The compartmentalized life of Herman Cain
Republican presidential candidate, Herman Cain has his photo taken with a supporter after speaking at a campaign rally on Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio. AP/Jay LaPrete
When Ted Turner established WTBS as the first satellite-bounced, 24-hour TV station in the late 1970s, Bill Tush was the young fellow tasked with providing much of the station’s after-hours content.
His comedy newscast – he was a poor man’s Jon Stewart with neckties as wide as a mobile home — made Tush something of a national cult figure, though he concedes that much of his young audience was probably either drunk or stoned.
Tush is now semi-retired and a member of the Eagle’s Landing Country Club in Stockbridge. Off the links and over several months of drinks and conversation, Tush made the acquaintance of a fellow club member named Herman Cain.
“I knew he had been the president of a pizza company. And he had a radio gig,” Tush said this week. Other topics – politics, say – never came up.
“I’ve always been friendly with people in the political sphere, but I never considered [Cain] a political person. And then – blam! – there he was, running for president. And I’m thinking, ‘This is the guy I used to sit in the corner [and shoot the breeze with].’”
Tush had just learned the same lesson that many of us are only now faced with. Just because you know one part of Herman Cain doesn’t mean you know the whole of the man.
This latest allegation, that Cain conducted a 13-year, off-and-on affair with a Dunwoody woman named Ginger White, only emphasizes a picture that was already forming.
Herman Cain is a driven candidate with many watertight compartments.
White says she met the future presidential candidate in Kentucky, while Cain was still president of the National Restaurant Association. Cain says that White’s claim of a sexual connection amounts to character assassination, but admits the pair had a “friendship relationship” and says he sometimes provided White financial assistance.
Yet the GOP candidate also says that neither his wife nor his family know the woman. Which perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise.
Citing a discomfort with the American system of vetting political candidates, Cain has sequestered his family from his campaign — with a single exception. When sexual harassment charges first surfaced last month, his wife of 43 years, Gloria Cain, submitted to an interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren.
“This isn’t Herman,” Gloria Cain said. So far, there has been no talk of a repeat interview.
Cain is an associate minister at Antioch Baptist Church North in Atlanta. He loves to sing hymns from the stage. And yet his fellow church members prefer to keep mum about the candidate — the Rev. Cameron Alexander, longtime pastor of the church, included. Another sealed compartment.
The 65-year-old Cain has campaigned on his business acumen, pointing to his rescue of Godfather’s Pizza. But his former business associates have largely declined to talk about Cain’s years at the helm of the company. Yet another closed door.
Less talked about is Cain’s place within the infrastructure of the Georgia GOP. Cain moved back to Georgia in 2000 and ran an unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate in 2004. But his presidential campaign, though run from an office near the Eagle’s Landing Country Club, was originally staffed from out of state.
His relationship with longtime leaders of the state Republican party might be described as distant.
Cain’s most public relationship in Georgia may be with Neal Boortz, the radio host for whom Cain sometimes subbed on AM 750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB. On Tuesday, only a few hours after White’s allegations became public, Boortz was asked his opinion of his friend.
“I know Herman Cain. This does not sound like Herman Cain to me. It doesn’t sound like him,” Boortz said. “Additionally, it is very curious to me that every allegation against Herman Cain has come from his three years at the National Restaurant Association.”
Boortz was implying a conspiracy, which is an exciting option. Less exciting is not knowing the people you call friend as well as you might. In the end, Boortz said, it may be time for Cain to think about retiring from the field – for the sake of his family.
Cain’s protests this week have included a tone of outrage — that one piece of his world would wander uncontrolled into another. In his pre-emptive interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer – anticipating White’s charges – Cain was asked if more accusations could follow.
“When someone that appears to be a friend, turns around and concocts this story, you’ve got to question – the hundreds of thousands of people that I have met in my life, a hundred thousand people could possibly come out,” a frustrated Cain said.
Curiously, this week’s best argument for a compartmentalized life came from Cain’s attorney, Lin Wood, in a letter to Fox 5 Atlanta – which broke the White story.
