Letterman presses Herman Cain on 9-9-9 [video]

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain faced a prickly David Letterman when he pre-taped a segment with the late-night talk show host, which will air Friday night.

Cain attempted to tout his 9-9-9 tax plan, but Letterman was having none of that.

“I’ve heard of it,” Letterman said, “I don’t know what it means.”

Cain tried to explain: “9-9-9 is bold –“

“I know it’s bold,” Letterman cut in, “But you don’t even know what it means. I heard someone say to you, ‘How would so and so and so and so be handled under 9-9-9?’ And you said: I don’t know!”

Cain attempted a defense: “That was one of those obscure questions that was asked about 9-9-9.”

“Yeah, but you gotta deal with obscurity when you’re president,” Letterman replied. “I mean, I like it, it’s clever, 9-9-9, it’s fun…And you ought to get some sort of toll free number, Herman Cain. You dial 9-9-9, you get a free pizza,” Letterman said. “Come on, what are we talking about?”

Letterman then suggested that the country’s problems “might be beyond solvability at this point.”

“Are you trying to talk me out of this?” Cain quipped.

kim.geiger@latimes.com