Cainwreck
Last Sunday, POLITICO reported that Herman Cain was accused by two women of sexual harassment during his tenure as CEO of the National Restaurant Association. In the following days, Cain kindly clinic on what a campaign shouldn’t do when facing a controversy.
Herman Cain’s story changed every few hours, starting on Sunday night when he declared that the article was false. Then, on Monday, the media started pursuing the story and Cain's backtrack began.
At the beginning of Monday, Cain’s campaign admitted the story was true but the sexual harassment accusations were false and he didn’t have any further information on an investigation or a settlement.
By the end of Monday, Cain had admitted that there was an in-depth investigation and that there had been a settlement though he couldn’t quite remember the details. He also magically remembered the gesture that led to the accusations, in which he compared a female employee’s height to his wife’s by telling her that the top of her head reached his chin, just like his wife.
Unfortunately for Cain, that was only the beginning.
On Tuesday night, the New York Times reported that one of the accusers was paid one-year’s salary as settlement, a number much higher than Herman Cain had suggested late Monday and early Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, the other Cain accuser released a statement through her lawyer asking the National Restaurant Association to release her from her non-disparagement settlement so that she could tell her side of the story.
On Wednesday, a third former National Restaurant Association employee came forward to calim that she was also sexually harassed by Herman Cain.
Then on Thursday, POLITICO reported that one of the two original accusers received a $45,000 settlement and that the settlement the New York Times was reporting was for a woman separate from the original two.
As of now, the onslaught of new details is incessant and the legitimacy of all of the different allegations is in question. Another thing that is still up in the air is the effect that this will have on Cain’s campaign, which was rolling near or at the front of the pack up until this week.
An ABC/Washington Post poll from Friday suggested that Cain’s support was not wavering and that the scandal didn’t affect many Republican’s opinions of Cain.
On Sunday, a Reuters/Ispos poll found a much less surprising result. It showed a five point decline in Cain’s poll numbers.
Some pollsters have predicted that this scandal will trigger a drop in poll numbers for Cain and a surge for former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, but for right now, the jury is still out on how all of this will reshape the primary.
Cain might not be done yet, but this story is unresolved and will most likely dominate the media for the days, and maybe even weeks, to come.
A Week of Strange Quotes
First, Rick Perry gave a speech in New Hampshire over a week ago that had people asking whether he was under the influence. Here is a video of the highlights.
Then, on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News, Ann Coulter claimed that, “Our blacks are so much better than their blacks.”
When she says “our,” she means Republicans’ and when she says “their,” she means Democrats’. Here is a video of her appearance on the show (the quote happens at about 5:08).
Finally, in response to the questions of whether or not he thought race had anything to do with the scandal, Cain responded, “I believe the answer is yes, but we do not have any evidence to support it.”
Basically, he makes a baseless claim regarding a scandal that was caused by what he called “baseless claims.” Here is video (the quote starts a little before 6:30).
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