UPDATED: Who sandbagged Herman Cain?
By Ken Falkenstein | Tuesday, November 1st, 2011 | Politics
The “news” media are no longer even pretending to have any code of ethics – especially regarding an uppity black man who has become so brave as to run for high office on a conservative platform that deviates from the leftist plantation.
Yesterday, Politico ran a “news story” that two unidentified women made unspecified accusations of sexual harassment twelve years ago against Herman Cain that might or might not have been true. This article followed a “reporter” accosting Cain as he was leaving a news interview, shoving a microphone in his face, and demanding, “Have you ever been accused, sir, in your life of harassment by a woman? Yes or no?” (The accusatory “yes or no” part was not included in the Politico account linked above.)
Of course, since no one could possibly know with certainty whether he had ever been accused by anyone in his entire life of some unspecified offense, Cain wisely declined to answer, choosing instead (appropriately enough) to ask the same question back to that “reporter” (who, unsurprisingly, declined to answer).
What followed was a typical feeding frenzy, with every major “news” organ making their top story the fact that Cain refused to answer whether he had ever been accused of committing an unspecified act. Note that not one single “news” outlet claimed to have the slightest shred of evidence that Cain had actually committed any such act.
The lead story of every major “news” organ in the country was that Herman Cain could not, on the spur of the amount, give a specific answer to unspecified allegations by an unspecified source that two unspecified women had at some unspecified time made unspecified allegations of unspecified conduct.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you your “news” media in 2011.
That the treatment of Herman Cain in this matter did not comport with basic journalistic ethics is undeniable – as is the fact that it did not comport with basic human decency. But then, when a black person in 21st century America dares to deviate from leftist dogma or to leave the Democrat Party plantation, the knee-jerk reaction of the left and their “news” media is to hunt him down like the fugitve slave that he has become. See, e.g., Clarence Thomas, who was the victim of the machinations of leftist icons Ted Kennedy and Howard Metzenbaum.
Whoever leaked this non-story to the “news” media was sophisticated enough to know that the media would run with it even though it had nowhere near the level of specificity and detail that journalistic ethics and human decency require. And that begs the question: Who sandbagged Herman Cain by leaking this “story”?
Put another way, who gains by hurting Cain? Here are three possibilities:
Rick Perry – Perry has been trying to regain his position as the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. Cain currently holds that slot, so in order for Perry to retake the pole position, he needs to force Cain out of the slot. But I don’t believe it was Perry for one simple reason: He and his campaign aren’t bright enough. Perry has run such an inept campaign that I don’t believe that he and his campaign have the talent and finesse to pull something like this off. Also, the “news” media despise Rick Perry, and they would never protect him in such a leak. The temptation to further their stereotype of Perry as a racist by showing him sandbagging his black opponent would be irresistible to them.
Mitt Romney – Although Romney has a clear advantage in the early primary states, Cain is tied with him in national polls, is beating him throughout the southern states, and is clearly the candidate with the most momentum. Romney assumed until recently that Cain was not a serious threat, but he has to be reassessing that assumption given Cain’s ongoing surge. So far, Romney has been careful not to attack or even criticize Cain, presumably out of some condescending reluctance to go after the black guy. But Romney does have a single-minded determination to win this nomination by any means necessary (including changing his position on virtually every core issue). And Romney is running an absolutely outstanding textbook campaign that is being managed by highly experienced and talented operatives. There is no question that Romney’s campaign has the sophistication to plant this “story” and watch it ignite into an inferno. And furthermore, Romney is the “news” media’s chosen and preferred candidate for the GOP nomination (just as John McCain was their designated GOP candidate in 2008), so there is little doubt that Romney’s campaign could leak this “story” and have his identity protected.
