Herman Cain's Rocky Response on Libya Question

Updated: November 15, 2011 | 6:29 a.m.
November 14, 2011 | 5:40 p.m.

Herman Cain:FLAG

As if Herman Cain didn't have enough to worry about, the Republican presidential candidate is drawing unwanted attention for his apparent stumble on a question about Libya.

The question, which came during a meeting of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's editorial board, provoked a drawn-out and uncertain response from the usually assertive Cain. He later appears to contradict himself and acknowledges at one point: "I've got all this stuff twirling around in my head."

Asked later about the incident, Cain told reporters on Monday night: "They asked me a question about Libya and I paused so I could gather my thoughts. You know, it's really complementary when people start documenting my pauses. You know, it's one thing to document every word. It was a pause. That's all it was."

Cain also told reporters that he "would have done a better job of figuring out exactly who was in the opposition. After things erupted, now we discover that some of the members of the opposition were actually al-Qaida members. That's not the proper due diligence, in my opinion."

Cain did get some public support on Monday from his wife Gloria, who told Fox News in an interview that she doesn't believe the sexual harassment allegations lodged against him.

"I know the person that he is, and I know that the person that [his accusers] were talking about -- I don't know who that person is," Gloria Cain said. "And we've been there for 43 years. And if I haven't seen parts of that person in 43 years, I don't think I'm that simple that I would miss something that significant."

Below is Cain's response to the Libya question.

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