The NYT is reporting this morning that there were sexual harassment accusations against Cain back in the 90s. He is of course denying it, but nobody is denying that there were payoffs to make the complaints go away. True or not, it could mean the end of his rise.
Actually, the statements from Cain’s people are non-denial denials (i.e. saying that the stories are “thinly sourced”, but not outright disputing the truth of them).
Or saying this is a smear job against the candidate who is threatening the power structure of blah blah blah. The candidate himself is trying to avoid answering the question on camera, but that’s not going to work for very long because people will keep asking until he gives a more substantive response, but whether or not he harrassed these women, his campaign has acknowledged that settlements were paid to two women.
We’re getting closer to an outright denial.
This should be good.
Heh. So his strategy is to say he’s being accused anonymously by people he (or the restaurant association) paid to stay quiet? OK then. I mean, whether or not the allegations have merit, how do you pay someone to go away and then say “bring me the accuser?” Politico didn’t publish the names of the women, but the story makes it clear that they confirmed the names with the Cain campaign.
Apparently Herman Cain was accused of sexual harassment while he was the head of the National Restaurant Association. Two women complained about comments and actions and eventually settled and left the job.
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Countdown to “LYNCHING!!!” accusations emerging. 3,2,1…
Cain already made reference to that himself. I guess he’s going to say he doesn’t know anything about it until the women’s identities and the specifics of what they said he did are made public. Then he’ll say it’s all a distraction anyway.
Since this subject was being discussed in the thread about Cain’s campaign manager before jsgoddess started a new thread about it, I’ve moved a few posts from the campaign manager thread into this thread.
This strategy, much like 9-9-9, is poorly thought out, as it was devised in seven minutes and its details were largely worked out on the back of a cocktail napkin. Sadly, this lame ass plan might pan out okay for him if no one comes forward, which they likely won’t of course.
Here is the Politico story that made the allegations public. Keep this part in mind as Cain says he has no idea what he’s being accused of:
It wont matter at all. The rightys will dismiss all chargers as left wing sponsored plots to halt the Cain rise. They will believe nothing at all and other candidates wont even exploit it.
You know, Cain isn’t good at this whole politics thing. I know he’s running as a non-political outsider, but he can’t ignore the need to run a half way decent campaign. I don’t even think he thought he ever had an icicle’s chance in hell of getting anywhere, which is why his staff is so terrible. This is why his one-man economic advisory board (which he claims is comprised of more than a banker at Wells Fargo, though they remain "confidential) has come up with the disastrous 9-9-9, the entirety of his platform, which was immediately revised following widespread criticism. This is why he wanted to electrocute Mexicans, but was kidding, but then stopped kidding again three seconds later. This is why nobody can figure out where he stands on abortion. This is why he had no idea what in the holy balls they were talking about with a sexual harassment claims, and now he does, but the accusations are false, and there will be a statement that he’s cobbling together now which will surely be so half-assed that it opens itself up to even more questions.
:smack:
At least Mitt Romney’s endless stream of backpedals have occurred over the course of years, while Cain revises his statements by the minute. This is just embarrassing.
The only person in the GOP field who appears to know how to campaign is Romney, and it’s hard to get a straight answer from him on what time it is, nevermind what he’s campaigning on.
True. T-Paw’s team didn’t seem to flub terribly when he was alive, but ultimately, his main problem was they were selling a product that absolutely nobody wanted. My prediction has been the same for a while now, and likely will not change: Romney will take the nomination because everyone else is so terrible.
And there is a new story today about financial irregularities in Cain’s Presidential campaign that may have broken federal campaign and tax laws.
His current two top aides led a now-defunct corporation that paid for his early campaign expenses, but for which they were never repaid by the campaign, nor was the money listed as received in the Cain campaign financial records. Also, the same now-defunct corporation may have slid Herman Cain about $100,000 by giving the money to different group who used it to pay Cain for a speech.
Plus all that weirdness about his campaign buying his books. Is he politicking or book selling?
It’s all stinky.
Does Cain’s demanding the accusers to come forward release them from any legal obligation they previously had to keep silent on the matter?
Problems sexual harassment is going to be more of a problem with Liberals and feminists than with the non-Romney Republican base that Cain is currently courting. As long as there wasn’t any actual adultery going on I imagine they will be fairly forgiving. “Boys will be Boys, and those women probably were asking for it.” More likely it might actually help him as he can portray himself as a target of a smear campaign by the Liberal lamsestream media.
Since any agreement they had was likely with the restaurant association it seems very unlikely that his statements would have any impact.
That depends on a couple of things: how much his competitors are willing to go after him on this, how firm his denial really is, and how much of the accusations become public- because now that it’s out there, more outlets are going to look into it.