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The Spectacle Blog
When the first sexual harrasment charges were leveled against Herman Cain, I suspected it would take more than that to derail the “Cain Train.” His supporters seemed devoted to him. The early poll numbers suggested he might weather the scandal. The conservative dismissals of his chances seemed more like wishful thinking from center-right pundits who didn’t think Cain could beat Barack Obama.
Whether those charges would have ultimately done Cain in, “more than that” has transpired. More charges. More names and faces, the latest being Ginger White’s. The rise of Newt Gingrich. Continued Cain gaffes on important policy issues and lackluster foreign policy debate performances.
Cain is now said to be “reassessing” his presidential campaign. It will be difficult to put that genie back in the bottle all by itself. Once there are whispers a candidate is thinking of dropping out, supporters begin to look elsewhere and opponents start to smell blood in the water. There is more than enough empirical evidence at this oint that Cain is slipping in the polls, even if he remains in a position that most Republicans not named Romney or Gingrich would envy. It’s going to be difficult for Cain to continue as a top-tier candidate going forward.
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More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/11/29/the-cain-train-may-have-left-t
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Al Adab| 11.29.11 @ 2:25PM
When it was Clinton or Barney Frank everyone said, "its just sex, everyone lies about that." What changed?
Trinacria| 11.29.11 @ 3:05PM
The party affiliation...
Sean| 11.29.11 @ 3:07PM
Supporters of Clinton and Frank have low standards. The potential supporters of Cain have high standards.
Narf| 11.29.11 @ 3:10PM
Yeah no kidding. It's amazing to see people being jealous of low standards.
DRed| 11.29.11 @ 3:13PM
Cain's issues with women are the least of the problems with his candidacy, but it has been amusing to watch his fans twist themselves into knots to pretend that they don't matter.
Yellow Journalism - right here| 11.30.11 @ 1:21AM
DRed, they matter if there is truth behind them. An allegation is not truth. With four women previously making claims (the last of which lawyered-up with a real luminary, Gloria Allred), one had to pause. But also ask where have these four women and their claims/allegations been in the last three weeks?
Since Gloria's personal assault on the NY City media studios the two days after her press conference where she couldn't properly pronounce her client's name, we've heard nothing from the Sleeze Lawya or client. Same for the previous three.
So...what gives?
Can a woman (Ginger White) who carries on with a man for 13 years (according to her claims) be truly mentally with the program? Is she playing with a full deck? That smacks of serious 'loose screws.' No pun intended.
No one is twisting to defend candidate Cain or anyone else. It is simply this: It all looks rather contrived. Poorly contrived.
Important to know: What you also see here at American Spectator is a clear bias against H. Cain. This author of this short piece is shilling for another. So there is heaping on here, when all is very vague allegations right now.
W| 11.29.11 @ 5:02PM
Al Adab,
The answer is simple. Conservatives are offended by the charges, if true. Clinton's and Frank's supporters are not offended, don't care, and joke about it. Some have morals and some don't.
Al Adab| 11.29.11 @ 6:55PM
Our propensity to keep killing each other off is a great help to the Obama reelection.
W| 11.29.11 @ 7:40PM
We are always looking for the perfect candidate and find fault with each, but the Democrats just play to win so they can pass their programs.
If Clinton were a Republican he would have been forced out when the Jennifer Flowers and draft dodger issues arose. Barney Frank would have resigned with the news of his boy-friend's prostituton ring, and forget Teddy Kennedy.
GWB almost because of a long ago DUI.
Would any Republican have survived being friends with a terrorrist like Ayers and a member of a church run by a racist,anti semitic, anti american, preacher like Wright?
Maybe the Republicans need to adopt the Dem attitude of "so what?"
Simon Templar| 11.29.11 @ 11:38PM
Maybe we could adopt the attitude that we refuse to be played by liberals, the MSM smears, and the constant allegations thrown at our candidates by nutcases, liars, and opportunist looking for a quick buck and fifteen minutes of fame. Maybe we could stop accepting the double standard that was mentioned as well ealier in this thread.
Maybe for once these candidates might try fighting back with Private Investigators, lawyers, and their own investigative journalism. Wow, would that be something to actually uncover the truth and the deception instead of finding out years later that all these allegations were bogus.
I have read that the latest accuser was sued for LIBEL, had a stalking limitation order placed on her, and is a real flake. The one before that has been shown to have charged her own boyfreind with harrasment charges.
It seems no one give a shit about the truth.
You raise some good points, W.
