Herman Cain Reacts To His ‘Foreign’ Doctor: ‘Don’t We Have Some Problems With Lebanon?’

Alex AlvarezNov 22nd, 2011, 1:19 pm

Although it isn’t something he mentions very often on the campaign trial, GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain once waged a very scary battle with cancer. In 2006, Cain was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer in his colon as well as metastases to his liver, and underwent surgery and rounds of chemotherapy to combat the disease. Today, fortunately, he is in remission and appears to be as healthy as ever.

Back in February of 2011, Cain shared his story with those gathered in Georgia’s Rock Springs church. And things got… Interesting? Awkward? Funny? Xenophobic? Alarmist? Reader’s choice.

Here’s what Cain told the crowd:

My surgeon laid out what my treatment plan was going to be. I’m going to have to do chemotherapy, and recuperate from that, and then do surgery where we’re going to remove 30 percent of my colon and 70 percent of my liver, recuperate, do the whole chemotherapy in a nine-month intensive treatment plan.

When I was meeting with the surgeon. His name is Dr. Abdallah. I asked his physician’s assistant, I said, “That sounds… A little foreign. Um. What is that?” She said, “He’s from Lebanon.”

“Oh. K. Don’t we have some problems, though, with Lebanon?” She said, “Yeah, that’s why he’s practicing medicine here in the United States!” She said, “But don’t worry. He’s a Christian.”

And I said, “Amen.” I felt a whole lot better.

Take a gander:

h/t Slate