Herman Cain offered no alternative histories. He offered no apologies. He had no stories to recall. His denial was that nothing happened.
The media loves the idea of proving a negative. If nothing happened, why can’t Cain produce evidence of that? One idiot reporter asked if he would undergo a lie detector test. Not a bad idea, but exactly what questions would prove he was telling the truth? What if one of the accusers passed one? You’re back to square one.
George W. Bush had the same problem with the National Guard Memo. Some disgruntled Democrat created a memo out of thin air using the default settings in Microsoft Word and CBS held onto it like a junkyard dog (fake but accurate) until the story actually improved Bush’s standing. Luckily, the veracity of the document became so questionable that a few conservative websites were able to prove a nearly impossible scenario, if not a negative. Then again, some politicians just play chicken. Gary Hart dared the press to follow him around, and they found some Money Business.
Now Cain has laid down his marker. He’s either innocent and these allegations will fall apart or he’s guilty and some real evidence will show itself. I don’t for one minute think that he’s both a major sleazeball and managed to hide all evidence of the fact. Those two things just don’t go together.
Everything is just so tabloidesque that it’s hard to take any of this seriously anymore.
Ahhh I remember it well – Gary Hart, Donna Rice and the Monkey Business
When will men ever learn from the example of those who came before? Never, I guess, since apparently the good lord didn’t see fit to give men enough blood to supply both heads at the same time.
http://www.examiner.com/american-history-in-national/gary-hart-and-donna-rice-photo
personally i’m curious to see how it all plays out in the end. he pit the last allegation down to the democrat machine… it was a smart play really.. and it put it onto them to Defend. we’ll see.
That’s basically where I am. Waiting and seeing. The whole thing does have red flags all over it, and the fact that the latest woman is IN this administration is one of the. There’s also the assertion (haven’t yet seen proof) that the Chicago woman lives in Axelrod’s building in Chi-town, and the son of one woman works for politico (a potential mix up).
It’ll be a shame if it’s true, because Herman Cain on the ticket in some capacity may be the only way the Reps can win the white house. I think he’d provide powerful impetus for splitting the AA vote, and that may be necessary to win. Cain is the only way to make that happen.
Oh, but he wasn’t able to hide all the evidence that he’s a sleazeball and a serial sexual harasser. There are two written agreements where his employer paid money to settle claims, another woman who reported sexual harassment and a fourth who reported a sexual assault. Then there are a couple of conservative men who said that they witnessed sexually suggestive behavior that they thought was inappropriate and a fifth woman who has reported that Cain asked her to set him up with another woman. All of this occurred while Cain was married and posing as a pillar of his church. I think sleazeball is a mild term for him.
No other Republican candidate has been accused, even once, as far as I know of sexually harassing a woman and here’s a man who’s been accused by four different women, none of whom knew any of the others. Cain’s defense is that he’s telling the truth and that all these other people, none of whom know each other and several of whom are Republicans, are all lying. According to Cain, these accusations have been made to keep him out of the White House. It’s downright amazing that all these women knew that Cain was going to be a presidential candidate when he was nothing more than a trade association lobbyist.
Obots and Cainiacs just drink different flavors of Kool-Aid.
I just fished out a bunch of your comments from the spam filter.
Maybe there was a reason they were in there?
Oops…
Okay, let’s say he’s lying about being a serial horndog and he really did hit on the ladies in a most unprofessional manner.
How DUMB is he to think this wouldn’t come out from the rabid oppo teams ?
With all the other political scandals, weren’t there photos, emails … twitpics? DNA on a blue dress? Witnesses?
So far there’s no solid evidence to convince me and the burden of proof rests on the prosecuters. If he’s lying, he’s toast as the cover-up is worse than the crime, so to speak.
I am also in the wait and see camp. So far though I am not impressed with Cain’s handling of it, and past campaigns of other public male figures does make me inclined to give the women the benefit of the doubt.
Let me compare it to what a woman, Nikki Haley, went through — that was to me very obviously manufactured. This one I don’t see yet as the “obvious fake” part.
Things that make you go hmmmmmm?
http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-accuser-filed-complaint-next-job-080946066.html
Sidebar: I can’t find the details, but Allred’s going to have a press conference with ALL the accusers.
On the one hand it could mean she’s a hustler.
On the other hand maybe she is just someone who is sensitized to unfair treatment and refuses to take shit anymore. She was working at the INS — I have had to go through them as an immigrant and let’s just say I would not be surprised at that place being a horrible place to work.
I’m troubled. Surprisingly I agree with Susan a bit – it’s just all too much coincidence… it’s just difficult to believe ‘something’ didn’t go on with Happy Herman.
