Herman Cain talks energy independence in Nevada (Video)

Herman Cain touched upon the issue of energy independence at a luncheon hosted by the Republican Women of Las Vegas in Nevada:

I agree with Governor Rick Perry that we need an energy independence plan. I was talking about that before he decided to run.

We’ve got the energy in this country to be energy independent. It is not only an economic imperative. It is a national security imperative.

And we’re working on putting together a plan to do that. But just unleashing the energy sector isn’t all that we need to do. We need to unleash all sectors of this economy, which is what I will plan to do.

Watch video of Herman Cain’s latest comments on energy (starts at 6:56): 

2011 Iowa Republican Presidential Debate: Energy Roundup

Eight of the Republican candidates for President met in Ames, Iowa on February 12, 2011 for a Fox News debate that set the stage for the Ames Straw Poll, an event that spelled victory for Michele Bachmann and led Tim Pawlenty to drop out of the race.

Bachmann and Pawlenty were joined on stage by Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. The candidates sounded off on a number of key issues, including energy policy.

Knowing what the GOP presidential candidates chose not to talk about may be as important to the energy debate as they issues they did choose to focus upon. 

Word count: 

Number of times each of the following energy related terms were used during the first Iowa Republican Presidential Debate of the 2012 election cycle. 

Energy: 13

Cap and trade: 4

Oil: 3

Gasoline: 1

Coal, natural gas: 0

Solar, wind: 0

Climate change, global warming: 0

Now, here's a deeper look at what they had to say.

Michele Bachmann on cap and trade, light bulbs

I would say governor (Tim Pawlenty), when you were governor in Minnesota you implemented cap and trade in our state and you praised the unconstitutional individual mandates and called for requiring all people in our state to purchase health insurance that the government would mandate. 

……............

The policies that the governor (Tim Pawlenty) advocated for were cap and trade. He praised and wanted to require Minnesotans to purchase the unconstitutional individual mandate in health care. And he said the era of small government is over. I have a very consistent record of fighting very hard against Barack Obama and his unconstitutional measures in congress. I’m very proud of that record. That is what qualifies me, as a fighter and representative of the people, to go to Washington, D.C. and to the White House. 

People are looking for a champion. They want someone who has been fighting. When it came to health care, I brought tens of thousands of Americans to Washington to fight the unconstitutional individual mandates. I didn’t praise it. When it came to cap and trade, I fought it with everything that was in me, including I introduced the Lightbulb Freedom of Choice Act so people could all purchase the lightbulb of their choice.

I also believe in big government is hurting the United States. We need to have small government.

Herman Cain on energy independence, Iran and nuclear weapons

I believe that our energy strategy is directly related to national security, as well as stopping Iran in their efforts. The head of Iran, Ahmadinejad, has said that he wants to wipe Israel off of the face of the Earth. I take that seriously. He has also said — he has also said that he’s not going to listen to the United States, Britain, or anybody else in their attempts to do what they want to do.

That being said, there’s more to foreign policy than bombs and bullets. There’s bombs and bullets and economics. 

If we go serious about maximizing all of our energy resources in this country, we can become a player on the world market. As the price of oil goes down, it puts an economic squeeze on Iran. This is why I believe we should have a serious energy-independent strategy in order to be able to be a player on the world market. That’s what I meant by using our energy resources, not just oil, but all of our resources to become energy independent.

Mitt Romney on what needs to be done to fix the economy

What needs to be done — there are really seven things that come to mind. One is to make sure our corporate tax rates are competitive with other nations. Number two is to make sure that our regulations and bureaucracy works not just for the bureaucrats in Washington, but for the businesses that are trying to grow. Number three is to have trade policies that work for us, not just for our opponents. Number four is to have an energy policy that gets us energy secure. Number five is to have the rule of law. Six, great institutions that build human capital, because capitalism is also about people, not just capital and physical goods. And number seven is to have a government that doesn’t spend more money than it takes in. And I’ll do it.

Rick Santorum on energy, jobs and manufacturing

When I grew up in Butler, Pennsylvania, a little steel town, 21 percent of the people of this country worked in manufacturing. It is now nine. If you want to know where the middle of America went, it went to China, it went to Malaysia, it went to Indonesia. We need to bring it back.

I put together a four-point plan to do it, including energy — producing more energy, because of course manufacturers use more energy than just about everybody else in the business world. But the big thing I proposed is to take the corporate rate which makes us uncompetitive, particularly in exporting goods, take the corporate rate and cut it to zero for manufacturers.

You want to create opportunity for businesses in manufacturing to grow, cut that tax to zero. Our jobs will come back.

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We need to get the economy growing. That doesn’t mean taking more money out of it, that means — making — that means creating energy jobs, creating manufacturing jobs. And my plan will do that.

A complete transcript of the 2011 Iowa Republican Presidential Debate is available on FoxNewsInsider.com

Herman Cain talks energy independence in Dover, NH

Herman Cain talked about energy independence and gas prices at a Republican State Committee Fundraiser held in Dover, NH on Thursday. Granite Grok caught Herman's entire speech on video. His energy comments start at 15:25.

Transcript of Herman Cain's comments on energy and gas prices:  

President Obama went to Brazil recently.

(Booing)

You all heard about that?

Loaned them $2 billion. Somebody told me it was more like three or four. Doesn’t matter, it was still a lot of money. And then announced to the Brazilians, “America’s going to be the best customer for the oil that you get out of the ground.”

(Booing)

I’m just the messenger.

Let me tell you what the Cain doctrine is going to be. America is going to be its own best customer.

We’re going to drill here. We’re going to get all that natural gas, coal. We have enough natural resources to become energy secure and energy independent.

I don’t mean independent from countries that are our friends. I mean energy independent from countries that don’t like us. Or countries that are playing us like a fiddle. Like Saudi Arabia. They’re playing us like a fiddle.

King Abdullah is the king of Saudi Arabia. One his sons was quoted… I don’t remember which one of them it was. He’s got too many for me to remember all of them. One of King Abdullah’s sons actually made the statement prior to an OPEC meeting. And I quote, “We must increase the supply of oil such that America and Europe will not be tempted to develop their own oil resources. 

Playing us like a fiddle.

So when he made that statement, as oil was near $4 a gallon. I mean oil was at $100 a gallon. It was over $100 a gallon. Gasoline was $4 a gallon. They increased the supply and the price came back down.

So some people go, “Phew, we dodged the bullet.” No we didn’t.

I don’t like being at the mercy of foreign countries when it comes to this economy. But if we don’t become energy independent it will also be a national security threat. So it’s economic and national security that we have on the line.