Posted on 11/03/2011 1:22:40 PM PDT by MissesBush
Washington was all a-Twitter (literally) Monday over Politico's story about the sexual harassment charges against Herman Cain -- and about Cain's serial self-contradictions.
Faithful Fox News viewers saw him in the afternoon saying he didn't know the terms of a settlement reached with the complainants and then saw him tell Greta Van Susteren in the 10 p.m. hour that he did.
The Politico story, quoting no named sources, described Cain's alleged misconduct as "conversations allegedly filled with innuendo or personal questions of a sexually suggestive nature" and "physical gestures that were not overtly sexual."
That sounds bad but not horrible. A lot worse was alleged against Bill Clinton, and he was defended by many feminists.
But we don't know all the relevant facts in this case -- the exact charges, the demeanor of the complainants, the conclusions of the National Restaurant Association counsel, the amount of the settlement made in return for the complainants dropping the case.
And while we know that some accusations of sexual harassment are false or exaggerated, we know that many others are true.
Many conservatives around the country see this as an attack by the liberal press on a prominent black conservative who is statistically tied for the lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
They're correct when they say that the liberal mainstream media seem much more interested in exhuming ancient Cain peccadilloes than it was in learning about John Edwards' extramarital affair and love child.
Or in doing any reporting on Barack Obama's college grades, terrorist friends, extremist pastor or dodgy real estate deal. Can't spoil his narrative.
But the Constitution guarantees us a free press, not a fair one. Republicans and conservatives start off with some disadvantages in our political world, including a mostly biased press; Democrats and liberals start off with others, like the unpopularity of some of their core convictions. Things seem to balance out over time.
And it has to be said that Cain and, even more, his campaign spokesmen were unprepared to deliver a single definitive response to a story that they had known was brewing for several days. Just as it has to be said that Rick Perry was unprepared to defend his record in Texas in his first three or four presidential debates.
Yes, sometimes we see unpreparedness in the White House. But a candidate who is similarly unprepared will have a hard time getting there.
Some in the liberal commentariat have opined that conservative voters are rallying to Cain because he is black. Maybe so. But most seem to back him because he seems conservative, articulate and likeable.
We don't have any significant polling to tell us whether the Politico story has cost Cain support. My hunch is that it hasn't -- at least not yet.
But that leaves the possibility that his support may evaporate when voters have to decide for real. Pollsters ask respondents whom they would vote for "if the election were held today." But one thing everyone knows is that it isn't being held today.
That won't be true when Iowa Republicans venture into precincts caucuses on Jan. 3, the ninth day of Christmas, which is the first real voting day, as it was four years ago.
Then they may respond as members of a Midwestern focus group did a couple of weeks ago, when pollster Peter Hart asked them to raise their hands if they thought Cain was prepared to be president. No one did; not even those who had been saying positive things about Cain.
We can get some sense of who voters think is prepared for the job from the weekly polls on general election preference conducted by Scott Rasmussen.
He finds that a generic Republican leads Barack Obama by a 47 percent to 42 percent margin. Obama's 42 percent tracks pretty well with his job approval in Rasmussen and other polls.
Rasmussen finds that Mitt Romney runs 3 points behind the generic Republican and 2 points ahead of Obama. He's the only Republican running ahead.
Cain and Perry run 9 points behind the generic Republican in Rasmussen's polls. Other candidates run 12 to 15 points behind.
Cain has been leading or tied for the lead for most of a month now, and he may hold that position for a while. But will his lead hold when voters vote for real?
Michael Barone, senior political analyst for The Washington Examiner (www.washingtonexaminer.com), is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Fox News Channel contributor and a co-author of The Almanac of American Politics.
Bull.
The question is, are we going to allow the MSM/Democrat/RINO-complex choose our candidate again?
If so, then it really doesn't matter who we nominate, the net result will be a Lefty.
im listening to herman now, and he is a plain spoken , decent , honest man. i know this bc i am too.
he is being attacked relentlessly by the filth that inhabits this sh!thole country, and that’s all i have to say about this god damn nonsense.
Maybe Cain was at a luncheon and as he reached for his wallet to get his credit card to pay the bill he said “Excuse me while I whip this out.” This made the women at the table feel uncomfortable.
No, it won’t. As a matter of fact, I’m going to donate again righ now.
Yes. He brings enough to the table that we wait for the whole story to come out. Primary voting is months away. We have time to make the RINOs show us the proof. We live in a society where a woman can get a boob job, put on a push-up bra, wear a skin tight shirt with a neckline down to the nipples and if a man “leers”, he can be sued and/or fired for sexual harassment. Who is really harassing who in that case? A comment is NOT sexual harassment unless there is a threat attached. This is another high-tech lynching, only it’s Republican on Republican this time.
You don’t think that if Cain implodes, this lawyer Bennett won’t be back in October 2012 with new anonymous clients with serious grievances to be aired against the GOP nominee, but only anonymously though him, so as not to expose their families to public scrutiny? You understand that Cain is a test case for this new type of character assassination?
Barone knows that in the long run his bread and butter depends on covering up for his fellow MSM hacks.
I think that's what he said as he absentmindlessly wiped the blood from the tips of his boots.
> is Cain worth the risk of these charges getting worse and
> more accusers emerging should he be the GOP candidate and
> thus handing Obama a second term?
Cain is the only Republican contender who has, or had, a chance to beat 0bamao.
Face it.
None of the white boys is going to beat 0bamao. There is nobody in the Republican lineup outside of Cain that will attract the Independents and assuage their white guilt at the same time.
And the white girl isn’t even on the polling radar anymore.
I’m calling it early.
If Cain goes down in flames, or for some other reason doesn’t get the nomination, and all other things remain the same, 0bamao gets another four years as POTUS.
Cain is the only Republican left in the race worth voting for, that has any chance of winning.
Given that, is there any choice?
So, to answer the question: "Cain Catches Flak, but Will It Sink His Candidacy?"
No!
If Cain is not worth the risk, then who do you suggest we run third party?
I agree with you, these perrywinkles are trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill with plastic spoons. There is no there there.
I can't stand that idiot.
It won’t sink it with me. He is a conservative with a vision for betterment of our nation based on comon sense and business discipline principals. Forget the human nature issues. He can lead and that is what we must have.
PS, vote Mitt...
You left that off...
If Rommey somehow gets the nomination, I am all in for a draft Palin movement.
So if I have concerns about Cain, including the fact all our taxes are going to go up under this guy's 9-9-9 plan unless you're wealthy, that means I'm for Mitt? Ooooo-kay. Unless you haven't noticed, there are 7 other candidates in the race.
I'm asking serious questions here that serious people should be asking as well. What does Cain bring to the table besides a few snappy come back lines in debates? If a worsening of this scandal doesn't kill him in a general election, the fact Dems will attack his 9-9-9 plan telling middle class voters under Cain's plan you'll be paying the same percentage income tax as Exxon Mobil, and oh by the way your grocery, gas and clothing bills along with everything else will be going up 9% will kill him.
That said, I haven't picked a candidate. But I've studied political scandals for decades and can tell you this one is not survivable for Cain, even if he makes it past the primary. You guys are dying to hand Obama a second term in supporting Cain--and you don't know why you support him other than you like that he seems fiesty.
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