Cain Responds to Accusations

It was almost two weeks ago that we first heard the news about the allegations against Cain for sexual harassment when he was the CEO of the National Restaurant Association (Bacon and Eggen). At first Cain denied the rumors. Then he chose not to address them at all, telling reporters who asked him specifically about the allegations that he would not answer those questions. The first allegations were sexual in nature, but did not include physical contact. The women who brought up these allegations said the conversations with Cain were, “filled with innuendo or personal questions of a sexually suggestive nature” and “regarded as improper in a professional relationship” (Garment). However, it was last Monday that a face was put on the allegations and the allegations themselves became more serious in nature. Sharon Bialek and her attorney Gloria Allred had a news conference Monday where Bialek charged Cain with “groping her and trying to force her into a sexual act” (Bacon and Eggen). Since the allegations became too serious to ignore, Cain was forced to address them head on with a news conference on November 8, 2011.
In the news conference he denied the accusations and said that he has “never acted inappropriately with anyone.” He also said he was seeing Sharon Bialek for the first time at her news conference and did not even recognize her name. He said that the allegations are completely false and nothing of that nature ever happened. He also said that these accusations will not cause him to drop out the race for presidency because he believes he is the best choice for the American people and will not be “deterred by false, anonymous, incorrect accusations”. He also believes that it was the” democrat machine” that brought the fourth woman forward to make accusations. One of the reporters asked Cain if he was willing to take a lie detector test to prove his story and Cain said that he was willing if he had a good reason. During the question and answer part he also addressed the accusations against him when he was the CEO of the National Restaurant Association and said all those allegations were “found to be baseless.” However, the most interesting part of the news conference was when Cain mentioned his wife. He mentioned the fact that they have been married for over 40 years and when the allegations were first made public his wife told him that that does not even sound like something he would do. I was a little confused about why Cain thought it would be a good idea to say that. When I heard that I thought to myself that I hope his wife does not think that sexually harassing women at work is something that does “sound” like him.
The sexual allegations were even brought up during the presidential debate in Michigan. Amidst boos, the female moderator brought up the allegations during a question to Cain about character. She asked if the American people will vote for a president with character issues. Cain once again said the accusations are not true and that he values his morals and integrity above anything else. He also said that for every person who makes these allegations there are “thousands others who would say otherwise”. A CBS News Poll shows that Cain’s support among women went down from 28 percent in October to 15 percent (Backus, DePinto, Dutton, and Salvanto).So even though he is leading in the polls, it seems that Cain has lost support among Republican women.
Works Cited
Backus, Fred, Jennifer DePinto, Sarah Dutton, and Anthony Salvanto. "Poll: Cain Tops 3-way Race with Romney, Gingrich - Political Hotsheet - CBS News." Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News - CBS News. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. .

Bacon, Perry, and Dan Eggen. "Herman Cain Faces Sexual Harassment Allegations from Fourth Woman - The Washington Post." The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. .

Garment, Suzanne. "Opinion: Cain Reaction: Not by the Book." Politics, Political News - POLITICO.com. Web. 06 Nov. 2011. .

Televised Presidential Debates

Alan Schroeder, author of a book about presidential debates, discusses televised presidential debates. The news anchor brings up the 1960 presidential debate between Nixon and Kennedy, which was the first ever debate to be televised. Alan Schroeder believes that this debate was one of the most “critical” moments for American politics because it introduced television and media as a way of campaigning. Schroeder said that Kennedy and his team considered this debate like a campaign, which Schoroeder believes was “forward-thinking” and turned out to be beneficial for him.

Rick Perry's New Hampshire Speech

It seems like the Republican candidates have been suffering this week from allegations of bad behavior. Herman Cain is plagued by sexual harassment allegations by two women and Rick Perry was accused of being drunk and/or on drugs during a speech in New Hampshire. I think these allegations are just making it easier for Romney to win the nomination.
Although, this happened last week I thought Rick Perry’s speech deserved its own blog post. I heard about the speech and decided to watch the whole things myself. The whole speech is twenty five minutes long and Perry was addressing the Cornerstone group in New Hampshire. Throughout the speech Rick Perry seemed very animated. Even though there were points in the speech where Perry was serious including a discussion of his life and his pro-life stance, a lot of the time he was giggling and acting very giddy. For me some of the New Hampshire speech highlights included him admiring New Hampshire’s slogan “Live Free or Die” and comparing it to the slogan of the Alamo. While doing this he was very animated using hand gestures and the words “man” and “cool” more than once. Perry said that he loves slogans like that. Also, I like the jab he made at Tim Geithner by pulling out a notecard to illustrate his tax plan. He said that his new tax plan was so easy that even Geithner “can get his taxes in on time.” He also poked fun at Herman Cain’s nine percent plan. While doing this he scrunched down his neck and giggled saying that he loves Cain and that he is an interesting guy.
Perry denies that he was either drunk or high during the speech saying, “No. I was just giving a speech. I've probably given 1,000 speeches. There are some that have been probably boring, some that have been animated, some that have been in between” (Peoples). He also went on saying that the New Hampshire speech was "a pretty typical speech for me” (Peoples). Although, I have not seen many of Rick Perry’s speeches, he did not seem this lively and giddy during the debates. With that said and from watching the whole speech myself, I have to say that I do not think he was high or totally wasted during the speech. He was very giddy and giggly. I have no seen enough Rick Perry’s speeches to make a judgment whether or not he is always like that or maybe he did have a drink beforehand. However, he did not seem completely drunk as some news reports first lead me to believe. To his credit Perry’s deliverance of the speech made it more interesting to watch and it seemed like the audience really enjoyed it. The audience kept laughing and clapping throughout and even gave Perry a standing ovation at the end.
With that being said, if this is Perry’s behavior during other speeches he needs to tone it down. If the case was that he had a beer beforehand, then he needs to not do it anymore. It is one thing to give an interesting and lively speech and connect with the audience; it is another when you have newspapers pondering if you were high or drunk when you were speaking. Doing anything to raise those kinds of questions is not proper presidential behavior. I think Rick Perry is trying to capture the image of George W. Bush and wants to be seen as the candidate "most people want to have a beer with." However, he also needs to be seen as a serious candidate for the nomination. Perry needs to learn to find a balance between the two.

