Cain's New Commerical: WTF?

If you’ve already figured out what Herman Cain was hoping to accomplish with his bizarre new web ad – which features his chief of staff taking a drag of a cigarette while he stares menacingly into the camera – you’re smarter than us. (If you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and click here.) Salon’s Steve Kornacki seems equally baffled, but he has a couple theories. The smoking imagery could be a defiant reference to Cain’s former alliance with the tobacco industry. Or if, as many observers suspect, the candidate’s campaign is really just a stunt to raise his political celebrity, this commercial could be a (brilliant) attempt to make the “Herman Cain” brand go viral. “But if the rap on Cain is wrong and he actually is trying to win the GOP nomination,” writes Kornacki, “then it’s just the latest in a long [line] of baffling and utterly counterproductive moves.”