2012 Tuesday: The response, not the allegations, got the worst of Cain
Welcome to the big time, Herman Cain.
One of the ugly sides of politics is that people perceived as threats tend to have mud thrown their way. And the definition of mud is a thinly — and anonymously — sourced story that just happens to land on the evening before a fast-rising candidate is due to get some positive “earned” media (meaning news coverage they get for talking about their ideas, as Cain did yesterday in Washington).
It’s clear that someone, somewhere, considers Cain’s spike in the opinion polls something more than a temporary blip.
I will issue a caveat here that there could well be more details and facts to come out about the sexual harassment allegations leveled against Cain while he was head of the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s. Without such details and facts, I’m not very troubled by these allegations alone: They’re just allegations that, from what we know so far, seem not to have had much merit. But if they do come out, and they are bad for Cain, he will have a serious problem on his hands.
Absent such revelations, the biggest problem for Cain is one of his own creation — and undoubtedly the precise problem hoped for by whoever brought the allegations to the Politico reporters’ attention. I’m talking about his response.
Cain’s biggest asset as a candidate is not so much his 9-9-9 plan, because all such plans are subject to change. It’s his credibility: as an “outsider,” as a genuine man and authentic conservative, as a trustworthy and respectable human being.
If you’re Herman Cain, that credibility has taken almost 67 years to build, and you are the person best capable of throwing it all away.
Had Cain immediately acknowledged the two settlements, noted that they were small and based on unproven charges, and explained his side of the story, I and others probably wouldn’t be writing about them today. But for whatever reason — because his advisers gave him bad advice, because he thought he could put a lid on the story with a less-complete explanation, because he’s so convinced of his innocence in the cases — he didn’t do an adequate job. (This kind of thing is one reason I’ve had my doubts that, in the year 2011, the presidency could be the first elected office a candidate had ever won.)
Instead, his story has, to put it charitably, evolved over the past 36 hours. And he’s fallen back on a tactic we’ve seen on stories such as his stances on abortion and on swapping prisoners at Guantanamo Bay for captured American troops: chalking it up to not hearing the question properly or his choice of words being misinterpreted.
On its own, a story based on innuendo from second-hand sources probably wouldn’t have been enough to drag Cain down. Cain’s response may ultimately hurt him more with GOP primary voters.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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241 comments Add your comment
Yeah Right
November 1st, 2011
3:35 pm
This is much ado about nothing.
It doesn’t matter Cain is black. Dems are viscious in their attack on him, but if he were a Rep the Dems would be all about supporting Herman Cain. Double standard party=Democrats…everyone knows this.
The Dem party is the party of ignorance. Poll the Dem voters and ask them for a clear answer on on any issue and you will get complete gobblygook. They are just too ignorant to answer a question directly, or just don’t know enough to answer at all. If you ask them where Topeka, KS is, they won’t know….so how can you expect them to understand the rhetoric and misinformation they are spoon fed and willingly eat and totally beleive by the party of ignorants? It boggles the mind the emptiness in their brains! Oh, but they THINK they know something…and have complete righteous indignation when proven they don’t….or they will change the subject…they like to change the subject….gets them out of a jam alot. “You said what about the deficit? Well, what about those lies the Republicans told?” Ahem, what lies would those be? “You know, the lies; everyone knows about the lies!”
Yeah right.
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
November 1st, 2011
3:35 pm
Clearly there is a “Get Herman Cain” attitude among the liberal elite, as well as at the national GOP level. He’s not playing their game, and they can’t stand it.
Now, here’s the reality of the situation (and some of what likely happened).
First, his campaign advisers didn’t do him any favors by having this story for 10 days and not having a crisp response to it. He needs a crisis manager to be brought on board for the NEXT attacks to come with responsibility just below his campaign manager.
Next, I believe that his answers “evolved” as much as they did due to his ability to recollect more things as the day wore on. It is similar to having been asked about one thing or another from your childhood and the more people end up talking about it, the more details you remember. I have no issue regarding this evolution.
Next, the women allegedly signed non-disclosures. These go both ways. Herman should make that very clear to the media when they ask about them being released. They are to protect both the company that issued them and the people involved and no amount of campaigning for any position should be able to violate that trust.
Finally, this was about the worst example of reporting that Politico could have ever come out with. No specifics, anonymous sources and a whole lot of speculation. That they published it at all is a testament to the above mentioned folks wanting to “Get Herman Cain” at all costs.
ragnar danneskjold
November 1st, 2011
3:36 pm
Dear Aquagirl @ 3:32, good afternoon, long time no chat. Perhaps we can agree that Russian dictators are more honest and less aggressive than America’s seven sisters?
