Herman Cain: Beginning of the End

November 30, 2011 by 26 Comments

The Hill reports that Herman Cain told supporters that he is “reassessing” whether to remain in the race in the wake of new allegations that he carried on a long affair with an Atlanta businesswoman.

Cain said on a conference call Tuesday morning, with around 90 supporters listening, that he was concerned the story would cause “too much of a cloud,” according to multiple media reports.

“Now with this latest one we have to do an assessment as to whether or not this is going to create too much of a cloud in some peoples’ minds as to whether or not they should support us going forward.”

Cain’s campaign said later Tuesday that the “reassessment” was similar to other low points in the campaign, but did not imply that Cain was considering dropping out.

“It’s a reassessment of where we stand and the road ahead, similar to other times in the campaign’s history,” Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon said in a statement. “We’re looking forward to getting back on message tonight with the Foreign Policy and National Security speech at Hillsdale College in Michigan.”

It’s over for Cain. His campaign will keep up a brave face and he might even trudge on to sell more books. But he’s done. I wonder if Brad Marston will pay up on his bet? I’ve emailed him to find out.

Update: Marston replied to my email. He said:

If and when he drops out I will definitely pay up. Having just gotten off the phone with on of HC’s senior advisers I wouldn’t expect a check anytime soon.

Brad

This is gonna be fun.

Filed Under: Politics 26 Comments
About Ed Brayton

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

  • anteprepro

    Oh good. Cain’s on his way out, and Brad’s digging himself an even deeper hole to try to escape from when Cain finally craps out. Hilarity will ensue.

  • jacobfromlost

    I’d say this is the end of the end.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Abstruse.Oddity fredricmartin

    Congrats.

  • Stevarious

    I just had a really bizarre conversation with an extremely conservative customer of mine. He is convinced that Newt Gingrich is going to be our next president now that Cain was, regrettably, out of the running. (He was, interestingly, not the least bit upset about Cain’s mistakes but furious at the woman for outing him.)

    I asked him how he could back a man that is so obviously and clearly demonstrated to be completely corrupt and untrustworthy. He said, and I quote, “Oh, didn’t you know? Newt Gingrich found Jesus last year. He’s a different man now.”

    *facepalm*

  • Crudely Wrott

    I checked to see what Neal Boortz had to say today. Nothing on the Cain story but he did have Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul as guests on today’s radio show.

    He had this to say yesterday. Also a bit of gloating over Barney Frank’s decision not to run again. Calls it Pelosi’s loss.

    True to form.

  • KG

    I’m glad you’ll win your bet, but I’ll be sorry to see Cain go – the Libya video was comedy gold. Newt Gangrene isn’t nearly as amusing.

  • d cwilson

    “Oh, didn’t you know? Newt Gingrich found Jesus last year. He’s a different man now.”

    Just last year? I thought he found Jesus when he converted to Catholicism so that he could marry his third wife. Does Jesus keep getting lost in the seat cushions or something?

  • http://www.pandasthumb.org Area Man

    This would not be particularly interesting except for the fact that Cain still polls about 15%, which in this primary race is huge. Since his credentials are based mostly on being a NotRomney, I would expect most of his support to break toward Gingrich. On the other hand, there’s still a large undecided contingent that is more likely to break for Romney. Fun times ahead.

  • carolw

    Surely there’s a lady (or two or three) who have had affairs with Gov. Goodhair? Not that I necessarily want to keep him in Texas, but if we could get him out of the race too, that would be great.

    As far as Cain, “nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye!”

  • Stevarious

    Just last year? I thought he found Jesus when he converted to Catholicism so that he could marry his third wife. Does Jesus keep getting lost in the seat cushions or something?

    Oh, man, he’s catholic? I wish I’d’ve known that, the guy I was talking to was definitely one of the ‘catholics aren’t real christians’ sort.

  • http://festeringscabofrealityblogspot.com fifthdentist

    “Oh, didn’t you know? Newt Gingrich found Jesus last year. He’s a different man now.”

    The mystery is solved. Apparently Jesus actually has been hiding behind a couch. A fundie meme going around on FB states that a drunk man came home and killed his wife while their young daughter was behind a couch. When the girl is placed with her new family and taken to Sunday school, she points to a familiar figure on a cross and asks how “that man” got down. The teacher told her he did not get down from the cross. The girl says: “Yes he did. He was with me behind the couch.”

    So obviuosly Newt looked behind the couch and found him.

  • Scott Hanley

    Poor Cain. He decided to run for President so that he could get more exposure and he got exactly that.

  • d cwilson

    Surely there’s a lady (or two or three) who have had affairs with Gov. Goodhair?

