Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, third from right, is trailed by reporters after speaking to legislators in the Congressional Health Care Caucus on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 2, 2011.
The latest poll showing durability to Herman Cain’s numbers has me siding with an argument that initially seemed wacky to me: that the sexual harassment charges against Cain might wind up doing him a favor. Here’s the idea: Even before Politico broke the harassment story this week, Cain’s candidacy was in serious trouble. The Hermanator faced damning questions on what historically have been two of the most important issues for Republican primary voters. One was whether Cain actually holds solid pro-life views on abortion. The other is whether he passes a basic credibility test to be commander in chief. Cain’s 9-9-9 plan was also springing leaks and taking on water, forcing him into some emergency patchwork. These were virtually all self-inflicted wounds, for which Cain really had no one but himself to blame.
Suddenly, as these problems seemed to be reaching critical mass, Politico’s scoop drastically shifted the narrative. Rather than wrangle with questions of substance that any conservative would have to consider, Cain is now playing a hoary old card, casting himself as the victim of attacks from the hated Washington media, liberal feminists, slimy Washington operatives and other nefarious figures. For the moment, it appears that Cain’s supporters are buying that storyline. Things might look different, however, had the political world spent this week dissecting his words and policies instead. (And let’s not forget that the harassment charges have completely overshadowed some potentially serious campaign finance violations that also emerged this week.) Instead of a conversation about whether Cain has any business running for President, we’re engaged in time-worn arguments about liberal media accuracy and fairness, reverse-racism and opportunistic accusers.
Of course, it’s not clear how receptive Cain’s supporters may be to any negative information about his candidacy–as evidenced by the fact that many Iowa voters whose taxes would rise under Cain’s plan believe the opposite. Maybe, then, there’s just something about The Hermanator that defies the known laws of political gravity. Period. End of story.