The Cain Saga: Perry Consultant Dares Reporters To Prove He’s Behind The Story

TPM ^ | November 3, 2011 | Evan McMorris-Santoro

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Day four of the Herman Cain sexual harassment story is all about the blame game. Team Cain blames Rick Perry for making the press aware of the accusations of inappropriate behavior Cain admits came his way when he was CEO of the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s.

Team Perry, meanwhile, says it’s the Mitt Romney campaign who sent the story to Politico. The Perry camp denies strenuously that they had anything to do with the story which is, at its heart, about accusations Cain has admitted are real — though he says he never harassed anybody. Romney’s campaign also denied they’re the source of the story to TPM and other outlets Wednesday.

Meanwhile on the backburner bubbles the possibility that one of the accusers could make a public statement at any moment. That could send this story ricocheting into a different direction, but for now the Cain campaign seems to think they’re onto something by making the tale about who told reporters Cain was accused of sexually harassing more than one woman rather than the fact that Cain was accused of sexually harassing more than one woman.

“Perry Campaign Used Politico to Attack Cain With Anonymous Sexual Harassment Charges,” reads a press release sent out last night by the Cain team. (Of course, Cain’s campaign has admitted the Politico story wasn’t anonymous, but that’s not really important to constructing the Perry-as-leaker narrative.)

Meanwhile, the man Cain himself says is responsible for the story is totally denying Cain’s version of things. Consultant Curt Anderson advised Cain’s 2004 Senate campaign and now works for a firm that works with Perry. Cain said he told Anderson about the sexual harassment allegations during the course a meeting back in 2003, but Anderson categorically denied that this morning on CNN:

“It’s hard to leak something you don’t know anything about,” he said. Asked directly about the conversation Cain claimed they had eight years ago, Anderson said: “I don’t have any knowledge of any of this and, you know, it’s just not true.”

Then on Fox today, Anderson went a step farther.

“All this stuff about who leaked whatever, any reporter in the free world is free to say anything to anybody that I ever said to them about can Herman Cain,” he said. “I give them carte blanche to do that because I have absolutely nothing to hide.”

[Cincinatus' Wife]

While you're waiting:

Rick Perry Interview with NH Union Leader

Over an hour of discussion - a normal conversation - not "gotcha" or high-octane, political talking points.

economy
education
balanced budget
drilling
regulations
debates
Romney Care
in-state tuition
HPV shot
border security
Barack Obama
Federal mandates
no pandering for votes
terrorists using U.S. Mexican border
immigration reform
no Fed Dream Act or amnesty
AZ law
work-visa program
examine what our national work force needs are
jobs in Texas - full picture
free-trade
manufacturing in China vs U.S.
wages hurt by the cost of doing business - onerous regulations
Texas right to work state but he's always been endorsed by Teamsters Union (jobs)
multi-national companies (U.S.)
jobs, spending, taxes, regulations
trade laws and tariffs
subsides and tax credits
energy and market place
taxes and lobbyists
Marcus Luttrell
family decision re presidential run
Parade interview "birther" "news"
Afghanistan -- special ops war, troops, Obama policy, war on terror, more funding for technology and R&D
Foreign policy dependent on our economic strength
debating Obama
campaign commitment in NH
review candidates' track record
roughness of campaign -- in to win -- facts can be hard-hitting
Social Security, jobs, national security, being truthful
discusses education, EPA, Energy, HHS
states rights
state transportation infrastructure
ObamaCare, medicare, medicaid, healthcare
Tom Cobrun, Bobby Jindal, Paul Ryan
health care insurance - state by state
health care in Texas, access, tort reform
judges, Supreme Court, federal courts
baseball

[shield]

Perry Ping....

IF you'd rather NOT be pinged FReepmail me.

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*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

[justsaynomore]

Mark Block just appeared on Fox, accepted Mr. Anderson’s (from the Perry Camp) comments made earlier on Fox, and said that the campaign was moving on.

[Darksheare]

Even if you're having a bad day.

You can still donate to FR.
Click here!

[2ndDivisionVet]

"...no Fed Dream Act or amnesty..."

Have you thought of taking your comedy show on the road?

[org.whodat]

So Curt tells wilson and now he has nothing to do with it. LOL, ok, wilson was the one doing the interviews yesterday. GOOD ONE!!!!!

[Prokopton]

Mark Block just appeared on Fox, accepted Mr. Anderson’s (from the Perry Camp) comments made earlier on Fox, and said that the campaign was moving on.

Block is a loose cannon, he doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut or his vices to himself. Cain is going to have to better, at least as far as someone who can speak publicly about the campaign.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Mark Block just appeared on Fox, accepted Mr. Anderson’s (from the Perry Camp) comments made earlier on Fox, and said that the campaign was moving on.

Sounds familiar and about the right time frame too.

10/02/11""My reaction is, that's just very insensitive," Cain told Fox. "[There] isn't a more vile, negative word than the N-word, and for him to leave it there as long as he did, before I hear that they finally painted over it, is just plain insensitive to a lot of black people in this country."

10/03/11: “All I said was the mere fact that that word was there was ‘insensitive,’ ” Cain said outside Trump Tower in Manhattan, N.Y., according to the National Review. “That’s not playing the race card. I am not attacking Gov. Perry. Some people in the media want to attack him. I’m done with that issue!”