YJ| 11.30.11 @ 1:28AM
Thank you, S. Templar and Al Adab.
Does anyone really think that this woman, Ginger (a name like Ginger?) White is really and truly legit in her claims or statements?
Remember: More important than winning this election is keeping blacks, hispanics, Indians, American Indians in their place. Their place is square in the middle of the Democrat/liberal agenda special interest politics.
Hard to do this if some party other than the Ass Party starts having successful, very prominent national level candidates that are from different ethnic groups and don't look like WASPs.
Remember Colin Powell? You do. See, he's not been accepted until lately -- the last 3, 4 years. Serving with G.W. Bush was a serious offense. Now that Colin P. is back on the reservation/plantation, things are cool with him again.
Wake up, people. The strategy/game is to keep the blacks in their place.
W| 11.30.11 @ 8:10AM
Simon,
I agree that the candidates should be more agressive and tougher in defending themselves, and maybe have more agressive campaign managers. Remember Lee Atwater? He destroyed Michael Dukakis with the Willie Horton and it was legitimate to point out Dukakis' record on furloughs.
John McCain, though, got angry at his supporters for saying Barak HUSSEIN Obama, and would not touch the Ayers/Wright story.
I forgot about John Edwards. Does anyone believe that was his first affair, and yet he went through the 2004 election without any scrutiny. Cain is criticized for lack of foreing policy experience but what experience did Edwards have, and better what foreign policy experience did Obama have and has now?
YJ| 11.30.11 @ 1:51AM
AA, the paramount aim is to kill off the black candidate.
Reid Smith| 11.29.11 @ 2:30PM
Jim...who do you suppose will benefit most conspicuously from Cain's exit?
Stefan Stackhouse| 11.29.11 @ 2:48PM
Newt will benefit as each of the other "anyone-but-Mitt" candidates drop by the wayside. However, once Newt becomes the clear "anyone-but-Mitt" candidate, expect to see an "anyone-but-Newt" movement develop, with Mitt being the beneficiary. It is very, very quickly moving into a two-horse race.
Narf| 11.29.11 @ 3:09PM
If the two you have in mind are Mitt and Newt, that makes sense. Cain's supporters will split between Perry and Newt but the gap between Newt and Perry is so big that this won't save Perry.
But I don't think that matchup benefits Mitt. Mitt and Newt are both flip-floppers, but Newt has the better track record in government, and he can tear Mitt up on substance over style. Newt is the lesser of those two evils.
Bill| 11.29.11 @ 3:58PM
Gov Rick Perry is the next President of America.
We hope and pray.
Nite| 11.29.11 @ 8:23PM
I agree. Perry is a staunch conservative and has executive experience running a large state that is larger than most countries of the world. Newt is severely lacking in needed experience. He would make a great Secretary of State though.
Clint| 11.30.11 @ 5:48AM
"While Gingrich may not have technically lobbied members of Congress, “Lobbying is not just meeting with people on the Hill,” Abramoff said. “Lobbying is a package, and part of the package is strategic advice — companies need to know what to do and which direction to go in.”
“And I think that those who come off the Hill and take advantage of the revolving door and cash in to give strategic advice is the same sort of area that I’ve talked about,” he said. “It’s a problem.”
Abramoff dismissed Gingrich’s explanation that he was offering Freddie Mac “history lessons” when he collected nearly $2 million from the mortgage giant.
“Apparently it was also for a history lesson — a very expensive history lesson,” he said. “Nevertheless, it’s cashing in on public service and it’s the kind of thing that I write about and think has got to be addressed.”
florin| 11.29.11 @ 4:14PM
Sean Hannity says that all of Cain's supporters will now move to Gingrich...that just doesn't make any sense. If voters are turning away from Cain for alleged adulterous affairs why would they turn to Gingricn for PROVEN adulterous affairs??? Of course, Hannity is in love with gingrich and sees him as a superman or something, but if Cain's supporters do indeed turn to Gingrich that would mean they really aren't conservative because Gingrich isn't...so they would turn to a progressive RINO adulterer and leave a conservative black ALLEGED adulterer...why don't we just dismiss them both and draft Paul Ryan or Marco Rubio or John Thune or Nikki Halley or some other younger, less tainted true conservative with character???
YJ| 11.30.11 @ 1:34AM
Thanks, florin. In your comments you interjected the name of the now South Carolina Governor Nicki Haley. Most here have no idea. No less than 3 weeks prior to the three-way runoff in South Carolina for the GOP nomination for the general election, out came the long knives against Nicki Haley. What were they?