Any leftist – The left is the modern home of racism and bigotry. As collectivists, leftists naturally see the world through racist lenses. Cain is not an individual. He is a black. And as such, he is expected to toe the leftist line. Because he has refused to do so, and worse, has chosen to flaunt views that are unauthorized by leftist masters, he must be destroyed. In that vein, the “story” could have been leaked by any leftist who saw an opportunity to take down and make an example of another uppity black conservative.
To be clear, I have no information as to who leaked this non-story. I am simply analyzing who had the motive and might have had the opportunity to do so.
As for me, the combination of this hit job on Cain and his dignified and candid handling of this matter has given me a whole new level of respect for him. With Rick Perry removing himself as a serious contender, I am now giving serious consideration to supporting Herman Cain for President.
UPDATE: Northern Virginia Lawyer has discovered that Cain’s successor at the National Restaurant Association donated $1,000 to Romney. Doesn’t make this man or Romney the culprit, but it is enough of a coincidence that it would be worthwhile for someone to contact him and ask some questions.
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About the author
Ken Falkenstein has been a staffer in the United States Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates. He has managed political campaigns. He was a military intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army in West Germany during the Cold War. He is currently a civil litigation attorney with Poole Mahoney, P.C. in Virginia Beach. But his concern for his kids' future is what most informs his writing.
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32 Responses to "UPDATED: Who sandbagged Herman Cain?"
The real story is not who leaked this, but the way the media is handling this non-story. Cain could have spent all of Romney’s and Perry’s money combined and not received all of the press he has received on all the cable and network news channels. His name recognition and voter interest numbers, although maybe for the wrong reasons, are probably equal to Romney’s. And Romney has been at this since the last election.
Ken,
I am sorry, but this is really a stretch. Who sandbagged Herman Cain? Herman Cain and his campaign staff.
Incidents of sexual harassment accusations that resulted in financial settlements, not “separation agreements,” are hardly something that you casually forget about. And, unless the Politico is lying, Cain’s campaign had ten days to respond to this story with a cohesive and believable version of the events. Rather, every time Cain tries to clarify the record the story gets worse. First, he didn’t remember any accusations. Then, he remembers the accusations but was cleared in a “rigorous investigation” and didn’t know about any financial settlement. Now, he knew about a “separation agreement” but that was not a financial settlement.
This is going to get much more ugly before it goes away. And trying to divert attention to the rat that broke the story to Politico isn’t going to polish Cain’s star. And, BTW, unsubstantiated charges of racism doesn’t make the case. Your argument is convoluted in supposed racism by Republican opponents and Democrats who attack any black conservative. That is illogical. Who are the racists, Republicans or Democrats? You can’t have it both ways. That is as nonsensical as the liberals who claim that Barack Obama, elected with 53% of the popular vote, is now the victim of white racism in his low approval ratings. What? Did 15% of the voters just discover that he is black?
This is par for the course. Every candidate for president should expect and be prepared for smears and attacks. If there is no substance it should have no effect unless the campaign is inept at handling it. The Dems have been particularly vicious with women and minority conservatives for obvious reasons,
The fundamental problem has been that conservatives have not fought back that well and just as importantly the Repubs have not fought back on their behalf. I assume that will continue to be the case except for the unofficial conservative talk show/blogosphere sites. I see no real closing of the ranks the way the Dems and their media do with their pols even when really guilty. This case is particularly silly on its face since the allegation says sexual harassment occurred in the absence of anything that was sexually harassing. (By contrast the early rumors about Clinton and Edwards for example were fairly specific and major.)But if you think its bad now wait a while. Even Romney if he is nominated will be treated to interviews with every question focused on the Mormon religion. The entire series of debates with Obama will be both of them commenting about the Mormon religion for 90 minutes. WAPO and NY Times etc will do a hundred stories about Mormonism between Sept and Nov and mock and revile it and ask Romney to condemn it. We will find out whether the American public is composed of adults or babies.
valentinus is right. Just like the abortion issue, Cain has every opportunity to make this right. If he is able to handle this with grace and clarity, he’s one step closer to the nomination. If he bumbles it with clarification upon clarification, as he did with the abortion issue, better get used to blogging in 2012, “Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, said today….”
