Herman Cain Sings ‘God Bless America’ in 9/11 Video

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain released a 9/11 tribute video Friday in which he sings "God Bless America" while footage of the burning Twin Towers and other Sept. 11 images play on the screen.

The two-minute video, complete with news report narration and the sounds of people screaming amid the chaos, ends with a close-up of Cain's face and the words "Herman Cain -- President 2012."

According to a Cain spokesperson, the candidate recorded the song in one take.

In the hours since the video's release, it has prompted some strong visceral reactions: Salon's Alex Pareene gave it a scathing review, calling it "incredibly tasteless" and a "monstrosity," while others took to social networking sites to say it moved them.

Over at Mediaite, columnist Philip Bump called it "either the worst video commemorating anything ever, or it’s a perfectly fine expression of a man’s feelings about an American tragedy." Bump suggested this test:

A good way to figure out which is to try and remember how you feel about Herman Cain. If you like him a lot, it’s the latter. I’m indifferent towards him, so it’s the former. A fun thought experiment: what if this were President Obama singing? (Yes, that’s Cain singing.) Would that change your mind?

Cain's video is just the second musical 9/11 tribute from a public figure to be released this week. As The Blaze previously reported, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough has a new country song about the attacks and America's wars, titled "Reason to Believe."