Works Cited
Peoples, Steve. "Rick Perry Drunk At New Hampshire Speech? No, Say State GOP Leaders." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Web. 06 Nov. 2011. .

New Media and 2008 Conventions

Patrick Ottenhoff talks about bloggers during the 2008 conventions. CSPAN had a special page for bloggers at the conventions to post news, updates, and other reports from the conventions. CSPAN also has a special page for Twitter and Quick where people from the convention can record videos and then post them online. This is really great because it makes people feel more involved in political events. Even if an individual is not able to attend a function such as the convention, they can feel like they are part of it by looking at the pictures and different blog updates.

Obama's Twitter Town Hall Meeting

During the deficit reduction debate, President Obama led the first Town Hall meeting on Twitter. He was the first president to live tweet. He said he did this to involve Americans and ask them to share their opinions regarding how to best reduce the deficit. President Obama also answered certain questions that people posted on Twitter. This is one of the big advantages that came with the new social media. Americans can now share their opinions with politicians easier and faster than ever. I think it made politicians more accessible to the American public.

State of the Union and New Social Media

Howard Mortman discusses the role of social media during the State of the Union Address. He says the new social media sites like Facebook and Twitter help representatives spread their opinion and reaction to the State of the Union. It was actually this year that Senators and House Representatives were allowed to “tweet” during the State of the Union and CSPAN compiled all of the “tweets” and put them on their website. The goal of this was to show the audience the opinion of the representatives and update them about developments as soon as they happen. It also lets the audience share their own opinion regarding the State of the Union. Mortman said that it creates a “two-way conversation.”

Cain Remains Mum

Herman Cain has made it clear that he will not answer questions regarding the sexual harassment allegations that have been plaguing him this week. Twelve years ago two women who worked at the National Restaurant Association where Cain was president accused him of sexual harassment (Garment).The women said that conversations with Cain were “ filled with innuendo or personal questions of a sexually suggestive nature” and “physical gestures that were not overtly sexual” but did make them feel uncomfortable(Garment). A lawyer for one of the women says that the woman did receive a settlement (Elliott).
At first Cain denied the sexual harassment charges (Elliott). However, now he chooses to not address the allegations at all. At a recent Texas debate, Cain did not address the issue, instead choosing to say "There are too many people in the media who are downright dishonest. ... They do a disservice to the American people"(Elliott). When a reporter tried asking him a question specifically regarding the allegation Cain cut him off and said, “Don't even go there” (Elliott). When the reporter asked if he could finish his questions, Cain said no and told his chief of staff to “please send him the journalistic code of ethics” (Elliott). However, I believe the job of the journalists is to investigate and find the truth, so I see nothing wrong with going straight to the source and asking them about the allegations. I find it strange that supposedly Cain has nothing to hide, but will not address the issue when a chance to clear everything up is presented to him.
He either needs to own up to the allegations or say that the accusers are lying and provide the adequate information. It seems like fellow Republicans feel the same way. Jon Hunstman said, "legitimate questions have been raised and that information has to come forward” (Nicholas). Mississippi governor Haley Barbour also thinks information needs to be put out for the public saying, “I’m not one of the people who think this is necessarily fatal. It might not hurt him at all. But people need to know what the facts are. And that’s the challenge for him right now to get those out as quickly as possible and get it behind him"(Nicholas). Just being mum about it and not addressing the issue head one gives me the wrong assumption especially after the whole Weiner scandal. At first Weiner said that his account was hacked, but then he did not address the issue for some time, until his press conference and more pictures were leaked. That is why I get suspicious every time there is a sexual allegation and the politicians stays mum on the issue. If there is nothing to hide then I think he should have addressed the issue right away.
It seems like the Republican voter’s response to the allegations is mixed. A Washington Post-ABC News found that 7 out of 10 people say the allegation do not matter when chosing a candidate (Elliott). However, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found that Cain’s approval among Republicans fell from 66 percent to 57 percent (Nicholas). It seems like the Republicans are saying that the allegations do not matter, but for some reason or another their approval for Cain is falling. The question I have regarding the Washing Post ABC News poll is why do the allegations not matter to Republicans? When it comes to gay marriage, the Republicans have a lot to say about the protection of the sanctity of marriage. However, sexually harassing a coworker does not seem like he respects his marriage or his wife. I am interested in seeing what will happen next.

Works Cited

Elliott, Philip. "Herman Cain Says He Won't Answer Sexual Harassment Questions." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Web. 06 Nov. 2011. .

Garment, Suzanne. "Opinion: Cain Reaction: Not by the Book." Politics, Political News - POLITICO.com. Web. 06 Nov. 2011. .

Nicholas, Peter. "Republicans Urge Herman Cain to Tell All in Harassment Flap - Latimes.com." Los Angeles Times - California, National and World News - Latimes.com. Web. 06 Nov. 2011. .