Yeah this is the worst handling of a story since Anthony Weiner. Cain has been shooting himself in the foot over and over again, he ‘answers’ then changes the story, so has to gone on again and changes the story again, and that process has repeated itself out repeatedly over the past two days.
And Ken, multiple news organizations have corroborated the story (which is newsworthy). The only reason is THIS big is because of Cain’s inept team and their lack of savvy and messaging. It should have been a one day story, instead we’re on day three heading into day four, and it’s not going away anytime soon, directly due to their ineptitude.
Way off the mark here.
The next thing to happen is that the press will “out” these women and convince them to tell all of the juicy and nasty details by promising them big paydays, book deals, reality shows and legal support if they violate their nondisclosure agreements.
No, Timmy, the women are going to come out because Herman Cain is calling them liars and frauds in the national media, painting them as money-grubbing manipulators. They might have signed confidentiality agreements, but they have friends and colleagues who know all about their accusations against Cain at NRA. And they are not going to sit quietly by as Cain trashes them in media. To remain silent means to admit to their family, friends, and professional associates that they wrongly blackmailed Cain and the NRA. Would you sit still for that?
HisRoc,
How do you know they didn’t frivolously accuse Cain? Even the Politico story had no substance to the charges. It’s always possible that there is something but there is far less here than almost any similar story I have seen.
The only issue so far is how Cain is handling it. It’s not great but no one has refuted him so far on substance, just quibbled on process. Let’s all have it play out without making judgments on the “facts” before established.
valentinus,
Non-profits like the NRA, as well as for-profit corporations, don’t pay out five-figure settlements on frivolous claims. That violates Methuselah’s Law of Negotiations. It just invites more frivolous claims that go on endlessly.
I’m not making any judgements here. I just think that Cain’s supporters should take a deep breath and wait for all the facts to come out instead of attacking the MSM for simply doing its job. So far, this is hardly shaping up to be a misunderstanding or a smear job. When a campaign staff handles a scandal this badly, then more often than not there is something that they are trying to hide.
Ok Rocky, “Truth, Justice and the American Way” always win over tabloid scandals that involve salacious and sensational accusations. You should try to maybe cut down a little on reading those Superhero comic books and cruising the tabloid rags while your standing in line to buy adult beverages at your local mini mart. Support education by buying Virginia lottery tickets instead.
Rocky? I like that. I am now changing my Bearing Drift ID to Rocky, Timmy. Thanks for the suggestion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iPFK5T_G3U
BTW, what are you going to do when the “salacious and sensational accusations” actually get proven?
OK, let me get this straight. The “news” media ask Cain whether he has EVER IN HIS LIFE been ACCUSED of some UNSPECIFIED act and then run a story that at some unspecified time he was accused by unspecified people of unspecified acts, even though there is not the slightest hint that Cain actually COMMITTED any such acts. Then, when Cain tries to piece together whatever it is that the “news” media are referring to (because they either cannot or will not tell him) and states categorically that he never COMMITTED any such act but cannot be sure about who might have WRONGFULLY ACCUSED him of such an act, it’s CAIN’s fault for mishandling the matter? Really? You all don’t see anything wrong with this kind of conduct by the “news” media?
And everyone wonders why so many good potential candidates decline to run….
HisRoc:Non-profits like the NRA, as well as for-profit corporations, don’t pay out five-figure settlements on frivolous claims.
WRONG. If the cost of the settlement is less than the potential cost of lawyers’ fees, they settle in a heartbeat.
My elephant shit detector is homing in on some radical feminist mentalities here. Does anyone else smell a rat or see a pattern emerging?