“This appears to be an accusation of private, alleged consensual conduct between adults — a subject matter which is not a proper subject of inquiry by the media or the public,” Wood wrote. “The public’s right to know and the media’s right to report has boundaries and most certainly those boundaries end outside of one’s bedroom door.”
It was a noble statement of principle, which fell with a dull thud in a political contest for the hearts and minds of a Republican and largely conservative Christian electorate.
An electorate that might argue that a man’s religious principles ought to freely swap around to other parts of his life, mixing like gravy into vegetables on a plate.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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137 comments Add your comment
Hurt Kurbstreit
November 30th, 2011
9:33 pm
You repubs can dismiss the allegations of Ginger White if you want to. But she has proof and there are probably more affairs in the wings that could come out. It’s unbelievable arrogance for him to believe that this and the harrassment charges would not come out. Top that off with the fact that his 999 is a joke and would never pass and he has Zero knowledge of foreign policy. He doesn’t even know the difference between uz beci beci stan stan and Libya. He’ll be gone from the race soon. Originally, his motivation was to enhance his book sales and speaking tour credentials. Now he has even damaged that. He should have left well enough alone. He was not ready for prime time.
Look before I leap...
November 30th, 2011
9:37 pm
@Minus Clous 9:13
Well the media is quite different since the days of JFK. They tended to look away from such things (as a reminder they did not report on Ike’s well known but un-reported affairs either).
And I think you are mistaken about Teddy and Barney Frank. There was plenty of salacious reporting on their shenanigans. Teddy’s misadventures cost him any chance at the White House and Barney Frank never ran for President. That their constituents kept sending them back to DC election after election, well you have to take that up with the people of Massachusetts.
You also seem to forget, the media covered Gary Hart’s indescretions pretty thoroughly and that cost him any chance in his Presidential bid.
But keep drinking that “liberal” media kool-aid. Hope it makes you sleep better at night, but it sure does make you sound silly.
whatajoke
November 30th, 2011
9:42 pm
The Boortz crowd is always talking about a dam teleprometer; it’s the 21st century……iphone, ipad, telecomute, teleconferencing. The way Herman stumbled all over the Libya question, somebody needs to telegraph him some knowledge.
David
November 30th, 2011
9:42 pm
MD,
You drank his Kool-aid.
findog
November 30th, 2011
9:43 pm
If not for the impeachment of President Clinton by an over reaching congress lead by his friend Newt this good godly republican might have a foot to stand on with, “Consensual sex is a private matter,” defense.
George
November 30th, 2011
9:47 pm
Disappointed wrote, “The Man that currently holds the Top Job came to the table above reproach, you could learn a thing or two”. All I can say is, are you s_ _ t _ _ ng me? Above reproach? God help us if Barack Obama is above reproach. Those of us who have been in the military, or worked for the federal government, know that Barack Obama would not qualify for a security clearance if he was not president.
Look before I leap...
November 30th, 2011
9:48 pm
@MD
Sorry, I just don’t buy it. Siccing lawyers on these women does not take him out of the race. Hire the big guns and tell them to go after them. If they are liars and Cain has nothing to hide, it comes out in court (and in the press). Sends a pretty strong message to his followers and everyone else.
Come after me with lies and I will destroy you.
Sitting idly by with denials (and one really lame comment from his lawyer) will not cut it. There will be no “after he leaves the WH” since he’ll never get there.
In any event, I think his candidacy is on life-support which is not a bad thing since he was a very poor choice in the first place.
George
November 30th, 2011
9:48 pm
Findog…Clinton was impeached for perjury, not having a sexual affair.
Vote for Obama because he's black
November 30th, 2011
9:52 pm
I notice the AJC only allows comments on stories when the right,in this case,a black conservative is under attack.
When a story is featured about a black liberal,civil rights leader,or an affirmative action clown,there is no option to comment on the story.
In this case,Jim,you keep giving an opportunity for those that hate conservatives to bash a hometown hero.So what if he did cheat on his wife,so did Bill Campbell,MLK,Bill Clinton,and many other local dignitaries.
The brother is just into doing what most brothers in positions of power.
