November 2011

Well that didn’t take long:

On FOX News' "Special Report" tonight presidential candidate Herman Cain told the panel, after being asked, that he believes the charge of sexual harassment against him has to do with his race.

Charles Krauthammer: "Mr. Cain, when Clarence Thomas was near to achieving position of high authority, he was hit with a sexual harassment charge. You contending for presidency, the office of highest authority, leading in the polls for the Republican nomination, all of the sudden get hit with a sexual harassment charge. Do you think that race, being a strong black conservative, has anything to do with the fact you've been so charged? And if so, do you have any evidence to support that?"

Herman Cain: "I believe the answer is yes, but we do not have any evidence to support it. But because I am an unconventional candidate running an unconventional campaign and achieving some unexpected unconventional results in terms of my -- the poll. We believe that yes, there are some people who are Democrats, liberals who do not want to see me win the nomination. And there could be some people on the right who don't want to see me -- because I'm not the

'establishment candidate.' No evidence."

"Relative to the left, I believe that race is a bigger driving factor. I don't think it's a driving factor on the right. This is just based upon our speculation," Mr. Cain also said.

NPR is out with this story that really makes things look bad for Cain:

The lawyer for a woman who settled a sexual harassment complaint against Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain in the late 1990s says that Cain may have violated the confidentiality terms of the agreement by commenting on its specifics over the past 24 hours.

"Herman Cain and others have already disclosed that there was a confidential settlement," says Joel P. Bennett, a Washington-based attorney specializing in employment law, who also represented the woman when she negotiated her settlement.

Two women, including Bennett's client, settled sexual harassment complaints against Cain when they worked for him during his late 1990s tenure as head of the National Restaurant Association.

(emphasis added)

One of the biggest defenses the right has been pulling out is that the women who talked to Politico are “anonymous”. They somehow think that vindicates Cain, but this shows the problem with that. These women can’t talk about it publicly or they risk violating this agreement. Instead we now have Herman Cain possibly violating it and that could lead to legal trouble for the GOP front runner.

Since news erupted Sunday night of past sexual harassment allegations against GOP front runner Herman Cain we have heard the same old meme from the right – “it’s the liberal media”. Given how this is a constant defense for the right, despite one of the primary authors of the article being a former reporter for one of the best known conservative publications, it makes it even more interesting that Rick Santorum is now embracing the Politico article:

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign is calling on Herman Cain to offer a more detailed explanation of the sexual harassment allegations made against him during his time as the head of the National Restaurant Association.

“What I would encourage the Cain campaign to do is, if you are the frontrunner and you plan to be the nominee, to be forthcoming so that you are vetted, and we don’t get into a situation where you’re our nominee and we find out things after the fact,” said Santorum strategist John Brabender, speaking at an election preview forum hosted by National Journal.

Santorum’s campaign is the first of Cain’s opponents to jump on the allegations that have been lodged against him. Politico reported late Sunday that two women reached settlements with the NRA in the 1990s after accusing Cain of sexual harassment.