Cain tested by sexual-harassment scandal
Will allegations of sexual harassment derail Cain's campaign?
What happened
Surprise Republican front-runner Herman Cain faced the biggest test of his presidential campaign this week when allegations surfaced that he sexually harassed two women in the 1990s. Two women who worked for Cain while he was chief executive of the National Restaurant Association between 1996 and 1999 complained about his inappropriate behavior toward them and received settlements to leave the association, according to Politico.com. Cain offered conflicting accounts about whether he remembered the specifics of the allegations and whether the women received settlements, and said there could be “legal implications” to a lawyer’s request that he release the women from confidentiality agreements they signed as a condition of receiving settlements. But Cain insisted that the original allegations were “baseless,” and that the leak to Politico was politically motivated. “There are factions that are trying to destroy me,” Cain said. “I have never sexually harassed anybody in my life.”
A third former employee told the Associated Press that she also considered filing a complaint against Cain because he invited her to the corporate apartment after telling her how attractive she was. One of the accusers who did file a complaint received severance of a year’s salary—$35,000—after alleging that Cain made suggestive comments during a work outing in which there was heavy drinking, according to The New York Times. The developing scandal rallied some conservatives to Cain’s defense, and both they and the Cain campaign likened the allegations to those against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991. This is “another high-tech lynching,” said conservative commentator Ann Coulter. It shows liberals are “terrified of strong, conservative black men.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What the editorials said
Cain “deserves the benefit of the doubt,” said the New York Post. He has been “ambushed anonymously” by 15-year-old allegations. The supposed improprieties are confusing and vague. At one point, Politico describes his purportedly offensive gestures as “not overtly sexual,’’ but “improper” in a work setting. “Whatever the hell that means.”
Until Cain stops being evasive, this scandal isn’t going away, said the Chicago Tribune. Even self-styled “unconventional candidates” don’t get to stonewall voters on matters like this, especially those running for president. These allegations speak to Cain’s character, and “character counts. A lot.” Americans are watching how he handles this threat to his candidacy, and so far, “something’s not adding up.”
What the columnists said
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Actually, this “profoundly underwhelming” story tells us nothing about Herman Cain, said David French in NationalReview.com. As a lawyer who has worked on sexual-harassment cases, I can tell you that “the existence of a complaint is not proof of guilt.” Neither is a settlement. Payments are given out for many different reasons—including to save money that would be spent fighting false claims. These allegations should have no impact on the respect that millions of Americans, “myself included,” have for this impressive man.
That’s ridiculous, said Jennifer Rubin in WashingtonPost.com. The reflexive instinct of some conservatives to “circle the wagons when a conservative is accused of something bad is misguided.” First of all, it’s far more likely that this leak came from one of Cain’s Republican adversaries than from liberals, who would have waited until after he got the nomination to set off this “time bomb.” Second, Cain has handled this situation like an amateur; clearly, he “had no idea of what running for president was all about.” Republicans really ought to think hard about whether “a complete political novice is their best bet to beat President Obama.”
Cain’s presidential campaign will not be damaged, said Jonathan Chait in NYMag.com, because “there is no Herman Cain presidential campaign.” When you run for president, you try to raise a ton of money, campaign aggressively in primary states, and “pretend to know something about world affairs.” Cain isn’t doing any of this. What he’s doing is “executing a business plan” to raise his profile as a conservative personality and make loads of money. Since he can now claim to be persecuted by the liberal media, this scandal will actually “help him.”
-
One great cookbook: 'The Zuni Café Cookbook' by Judy Rodgers
The Week Recommends A tome that teaches you to both recreate recipes and think like a cook
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
Stephen Miller is '100% loyal' to Donald Trump
He is also the architect of Trump's mass-deportation plans
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Crossword: November 14, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
The final fate of Flight 370
feature Malaysian officials announced that radar data had proven that the missing Flight 370 “ended in the southern Indian Ocean.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
The airplane that vanished
feature The mystery deepened surrounding the Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared one hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
A drug kingpin’s capture
feature The world’s most wanted drug lord, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, was captured by Mexican marines in the resort town of Mazatlán.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
A mixed verdict in Florida
feature The trial of Michael Dunn, a white Floridian who fatally shot an unarmed black teen, came to a contentious end.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
New Christie allegation
feature Did a top aide to the New Jersey governor tie Hurricane Sandy relief funds to the approval of a development proposal in the city of Hoboken?
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
A deal is struck with Iran
feature The U.S. and five world powers finalized a temporary agreement to halt Iran’s nuclear program.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
End-of-year quiz
feature Here are 40 questions to test your knowledge of the year’s events.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Note to readers
feature Welcome to a special year-end issue of The Week.
By The Week Staff Last updated