How about letting him have a little privacy in his hometown? Show the man some respect ?
Women will do anything for money. Why not bash Ginger for being an immoral woman?
4xtra
November 30th, 2011
9:55 pm
boy..you guys from the trailer park need to STOP……
Yea yea he messed with them ..ALL OF THEM, no doubt but the question is:
Are ANY of these accusations CRIMINAL? NO ..far from it, BUT you hillbillies are mad because some of the women were white..Yall hate that stuff with a PASSION.
The media is killin him and Newt is steppin up AND through the carnage.
your boy herm look like the black Bill Clinton fo real and there is no way that he can recover.from where he WAS at in the polls.
Disappointed
November 30th, 2011
10:02 pm
George….You are obviously not a very well informed Man.
Mr. Obama is President, is Ivy League educated, is well spoken ,extremely informed and has done an extraordinary job given what he inherited. How soon people forget….but then again most people by nature are followers ( you are probably of that uneducated ,military indoctrinated school of thought) and not leaders, usually sounding like the last person they had a conversation with and no real opinion of their own because they don’t fully understand the issues.
We sent a smart Man to Washington to clean up “Crony Mess” and if we are lucky, he will be allowed to finish a great deal of the the job he started.
Remember President Obama did not create the mess…..he stepped into it…wiped off his feet and is doing the best he can to clean it up……Keep up the good work Mr. President
D-Man
November 30th, 2011
10:02 pm
Awww, forget the allegations- there are so many other reasons to dislike this clown that knowing he might have been a player was the only thing to like about him. Standing there on t.v. when he was the hot ish of GOP candidate and scolding black America like HE was better than the rest is FIRST and foremost. You can NOT win going that route dummy. Come with positive ways to make the changes you think are needed instead of telling people how YOU think they should be that’s what you should have done. The way you went was your biggest mistake. Never scold potential voters you idiot or oh did you think you was grand that you didnt need there vote. Now you need a shower. And oh yea, now you claim Democrats wanted you out of there, well duh they are the opposition – wth did you think they would do? This clown has actually made people forget how stupid and out of her league Sarah Palin was and I thought that was impossible. What a lugnut…
vuduchld
November 30th, 2011
10:03 pm
This idiot is yet another example of the fine “citizens” inhabiting the state of Jawja. Just when ya think the people in your state couldn’t get any dumber, bam yo find ways to take it up another notch. First you elect a bankrupt gubner, then you try to convince the rest of us that this fool is the real deal. Now, here you go trying to prop up a new fossil, Newt whatever he is these days. Do you really think that the average level headed citizen is going to fall for your bs. And you Jawja bottom feeders wonder why your troubles mount…lol
Smoke
November 30th, 2011
10:05 pm
Here’s a brain teaser. Most citizens in Tom Graves district have never seen a Black college graduate like Cain or met a PhD of any color, in person. No wonder they have a problem with the intellectual elite, because the only ones they know flunked them in secondary school.
Oh Yeah?
November 30th, 2011
10:10 pm
“Mr.Cain is a God fearing honest American” Yes, and a lot of people like to use God to pull off their evil.
Trint
November 30th, 2011
10:10 pm
Let get to the bottom of this. Mr Cain fell for what we call the Okie Doke. He was built up by the GOP to make it look as if the GOP would back a black candidate. However if he knew better he would have known that he would not win the GOP nomination. That would mean that no matter what a black man would be in the White House for 4 more years. He should have seen it coming, but I guess his arrogance couldnt allow him to
Cain Wreck
November 30th, 2011
10:11 pm
@MD November 30th, 2011 9:10 pm – The democrats are so affraid of him because he actually understands the concept of a balanced budget.Not to mention the constitution and the role of government.