I was smeared years ago while working for the dean of the odu school of engineering after working with a secretary to produce a report about a natural gas vehicle research program I was in the middle of. I bought lunch for the woman and worked for weeks during lunch hours in the deans office, never off site. Some anonymous individual decided my “time spent” was excessive, never mind that I worked directly for the dean. I never faced my accuser and the secretary laughed it off. I was asked to attend sensitivity training.. So, the appearance was that I did something inappropriate despite the fact that nothing inappropriate took place. Long after leaving the school and going full time in the private sector a professor I worked with laid bare what happened and I now laugh it off. All it takes is some jackass who does not like you to make an accusation in a highly pc work environment to damage your reputation and in my case it was a radical feminist I did not know prior who saw me in her crosshairs.
Truth will prevail and Cain will prevail in all likelihood because the man is well accustomed to dealing with this kind of tripe in the private sector. The average American sees this pc BS and they have had enough. Keep on throwing mud you establishment house gop & dems.. You are both losing ground.
Turbo, what were you like before sensitivity training?
Well this sure has helped Cain with raising money.
Ken,
Do you have any shred of evidence that says it’s not just a woman who wants to finally get back at Herman Cain for the sexually harassment she suffered? How is the MSM “protecting” these women? It appears obvious that the women would like to come out. Unfortunately, until the National Restaurant Association drops their gag on them or the women decided to violate it, we can keep speculating. Until then Cain is doing a great job of looking guilty.
Perry – Would gain the most and his campaign is “dumb” enough to try it.
Mitt Romney – This would be a huge gamble. I’d say there is a 50% that Romney has nothing to gain, and a lot to lose by Cain being knocked out of the race. His numbers have been pretty stagnant and its possible that Cain supporters would not go to Romney but to any other candidate. Multiple candidates are keeping Romney in the race by dividing up the Republican primary voters. If Cain drops out, everyone except Romney get his voters.
Any Leftist – Cain is great for leftists. Barack Obama would much rather run against Cain or Perry or Bachmann than a Romney or Huntsman. And yeah, the party that elected a black man is the modern racist party. You’re an idiot.
Any Candidate under 10% – They have the most to gain. It’s a 2 man race between Cain and Romney, knock one out and divide up his supporters.
Racism – Are you F—–g kidding: “The left is the modern home of racism and bigotry. As collectivists, leftists naturally see the world through racist lenses. Cain is not an individual. He is a black. And as such, he is expected to toe the leftist line. Because he has refused to do so, and worse, has chosen to flaunt views that are unauthorized by leftist masters, he must be destroyed. In that vein, the “story” could have been leaked by any leftist who saw an opportunity to take down and make an example of another uppity black conservative.” Come on Ken, that’s uncalled for, unsubstantiated, unnecessary. Shaun, or one of the other editors, should have stopped that B.S. from being published. That’s way beyond what is acceptable.
Troll, as Rocky once alleged, JR is the Grand Ayatollah who runs this blog under “Shariah Law” and contributors are equivalents to Imams who are under ridged conservative ideological content control. A liberal commenter troll alleging that a posting that is “uncalled for, unsubstantiated, unnecessary” or “B.S.” by a contributor is considered a great victory in our Conservative Jihad. (Apologies to our Jewish friends for making the analogy.)
Timmy,
It is Sharia Law, not Shariah. And I have frequently complimented the BD contributors for their tolerance of non-conservative viewpoints, including mine when I stray from the Republican party line as an Independent.
There is a fine line between a troll and someone who postulates an opposing point of view. Freedom of expression is what separates Bearing Drift from other Virginia political blogs, such as Blue Virginia where anyone who doesn’t echo Lowell Feld is banned or Not Larry Sabato where anything can be posted unless you hurt Ben Tribbet’s feelings.
Ken,
Your comment from this morning literally makes no sense. Did you read the Politico story from Sunday? How the campaign was contacted throughout and responded? So how can you claim that Cain was asked arbitrarily about any sexual harassment charge at any point in his life? Cain knew exactly what he was being asked, why he was being asked, and why he was asked about it repeatedly.