Yeah Right
November 1st, 2011
3:36 pm
I meant “if he were a Dem the Dems would be all about supporting”….doit!
whatajoke
November 1st, 2011
3:36 pm
You think Cain know who is Putin or yet can pronounce his name???
Yeah Right
November 1st, 2011
3:38 pm
Yes, yes he does.
John
November 1st, 2011
3:40 pm
ragnar danneskjold @3:29, From ABC News…
“Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus became the first official to call on Weiner to resign after Weiner’s mea culpa press conference on Monday.
“Congressman Weiner’s actions and deception are unacceptable and he should resign. We do not need an investigation to know he lied and acted inappropriately, we need a resignation,” Priebus said in a written statement. ”
Noticed how the Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said an investigation is not needed to know he lied and needs to resign. Well, we know Cain has lied, just as Weiner did so I assume Reince Priebus will be calling on Cain to drop out of the race.
ragnar danneskjold
November 1st, 2011
3:41 pm
I thought the sharpest analysis on the topic came from Juan Williams, on Bret Baier’s show last night, cannot find a transcript, so I paraphrase. On the subject of “who leaked,” Juan agreed that while Romney and Perry had lots of money for opposition research, the “liberals are terrified of Cain.”
whatajoke
November 1st, 2011
3:41 pm
He said that he might not know all the leaders of the world or how to pronounce their names. IJS
John
November 1st, 2011
3:42 pm
agnar danneskjold @3:29, From the Wall Street Journal…
“On Tuesday, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called for Mr. Weiner to resign and challenged House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to explain whether they “believe members of Congress are held to a different set of standards.”
Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) on Tuesday said Mr. Weiner should resign. “The last thing we need is to be immersed in discussion about Congressman Weiner and his Twitter activities,” Mr. Cantor said.”
Jack
November 1st, 2011
3:42 pm
A lot of damage is done to an employer by disgruntled female employees under the guise of sexual harrassment. Some are legitimate, but claiming harrassment against Cain at this particular time smells like dirty politics.
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
November 1st, 2011
3:45 pm
“Well, we know Cain has lied”
No, we don’t John. YOU believe he has lied, however, you have no proof whatsoever that he deliberately said something he KNEW wasn’t true at the time.
whatajoke
November 1st, 2011
3:45 pm
Its only dirty if he didn’t do it.
Jefferson
November 1st, 2011
3:46 pm
Deep down, you know he’s not your choice, you are just settleing.
whatajoke
November 1st, 2011
3:49 pm
For all the Cain supporters, why did Cain go to Morehouse and was this his first choice?
ragnar danneskjold
November 1st, 2011
3:50 pm
Dear John @ 3:40, so you agree that no Republican called on Weiner to resign until after a humiliating public confession? Not exactly a raging torrent attributable o conservatives.
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
November 1st, 2011
3:51 pm
“For all the Cain supporters, why did Cain go to Morehouse and was this his first choice?”
Why does it matter to you, whatajoke?
I remember when...
November 1st, 2011
3:51 pm
The best Weiner headline I saw was on the Huffington Post: “Weiner Out”. Short, concise, tells us what he did and why he had to do it. Great writing.
John
November 1st, 2011
3:55 pm
“No, we don’t John. YOU believe he has lied, however, you have no proof whatsoever that he deliberately said something he KNEW wasn’t true at the time.”
Grasping for straws I see. He denied it completely (first lie), then said it was true that a couple employees filed complaints but there was no merit to their complaint (second lie) until his memory was jogged and he remembers a incident about commenting on a woman’s height (in detail). He also said there was no payout to his knowledge (third lie) but then changed the story to there was a payout.
Same as the Weiner incident, let’s see if Reince Priebus willl take the same position….no investigation needed, Cain just needs to drop out of the race.
GT
November 1st, 2011
3:56 pm
Conservative never admit to anything. Dead body on the floor, smoking gun in the frozen hand, blood all over the clothes and the right winger and his politics are the only reason for this little misunderstanding. Bush was the greatest at this. If he had accidentally hit the nuke bottom on Saturday night he would have blamed it on liberal mice that have a run of the White House from the Clinton days. Any for some that is all he needed to say case closed.
whatajoke
November 1st, 2011
3:59 pm
Tiberius, Cain would be proud of your response.
GT
November 1st, 2011
4:04 pm
We don’t back Wiener, I say the same thing I said then now. How do these nuts get past the gate? Who votes for these local yocals and don’t know they are what they are. Wiener is sick. If I got a friend of mine flashing the world in his underwear I would be shocked. This is like a closet gay thing, someone running with this guy knew he had this problem yet let the world elect him to the US Congress and maybe let this lady marry him not knowing how sick he was.
