Mailvox: Exit the Harassinator

NB isn’t buying Herman Cain’s astoundingly inept attempt to deal with multiple historical accusations of sexual harassment:

I saw Herman Cain on Fox News this weekend, discussing the sexual harassment issue. He blew it.

He said he’d never sexually harassed anybody and that if the Restaurant Association settled a claim, he didn’t know about it and he hoped they didn’t pay anybody because he never did anything wrong. Now it appears there’s an out-of-court settlement involving two women who got a year’s pay each. It’s never the offense that sinks you, it’s always the cover-up.

He should have said: “I was accused of sexual harassment when I worked for the restaurant association 20 years ago. I denied I did anything wrong at that time, and I deny it today. We ended up settling out of court because it was cheaper to settle than continue paying the lawyers. Both sides agreed never to discuss the details of the settlement and I’m sticking to our agreement. That’s all I’m going to say about it.”

That would have been honest and believable. Most people would said “huh” and moved on. Now, it’s not the accusation that troubles people – hell, lots of people get falsely accused of stuff and have to settle or take a plea to avoid losing everything in litigation – it’s the lying about it that troubles us. Next, he’ll play the race card and compare himself to Clarence Thomas. When that doesn’t work, he’ll probably enter sexual harassment training for a weekend and have Billy Graham pray for him. When his wife stands beside him on stage saying she’s always believed in him, that’s the death knell.

I have to admit, I simply do not understand these morons who appear to believe that the skeletons in their closet are not going to eventually come out… unless one resorts to conspiracy theory. My explanation for this seemingly stupid behavior is that most, if not all, politicians have some sort of past history that will render them political toast if outed; Cain was probably told by the Republican establishment to settle down and not get too carried away with his success in the polls, but he went cowboy and decided to buck the system in the hopes that they wouldn’t air his dirty laundry.

On the one hand, the fact that the someone in the establishment wants to finish off his campaign tends to speak well for him. On the other hand, he is an incoherent bankster. America is probably better off with him out of the race, assuming this serves to finish him.