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UPDATE: Curt Anderson Denies Knowledge of Cain Harassment Charges; Cain Camp Backs Down

By: Ben Howe (Diary)  |  November 3rd, 2011 at 01:23 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

*UPDATE*

Video of Cain’s Chief of Staff, Mark Block, walking back the allegations that Perry’s camp was involved reveals a very odd position they seem to be staking out.  According to Block, even though “all evidence” points towards Perry’s camp, given the fact that Anderson worked there, they are very pleased that Anderson denies involvement and claim to be ready to move beyond this silliness.

Well, with one caveat.  They still totally think that it was the Perry camp, only now they lack “all of the evidence” which lead them there in the first place.

 

On Fox News today, Curt Anderson puts the ball back in Herman Cain’s camp.  Whereas Mr. Cain has made it clear that he had consulted with Anderson in 2004 about sexual harassment settlements occurring while he was President of the National Restaurant Association, Mr. Anderson says that it’s simply not accurate.

Anderson offered no comment when asked whether or not Cain was contradicting himself by at one time claiming no knowledge of the payouts while at another time saying he had consulted Anderson.  He did, however, offer a very interesting way of determining whether or not he is the leak as Cain’s campaign has accused him of.


For the video impaired: at the end of the clip above Anderson gives blanket permission to any news outlet he’s ever spoken to about Herman Cain to reveal what he said.  In other words, if he spoke to Politico, he just gave them permission to say so.  While this still leaves the possibility that he told someone else who then told the press, there’s no doubt that that is an even flimsier connection to the Perry camp than the previous connection and also requires you to assume that Anderson is lying about not knowing the allegations existed in the first place.

More importantly however, this is more fallout from what should’ve been a blip on Cain’s radar.  His campaign has completely botched it’s reaction to something that, not only did they have 10 days to prepare for and apparently didn’t, but, by Cain’s own admission, knew would be an issue in a Senatorial campaign 8 years ago.  What’s the excuse for being all over the map with all of that time to prepare an appropriate response?

On Megyn Kelly later, Herman Cain’s Chief of Staff Mark Block backed off of the allegations against Perry’s camp saying that although all evidence pointed to Anderson as the leaker initially (I guess they consider having a job ‘evidence’), they are happy he denies it and have nothing but respect for Curt.

I suppose the Mitt Romney “Let Them Destroy Each Other” celebration will get moved up to today.

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  • adamd

    At first I thought this scandal would be quickly dismissed. I now think it will finish Cain. He could not have done a worse job handling the scandal and to accuse Perry without any evidence will not sit well voters. Especially now that the man accused has allowed all the media to say it was him if it was and more or less proved it was not him.

    • don12345

      Before I get attacked by Perry supporters, you all know deep down Perry did leak the Cain story. He’s got a checkered past of doing dirty things in Texas against his opponents. Look at how goofy and giddy Perry was right before the story broke while in NH. That video has gone viral and everyone thinks he must have been high. Perry argues he was high on life. His support is next to Bachmann at 5% and he’s high on life? Why do you think he was giddy and high on life right before the story broke? What do you think he was so giddy about? Let me spell it out for you, because Perry knew this would topple Cain’s support and would run back to Perry. Where do you think his support would go? Romney? No, Perry knew what he had done and was high on life.
      Perry did it, end of story.

      • gekster

        Asides from your lack of thinking ability and your clear dislike of Perry.

    • don12345

      At the last debates, Perry called Cain brother twice, in an almost mocking fashion beign that it came right after the ‘black’ rock episode on Perry’s ranch.

      • bzip

        And he called Hannity bro on Hannity show the other night – so what? What is your problem?

      • beach91

        at best! Your complete disdain for Perry shows and I am really not sure why. Perry calling him ‘brother’ is hardly a reason that Perry would go after him.

  • byebyebama

    This is the problem of this year’s primary season. The GOP is totally focused on destroying each other and not focused on Obama. What if this was a democratic hit job and we all just took the bait by blaming our own. First Romney, then Perry. We need to refocus our efforts

    • SoFiMil

      Excepting blaming people who blame without cause.

      Did I miss something? Because this is the perception the media indeed wants to create. But it’s not based in reality. Cain’s campaign has done the blaming.

    • SoFiMil

      nt

      • wennejunk

        On the front page, Erick I think, that he thought it was Romney’s team at work.

        My gut (no evidence) says that is so.

        I admit, I’m very jaded by Romney at this point and see him/his campaign as willing to do anything, even this – especially this – to win.

