The Herman Cain Mutiny
I found myself talking about the weather for two hours on KABC the other night (Angelenos are such weenies -- a little wind blows your roof into the neighbors' pool, and you get all whiney about it?). This meant that I didn't get to talk about what I'd prepared for -- Herman Cain's zipper issues.
Regarding the earlier sexual harassment charges that came out, I think anybody can bring sexual harassment charges against anybody these days. The likes of "He told me I was wearing a pretty dress!" can sometimes be enough to land a successful executive in the Dumpster.
Also, litigation is extremely expensive and it's sometimes in the benefit of a company to pay a person off -- even if the accused isn't guilty as charged. So, I look less harshly on the accusations of sexual harassment when Cain headed the restaurant association.
But the new lady...there were text messages. There was apparently a trip to the Holyfield fight in Vegas. Apparently. I keep waiting to see photos. Surely a guy like Cain would have really good seats and be in some shots of the fight. But, I've seen no substantiation of these accusations.
And let me say in the strongest way, I am not a Herman Cain fan, nor am I a Republican (nor am I a Democrat). If I could have my druthers, Chris Christie would run -- after Dr. Michael Eades did an intervention on him on his weight!
But, even the appearance that there's evidence brings us to the problem in the modern age. If you want to be a politician -- in this country, not France or Italy -- and you want to have sex with a woman who's not your wife, you'd better be paying cash and wearing a Richard Nixon mask at the time.
For those who pay credit and go maskless, there's a piece in the Independent, "All the candidate's women - rules for surviving a scandal," about how sexual indiscretions do not always lead to political death. Rupert Cornwell writes:
Tales of sexual misconduct have swirled around presidents and would-be presidents ever since Thomas Jefferson, back in 1802, was accused of an affair with his black slave Sally Hemings. For much of the 20th century, however, a curious truce was observed. Reporters had their suspicions about Warren Harding (who was entertaining young ladies in White House closets seven decades before Bill Clinton met Monica Lewinsky) and later about John F Kennedy. But a clubby, boys-will-be-boys, spirit prevailed.In the 1970s, though, the rules changed - maybe because of the distrust of cynicism born of Vietnam and Watergate, or perhaps it was the growth of a feminist movement out to ensure men were no longer granted carte blanche in sexual matters.
And so to Gary Hart, the first prominent "victim" of the modern sex scandal. Everyone knew that Hart was "a man who appreciated a well-turned ankle". But by the time he was running for the 1988 Democratic nomination the rumours had become so deafening that the candidate challenged the press: "If anyone wants to put a tail on me, go ahead," he said. "They'd be pretty bored." The Miami Herald took him up on the offer, and was not bored.
Its story turned the aspiring actress Donna Rice, who accompanied the politician on a two-day yacht trip aboard the splendidly named Monkey Business, into a short-lived global celebrity. Hart's campaign was finished. He had committed the two cardinal sins in a political sex scandal. The affair was current and he'd been caught lying about it.
Yet Bill Clinton was to survive even more lurid allegations. That he was prone to "bimbo eruptions" had long been known. But in January 1992, at the height of campaigning for the New Hampshire primary, Gennifer Flowers, a nightclub singer, went public with claims of an affair, with phone tapes to prove it. Like most reporters covering the 1992 election, I assumed Clinton had had it. But that was to reckon without a masterpiece of damage control, as his camp sought to discredit the witness, claiming the tapes had been doctored. It helped, of course, that the press liked Clinton, as they had liked JFK 30 years earlier. Clinton managed to come second in the primary, and labelled himself "The Comeback Kid". The rest is history.
But had he been instantly exposed as a flat-out liar, that surely would have been the end - just as it would be the end, years later, for the presidential campaign of John Edwards after he had denied his affair with the film-maker Rielle Hunter with whom he fathered a child, only to be caught out as his wife was dying of cancer.
Clinton survived the scandal because his wife stood by him and didn't make a fuss. Period.
She stayed with him because of her own political aspirations--they may also have an open marriage, although lately I've been thinking that Hilary is gay and Bill is her merkin.
I'm not passing judgement on their marriage--I just don't believe he stayed in power solely because of good damage control.
deathbysnoosnoo at December 5, 2011 6:55 AM
All it really shows is, never underestimate the power of having the press either on your side or as an enemy.
It is not the wife standing by them, because in the far majority of cases, the wives do. The press decides whether to highlight that or bury it. They decide if the public will be innundated with repeats of the scandal, or it be one mention on page 19.
I had to get this list of Bills other other women from a BBC website because couln't find it in an American news source.
Paula Jones
Kathleen Willey
Elizabeth Gracen
Sally Perdue
Dolly Browning
Monica Lewinski
All claimed at various points in his campaign or career to either be harasses, propositioned or have an affair.
Joe J at December 5, 2011 9:08 AM
"But, even the appearance that there's evidence brings us to the problem in the modern age"
In the good old days, accusations could not be hurled with impunity (even if there was truth to them), because the gentleman whose honor had been violated could challenge you to a duel with pistols at dawn. In 1806, Charles Dickinson called Andrew Jackson's beloved wife Rachel a bigamist, and published a statement in the paper calling Jackson a lying poltroon. Technically, there was truth to this, because Rachel had left her previous unhappy marriage & married Andrew before her divorce was completed, she moved in with him before she even filed for divorce, and they had to be remarried to make things right in the eyes of the law. But Jackson wasn't interested in technicalities, and he shot Dickinson dead in a duel. He went on to fame. glory, and a two-term Presidency, while Dickinson was buried & forgotten except as a footnote to history.
