Posted on 12/01/2011 6:41:41 PM PST by Bigtigermike
MANCHESTER - Herman Cain acknowledged Thursday that he repeatedly gave Ginger White money to help her with "month-to-month bills and expenses" without telling his wife of more than 40 years.
In fact, the embattled presidential candidate said, his wife, Gloria, "did not know that we were friends until she (White) came out with this story" alleging that the two had a 13-year extramarital affair.
[....]
Cain also stated clearly for the first time that as a result of the constant controversy he has been facing, he is considering getting out of the presidential race.
Asked whether leaving the race is one of the options he is currently assessing, Cain said, “Yes, it is an option.” Regarding his decision, he said, "You will know by next week" as he takes the weekend to reassess where he stands in the campaign.
(Excerpt) Read more at unionleader.com ...
You honestly believe that there is no man who would give money without thought of return?
I guess everybody who has donated to wounded soldiers must be expecting some action from those wounded vets, huh?
This is incredibly sad, what I hear you claiming. Do you really believe that there is not one good-hearted man in this world?
Have the actual texts been revealed? Or even the times of day that Cain responded to the texts?
Gloria is starting a group of women in support of Cain; that sounds like somebody who knows this is all a lynching. As a pastor’s wife I have dealt with that too. Our husbands are sitting ducks in so many ways, because of their desire to help messed-up people and their unwillingness to betray confidences.
I guess we’re better off having somebody like Biden, whose charitable contributions are probably less than ours even, but who is more than happy to buy votes with THE TAXPAYERS’ MONEY. Just imagine how messed-up DC would be if we got people in there who were generous with their own money but jealously protect the taxpayers’ right to keep their own money. Man, wouldn’t that throw the world upside-down.
That’s why Obama has to get rid of Cain. Obama, whose own brother lives in a shack. Well, at least nobody can accuse Obama of the disgusting crime of giving his own money to somebody without thought of return.
What makes me really, really sad is that people are questioning whether there is anybody who gives money without thought of return. Right here on Free Republic. I thought I was dealing with conservatives, with people who want the right to keep their money because they will do good things with their own money. I thought I was dealing with people who care about other people and want to see them prosper. I thought I was dealing with at least some Christians. When giving simply because somebody else needs it is outside the vocabulary of most people, we’re apparently in the times where “the love of most will grow cold...”
This whole thing makes me very, very sad. I see directed at Cain the same bloodthirst and betrayal that put Jesus on the cross - albeit willingly, out of the goodness of Jesus’ heart, because He knew we needed it. Those who assume that Cain is guilty because he’s on a cross out in public glibly spit on him on the way past. Judas. Peter. It just makes me really, really sad. I thought we were better than that.
Well-stated.
I remember reading about a young man who was considered to be mentally handicapped. Turns out he was very intelligent. Why did they diagnose him as being mentally handicapped? Because he was SO KIND.
Kind just doesn’t fit in with our world. I think Cain’s enemies found out his greatest vulnerability: he is so different than the standard DC fare that people cannot believe it is for real. As you said, Cain has spent 4 decades in various places and came out with people knowing that he was for real. And as soon as the Chicago machine comes into the picture, all of a sudden people believe that the Cain who has existed for the past 40 years can’t be real any more.
On the Morning Show on KSFO this morning, I heard a report (but I don't know the source) that the texts were one-sided. They said that there were over 200 texts (not the 60 that was first reported by the TV station), that they were mostly from White to Cain, that they were in rapid succession in clusters, and that Cain would only answer one in five or so.
I wish I could find the source for what they said on the show. If it is the true characterization of the texts, it sounds like she kept texting Cain for help, and he ignored most of the texts, but when he did answer one it was to the effect of "did you look for a job?"
-PJ
But Cain is not a pastor. That's the major difference here. Heck, I've given money to women myself without expecting anything in return but not repeatedly and always clearly as a gift where there is no chance for them to claim that there was anything remotely sexual about it.
I've spent time around pastors (and other professionals) who tell me that rule number one is to *never* be left alone with an attractive woman that's not your wife so that there's never an appearance of impropriety and that any suggestions of impropriety can be blunted by an eyewitness.
And any mercy giving ought to be tracked even if it is not made public.
As for the lying mother, if the decision is to give her money or her children freeze and starve then the children need to be removed. That home is not a good environment for children. Or, if that sounds too cold, force her to search for a job as a condition for getting gifts. All this pastor is doing is enabling the liar and teaching those around her that this is acceptable behavior with no consequences.
