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.
This also is a big violation of Ronald Reagan’s 11th commandment; “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican”. Given what has happened over the past 24 hours, I can’t really blame Santorum though. What started as Herman Cain “not remembering” anything yesterday morning transformed into him recalling all kinds of details last night. Cain’s handling of this story started off as disastrous and has continued to go down hill from there. We are seeing more people on the right, those who can think beyond typical boogeyman theories, questioning if this will be the end of Cain:
Here is what troubles me. Mr. Cain says: “If the Restaurant Association did a settlement, I wasn’t even aware of it, and I hope it wasn’t for much, because nothing happened. So if there was a settlement, it was handled by some of the other offices that worked for me at the association, so the answer is absolutely not.”
Okay, so if I’m reading that quote right, then:
1. Herman Cain, in his role as head of a major trade association, did not bother to learn how a complaint or complaints of sexual harassment against him was resolved.
2. Herman Cain, not bothering to have learned how a complaint or complaints of sexual harassment against him was resolved, decided to run for president without bothering to learn.
I got a lot of grief for writing that, based on my interaction with Mr. Cain, I would have hesitated to hire him to run a pizza company. I am feeling more comfortable in that judgment.
I brought up those very points yesterday. We hear all the time of how great Republicans are at running businesses. Well Herman Cain was running a business that had a big legal action against them that was settled in at least a 5 figure sum and we are to believe that the head of that organization had no clue, especially since the action involved him? I’m sorry but BULLSHIT! Anyone believing that should be off the internet because they are the same kind of fools that believe an unknown relative just died in Nigeria and has left them millions of dollars.
The problem right now is that the right is in denial. In a pathetic field of Presidential candidates their only hope is now embroiled in scandal and they refuse to accept the fact that what Politico reported appears to be true. The bigger problem is that while the right circles the wagons around their front runner, many on the right and almost all in the Independent column will not ignore this. Losing that kind of support means Cain has zero chance of beating President Obama, even with Obama’s dismal approval ratings. The GOP is ready to fall on their sword for this man and in the end they will continue to blame their continuous strawman of the “liberal media”. They might feel good in the end because they won’t believe anything else, even if Cain comes out and admits to everything, but that doesn’t do them one bit of good at retaking the White House in 2012 and could even hurt their chances in Congressional races given the disenfranchised base that does believe Cain may have done something wrong and has been lying about it.