It's an interesting exercise to look back at all the great men in history who would have gone nowhere if they must have had spotless personal lives.
Martin at December 5, 2011 9:41 AM
I think the Onion summed this up aptly by playing it completely straight with their headline, for a change:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/rumors-of-extramarital-affair-end-campaign-of-pres,26801/
franko at December 5, 2011 10:08 AM
I have my doubts on it. One would think a 13 year affair would have some momentos and pics, none of which she seems to be able to provide. As to texts, I text the mom down the street more than that. That said;
Just once, I'd like to see a pol or other celeb stand up and say "My personal life is none of your business. "Who I sleep with and how does not effect my ability to perform my job."
momof4 at December 5, 2011 10:25 AM
Paula Jones
Kathleen Willey
Elizabeth Gracen
Sally Perdue
Dolly Browning
Monica Lewinski
Juanita Broderick. Not surprised she wasn't on that list by the Beeb. She's the one who accused Billy Jeff of forcible rape.
Just once, I'd like to see a pol or other celeb stand up and say "My personal life is none of your business.
Call me old fashioned, but I believe that inspecting a candidate's ability to live up to previously made promises is a good indicator of how well - or not - they'll keep their campaign promises.
And if you will cheat on your spouse, then I know your promises to the voters are worth less than warm snail spit.
I R A Darth Aggie at December 5, 2011 11:09 AM
Democrats can get away with it - even NOW came out to defend Clinton. And before that, there was this guy named Kennedy...
The media enforce a double-standard - largely by ignoring transgressions by politicians with a (D) after their names.
Ben David at December 5, 2011 11:29 AM
Oh don't get me started on Kennedy. Once freezed the brain of a truth blind Kennedy family supporter by asking one question. if leaving the girl to drown wasn't a problem, what if she hadn't. do you have a problem with him taking home a 'so drunk she's unconscious' girl away from her friends and where she was staying, back to his hotel room?
Most Republicans would have been scandalised and forced out of politics for just that.
Joe J at December 5, 2011 12:35 PM
And if you will cheat on your spouse, then I know your promises to the voters are worth less than warm snail spit.
Well, they always are anyway. Or to put it more charitably, sometimes circumstances change. But it seems to be the lying about it that most pisses people off.
As per momof4, what if someone stood up to one of these revelations and said "yes, I had an affair, and I told my wife about it 10 years ago, and we got over it. Next?"
Plenty of people's marriages have survived affairs, and those people aren't regarded as unfit to be doctors or whatever.
Ok, politics to some extent *is* different. They're trading in "trust me" integrity. But the automatic condemnation goes too far.
Ltw at December 5, 2011 2:52 PM
Just more backing for my favorite American foible:
Here, sex is more important than murder.
Radwaste at December 5, 2011 6:08 PM
Oh don't get me started on Kennedy.
Which of the three? They were all womanizers to one extent or another.
The other question no one seems to be asking is where was she in the time period he had colon cancer? That was about a year at least when he was probably down and out.
She never showed up that his wife would know about it?
Jim P. at December 5, 2011 7:06 PM
> The media enforce a double-standard - largely by ignoring transgressions by politicians with a (D) after their names.
Right. Which is why John Edwards is now President of these United States.
franko at December 5, 2011 7:36 PM
"Right, Which is why John Edwards is now President ..."
The regular media wouldn't touch the story until they were forced too. The National Enquirer had to break the story for Christ sakes!
AllenS at December 5, 2011 7:59 PM
> The regular media wouldn't touch the story until they were forced too. The National Enquirer had to break the story for Christ sakes!
Ah, so the "mainstream media" is everyone except Fox News and the National Enquirer. Good to know.
franko at December 6, 2011 1:12 AM
franko, please note the word, "largely", in your haste to defend every Democrat.
Count the offenders. Go ahead.
Radwaste at December 6, 2011 2:36 AM
I'm not defending anyone. I'm just trying to refute the delusion that the media is biased against Republicans. I didn't notice any dearth of MSM stories about Gary Hart, Bill Clinton, or even Jimmy Carter admitting he had lusted in his heart.
Conservatives have a bizarre persecution complex. If the MSM were on the Democrats' side, they would have done everything possible to make sure an intellectual creampuff like Cain was the candidate Obama would face next year.
franko at December 6, 2011 7:30 AM
Never underestimate the power of the pussy!
Jay R at December 6, 2011 12:52 PM
Yep, have seen that newI think its Kotex? commercial?
'Men have fought for it, even died for it'
lujlp at December 6, 2011 12:57 PM
If the MSM were on the Democrats' side, they would have done everything possible to make sure an intellectual creampuff like Cain was the candidate Obama would face next year.
Oh, bullshit.
By that 'logic' they'd be propping up Michelle Bachmann, or insisting Rick Perry is killing it in debates.
The media is biased towards the liberal perspective. It's made up of liberals. It favors liberals. With rare exception, it's nothing BUT liberal.
But I've learned long ago it's a waste of time pointing it out to people like you. You don't see the bias because it fits your worldview.
jimg at December 7, 2011 12:05 AM
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