        In the long run, as someone said elsewhere, whoever it was did a service to the GOP simply due to bringing this out now (and having it mishandled) vs. later after the nomination is clinched.

        • streiff

          If it was a campaign I have no doubt it was Romney because of the ties between prominent NRA directors and officers to Romney.

          I also said I don’t care who did it that this needed to happen.

          • usedtobelib

            imagine the “logic” of believing the Romney camp would want Cain smeared in this way: 1) those loving Cain are not Romney supporters-vote lost by Cain would not, for the most part, go to Romney-most would go to Perry probably; 2) the risk of such a move (dissing on Cain if you are in the Romney camp or any camp, really) stands to backfire if you are found out

          • SoFiMil

            and *if* Cain was taken out, and *if* Cain voters blamed Perry, then Romney would benefit.

            Each of these *if’s* I do see as distinct possibilities.

            Whoever did leak,and they’re definitely found to leak, will have tremendously hurt whatever campaign they support (whether they are formally affiliated with the campaign or not).

    • perry4prez

      It doesn’t matter whether Romney or Perry or Obama or some disgruntled Cainiac leaked this story, it was an important story and we have learned a lot about how Cain reacts to a crisis. The libs will through a ton of mud at whoever the nominee is and the way to counter that is not by getting testy.

      • acat

        Perry or Romney leaked it.

        Wouldn’t you rather vote for the one who didn’t shiv the black guy?

        Mew

        • http://electionsanalysis.blog.com paint_it_red

          If the story is true, then what difference does it make who leaked it? In fact, bringing it to light would be a plus. I would rather a candidate be torpedoed by something that would come to light anyway at this time rather than during the general election. 3 women have come forward so far, more may follow.

          Cain could be innocent, but his handling of this leaves much to be desired. I expect a candidate to be able to handle a smear campaign, if that’s what this is, much much better. Clumsy, unfounded accusations that would not even exculpate the candidate is not the way to handle accusations against your candidate. This Block guy is a complete disaster.

          • supergirl2911

            If this had been a lib, then they would have waited a year. Unless you get very convoluted and believe that the democrats were so scared about running Obama against Cain that they want to run against Romney. While I believe they want to run against Romney, I think they would have waited to use it.

  • thisisme7

    Nice guys don’t smear others that had nothing to do with their own problems!
    The Perry campaign can continue to be gentlemanly and take the high road, but I don’t share anyones OPINION that Cain is a “nice guy.”

    • lizcarter

      Cain and team have been on attack sense Perry entered the race…then all his supporters say that he’s such a nice guy and he’s the one being attacked.

      I seriously don’t get it.

      Cain weighs in and all but calls Perry a racist and doesn’t apologize. His supporters…chirp chirp, silence.

      Cain comes out and says he won’t support Perry 100% and doesn’t apologize. His supporters…chirp chirp, silence.

      Cain blames Perry, with NO evidence, of creating a sexual harassment smear campaign. His supporters…Hang Perry.

      There is no perfect candidate, but I can’t stand the behavior of Cain supporters who refuse to even acknowledge an issue and what makes my blood boil the most is to watch a POTUS candidate attack another, as Cain has done, not in a debate setting and not on policy issues, but character attacks and then blame others for their mishandling and snap reaction lying.

      Perry, Romney, Santorum and even Bachmann may have acted childish during debates attacking each other, but none of them have done what Cain has done and then played the victim card. And none of them have outright lied about a situation in a matter of 72 hours.

      But Cain isn’t the typical politician and we like him and he’s nice…VOMIT.

      • bzip

        At least I am not the only one questioning where or not Cain is ready for President of The United States;

        I personally think the author Howard Portnoy is being way to kind and forgiving and isn’t blunt enough but at least he sees the light:

        Is Herman Cain ready to be president?
        http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2011/11/02/is-herman-cain-ready-to-be-president/

      • thisisme7

        you are correct!

  • onemovoter

    A very likely Cain backer said the following…

    “Mannie:

    So the whore went to Cain?s apartment and decided the next day to shake him down. Yes, he displayed bad judgment. He went to bed with a bimbo. I hope he got checked out for STDs, afterwards.
    …….
    So let it be with this whore. Send her back to her street corner.

    I don?t care if Cain has a closet full of corpses. In this political climate, it means nothing.”

