There are several things that have occurred to me as I have read about the allegations of sexual harassment leveled against Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain. Some of my thoughts have been sympathetic and some…not so much.
It would be tough for anyone to have to respond to the media about anything regarding unspecified accusations from unspecified people from over a decade ago.
It’s tough to read that Mr. Cain said he remembered nothing and there were no financial settlements and then read that there was one harmless incident and there was a payoff by the business organization he was a part of. Did he suddenly remember all of this on his own, or did someone tell him about it and jog his memory?
He said a woman got a payoff because she complained of sexual harassment after he commented on her height. Really? That is extraordinarily hard to believe.
Is it worse for a presidential candidate to have allegedly made sexually inappropriate remarks years ago, or for a presidential candidate to be having an affair during the campaign while his wife is dying from cancer? This was the John Edwards story in 2008, and the media ignored it until he was out of the race.
Is it tougher to believe that Mr. Cain is innocent now that a third accuser has come out? How about now that a fourth person has come forward and said he witnessed some of the harassment?
Cain has said that these baseless accusations have come out because of Rick Perry’s people. If the stories are true, who cares where they came from? If they are false, and the Perry people are responsible–that’s terrible. Perry is denying any involvement by his people. If Perry is right then Cain is way out of line, but you have to kind of appreciate the irony (if Cain is innocent). He would be guilty of making false accusations to take the spotlight off the false accusations being thrown at him.
If Cain is guilty and/or his candidacy is destroyed, this will be good news for Democrats who want to portray Republicans as a bunch of racists. You would think that the party of Herman Cain and Condi Rice wouldn’t be hearing that charge.
What’s the resolution of this story? I don’t know. Is Herman Cain a bad man who doesn’t know how to treat women, or a good man who’s had his reputation unfairly tarnished? I just don’t know.