… so then, the question (for me) becomes would I rather have the fake I know the Media is protecting, or the fake the media won’t ever protect?
I supposed that makes me a Caniac… but like Bill Clinton, I’m going into this with my eyes wide open, and the idea, that he can’t get away with anything because he’s not the media darling. There’s something to be said about that.
Of course, there’s also the fact that if Cain were to peel away 15-20% of the AA vote (which he certainly would do) – as ANOTHER Black President (maybe even serving TWO terms) the AA vote would be split FOREVER (or at least generations) – I don’t think the Democratic Party of today would survive…. How would they EVER find a majority if the White votes went Republican, and the Black Vote split? – then add in Rubio peeling off some Hispanics?
Seriously, you’re talking the end of the Dem Party (and they MUST KNOW THIS) – they would have to do some serious soul searching – you know, the kind that comes from a catastrophic choice to hire the least qualified candidate EVER and thrust him upon the world… when a better, more qualified choice was right in front of them.
Yeah, I’m a Caniac…. and I have my agenda too.
… so then, the question (for me) becomes would I rather have the fake I know the Media is protecting, or the fake the media won’t ever protect?
ABO in the general, ABR in the GOP primary.
But that still doesn’t mean, to me, automatically defending whoever is up in the polls. Just keeping my eyes open to who they really are.
I wish the OWS would run Russ Feingold on a Progressive ticket, with maybe Kucinich? Speak about your poster boys for economic injustice. That would peel a lot of votes away from BO.
Then Sarah can run as an Indy and WIN 😀
If Cain goes down, that leaves us Mittens, Newt, Huntsman, Santorum, Bachmann ? Argggghhhhhh.
You forgot Perry, Paul, Gary Johnson, & Buddy Roemer.
Pawlenty is kicking himself 24/7 for dropping out.
Sorry, my brain froze 😉
I don’t blame your brain at all – mine tends to melt into a puddle of despair when I look at that list.
That’s how I feel too.
ABO in the general, ABR in the GOP primary.
If Cain ruins the DNC tactics of race baiting for elections and never delivering results for those groups, that would be great. But I don’t think TPTB will let him get that far.
However, it is fun to watch the MSM wonder why Reps aren’t responding in the polls to their negative reports. They keep flashing pictures of Bill Clinton like they are trying to inspire Pavlovian/CDS responses towards Cain.
Tech Q: I’m not seeing the option to email subscribe to the threads ?
I’m getting New Posts just fine.
I don’t think crawdad has it enabled …
Turned off on purpose ? Or forgot? Heh, just checking to make sure it isn’t a glitch on my end.
I just prefer the email so I don’t miss comments, but I understand if he wants to force the lurkers to give him the hits 😉
I was willing to over look Clinton’s escapades and I’m glad I did because he turned out to be a pretty good president. When I say “overlook” them I mean rolling my eyes, thinking he engaged in some pretty sleezy behavior, recognizing that none of it was actually criminal, and realizing that he was just doing what probably 80% of male politicians have done since the dawn of time. I don’t like it, I’d like to see an entire cultural shift in how we view women, but this is the reality that we live in.
In the Cain scandal, there is even less evidence and several red flags that make this whole thing ring a bit false. We shall see.
The difference to me is that Clinton was running on policy and on his record, so the sleaziness was kind of a non-fatal flaw.
Cain has been running as the straight-talking non-political outsider whose word you can trust and whose policies are almost beside the point, but how he is handling this is revealing him as being a lot like a typical politician. So he’s losing the reason people turned to him as the anti-Romney.
Cain could be as innocent as the virgin snow, what’s hurting him is definitely the way his team is handling this. It’s really unsettling how amateurish they are.
Of course, Obama ran a flawless campaign……….cough.
Of course, you’ve got Cain in a catch 22. People seem to want a non professional politician, a man of the people, and then they complain about how amateurish and unpolished he is.
Somebody made me laugh the other day. They said this kind of sex scandal could never happen to Mitt Romney because everybody who has a Ken doll knows they have no genitals.
Herman Cain accuser filed complaint in next job
http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/8708427-418/herman-cain-accuser-filed-complaint-in-next-job.html
I’ve never read this (conservative woman) blogger before, but I really like this post on the topic:
http://melissablogs.com/2011/11/09/herman-cain-and-sexual-harassment-am-i-in-a-conservative-twilight-zone/
Good article, especially that she brought up the Duke Lacrosse players. Remember Jesse and Al fueled that racist fire, and they never apologized to the players.
Turns out woman #1 with the actual complaint, used to be a reporter too. Interesting.