    Such comments will turn off 100′s from Cain’s campaign for each comment like this posted. I’ve seen others argue for other candidates, even for Perry with bad results. Emotionally responding back and forth only makes yourself and others look bad. I try my best to only post informed factual information here and then say what my opinion is about it. If I’m disappointed, then I’ll say so.

    Blaming others for your own faults only makes you look petty and immature.

    • kdubs

      Thanks for bringing it over OMV. I’m a little horrified that people on our side seem to be 1)blaming the woman or 2)saying, “Oh yeah? Clinton did worse!” Really? Really? Bill Clinton is now our standard bearer?

      I think Perry and now Anderson have done remarkably well to respond quickly and kindly to baseless accusations. Makes me think all the better of the Perry camp (and wonder how I’d feel about Cain if he had been similarly graceful). Unfortunately, what I keep reading online is something like, “OK. It might not be Anderson, but then it has to be that pollster.” Block got his dig in yesterday and was highlighted for hours on Fox. Think his backtracking will be given the same attention? Me either.

      I read often, but never post. Now I feel like I have to because of all this. And for the poster above… I’m not feeling like Cain is such a likable guy now either.

    • Repair_Man_Jack

      You never know what you’ll find when you drag $100 through a trailer park….

  • digitalhap

    so this *could* still be a blip on Cain’s radar if he straightens up from this point in his handling of the situation. But it would most certainly come back into consideration in the general, should he make it that far.

    Cain does have an element of teflon-like quality about him, and it’s not clear yet what damage has been done. While this past week has seemed like an eternity while living it, two or three weeks from now, how will it play?

  • miconservative

    But how can the many Evangelical supporters of Cain in places like Iowa, or SC, or Florida or anywhere support this kind of behavior? We are all sinners and we must repent for those sins and seek forgiveness, but Cain has not acknowledged any sins and he has not sought forgiveness. All he has done is denied any wrong doing, cast aspersions upon others with no proof and blamed anyone and everyone but himself for problems he brought upon himself. Not very Christian in my opinion. At the very least Herman Cain owes Rick Perry and Curt Anderson a sincere appology. Not holding my breath for it. Rick Perry and Curt Anderson have been incredibly gracious in their reactions. Herman Cain should learn something from that and so should the voters.

    • Tbone

      Christianity is a personal relationship with God, who the hell are you to judge that relationship in others, you self-righteous twit?

    • Repair_Man_Jack

      Not very Christian in my opinion.

      Why would anyone literate enough to read a Bible and decide for themselves care whether Herman Cain’s behavior was Christian in your opinion?

    • avgjo

      As I understand your words, you’re referring to his BEHAVIOR being ‘not very Christian’. Am I right?

      We as Christians cannot judge a person’s soul. We can cite God’s judgement of their behavior and reprove them. (Of course, we should be expect to reproved for our own bad behavior and accept it maturely, as well.) I think many of the voters in those states will reprove Mr. Cain at the polls. Mr. Cain does owe Perry an apology for the rock incident and if he doesn’t have any evidence for this, he owes him two apologies. Given Cain’s tendency to never take responsibility for his words, I am not holding my breath, either.

  • Tbone

    Isn’t time everyone should just accept that Cain is an incompetent, inept, butt pinching, philandering buffoon who has little chance of being nominated and no chance of beating Obama and move on?

    It’s time to heal.

    • westcoastpatriette

      …

    • texabama

      Quite another to make snide ones about the commentators on a blog. Calling others “idiot, drunk, twit, etc.” doesn’t enhance your own argument and makes others less inclined to pay attention when you post thoughtful and insightful information. Civility makes us all look smarter.

      • Tbone

        That would be too easy of an excuse for an organic mental impairment. As to enhancing my arguments, my arguments usually are that the other commentators are idiots or twits.

        Should I post thoughtful and insightful information, and one can’t recognize it as such, then one must be an idiot or a twit.

        See how that works?

        • texabama

          though you did reach out and handily catch it. Another poster yesterday was using the drunk label. I’m just not one for using a lot of these labels on people I’ve never met and don’t know personally. I prefer to think that people who care enough about our political situation to come to a blog site are probably fairly intelligent people. I don’t have to agree with them or like how they state their position, but I’m not going to call them names either.

          That’s how it works for me.

  • wennejunk

    Exactly what it is and why that Cain seems to have such animosity for Perry. From the ‘will not support’ to the rock incident to this – seems a bit reflexive in attacking Perry.

    What’s the deal?

