head of some of these small insignificant states around the world” was not critical to a president focused on national security and the economy at home.
He made clear that, if elected, he would read the briefing papers about the leader of, presumably, Uzbekistan. (The president there, for the record, is Islam A. Karimov, whom Mrs. Clinton is expected to meet during a weeklong trip that includes stops in four “’stans.”)
“When I get ready to go visit that country, I’ll know who it is,” Mr. Cain said, “but until then, I want to focus on the big issues that we need to solve.”
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