Despite the fact that a fourth woman, Sharon Bialek, has now come forward and publicly accused Herman Cain of sexual misconduct (assault in this case), the GOP hopeful is not finished.
Just look at the polls, where Cain still leads or is near the top of most surveys. That could change in the coming days, but so far Cain seems like Teflon. It’s likely, however, that his response to his latest accuser will determine the future of his campaign.
Cain will hold a press conference today, and really, he has two choices: Continue denying the allegations by counter-accusing these women of leveling false charges against him, or drop a bomb on everyone and admit wrongdoing.
Based on Ms. Bialek’s testimony, Cain seems pretty guilty. I know I know, we’re all innocent until proven guilty — I’m just making an objective observation. On the surface, Bialek is a Republican voter with only a small amount of publicity to be gained. In addition, those in the know say that her celebrity lawyer, Gloria Allred, would never create such fanfare over a case in which her defendant is lying.
So, assuming that Bialek is telling the truth, then morally it would serve Cain well to confess to the allegations. No one wants to support a guy who tries covering up the fact that he goes around harassing women (though at least he didn’t rape any little boys).
Politically though, admitting guilt at this point is suicide. Not only would it ruin Cain’s reputation as a man, but it’s probably too late now to save face with voters who just want their candidate to be honest. Moreover, he’ll lose any shot he ever had of securing endorsements from the values crowd in Washington.
If ever there was a time for Cain to admit that he acted inappropriately toward these women, it would’ve been right from the start when Politico gave him ten days to respond to its original story. Botching his initial response as badly as he did put him in a real mess.
Last night, Cain repeated his assertion to late-night host Jimmy Kimmel that he was falsely accused. Now that he’s past the point of no return, if he wants to stay in the race that’s really the only move he has.