Before the start of today’s speech at the National Press Club, Herman Cain’s campaign manager Mark Block found himself trapped by a growing amoeba of reporters, recorders, and bulky TV cameras. He had just finished a lengthy grilling from Chuck Todd, in which he’d flatly stated that “Herman Cain has never sexually harassed anybody.”
Back at the NPR, I asked Block whether Politico’s version of this was false, and when/how Cain had described the settlements to him.
“He said he wasn’t aware that the settlements had taken place,” said Block, “and he wasn’t aware – if they did take place – of any accusations.”
The real grist of the story is the tale of the accusers – if they talk and describe what happened to them, or what they say happened to them, Cain remains mired in the story. Isn’t this defense a story all its own, though? The professional CEO, the man who has patterned his own campaign after a corporation, presided over at least two departures that included settlements after claims that he’d sexually harassed them. And he wasn’t aware of the settlements? ?
