Saturday, December 3, 2011

Herman Cain anything but simple

Herman Cain was anything but the simple man running for President of the United States he presented himself to be.

Herman Cain. Photo courtesy of Salon.com
He cast himself as an outside to Washington despite being the president and lobbyist of the National Restaurant Association. He had a tax plan that seemed like simple way to fix the tax code, but wound up raising a lot of questions if it would work and whom it would benefit. And he cast himself as someone with high moral character despite several allegations of sexual harassment and an affair that lasted more than a decade.

With those allegations taking their toll on Cain and his family, he announced Saturday that he was suspending his presidential campaign. Unlike most campaign suspensions, this move essentially put an end to his presidential campaign, at least for 2012. 

I can't blame him for taking a break from the campaign trail. The last two months have been anything but a smooth cruise toward the Iowa caucus in January. If anything, the recent sexual harassment and adultery allegations sound like a big conspiracy created by the mainstream media and "the political elite in Washington" to bring him down.

But instead of buying into the conspiracy, I was stuck watching some bizarre, yet entertaining political theater on television at what was supposed to be the grand opening of Cain's national headquarters in Atlanta.

Moments before Cain took the stage, his aides and supporters encouraged the crowd to vote for Cain and drive to early-voting states to drum up support. While Cain and his wife made their way to the stage, the music they chose (complete with Cain-esque lyrics) drowned out any cheering from the crowd - making him look like a smaller candidate than one of the top candidates in the Republican field. And then when Cain made the announcement, there were gasps and chants of "No!" from the audience.

So to paraphrase former NFL coach Dennis Green, Herman Cain is who we thought he was, which is a shame because he made the race interesting. Only this time, no one let him off the hook.

3 comments:

  1. "If you wanna crown em then crown em" man I miss Denny Green!

    Well, put a fork in him he is done! I think it was just a matter of time whether the allegations came out or not. I do find it very interesting at the media's response and lack of dilligence to investigate and conduct their journalistic responsiblilties.

    If you want to see what I'm talking about take a look at Pierz Morgan's (Thurs or Fri night) interview with Cain's lawyer. He basically said that all allegations have come with zero facts to support them and that Cain was presumed guilty and had to try and prove his innocense. He continued to tear apart Morgan by pointing out that everyone in the media focused on Cain and asked Cain tons of questions regarding the allegations while not asking any tough questions of the accusers. They also didn't secure any real interviews with any of the accusers. I am not defending Cain because I don't know what happened but I do know that if you want to smear a Republican candidate you can do so without having to be held accountable for your actions.

    He was doomed from the beginning but I would've loved to see the amount of scrutiny that Cain (and anyone other than Romney) has experienced asked of Obama while he was running. I'm just sayin.

    I'm all for scrutinizing any and all candidates but it seems to me that the media's dog in the fight (other than Obama) is Romney and they will try to alienate all other candidates.

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  2. Was Cain's attorney addressing the sexual harassment allegations or the alleged affair that continued for more than a decade? More importantly, if these women are coming out of the woodwork and lying about these allegations, why isn't Cain considering legal action against the accusers?

    On another note, I read a story where Ron Paul declared himself the flavor of the decade for Republicans. What are your thoughts on that?

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  3. His attorney addressed all allegations including the affair and I think it is definately an entertaining watch if you get a chance. Maybe he is considering legal action or maybe he is guilty, I have no idea. I do think that it would be quite strange for any candidate to start a defamation lawsuit during a campaign. Maybe he is not the type of person to file a lawsuit like this.... who knows.

    Relating to Ron Paul, I only read the Washington Post article that quoted him as saying that so I don't have the full context. I really don't know what he is suggesting and it seems like a weird choice of words. With that said, maybe he is the flavor of the decade?

    The last time he ran he warned of a major financial collapse, a looming debt crisis, concern over the fed reserve manipulating our debt, currency, and the markets and just about everyone said he was nuts. People are now realizing that many of the concerns he articulated years ago have come true and that is why he continues to gain support. Additionally, Paul doesn't seem like the type of person to make a comment like that just to stroke his own ego.

    Most politicians are afraid to shoot it straight to the Amercian public like Ron Paul has. He may not be a flavor of the decade but he has proven that his flavor has stuck over the last decade and has brought very serious issues to the table.

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