    • http://www.gmsplace.com/ civil truth

      I have speculations (but no evidence), but the outcome of any of them is that it reflects a disqualifying character flaw of Cain’s character that he would hold such a degree of personal animus towards another Republican conservative as to conduct the irresponsible personal attacks he has conducted.

      I’m don’t really want to entrust such a person with the power of the Presidency.

      • redneck_hippie

        Nailed it.

      • westcoastpatriette

        Just what does Cain have against Perry? There has to be more to this than we know.

        I am starting to have Perry-bot tendencies erupt as I see so much animus toward him. I know I am still on a major learning curve with respect to following politics this closely, but the across the board “black sheeping” of Perry is getting eerie. Is this just human nature at its worst? Petty jealousy because they are threatened by him?

        It’s a little fascinating, but I do still lean toward Perry and the constant attacks seem unfounded. I am trying to remain objective but the animus and hostility is too obvious to be ignored.

        If anything, though, it is definitely pushing me more toward Perry as I identify with the injustice and I want to see him destroy the opposition. And I think he has what it takes to do it.

        • http://electionsanalysis.blog.com paint_it_red

          To review – (1) Block goes after another political aide in a way that would not exculpate his candidate from what he asserts is an unfounded accusation by making an unfounded accusation. (2) Cain’s attempts at indignation and the sympathy backlash he got are undercut by this action. (3) This is the same Block who Cain’s team decided to aid an air of smoking at the camera, thereby detracting from Cain’s message. So this is not the first time the aide has become the story. All because of “just let Block be Block.” (4) I do not want this guy Block part of the nominee’s brain trust next year when we take on Obama, because his judgment is atrocious. (5) Good judgment will be needed from our nominee’s brain trust and good handling of false accusations will be needed from our candidate because the MSM will come all out against whoever our nominee is.

      • wennejunk

        I ran into something that felt very odd at the time and reminds me now greatly of Cain’s (apparent) animosity.

        I was teaching a class in Minnesota and had a guy sitting in from Georgia.

        Sharp guy, older guy, about 55 years old (so well aware of 60s civil rights environment).

        When he found out I was from Texas, he began sniping at me, almost reflexively, throughout the 5 day class.

        It was always some sort of comment about Texas and Texans and never quite directly accusatory (in a racial way) but close.

        Very weird experience. When the class was over and he was gone, another student asked “What was the deal with that guy?”

        That’s the same feeling I have with Cain over his anti-Perry bent.

    • Tbone

      Dominoes Pizza.

      • bzip

        That must explain why Cain has a serious dislike towards Perry :-) .

      • http://www.gmsplace.com/ civil truth

        …were it only so simple.

        Unfortunately, I think this animus is deep-seated. And that is deeply disturbing.

      • capitalistpig

        just over nuke a microwave pizza and that sums it up.Or let in sit undr a heat lamp for 12 hours.

        • SoFiMil

          http://bites.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/20/8417510-new-york-vs-chicago-pizza-supreme-court-justice-makes-ruling?chromedomain=itineraries

  • bzip

    The news will continue. I don’t know how this is goin to end but it sure isn’t going away soon. How does one pout this to bed and move onto the candidates that are qualified and talk about the issue:

    Restaurant group to respond Friday to Cain accuser request
    http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-cain-accuser-friday-20111103,0,1050939.story

    The response from Team Cain has been pathetic to say the least. I think Team Cain needs to be apologizing to the Perry campaign instead of the other way around, in fact Team Cain should apologize to the country as far as I am concern.

  • goformitt

    Looks like woman #2 got $45,000 from Cain’s organization. Wash Post is reporting he left the org right after the accusations Did he get shown the door due to misbehaviour? Starting to look like the guy has a real problem on his hands.

    And Block’s explanation sounds almost exactly like Cain’s explanation of his stance on abortion. How stupid do they think we are?

  • radicalrighty

    Obama couldn’t afford to have a popular, GOP black man oppose him in the election. He’d rather face McCain, er Romney.

    The surge in the polls by Cain forced Team Obama to wisper to Politico.

  • sunshinek67

    His proof that sexgate derived from Perry camp is a Forbes reporter testament. Now, I guess that means that he discounts his long time associate Curt Andersons recollection of events. Cain let this roll out, slow to recall events but now he is just sure Anderson is not being forthright and was aware of sexgate. Huh, some loyalty there. Cain refuses to believe the Romney-Restsurant Association theory or any other for that matter. He is hellbent on believing that Rick Perry did this and he has no proof. You know Herman Cain I was ready to back off a bit myself from my earlier rant against your alleged predatory behaviors but your insistence that it comes from Rick Perry is unacceptable. Maybe you need to go back and look for more “bread crumbs” Better yet, just stop talking about your conspiracy theories. You didn’t hear Perry crying when you jumped all over him & rockgate.

