William A. Jacobson notes that it has been four weeks since Politico broke the story of accusations against presidential candidate Herman Cain -- After hundreds of articles at Politico, what do we know about the specific accusations against Herman Cain, writes Jacobson, or specific evidence against Herman Cain, which gave rise to Politico’s original reporting: Nothing. Yet Politico succeeded in knocking the reputation of Herman Cain and knocking him down in the polls. As Cain notes this morning on Fox news: '"Here's the good news. We didn't drop all the way down to sixth or seventh. We dropped to third" in most polls'.
Today Politico is advertising their upcoming book POLITICO's first eBook: PLAYBOOK 2012: The Right Fights Back (http://politi.co/tfpp13), written by Mike Allen and author Evan Thomas.
Written by POLITICO’s Mike Allen and author Evan Thomas, the eBook explains in vivid detail the ruthless ambition and approach that pushed Romney to the top, how Gingrich turned his political fortune over to his wife and her college friend to mount his historic comeback, how Pawlenty blew his golden debate moment, how close Palin actually came to running and why Perry’s campaign imploded.
What? No mention of their ruthless attacks on Herman Cain?
In Politico's article by John F. Harris introducing the book, I could not help but notice some of the praise they heap upon -- themselves.
Mike [Allen], ... will smile and, custom-designing his stories around what he knows of the specific interests of his audience [snip]
My reaction to talking with Mike is usually the same: “Man, it would be great to get some of this stuff on the site.” Sometimes we can, or already have. Other times we can’t, or intend to but don’t, or whatever — life rushes by too fast, or it would look strange to order up a whole story just so we can find a home for one juicy morsel. [snip]
[snip] The hope is that this format will allow the revival of the kind of detail-laden, insider narratives the newsmagazines used to publish immediately in the wake of presidential campaigns [snip]
[snip] It is true, undeniably, that the digital age has not on balance been friendly to long-form narrative and argument. The Web has instead put a premium on speed, brevity and monomania for the story of the moment. ... A publication like POLITICO must harness its future to original content that cannot easily be replicated by competitors. We have seen many times of late — most recently during POLITICO’s reporting on Herman Cain’s travails with accusations of sexual harassment — the ability of enterprise reporting to “drive the conversation,” in the parlance of our newsroom, in national politics.[snip]
What Mike and Evan do in this first volume is what we try to do every day at POLITICO: defend and vindicate traditional journalism and its cardinal values, even while updating the craft for the new age we live in.
That they do it so well is one more reason for optimism — and for more experimentation — about the future of things we care about.
Nothing like going through life with blinders on.
As to Herman Cain, he is moving forward, talking about the issues. He will be presenting his plans for America's foreign policy, national security and energy over the next two weeks.
Like many of you, I had the opportunity to talk to several people over the Thanksgiving holiday, asking them who they like as a presidential candidate. Among Conservatives Herman Cain was almost always the first candidate mentioned. People like him, they like his policies, they like that he is not a career politician, they like his business experience. They also like that Cain is against amnesty for illegal aliens, he is against Obamacare, he is pro-Israel. Herman Cain is the not-Romney, the not-Gingrich.
Don't count Herman Cain out yet and don't fall for fact-less attacks from agenda-driven media like Politico who openly admit their goal: “drive the conversation” and custom-designing stories; They would never, ...ever,... [cough] order up a whole story just so they could find a home for one juicy morsel. Nope, they are all about defending and vindicating traditional journalism and its cardinal values. Right?
Right?
UPDATE:
A woman has come forward claiming a 13 year sexual relationship with Herman Cain. He doesn't exactly deny it nor does his attorney. I will withhold comment until more information is available.
UPDATE II:
Cain denies any truth to the latest accusation, saying "I have spoken directly to the American people and have been 100% honest with them". "I did not have an affair."
Also it seems this latest woman has a shady past (and present), stalked a fellow partner, sent numerout texts and emails, something she claims is evidence of her relationship with Cain; financial problems; filed a sexual harassment claim against an employer in 2001 that was settled; filed for bankruptcy; single mother of two has been evicted from several apartments in DeKalb County, Georgia, over the past six years, most recently this month.
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