His spokesperson initially said yes, he’d heard of the charges on Sunday afternoon. Then Sunday night changed the message to never happened. Cain says the same on Monday, and any settlement is unbeknownst to him. Then in another appearance Monday changes his story, and says he might remember a settlement. Then later Monday changes again and says it was a settlement, he may have signed it ever, but isn’t sure.
Four stories in one day?
You are way way way way way off base. This is a newsworthy story, but it wasn’t a big deal until Cain couldn’t keep a story straight, kept changing it repeatedly and the media went digging. He brought all of this on himself.
Stop trying to claim this isn’t a story. We don’t determine the news, and like it or not, this is news. The only reason it’s dominating the political conversation is because Herman Cain and his team failed political messaging 101 and can’t get their own story straight.
Meanwhile, CNN is now reporting that victim number three has surfaced. Ever heard the phrase, “bimbo eruption?”
Rocky, I’m not used to this new iPhone and an extra “h” crept in to the spelling, but obviously you were able to muddle through. So, you are now tutoring us on trolls and Bearing Drift comment etiquette? … cool!
Timmy,
I welcome any contrary opinions from the Bearing Drift contributors, but my impression is that this blog welcomes free expression of opinion–no matter how asinine. If someone wants to lead with their ass here, let them do so.
Not that I am suggesting anyone in particular who might be doing so…
Chris Wilson who now works for Rick Perry has an agenda, no doubt about it. Every one who is involved in this has an agenda including all the women who received money and wants now to receive more money and the third woman who wants to make money now. Good grief. Wake up folks.
http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/cain-woman-sexual-harassment/2011/11/02/id/416623?s=al&promo_code=D669-1
Rocky, as you are always lecturing us on what we already know while sitting high atop your perch of “independent” truth, we look up in reverence and awe and guess what we always see? And it always seems to be a full moon….
Kathy, you may be right… as more women try to pile on to this gravy train, it may all come down to extortion and money. And then there is this line which was there and then deleted from the online WAPO story from yesterday:
“Because the case is more than a dozen years old, the woman’s lawyer said he no longer has the file, doesn’t remember the name of the Association official who his client accused, he doesn’t remember going to the Association offices ever to handle this matter. He thinks the matter might have been handled over fax and phone quite expeditiously.”
A former Perry staffer notified Team Cain that Curt Anderson joined the best little govenor in Texas and never spoke about any sex rodeo until AFTER Politico posted it. Team Cain is certain the leak came from his former 2004 senate campaign chief strategist, Anderson, who is a well known beltway establishment rino media guru, who brought opposition insider knowledge to Perry and spilled the full details of this distraction to his friend at the Politico brothel.
Keep on flinging mud at Cain.. The more you throw, ther more ground he gains..
“The press is so powerful in its image-making role that it can make a criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal.”
Eldridge Cleaver
Timmy,
“…we look up in reverence and awe and guess what we always see? And it always seems to be a full moon….”
You know what they say, junior. “If you ain’t the lead dog then the scenery never changes.”
Download spell-checker for your iPhone. There’s an app for that.
Turbo,
“Too much agreement kills a chat.”
-Eldridge Cleaver
Rocky, Suspended high above us you are definitely the “lead dog” balloon full of hot air. There still may be time to book you into the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade this year in between the Kool-Aid Man and Cloe the Holiday Clown balloons.
Or another option… you could be the “Rocky” alter ego balloon behind the “Rocky and Bullwinkle” balloons where you can contemplate the posteriors of their likenesses for three hours while floating along the parade route.
In the latest twist of this story, the Cain campaign is threatening legal action against Politico. Exactly what has Politico published that Cain hasn’t eventually admitted to? Has he ever heard of the First Amendment?
Is this what we can expect from a Cain White House? Obfuscation, bullying, and an “enemies list” of unfriendly media? Didn’t we get enough of that with Nixon?
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