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
November 1st, 2011
4:04 pm
“He denied it completely (first lie),”
No, what he said at first was that he never sexually harassed anyone (which remains true unless shown otherwise), not that any complaints were filed against him.
“then said it was true that a couple employees filed complaints but there was no merit to their complaint (second lie)”
Which simply answered a following question asked of him (were complaints filed against you?)
“until his memory was jogged and he remembers a incident about commenting on a woman’s height (in detail).”
Which I commented on.
“He also said there was no payout to his knowledge (third lie) but then changed the story to there was a payout.”
Which he remembered later on.
Of course, these are the facts as presented, and not your creation of what actually didn’t happen, John, so maybe you wouldn’t recognize them.
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
November 1st, 2011
4:05 pm
whatajoke, you haven’t answered my question. Why is where Herman Cain attended college an issue for you?
Aquagirl
November 1st, 2011
4:09 pm
First, his campaign advisers didn’t do him any favors by having this story for 10 days and not having a crisp response to it.
When criticized about his lack of knowledge, Cain says that’s no biggie because he knows how to hire good staff. He doesn’t need to know jack about Uzbekistan (including pronunciation) he can rely on the hired help for those bothersome details.
So if you’re blaming his advisers you may want to climb down from the Cain bandwagon.
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
November 1st, 2011
4:12 pm
Aquagirl, there is a difference between hiring campaign advisers and policy advisers.
And I do not look for perfection from my political hopefuls; just consistency of their core beliefs and a healthy disdain for government intrusion into private businesses and lives.
whatajoke
November 1st, 2011
4:14 pm
Its not where he attended college but WHY he had to attend and not his college of choice.
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
November 1st, 2011
4:16 pm
And why is that of importance to you, whatajoke?
And do you even know why he attended Morehouse?
Kyle Wingfield
November 1st, 2011
4:17 pm
Aquagirl: That’s not a bad point, although I strongly suspect a President Cain would be selecting from a different pool than candidate Cain has. Candidate Cain has never held elected office (no holdovers to hire for the campaign) and, until a month ago, had little name ID, mediocre polling numbers and not a whole lot of money to spend on staff.
Put it this way: I doubt Block would be his secretary of state or even his chief of staff.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
November 1st, 2011
4:20 pm
Haven’t seen any Obozo bootlickers crediting him with the stock market results the last two days. No wonder–down more than 500.
whatajoke
November 1st, 2011
4:22 pm
Let me see Tiberius……I heard it from the liberal media. Wait, that was wsb radio and from Cain himself. Anything else???
John
November 1st, 2011
4:23 pm
Tiberius – Your lightning rod of hate! @ 4:04,
I’m sorry, you’re right…Cain didn’t lie or change his story in any way, shape or form. There really wasn’t a “settlement” but there was an “agreement”. So he was accurate when he said there was not a settlement.
From the AP…’He later acknowledged he was aware of an “agreement” but not a settlement.
“It was an agreement. So it looked like I had changed my story. I didn’t change my story,” Cain told CNN’s Headline News. “The difference between settlement and agreement, it makes a difference to me.” ‘
Aquagirl
November 1st, 2011
4:24 pm
good afternoon, long time no chat. Perhaps we can agree that Russian dictators are more honest and less aggressive than America’s seven sisters?
Howdy rag, nice to see you haven’t changed.
Nah, I really can’t compare Kyle to Vladimir Putin. When the press releases yet another photo of Putin flexing his abs in some remote section of Russia, I always believe he’s enjoying a little side trip while disposing of a corpse.
marc
November 1st, 2011
4:29 pm
Cain and staff had 10 days…10 DAYS…to put together a response…..What? they thought Politico was going to shelve the story….what happened way back when is not the issue…Cain and staff can’t handle this??…..This is like death by 1000 cuts for the GOP…..what are they doing?
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
November 1st, 2011
4:30 pm
“Let me see Tiberius……I heard it from the liberal media. Wait, that was wsb radio and from Cain himself. Anything else???”
Again, whatajoke, you’re not making yourself clear. First, do you know why he went to Morehouse, and why does it matter to you?
jconservative
November 1st, 2011
4:38 pm
Cain and his staff knew about the story for 10 days, yet had no clue how to respond to the story once it was published. What did they do for 10 days? Obviously nothing.
Kyle is correct on this one. The problem is not the allegations but the incompetence of the response.
Cain can’t explain his 999 plan except for thin references to apples and oranges. He can’t explain his position on pro life/pro choice. He can’t explain his position on swapping prisoners with terrorists.
I trust Republicans are not going to hand Obama the election by nominating Cain.
