-
John Kerry, Secretary of Gaffes
April 25, 2013 | 9 comments
-
Rand Paul and Marco Rubio at CPAC
March 14, 2013 | 0 comments
-
SEQUESTER: The Dumbest Weight-Loss Plan Ever
March 1, 2013 | 0 comments
-
Israel’s Hard-Right Turn That Wasn’t
January 22, 2013 | 1 comment
-
Deep Space Nine, Twenty Years Later
January 3, 2013 | 23 comments
The Spectacle Blog
The Herman Cain campaign’s performance over the past 48 hours has been fascinating to watch. On the one hand, the initial response to Politico’s story about sexual harassment allegations was incredibly amateurish. Though the campaign had been told the story was in the works 10 days before it broke, the candidate was totally unprepared for direct questions about it on Sunday. His glaring non-denial put the finishing touch on a story that was otherwise a relatively sketchy outline: two women accused Cain of something, and while the reporters had seen a settlement, they only had it on characterize-but-don’t-quote terms, and couldn’t get the actual details of the allegation on the record. It was Cain’s refusal to answer questions — and his angry response when pressed — that made the article seem damning.
The campaign’s statements on Sunday night made matters worse; they tried to attack the story without addressing the substance of it — there was snarling, but no actual denial. The next day, when Cain began to address the allegations, he initially claimed he had no knowledge of any settlement, and later had to backtrack. Professional political consultants could use this as a sales pitch: You hire them precisely so this doesn’t happen to you. An experienced campaign team would not only have formulated a response once they knew the Politico story was in the works, they likely would have known months ago that this story existed and would be prepared well in advance to deal with it.
On the other hand, by evening, Cain was acquiting himself better than many much more seasoned politicians have under similar circumstances. His appearance on On the Record last night was a very, very smart move. Greta Van Susteren was the perfect choice of interviewer — both sympathetic and thorough — to get Cain’s side of the story out. Yes, he contradicted part of what he’d said earlier, but his explanation that he was still piecing together his memories came off as genuine (somewhat ironically, this is only believable because his campaign has been so clearly unprepared), and it was better that he clarify the misstatement sooner rather than later. Cain’s interview with Van Susteren added more new information to the story than today’s New York Times follow-up does; in other words, Cain is at this moment ahead of the story, which is exactly where a candidate facing charges of a scandal wants to be, pre-empting the drip-drip-drip of revelations.
All that said, the story isn’t over; if the picture gets uglier as we learn more about what Cain was accused of, this could still be bad news for him. But at this moment, it’s not hard to imagine Cain coming thorught this unscathed; if the details that emerge are really on par with Cain telling a woman that she’s the same height as his wife, all but the most misandristic observers will have to conclude that all that happened here were frivolous complaints and a nuisance settlement.
June| 11.1.11 @ 4:51AM
And what about Obama saying "Sweetie"? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv_NGHjoOCI
hook| 11.1.11 @ 5:51AM
It is interesting how the media is savaging Cain when these reports are unsubstantiated (not that I don't suspect there is truth to them). They smirkingly talk about the issue again and again and then say that obviously some Repub candidate leaked it. Clinton, Edwards and other liberals got just a little kinder treatment and there was no question of sourcing.
spudmom| 11.1.11 @ 6:16AM
Frivolous sexual harassment claims were all the rage at that time period. My husband faced the same accusation simply because he was publicly critical of a female regarding a single incident of patient care. Everyone knew it was baseless, but he ended up suspended for a short time anyway to avoid charges against the hospital; she wanted him fired.
Clint| 11.1.11 @ 8:25AM
" I Never Had Sexual Relations With That Women, Miss Lewinsky."
Casey Abell| 11.1.11 @ 8:51AM
Actually, Cain has dug himself in deeper. At first he denied he even knew there were financial settlements in the cases. Which made him look more like a doofus than usual. Now he's saying that he did know about a settlement in at least one of the cases.
I realize Cain will always get a break around here. If this was Romney, the Spectator would be savaging him.
Palindrome Emordnilap| 11.1.11 @ 12:21PM
Not only that but he said he didn't initially recall the settlement because he'd only heard about the allegations the morning it became public. But he also admitted that they had known that the allegations were going to be made public for ten days. But he said that all they were told before publication was that some allegations were going to be made, without being given any names. But he later admitted that they had been given at least one of the names in advance.
I suspect all of this is just ineptness, but it looks bad when the story keeps changing.
The big question though is who pushed the oppo research to Politico. Perry and Cain are splitting the Social Conservative vote. Romney (and Ron Paul, if that matters) benefits from having Cain in the race. If it was a leak by one of the other campaigns, my money is on Perry.
Casey Abell| 11.1.11 @ 12:37PM
Maybe it's just my suspicious nature. But Santorum has been playing attack dog in the debates. If his campaign came across this info on Cain, I doubt they would have had any scruples about leaking it.
But this is all speculation, and probably unfair. What can be said is that Cain had plenty of time to organize a full disclosure, with a complete story that he could have stuck to. Instead he stonewalled, "misspoke" and had to walk back various comments.
Just inept. Massive rookie mistakes.
Frankie| 11.1.11 @ 9:20AM
I think it's pretty funny how the media do the holier than thou bit on the so-called sexual harassment stuff, when within an hour of their nightly so-called news programs they are actively sexually assaulting anyone with morals a hair better than Hugh Hefner.
Ricco| 11.1.11 @ 10:36AM
"Though the campaign had been told the story was in the works 10 days before it broke, the candidate was totally unprepared for direct questions about it on Sunday."
What was his media advisor doing for ten days? Cain will be a serious candidate when he gets an adult to do that job.
Mal_Content| 11.1.11 @ 11:20AM
"Amid sex allegations, Herman Cain huddles with top advisors, Papa John and Little Caesar."
Seriously, who are Cain's advisors? They should be fired.
buckeyeman| 11.1.11 @ 1:59PM
His media advisor was out puffing on a cigarette.
Timothy Birdnow | 11.1.11 @ 11:49AM
Thanks for a good analysis, John!
In a strange way I am comforted by Cain's amateurish handling of this; it bespeaks of an honest man, a guy who isn't prepackaged. And it suggests to me he may never have even considered this would be an issue, which suggests to me he is innocent.
Of course, he has to get better at this; they are going to go after him in every imaginable way. Still, I don't think his performance was all that bad.
Palindrome Emordnilap| 11.1.11 @ 12:32PM
He didn't think it would be an issue? His campaign had ten days warning that it WAS going to be an issue.
Occam's Tool| 11.2.11 @ 4:26PM
Well, one of those women had a suit settled for $35,000. That's nuisance settlement territory.
Remember: Paula Jones settlement: $700,000.
I still like Cain, much better than the jihadist fellator Ron "Iran should have nukes" Paul. Apparently, Ron thinks it was just fine that our embassy was taken over against international law. But Ron, like his supporters, is worthless.