************************************************
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Your comment gets in the way of a rational discussion.
kreedham
November 30th, 2011
10:13 pm
Hc has succeeded in what he really set out for…much like Sarah Palin. He will now probably get a show or be a semi-regular on Fox News and has seen his speaking fees go up. If he returns to WSB then they will probably try to syndicate his show. That’s called “mo money” and he’s going to get it.
clem
November 30th, 2011
10:15 pm
we know md doesn’t stand for doctor….maybe more delusional
Smoke
November 30th, 2011
10:15 pm
My favorite statement came from Bob Livingstone that he had so many skeletons in his closet that he would step down rather than attempt to become Speaker of the House. What do Bill Clinton, MLK, and Bill Campbell have in common? They are not running for the 2012 GOP nomination like their comparatives Newt and Herman.
findog
November 30th, 2011
10:19 pm
George,
What did he lie about?
Please try to think in more than one spoon fed dimension
Cain Wreck
November 30th, 2011
10:19 pm
@You sanctimonious … November 30th, 2011 8:47 pm – …black folks just can’t stand a conservative black man that is successful WITHIOUT having been part of the “what can the guv’ment give me” mentality…You are a bunch of pure bred racists…
**********************************
The bible says,
A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.
A fool’s lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating.
This has nothing to do with race. This is about Herman Cain making a mockery of this whole process.
This is about morals, integrity and ethics! PERIOD!
BILLY MAYS HERE
November 30th, 2011
10:21 pm
Ever notice the same people who complain about media bias in the mean ol’ AJC keep posting here week after week? If it’s that bad, stop reading the paper. Newsmax is only a click away, crazy people.
clem
November 30th, 2011
10:21 pm
cannot help myself, but since herman and i are close in age, methinks he got some bad ideas from the movie Guide for the Married Man, 1966
short vinette:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZmnXIN_Rb4
Look before I leap...
November 30th, 2011
10:28 pm
@Trint
I think in boxing parlance, it is called the “Ropa-Dope”.
Same outcome though.
Okie Doke – funny
Cain Wreck
November 30th, 2011
10:36 pm
Herman Cain is a christian hypocrite.
He let his E (edged) G (god) O (out) get in the way!
My heart breaks for Mrs. Cain who will suffer the most from his stupidity!
Look before I leap...
November 30th, 2011
10:36 pm
@findog 10:19
C’mon man. You are too erudite for that.
It was obvious that George was making the distinction that perjury is a crime while having an extra-marital affair is not.
Cain’s alleged transgressions only rise to a criminal level if he states under oath in a court-sanctioned proceeding that they did not occur when in fact they did.
Look before I leap...
November 30th, 2011
10:38 pm
@ Cain Wreck 10:36
Not if she has a good divorce attorney. Cain got some dough.
honested
November 30th, 2011
10:43 pm
This whole exercise demonstrates when the ‘qualifications’ are not
‘I am most informed, trained, prepared, tested and capable’
But
‘I am taking the pledges to walk lock step over the cliff at the direction of the 1% and the toadys they have managed to delude’.
What else could they have expected.
RAMZAD
November 30th, 2011
10:46 pm
Proof that Right Wing desperation has run amok is its annointment of one “Presidential” sleaze bag after another- and there are people who still believe in the Republican Tea Party. Amazing!
Cap Pistol
November 30th, 2011
11:00 pm
Cain is an ignorant unqualified clown aside from these sexual shenanigans. And anything Boortz says doesn’t buttress an argument either way, as that verminous clod has zero credibility on any topic under the sun.
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November 30th, 2011
11:01 pm
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November 30th, 2011
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November 30th, 2011
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November 30th, 2011
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PEWTER
November 30th, 2011
11:10 pm
Do i even need to respond?
Ol' Timer
November 30th, 2011
11:15 pm
The person who encouraged Herman Cain to run for President ought to be institutionalized.
PEWTER
November 30th, 2011
11:16 pm
Yes i do. Republicans have got to be the dumbest, most scum of the earth people on the planet. Do you even listen to yourselves, or do you speak out of one side of your mouth, and then the other. You idiots killed Clinton, yet want to say it’s ok for Herman Co-Cain to do it? Can you be any more hypocritical? Or are you really just that stupid and dumb? Better yet, do you think that everyone else is that stupid and dumb? And Herman Co-Cain is a businessman, and that makes him qualified to be President? Not only are Republicans the scum of the earth, but they’re the most dilusional scumbags. Thank God ALL of your candidates are as retarded as you are on these blogs. Obama wipes his butt with any debates that your candidates bring. Losers in 2008, and definitely losers in 2012! Find a bridge and jump when the results come in next year you scumbags!
td
November 30th, 2011
11:26 pm
PEWTER
November 30th, 2011
11:16 pm
Guess what: If you plan on going to the polls and voting for Obama next year in Georgia then you might as well stay home and not vote because YOUR VOTE WILL NOT BE COUNTED. All 16 votes from Georgia will be cast for the Republican nominee and Zero votes will be cast for Obama.
