Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain continued his criticism of the Occupy Wall Street movement on Wednesday, suggesting to reporters in Florida that the progressive protesters are un-American.
The Associated Press reports:
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain says the Occupy Wall Street protesters are un-American and against capitalism.
Speaking to The Associated Press during a book signing event Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Fla., Cain said the protesters shouldn't rally against Wall Street bankers or brokers because "they're the ones who create the jobs."
Cain also used the anti-capitalist refrain earlier this week in describing the Occupy Wall Street movement. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Cain suggested that the protests were staged, and that the conditions demonstrators were speaking out against were consequences of their own actions, not of malpractice by Wall Street.
"I don't have facts to back this up, but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama administration. Don't blame Wall Street, don't blame the big banks, if you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself!" Cain said. "It is not a person's fault if they succeeded, it is a person's fault if they failed."
Cain isn't the only GOP presidential candidate with negative things to say about the Occupy Wall Street movement. Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and co-founder of Bain Capital who's now worth upwards of $250 million, called it "dangerous ... class warfare."
Follow the latest developments from the Occupy Wall Street protests on our live blog.