Adulterous relationships. All bogus.
FOLKS! WAKE UP! Don't you see a copycat pattern here? This is amateur hour being played out and treated as substantiated allegations, serious, etc.
And don't think for just a second that this is coming from the Chicago Four More Years Machine.
Simon Templar| 11.30.11 @ 11:05AM
To: RS
Barack Obama.
From: S. Templar
FreshLook11| 11.29.11 @ 2:34PM
If Ginger White were truthful and has decided to make a relationship public, she had all the means to collect ample evidence, like actual text messages or have a conversation recorded (as it is current - she says, she considers relationship off only due to the public interview). That she instead chose to make it a juicy 'he-said/she-said' kind of story makes it very suspicious. All she has to do is to save/show text messages, or call Cain and have the conversation recorded. Also amusing that with 'lavish gifts' from Cain, she is still served eviction notices so many times, and still no job that Cain could have helped provide? Once again, looks like part of a hatchet job (exploiting a 15 year old reported case), and no one can be immune to such hit jobs. There can be many motivations in a high stakes campaign like this - political/financial etc.
Trinacria| 11.29.11 @ 3:06PM
Smoke....fire. Simple as that.
W| 11.29.11 @ 5:05PM
Trinacria
If Cain didn't do it he should have said I didn't do it, instead of sending out a lawyer lecturing us on what the public has a right to know, and the meaning of consensual. When you run for Pres everything is on the table.
Simon Templar| 11.29.11 @ 11:41PM
Lack of logic...guilt by accusation...simple minded thinking.....Moron. Simple as that.
MikeG| 11.30.11 @ 7:07AM
Simple Simon strikes again with his logic.
Simon Templar| 11.30.11 @ 10:57AM
Oh boy, Mickey's back with his "clever" little retorts. You are really like a little kid.
Go play with your Ron Paul action figure.
Let the grownups alone to discuss the issues.
Jake| 11.29.11 @ 10:04PM
White's lawyer Ed Buckley was on Cooper's 360 tonight and he said White may release messages from Cain. Be careful what you wish for.
Bill| 11.29.11 @ 2:57PM
Herman Cain is politically dead, it's just a matter of time he bows out of his campaign and save the GOP momentum in ousting Obama.
Bill| 11.29.11 @ 3:55PM
Herman Cain is done!
His next stop in the state penitentiary.
Sorry, for those Cain-lovers!
Bill| 11.29.11 @ 4:04PM
Cain needs to go to Libya and become a dictator, and then marry Ginger White. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh
florin| 11.29.11 @ 4:15PM
Bill- did you suggest the same thing to Clinton and gingrich or do you go after Cain because he is black and conservative???
hoads| 11.29.11 @ 4:19PM
I find all of this suspicious and until actual evidence is produced of an alleged 13 year affair, it is very easy to dismiss it. Ginger White is another with a troubled past and a motive to sell out for money. And, Obama and his Left are the rabid "by any means necessary" so it is not outside the realm of possibilities that they are so put out by a black conservative when their entire strategy is a minority, academia, upper class social liberal coalition that they must have him destroyed. For this reason alone, I believe if Cain is innocent, he should stay in the race and conservatives should stand behind him even if he can't get the nomination.
Had this been a Democrat, if the story would have made it to national news, we would have already seen the TV psychologists analyzing why political candidates are subject to false claims by greedy women looking for their 15 minutes of fame, every political pundit would be making fun of her and dismissing her story because there is no proof and her name would be mud within 24 hours.
bill glass| 11.29.11 @ 5:08PM
The possibility of an organized, contrived and manufactured cascade of similar assertions orchestrated by some unseen force is likely here. This may well have been in place for years, anticipating that Mr. Cain would try to run for high office. He was certainly on the Clinton's radar. All the women seem to be linked to the NRA, and perhaps there's someone there who was aware of some of these people over the years who could, with encouragement, a job or money or both, simply form and push a narrative to push Herman out of the race....either that or he's a hound dog.
E-train| 11.30.11 @ 1:46AM
Bill Glass, what all these women have in common (the few that we know by name) is very sordid personal lives and, yes, a current, pressing need for money. Help. Solid employment.
They are has-been women now in their 50's. And they are struggling. Probably due to much of their own failures and stumbling in life.
I don't like it but the book and movie are based on reality. "Primary Colors." They are not my kind of entertainment nor, in the case of the book, my kind of themes and language.
