Herman Cain, the only African-American in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, is not afraid to speak his mind on issues that others might dance around, such as race, Muslims or homosexuality. In his recent campaign video, for example, he says tells people who say that the Tea Party is racist to eat their words. In a Thursday interview on CBS, Cain tackled the issue of race and said that President Obama’s supporters use it to “cover up some of his failures.”

Cain also said that he has an advantage in the race over a candidate like former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who grew up wealthy. He, on the other had to work his way up the economic ladder.

“Before we were poor, we were po’. See, po’ is one level below poor. We had to work up to poor. We didn’t have a lot of material things. But we had our faith in God, our belief in this country and the belief in what you could do for yourself,” Cain said.

The Atlanta radio host said this gives him an advantage because he can relate to people who are still trying to achieve their American dream.

Sometimes, however, he can be prone to exaggeration or go too far. He recently said that if elected president, he would never sign a bill longer than three pages, which he had to retract. In his interview with CBS, Cain said that homosexuality is a sin that people choose to commit.

“I believe homosexuality is a sin because I’m a Bible-believing Christian,” he said. “But, I know that some people make that choice. That’s their choice.”

Despite this view, which is bound to be deemed offensive by many, Cain says he would appoint an openly gay person to his cabinet.

“I just want people who – I want qualified. I want them to basically believe in the Constitution of the United States of America, so, yep, I don’t have a problem with appointing an openly gay person,” he said in response to a blogger’s question, The Christian Post reports.

(Photo: AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)