    Those thinking Romney didn’t have something to do with it, think again. Romney is not content with current polling. By God he paid for that top spot, the momentum is with Cain right now and he doesn’t even have a top league campaign operation. Romney the ruthless corporate chop shop czar. I wouldn’t put it past him. Who cares though where it started, Cain should have been in front of it within that 10 day incubation period.

  • runner12

    today and he did not appear to be backing down from accusing the Perry camp. Cain affirmed that he did not think that it could have come from any other source. It seems the Cain camp is sticking with this baseless accusation against Perry, despite their recent walk backs.

    I will say that Cain did sound very convincing when he denied that any of these charges were true. Either he is telling the truth or he is a great liar. I have no idea. It is hard to know what to believe anymore. I will just wait for the facts to come out before I form an opinion either way.

    I hope he is innocent for the sake of the conservative cause, but he will still have lost some of my respect by falsely accusing Perry.

    • SoFiMil

      I don’t like to hear of lefties involved in immoral and inappropriate behavior either. I took no delight in hearing of President Clinton or Senator Edwards or Vice President Gore’s infidelities and worse (rape allegations).

      • runner12

        NT

    • SoFiMil

      As I mentioned earlier, I could come up with plausible scenarios for anyone as the leaker. Here’s one I didn’t mention before. I’m *not* implying this occurred, and *only* mentioning this to illustrate that it could be anyone. One or both (or three?) of the women leaked it. A big book contract could be in her/their future. …even if she forfeits or agrees to return any out-of-court settlement she received.

      To clarify I’m not including you (Runner12) as making baseless accusations or feeding the rumor mill. Enjoy your comments and contributions. : )

  • sunshinek67

    Oh, I do wish the Romney campaign would implode already or defect to the Democrats where they belong!

    • SoFiMil

      I’d like to not think ill of my fellow-man either, but as I’m working on that I try to control what I say as a firewall.

      For Fred to think this is one thing. To say it is much worse.

      For a reporter, it’s something to pursue. One of these multitude theories is likely correct (including the theory that Cain is completely innocent). If someone puts out a theory and gets this wrong it reflects very negatively on the character of the person who advanced the theory. Research it, and dig more with your sources, but until you have something conclusive, speculation should not be published or publicly voiced.

  • razor

    Where’s the button to toss in all our cards and get a new hand of GOP candidates?

  • thisisme7

    Cain was on freaking Hannity (softball extraordinaire) and Cain was emphatic about the Perry campaign being the one to leak the story!
    If this man can say that “they have no proof” yet he has no proof that he didn’t do anything… or if he does than he refuses to show it, then stfu Cain!

  • Christian_Reppie

    to answer that phone call at 3:00 AM? A man that acts before he thinks or a man that thinks before he acts???

    I will not vote for Cain ( for obvious reasons) nor will I vote for Romney..If Romney gets in, it will set conservatisms back. He will be Obama light. I would rather Obama get in and people will see how bad progressivism really is.

    • SoFiMil

      Because it’s not obvious to me.

    • SoFiMil

      And if so, why do you believe his accusers?

      • sunshinek67

        Because there is no proof, pure speculation….like saying Romney camp did it. They are trying to take out Perry and it become Romney-Cain.

        • SoFiMil

          I’m asking if Christian Reppie is saying Cain sexually harassed women. I’m like you in saying there is absolutely no proof and it’s pure speculation. Just as there’s no proof any camp leaked it.

          If there is proof, or more evidence, I’m definitely willing to take a look at it. But until then, I don’t know how Christian Rep can make such a statement.

  • Christian_Reppie

    to be President not because of his accusers alone but because of all of his positions..His positions seem to be whatever audience he is interviewing for he gives them what they want..whether it is his abortion stand. or his stand on 9-9-9 and nobody gets an exclusion..EXCEPT!!!!

    Cains foreign policy and his inexperience,.,..He seems to be always misspeaking.,.case in point.. is on Chinas nuclear capability.
    ,..we already have a President that has no experience in foreign policy,.

  • sunshinek67

    Still think it was Mitt Romney camp.

    • sunshinek67

      bad signal traveling sorry~