Why have I read that Cain is a pastor? Why are there photos of him officiating weddings?
Pastors can try their best to never be alone with a woman, but it happens. It’s just one of the risks they take, in order to minister to people.
Regarding the woman who is lying, this issue has come up repeatedly in our group that is doing Dave Ramsey’s “Financial Peace University”. One of the gals in the group has worked for a social agency so she, my husband, and I discussed the realistic options to help people who are always destitute, because all 3 of us have experienced the reality.
We’d all like to think that people like this woman can be referred to a social agency for help getting her life together, getting job counseling, etc. It doesn’t happen. What the government gives is money. That’s it. There is no agency or group that takes clueless people and teaches them how to get and keep a job, how to budget and keep the lights on.
And our leaders for the Dave Ramsey class has volunteered to help people in crisis financial situations, to teach them how to manage their life financially, and they said with very few exceptions these people will not change, no matter how much help you offer. They may improve for a short while and then they go back to how it was.
The same dilemma comes up every time somebody has a sign that says, “Will Work For Food”. The social worker said she had a program once where she could make referrals to local businesses who were willing to hire the homeless or destitute. She said she turned around so she could go offer to give a guy holding one of those signs a job. She said he refused. She said they always refuse.
There are people who will go to their grave resisting “tough love”, so what tough love means is watching them die. That’s a hard reality to come face to face with every day.
Again I say, most people have no clue what pastors deal with. And just like a person who is not in a war can’t know what they would do in the split-second decisions involving conditions on the ground and Rules of Engagement, a person who is not in the situation of dealing with people like these people on a regular basis can’t understand why pastors or others like them do what they do.
That’s what I had heard too. I just wondered if somebody has access to the actual texts. I know Cain’s lawyer was demanding to see them.
Why have I read that Cain is a pastor?
Because he is.
From his Wikipedia entry:
Religious Life: Cain serves as an associate minister at Antioch Baptist Church North in Atlanta, which he joined at the age of 10. The church is part of the National Baptist Convention, USA and is politically liberal and theologically conservative; the church's senior pastor, Rev. Cameron M. Alexander, does not share Cain's political philosophy.
-PJ
News to me.
What you describe is an exchange, not giving.
I figure the quid pro quo will be settled later, at God's will.
Boy you really took my thought to another direction...and a wrong one.
Look, I’m single. I have female friends, that I go out with on occasion. I give them money to do what they want with it. I don’t expect anything in return for it. On the other hand, I could NEVER, and I mean NEVER think of giving money to a female friend if I were married, and not have my wife know about it.
Think about it. I like Cain, but giving money to someone, is a sorta ego trip for him, and you can bet that he expected something back, even if it were nothing more than some conversation.
The greatest aphrodiasiac is power.
I’m sure you put yourself in that category, and you do it without telling your wife?
For me, I would not do that without my wife's knowledge if the situation involved a woman — PERIOD, UNDERSCORE, EXCLAMATION MARK. I agree with you that this looks bad.
The reason why I think this looks bad is I grew up in a political family. I know how good intentions can be twisted, and anything politicians do has to be scrutinized to see how somebody could use it against them, and then politicians need to balance the risks against the benefits of their actions. The point here is that Cain, for most of his life, has been a businessman and not a politician, and for most of his life, he's been able to say, “This is my money, I earned it, and I can do what I want with my money because it's mine.”
Politicians can't think that way.
Compounding this, for a man who is as wealthy as Cain, giving thousands of dollars isn't that big of a deal and it would not surprise me if Cain gives money on a fairly regular basis to people with no strings attached. If Cain gave what for him was a small amount of money to someone, would he have even thought it's worth bothering to tell his wife? I would, but again, I grew up in a political family and I know the dangers.
I have no idea whether Cain did what he's accused of doing. I do know that politicians with long careers have had their personal lives examined under a microscope, and people who haven't spent their lives in politics usually haven't.
When we as conservatives say we want people who are not career politicians, this is the kind of thing that is going to happen. Experience counts. Cain has valid business experience with success at a high level; he does not have the same level of political experience.
The presidency is not an entry-level job, but we're stuck with the candidates we have now, some of whom would be very good candidates for governor or senate but do not have the experience we usually expect in a presidential candidate. I hope whoever the Republican Party nominates will do a better job than their resume, because very few have the type of resume that shows extensive experience in government.
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