Herman Cain (and the Media’s) Sexual Assault Problem

After watching these three gems and reading over his gimmicky “9-9-9” plan, I can’t help but laugh at Herman Cain. His lack of political experience and policy knowledge is pretty remarkable. Take his official stance on Afghanistan: “My plan would be to figure out: Can we win, or not?”

That’s about all he has to say about a decade long war that has cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives.

On abortion? Cain thinks all abortions should be illegal, even in cases of rape and incest. But when pressed in a recent CNN interview, Cain said that the decision should be left to women and their families—but they’ll have to choose between having the baby and having an illegal, and likely unsafe, abortion, because legal abortions are just wrong. I know, it’s confusing.

With candidates like Cain, it’s hard to take the Republican primary very seriously. It’s beginning to feel like a reality TV show; the candidates resembling the poorly scripted characters. One thing surrounding Cain’s campaign that should be taken seriously, but really hasn’t been by a lot of commentators in the media, is the sexual harassment charges against Cain, now five in total. Many people have been quick to dismiss the chargers, which first surfaced on Politico early last week. Politico obtained two anonymous accusations of sexual harassment from women who worked with Cain in the National Restaurant Association during the 1990s. Since then, three more women have come forward with the same charges.

Cain’s response looks plenty suspicious. Cain first flat out denied the charges, claiming he didn’t even remember any accusations. Once official records of complaints to the NRA board and settlement payments came to light, Cain suddenly remembered, but still denied any wrongdoing. How could Cain forget paying a woman her full year’s salary not to pursue sexual harassment charges? And if there were really no factual basis for her claims, why would he agree to such a high settlement in the first place, when official complaints had already been filed?

The media’s response has been even more unsettling than Cain’s. Many on the right, including Fox News, have accused Politico of a “media lynching,” completely dismissing the chargers as a political attack, even though there is mounting evidence that Cain did harass a number of women during his time as president of the NRA.

Some have gone even further. Andrea Peyser of the New York Post characterized Cain’s 4th accuser, Sharon Bialeck, the first to accuse Cain publicly and provide lewd details of his alleged assault, as “jobless” “shameless” and a “gold-digger.” John Derbyshire of the National Review stated bluntly what I think most of those who prematurely dismiss the charges feel but are too afraid to come out and say:

“Is there anyone who thinks sexual harassment is a real thing? Is there anyone who doesn’t know it’s all a lawyers’ ramp, like “racial discrimination”? You pay a girl a compliment nowadays, she runs off and gets lawyered up.”

Until Cain sufficiently addresses these charges and an official investigation is conducted, there’s no need to dismiss the accusations, and there’s never any reason to disparage the women making them.

By: Mike Guisinger

(Photo by Gage Skidmore under a Creative Commons license)