[Irenic]

I wonder if there will be an apology for the accusations thrown at the Perry camp?

[CharlesWayneCT]

Cain’s campaign doubles down on their false, baseless charges. Why Cain thinks the right response to being attacked by an unsubstantiated charge is to make his own false charges is beyond me.

I also liked how the story threw in that the Cain campaign knew their press release was lying about the politico story as well, but treated that as simply normal now for Cain.

When did Cain’s campaign turn from the cheery, upbeat campaign to the one most likely to level false accusations?

Then there is this: ““All this stuff about who leaked whatever, any reporter in the free world is free to say anything to anybody that I ever said to them about can Herman Cain,” he said. “I give them carte blanche to do that because I have absolutely nothing to hide.”

That is going to sting. Politico can now verify that Anderson wasn’t their source, and never talked to them. And since Cain and Block have both publicly claimed the KNEW he was the source, when Politico says no, they will be publicly caught in a bold-faced lie.

And while many conservatives have no trouble believing that a harassment charge was trumped up, or just a misunderstanding, we all know that lying is serious, especially a lie told NOW.

How will Cain handle this? Will he simply say Politico is lying to cover for Perry? Will his campaign make more false charges? Will their attacks on the women coming forward prompt other women to come to their defense? Will more conservative talk-show hosts and other conservatives come forward with stories, now that Cain is showing himself to NOT be the nice guy people thought?

This was all easily avoidable, with a single solid press release on Sunday night. Cain might not have ever had to discuss this publicly, or if he did, it would be a 1-day story.

But he pretty much forced the women to defend themselves, he made the story about how he was reacting, and now he’s made the story about his own inability to tell the truth. Which makes no sense, because while he is clearly amateur-hour and increasingly reveals his lack of qualifications to be the leader of the free world, up until now he had largely avoided problems of personal veracity, even though he has been caught in other lies and had to apologize (like his false attack on Perry over the rock).

[bereanway]

So now after making these accusations Block says they are moving on? The Cain campaign seems to love to throw accusations around and then claim they really didn’t mean it and move on.

There is no way on earth this campaign is going to survive. Childish.

[Hugin]

Mark Block just appeared on Fox, accepted Mr. Anderson’s (from the Perry Camp) comments made earlier on Fox, and said that the campaign was moving on.

I saw that. He said he accepts that he wasn't the source, then seconds later said they were standing behind what Cain said yesterday. Megan Kelly said, but you said Anderson was beind it yesterday, so which is it. His answer was "were moving on". That seems to be the standard Cain answer when caught talking BS.

[Luther1917]

“Block is a loose cannon, he doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut”

He has alot in common with his boss.

[miss marmelstein]

STOP WITH THOSE DUMB PICTURES! PLEASE!

[9YearLurker]

It appears not only to be a false, baseless charge, but at this point it seems hardly a word Cain uttered in that first day after the story broke wasn’t a lie.

In his morning Fox interview, he was blinking more than twice a second—a reliable sign of lying. In his evening interview with Greta he was controlling his blinking, but repeatedly licking his lips: another clear sign of lying.

Now virtually everything he and his campaign said in that timeframe is revealed as a baseless lie: that he had ‘confessed’ to Curt Anderson in 2003, that he didn’t remember the allegations, wasn’t aware if there was any settlement or if the second woman made any explicit charges, and of course that he could hardly remember the complaints, given that they were all as innocent as his commenting on hist wife’s height.

I’m done with Mr. Cain and I don’t want him anywhere near the GOP ticket or a possible GOP administration.

[CharlesWayneCT]

WIlson had nothing to do with the leak either. He was however apparently an eye-witness to at least one event, and when asked yesterday, he did acknowledge that he knew about it. But he hadn’t talked about it — his statement yesterday was that multiple people saw the one occurance, and any one of them could have talked to Politico if asked.

That’s the problem with this “conspiracy”. It seems more than a dozen people had detailed knowledge of the charges and the settlement, and they were all publicly associated with the NRA. SO any reporter calling up employees and associates of the NRA from the 1990s would have spoken with these people, and it only would take ONE of them to mention this case for the reporter to have the story and dig deeper.

We know reporters ARE calling everybody — that’s how they got the story of Perry’s rock, by calling friends of the family from the 1980s.

Only an amateur, inexperienced politician would think that a news outlet wasn’t going to learn about a harrassment charge that ended with a settlement, when multiple people know about it. You’d be naive to believe anything like that could remain a secret.

[normy]

And of course for the Cain followers that's ok. So Cain is can come out and falsely accuse the Perry camp and then just..move on?

If this doesn't show you the character of Cain and his people I don't know what will.

Cain had no problem trying to destroy Perry's candidacy yet was oddly silent on the possibility of Romney being the culprit.

[Reagan Man]

If Cain hadn’t been talking out both sides of his mouth and if Block hadn’t been running his mouth off, may be this sex scandal would be tapering off by now.

Who will Cain and Block be blaming next?

‘Its Bush`s fault’.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Wow. Yesterday he specifically charged Anderson and called the Perry campaign “dispicable”. Now he is retracting his charges and says they are “moving on”?

OK, I shouldn’t be surprised. And I shouldn’t give them too much grief, at least they aren’t tripling down after doubling down with a PRESS RELEASE.

I’m expecting the Cain folks will now blast everybody for not ‘dropping it’.