It is a lot of garbage talk. But probably very much akin to what goes on in big campaigns.
Campaigning is ugly work. It is cutthroat. It is not a nice set of disagreements over tea and scones. This is play to win, baby. And win by any means.
DLC| 11.30.11 @ 5:34AM
NRA=Al Sharptom....waitn for his screwup!!
Oldefarte| 11.29.11 @ 5:01PM
It's truly amazing to me that the same MSM that has the journalistic ability to uncover the existence these paramours of a black Republican, somehow didn't know [and still don't] a thing about the current president's relationship with a radical religious preacher, a domestic terrorist of the '60 era, or a financially corrupt businessman who financed his campaigns. Isn't that amazing? What pre-tel could the MSM have also failed to uncover concerning this hope & change charleton who is now in control of our government????????
W| 11.29.11 @ 5:06PM
The MSM knew all this. They did not care.
DLC| 11.30.11 @ 5:29AM
@Robert Stacey
Al Sharpton has declared war with Cain on this one and is winning!! I am waiting for that one screw up on his show of his involvement or cain investigating!! facts of the latest claim..
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/.....tWpnGPTp9a
It was actually a guy named Fay!! I would LOVE to see a Strong Baptist preacher president make it, but Al Sharton would not have 2 blacks running because CAIN would defnitely WIN!!
DLC| 11.30.11 @ 5:30AM
and that would mean no money for his projects!!
DLC| 11.30.11 @ 5:36AM
oh yeah Newt's affair was REAL, televised and reported silently ONCE!!!!!! just a couple months ago. OH YEah and that down hill thing when he started about Ryans budget proposal????? like no one else had one?????
Prester John| 11.30.11 @ 7:39AM
Maybe it's just me, but I'm not quite sure how a man who was diagnosed with stage IV liver cancer in 2006 and had to battle it for several years just to survive could find the time and have the energy to carry on an affair.
SUSEYQUE| 11.30.11 @ 7:48AM
Frankly, I do not believe Mr. Cain's intention for entering the race was to become the President of the USA. I believe he entered to sell his books and to be available to be selected for some important job in the government by the newly elected GOP president in 2012.
The latest woman to pop up and state she had a relationship with Herman for many years may or may not be true. However, the fact that Herman said he was helping her financially is the red flag. Most men who "help" desperate women financially don't expect to get their money back, but they do expect sexual favors and this women was more than willing. Mr. Cain talks the talk, but obviously doesn't always walk the walk.
martin j smith| 11.30.11 @ 8:16AM
One: Antle do you really believe any potential Presidential candidate opposing Obama will not be smeared sooner or later ? They all will I assure you.
Next Antle: What will WE ? do about that. ?
Having said the above, I think Cain has shown he is a real outsiders because a Pro would have more effectively shut potential trouble makers up or had a strategy to deal with the issue.
While I think Cain is articulate and likeable with good ideas he is not exactly the profile we need right now as a President. We need some one with steel( not literally ) in persona--meaning someone with guts to deal with smears and who can throw it back. Some who has a good enough background to avoid effective smearing and who has an inspiring vision to lead the nation. And some one who does not want Socialism or compromise with it, but wants Freedom and free enterprise.
somnolence| 11.30.11 @ 11:28AM
I don't need a serial adulterer like Newt Gingrich in the White House. You have yet to prove ANY such transgressions by Cain. The current lady says she has text messages at 4 A.M. from Cain. My response: So what does that prove? Once again, much ado about nothing, save everyone's dumbass gullibility in marching lockstep to the media's insistence that a black conservative like Cain is intolerable(and in fact just diminishing him is not enough, they want to annihilate him).
Simon Templar| 11.30.11 @ 11:28AM
Here is a little smoke for you...
and these are what people call facts not allegations. They can be found in the public record.
"Before our interview, we checked into Ginger White's background. We found she filed a sexual harassment claim against an employer in 2001. That case was settled. We also found a bankruptcy filing nearly 23 years ago in Kentucky, and a number of eviction notices here in DeKalb County over the past six years. The most recent happened this month. Ms. White says she has been unemployed, and she is a single mom with two kids struggling to make ends meet.
We also found a lawsuit filed by a former business partner, Kimberly Vay, who once sought a "stalking temporary protective order" against Ms. White for "repeated e-mails/texts threatening lawsuit and defamation of character." The case was dismissed; but was followed by a libel lawsuit against Ms. White. A judge entered an order in favor of Kimberly Vay because Ms. White failed to respond to the lawsuit."
-Town Hall