Yesterday, a woman claimed that she had a 13-year affair with the married Republican candidate Herman Cain. He denied this as "false accusations that cannot be proved." In addition to previous allegations of sexual harassment, Cain's ratings are definitely falling and he is now deciding whether or not to continue with his campaign. Support from the public is necessary in order to keep up with fundraising, but with less and less people giving support, his campaign faces financial issues. They area already going to have to lay off staff.
Cain states: "We have to do an assessment as to whether or not this is going to create too much of a cloud, in some people's minds, as to whether or not they would be able to support us going forth."
It seems like his campaign has been pretty corrupted, even without any solid evidence that the woman's claim is true. Once an idea is out there, it is difficult to change people's minds.
Should Cain continue with his campaign, even with the low opinions the public thinks of him? Is there any way he would be able to fix his image?
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12 comments:
From the start, Cain's campaign has been very unorthodox in its overall operations (from his commercials to his qualifications). I don't think that he would end his bid to becoming the GOP Republican candidate because he has spent so much time and money, but I think it should be said that there could be some truth to these harassment and affair allegations as there are an abundance of them. Whenever I think of Cain, I don't really imagine this happy, personable man, something a president should be; rather, I see someone who is quite belligerent to the media and someone who has the longest, most awkward smile. Basically, the chances of Cain dropping out seem to be very slim because he isn't at the very bottom, but also because he has about a month or so before the Iowa Caucus to raise his reputation. Something that I believe is worth pondering is whether his campaign is doing all of this "reassessing" for more attention.
I think that Cain is right to be reassessing whether or not to continue his campaign. In my opinion, I don't think he should continue the campaign it's a long and certainly lengthy process, and he's already fallen well behind other candidates like the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Texas Governor Rick Perry. Having and maintaining a good public image is crucial, and obviously he's botched and I'm not sure if there's even a way for him to fix it. However, someone might add that President Clinton did, but Cain is no where near as publicly acclaimed as Clinton was. In addition, another article, supported what Taylor said, that there are going to be financial issues. Cain's support is deteriorating, seeing that his campaign committee has yet to report any contributions, yet has spend more than $44,000 in recent weeks according to FEC records. Reading more on Cain I also found that as his polls are going down the drain,compared to other Republicans polls that are rising i.e. Newt Gingrich. All in all, maybe Cain really has no other choice-but to drop out or figure out a way to effectively argue the allegations against him.
I feel like confirmation bias among the public is playing a major role in Cain's sticky situation. Several voters who once supported Cain but now dislike him because of his alleged affairs (and I'm sure there are many of these people, given this party's general adherence to conservative "family" values) may disregard Cain's persistent denial of these claims and only have their newfound bias confirmed by this most recent case. In essence, they are losing faith in Cain's credibility and integrity as a presidential candidate.
To agree with Dustan and Kimi, I don't think there should be any doubt that Cain ought to reassess the continuance of his campaign. If he does drop out of the race, however, I think it might send a message to opponents of the other candidates that simple rumors are powerful enough to knock any presidential hopeful out of the running, and we would see an increase in the number of smear campaigns, whether they be valid or not. If Cain is patient and holds out for a little longer, I think he might be able to stage a comeback, although climbing to the top would be a near-impossible feat.
I recall who I'm assuming was a comedian, perhaps on Saturday Night Live, remarking that Mitt Romney ought to just stand aside during these early campaign stages while his competitors rip each other and themselves to pieces - and to be honest, of all the candidates, I haven't really heard a single strong note of praise played for Cain (though I most certainly haven't heard him sneered at nearly as much as Gingrich). I suppose it may be much to step forward and suggest he does or does not give up the ghost, but rethinking whether or not to go through the expense of continuing the campaign is understandable.
The "Unknown" was Dillon Waugh, by the by - I apologize.
I heartily agree that Cain should drop his campaign and move on. My reasons are mainly because I do not like what he has offered and I definitely oppose most of what he has said. As to the recent charges, honestly, there isn't much new to say. He already had women coming out saying that he has sexually harassed them in the past so an affair, doesn't seem all that surprising. I may be generalizing too much, but that is how I think of the latest news on Cain. Plus, I think that his latest accuser actually has phone records of him so, in that case, he really should drop out before it gets aired as big time news.
I don't really know what Cain still has to offer that trumps all his flaws and obvious ignorance (Libya is all I will say). He is basically just another Donald Trump who ran for the ratings. He's has had a good run, now it is time to get out before something especially nasty comes out (because with the current trend, I'm sure there will be something else).
He thinks he Cain, he thinks he Cain, he thinks he Cain. But unlike the little blue engine, he cannot. Sometimes the mountain of sexual allegations cannot be surmounted, no matter how much one thinks it can.
Nevertheless, in accordance with the rapidly oscillating frontrunners of the GOP nomination, no one can augur what may change in the coming weeks.
Okay, so I do think that since Cain is losing a lot of his public support that he should probably just drop out of the campaign. From the beginning he hasn't been a very good candidate, and a lack of public support should just give him the final push to stop trying to run. I'm not saying this out of personal bias. It seems at this point the only logical decision for Cain to make would be to drop out, or expect to spend a massive amount of money out of pocket on his campaign.
Honestly, he should definitely end his campaign. I respectfully disagree with Dustan's reasoning that he won't because he has spent so much time and money. He should cut his losses and use whatever remaining money to pay his staff and settle his numerous lawsuits because there is no way that he will become the republican candidate after this string of scandals, bogus or not.
I know that people generally think that a sexual affair is a bad thing, but I question its relevance.
Did the Monica Lewinsky affair mean that Clinton was a terrible president? No.
What about Newt Gringrich (the current Republican front runner) and his two previous proven affairs?
I understand that images are important and I am certainly not suggesting that extra-marital affairs are acceptable. I just feel like the media is blowing this a bit out of proportion and unfortunately, Cain's campaign is suffering as a result.
It seems as though Cain doesn't have the reputation, like Clinton and Gringrich, to withstand scandals at this point in his life. Adding to that his unorthodox and arguably uneducated economic policy, Cain is clearly in a worse situation than either Clinton or Gringrich were.
I think right now it's going to be very hard to fix the way people view him in their minds. I personally thing that Cain should give up for the time being. Losing enough funds to have to lay off workers means that a significant number of people aren't liking him anymore and that means he probably has no chance in winning. This just goes to show what rumors can do to people whether they are true or not. I feel like even if Cain were to come back in another elections to try to start new, his past rumors would still haunt him.
If we can see what rumors can do to someone through Cain, my questions is why doesn't everyone through rumors at everyone else? it seems like a perfect way to destroy someone?
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