How about that my misguided, dirty mouthed friend? I will think of you and your disgusting comments on election day and laugh out loud.
BILLY MAYS HERE
November 30th, 2011
11:27 pm
DON’T REPLY TO TD.
BILLY MAYS HERE
November 30th, 2011
11:28 pm
Cap Pistol
November 30th, 2011
11:00 pm
Cain is an ignorant unqualified clown aside from these sexual shenanigans. And anything Boortz says doesn’t buttress an argument either way, as that verminous clod has zero credibility on any topic under the sun.
I disagree. He knows how to fly a plane. And that’s about it.
Aquaniqua
November 30th, 2011
11:30 pm
Herman needs to wrap up his ‘reassessment’ and bail out…tomorrow at the latest. His lame denials are so transparent, he’s just making a fool of himself.
curious
November 30th, 2011
11:33 pm
Republicans need to remember:
LIVE BY THE SWORD; DIE BY THE SWORD.
Being Retired Military and a current federal employee, I’d bet Obama would have had no problem getting a security clearance.
Look before I leap...
November 30th, 2011
11:33 pm
@honested 10:43
Funny you said what you said because every time I hear the term “Tea-Party”, my immediate image is lemmings and a cliff.
Just for yucks, if we wanted to retire the entire federal debt in say, 25 years, we would need to take in 600 billion more dollars than we spend each and every year. With no new revenue streams, that amounts to the government running a 23% SURPLUS each and every year for the next quarter of a century (based on proposed 2012 budget). That is unprecedented and unrealistic.
The Norquist adherents would need to find that much in savings. How to do that?
The current 2012 budget proposal has $2.4T in ‘mandatory spending” – the bulk of which is Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Mandatory meaning spending that is “promised” To cut that spending, we have to break our commitments to retired people, debt-holders and the poor and unemployed.
That leaves $1.3T in discretionary spending, of which nearly half is DoD spending.
Assuming we decide to honor our mandatory commitments (not touch SS/Medicare/Medicaid),not tell the debt-holders oops, we can’t pay and not throw all unemployed and poor people into the streets, and we decide that DoD spending is sacrosanct, the only thing left to us is to eliminate all other federal spending (ALL cabinent dept spending, DOT, Homeland Security, Dept of State, Justice, NASA, Treasury, etc).
Are there opportunities to cut wasteful spending? Of course. But is there is enough will in Congress to do so? Doubtful.
My proposal is – for every dollar cut, find a dollar in revenue increase. Graduate the ratio from 1:1 down to 1:0 by gradually decreasing the revenue increase every 5 years by 20%. This allows the government to operate at a level that slightly exceeds an average annual inflation of 4%.
The Norquestians are gonna have to reneg on the no new taxes promise, else the problem gets handed down to one more generation.
td
November 30th, 2011
11:34 pm
I see the drug addicted dead man as trying to tell everyone on this blog what to do again.
Ol' Timer
November 30th, 2011
11:35 pm
@td: You’re right. The State of Georgia will go for the GOTP candidate regardless of who it is — even Newt Gingrich. That ought to make your mama proud.
Alabama Communist
November 30th, 2011
11:35 pm
More Breaking News On Herman’s Amazing Brain……A Shink with the CIA said today ” Mr Cain is the classic example of a person we need to fight the war on terror with. He is able to convince people that his Brain has two sides to it and can become a nightmare to the terrorists by simply switching on to his two persona’s at once. We at the CIA usually called such person a Pychopath or a completey lying fool. We also know that his 999 plan means that he has grop 999 women during his twin political and Pizza business career”