    Welllllllll, according to some rumors, you’d be wasting your time looking for a *lady* who had an affair with Gov. Goodhair.

  • http://rationaldreaming.com tacitus

    I first predicted Newt would be a strong contender for the Republican nomination several weeks ago, a good while before his surge in the polls began. My reasoning was that even though most of the Republican base agrees that he has more personal character flaws than the average reality show starlet, I kept seeing comments from them about how they respect his intellect and debating talents (particularly how he would run rings around Obama in the debates).

    Now I needn’t explain the hypocrisy involved in supporting Newt because of his “intellect” (he is a history graduate, after all) while dissing “liberal elites”, but it seems to be working for Newt, and I think that, in the end, they will plump for Gingrich over Romney, who’s proven he can be even more fake than Gingrich on the campaign trail.

    As a bonus, if and when Gingrich loses, who do you think the base will blame for their loss? Andrew Sullivan seems to be hoping that the Republicans will wake up from their nightmare once Newt loses badly to Obama, but I don’t see any hope of that happening at all.

  • naturalcynic

    I kept seeing comments from them about how they respect his intellect and debating talents (particularly how he would run rings around Obama in the debates).

    Newt car run rings of something around just about anything and anybody. I suggest that the rings are mostly composed of horseshit.

  • d cwilson

    As a bonus, if and when Gingrich loses, who do you think the base will blame for their loss?

    That’s easy. They’ll blame ACORN and the “librul media”. They’ll also insist that Newt lost because he wasn’t conservative enough and the solution to their problem will be to go even further to the right.

    Gingrich does have one major advantage over Cain: His sex scandals are all old news while Cain’s are just coming to the public’s attention. That lets him play the pentitent “I’ve made mistakes but now I’ve found Jesus” act while Cain is still struggling to keep a lid on things.

    As for his “intellect”, that’s just a joke. The ability to spew out 1,000 bad ideas a day is not a sign of a great intellect.

  • anteprepro

    fifthdentist:

    A fundie meme going around on FB states that a drunk man came home and killed his wife while their young daughter was behind a couch. When the girl is placed with her new family and taken to Sunday school, she points to a familiar figure on a cross and asks how “that man” got down. The teacher told her he did not get down from the cross. The girl says: “Yes he did. He was with me behind the couch.”

    That’s nice of Jesus to appear to the girl while her father killed her mother. I’m sure we’re just supposed to overlook the fact that he didn’t bother appearing to the father and try to protect the mother at all. A matter to only be discussed by The Sophisticated Theologians, I’m sure.

    So obviuosly Newt looked behind the couch and found him.

    And here I thought we were supposed to find him grilled cheese sandwiches. No wonder I’ve never “found” him.

  • d cwilson

    So, Jesus is a creepy guy who hides behind couches with little girls?

    And this is supposed to be a good thing?

  • http://resistingthemilieu.wordpress.com/ resistingthemilieu

    Whether he drops out or not, his campaign is pizza. I mean toast.

  • Ramel

    Pizza is toast with delusions of grandeur.

  • Michael Heath

    fifthdentist writes:

    A fundie meme going around on FB . . .

    What is FB?

  • Michael Heath

    Herman Cain states:

    “Now with this latest one we have to do an assessment as to whether or not this is going to create too much of a cloud in some peoples’ minds as to whether or not they should support us going forward.”

    I struggle to reconcile the idiocy of this man with his college degrees and his success as a businessman. Whose going to give him money to fund his campaign after making this statement? He’s descended below Sarah Palin territory and has now reached the level where Victoria Jackson exists.

    While I can’t perceive why any sane person would be employed on his campaign, you’d think even they’d immediately start contacting the other campaign teams the moment they encountered this Cain quote.

  • Nibi

    Marston

    If and when he drops out I will definitely pay up. Having just gotten off the phone with on of HC’s senior advisers I wouldn’t expect a check anytime soon.

    Brad

    Indeed, he’s not dead yet.

    fifthdentist

    A fundie meme going around on FB states that a drunk man came home and killed his wife while their young daughter was behind a couch. When the girl is placed with her new family and taken to Sunday school, she points to a familiar figure on a cross and asks how “that man” got down. The teacher told her he did not get down from the cross. The girl says: “Yes he did. He was with me behind the couch.”

    Footprints in the Sand: The domestic violence edition.

  • http://motherwell.livejournal.com/ Raging Bee

    Well, now that the Republicans have stuck in legislative items declaring pizza sauce a vegetable, he can go back to a lucrative job selling “vegetables” to public schools.

  • Sadie Morrison

    Michael Heath,

    What is FB?

    That would be Facebook.

  • Azkyroth

    What is FB?

    Just another cult, basically.