Cain will not carry the Independent Vote in any of the 50 states.
Story is a joke
November 1st, 2011
4:38 pm
1) Liberals are gonna hate him anyway regardless of the whether or not this is true.
2) Will anyone that supports Cain be less likely to vote him for now? Doubt it very seriously. If so, the damage will be minimal
3) All this proves is he is a genune threat to win the Office of President.
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
November 1st, 2011
4:40 pm
“Cain can’t explain his 999 plan except for thin references to apples and oranges.”
Actually, he can if given more than :30 seconds in a tightly controlled debate.
Aquagirl
November 1st, 2011
4:43 pm
Candidate Cain has never held elected office (no holdovers to hire for the campaign) and, until a month ago, had little name ID, mediocre polling numbers and not a whole lot of money to spend on staff.
Wait, I thought being an outsider was a plus for some folks? And that the answer to a problem is not “throw more money at it?”And if Cain didn’t accumulate enough friends with his previous political experience (including running for office and working as an adviser himself) then doesn’t that say something about the man?
Regardless of his staff’s failures, responding to accusations with a persecution complex does not speak well of him. And I realize this is pretty much Teh Menz Show here, but sexual harassment is a real problem. I doubt there is a woman in corporate America who hasn’t run across some form of shenanigans, it’s incredibly tone deaf for Cain and his staff to foam at the mouth and proclaim their victimhood.
Jefferson
November 1st, 2011
4:44 pm
I think anyone who can imagine Cain as president has very bad judgement. Romney, maybe so — Cain, no use telling everyone about yourself. Toss up for him for VP, he may do what she did to Mac.
MarkV
November 1st, 2011
4:46 pm
“It is similar to having been asked about one thing or another from your childhood and the more people end up talking about it, the more details you remember.”
Anybody who believes that a man does not remember exactly the details of being accused of sexual harassment will believe anything.
“Finally, this was about the worst example of reporting that Politico could have ever come out with.”
For all we know Politico’s journalistic handling of the situation cannot be faulted. They received a tip, they investigated it, informed the Cain camp, did not receive a reply, investigated some more, published what they learned. Naturally, there are some people who believe that disclosure is appropriate only in some cases and not others. What would have been the reason for Politico for not going public with it?
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
November 1st, 2011
4:47 pm
Aquagirl, you’re grasping at straws here. This has been (thus far) a non-story story. No facts, simply allegations without a shred of detail (and therefore no proof) provided.
whatajoke
November 1st, 2011
4:53 pm
You can serve on the supreme court for twenty years and not utter a word; don’t think that model will work for TPOUS.
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
November 1st, 2011
4:54 pm
“For all we know Politico’s journalistic handling of the situation cannot be faulted.”
Really? Publish a story with anonymous sources ONLY, and you can’t find any fault with Politico, MarkV?
“They received a tip, they investigated it, informed the Cain camp, did not receive a reply, investigated some more, published what they learned.”
Or more accurately, what the DIDN’T learn, which was basically nothing.
“What would have been the reason for Politico for not going public with it?”
Because it contained no facts and no sources, MarkV.
“Anybody who believes that a man does not remember exactly the details of being accused of sexual harassment will believe anything.”
Really? Ever been accused of sexual harassment, MarkV? Do you remember every detail of everything you did running a large organization over a dozen years ago? More importantly, did you manage every little detail in a large organization over a dozen years ago?
MarkV
November 1st, 2011
4:57 pm
“No facts, simply allegations without a shred of detail (and therefore no proof) provided.”
Information provided:
Two women accused Herman Cain of sexual misconduct.
True or False? True.
There was a financial settlement with the two women.
True or False? True
Worth reporting for a candidate to the office of the President? Yes.
whatajoke
November 1st, 2011
4:59 pm
I remembered the girl I tried to kiss in the fourth grade and she told the teacher. That was 1967!!
MarkV
November 1st, 2011
4:59 pm
Tiberius @4:54 pm
Perhaps you would not remember details of being excused of sexual harassment. I would have, if I were.
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
November 1st, 2011
5:01 pm
Yeah, MarkV, those sure are “details” and “proof”.
Maybe you forgot the basics of good journalism: Who, What, When, Where, and Why.
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
November 1st, 2011
5:03 pm
If they were as baseless and as inconsequential as they seem to be, I sure wouldn’t MarkV.
John
November 1st, 2011
5:04 pm
Tiberius – Your lightning rod of hate! @4:54,
Do you say the same with reporting by Rush, Fox, Andrew Brietbart, etc. which stories such as Shirley Sherrod, Obama’s trip to India, The Muslim cultural center near Ground Zero, Obama being a Muslim, birtherish…the list does go on.