Herman Cain: Able to be Paid for Sex?

 I have abstained pretty much from even reading much less writing about the GOP pop phenomenon Herman Cain, whose 15 minutes should have expired months ago. The man is so obviously unqualified to be president that his very presence on the Republican platform is troubling. Yeah, I know, the same could be said about a lot of their candidates, but Brother Cain is spectacularly unsuited.

Truth is, he seems to know it. The hat, the cigarette-smoking campaign manager in the commercial, the non-traditional media focus that is clearly not focused on delegate collection, the superficial answers to virtually every question. I have to think that Rachel Maddow pegged him correctly as having a good laugh at the nation's expense.

 Of course, the man doesn't know when to exit the stage. He has messed over several women's lives in the process, and as the letter below indicates, is still trying to profit from his skanky ways even as he extends his departure through a painful "campaign reassessment".

 I just have to say that I don't believe Cain would have been considered a serious candidate for five minutes were it not for the enormous discomfort most Republicans feel with most black people. Until now, that discomfort has allowed Cain to make money selling his books, and enabled Republicans to pretend that they are an open, welcoming, and affirming party.

Nov 29, 2011: Stand With Me  Dear Patriots and Supporters, As you probably heard yesterday, a troubled Atlanta business woman used national media outlets to promulgate a fabricated, unsubstantiated  story about a 13 year affair with me.  I am writing you today to assure  you that this woman’s story is completely false. I do know Ms. White.  I have helped her financially at times over the  past few years, just as I have helped many friends and acquaintances  throughout the years. I thought Ms. White was a friend in need of a  supportive hand to better her life. Ms. White has made it apparent that she was abusing the friendship. But now I am asking for your friendship.  I am also asking for your prayers  and support. This is a trying time for my family, my campaign, and for me.   It is also a trying time for our country as we are all distracted from the truly  important issues facing our nation. This evening I have an important speaking engagement at Hillsdale College  in Hillsdale, Michigan, where I will be outlining my foreign policy and national  security plan.  While recent events have taken a toll on me, the people in the  audience this evening will not know it.  I will deliver my message with vigor  and enthusiasm. Let me assure you, I am not deterred.  America’s future is too important.  We will continue on this journey to make America great once again. Thank you and God bless. Sincerely,  Herman Cain

Been wondering about Herman Cain?

Some days you can't do better than cite a Pulitzer Prize-winner. Here is Leonard Pitts:

Explaining Herman Cain

By Leonard Pitts Jr. The Miami Herald

…Modern social conservatives, in my experience, do not hate black people en masse. To the contrary, there are two kinds of blacks they love. The first is those, like [Condoleezza] Rice, who are mainly mute on the subject of race, seldom so impolite as to say or do anything that might remind people they are black. The second is those who will engage on race, but only to lecture other blacks for their failures as conservatives conceive them. And that, friends and neighbors, is Herman Cain all over.

“I don’t believe racism in this country today holds anybody back in a big way,” he told CNN recently. Had he contended too many African Americans use racism as an excuse for failure to succeed and even failure to try, Cain would have gotten no grief from me; I’ve made that argument often.
But what he said was that racism is no longer a factor. He surely warmed the hearts of his conservative fellow travelers who swear blacks have the same opportunity to succeed as whites if they’d only get off their lazy so-and-sos and do it.

It is a claim spectacularly at odds with reality, given that African-American unemployment runs twice that of whites, given that the Agriculture Department admits to systematically discriminating against black farmers, given documentation of a “justice” system engaged in the mass incarceration of young black men.
But what made the claim truly bizarre is that two days later, Cain branded himself a victim of racism. Specifically, he said some black people are “racist” because they disagree with his politics. So blacks aren’t held back by racism, but Cain is?
…
One of the least-discussed impacts of the black experience in America is its emotional toll. African Americans were psychologically maimed by this country, the expression of which can still be seen in the visceral self-loathing that afflicts too many.

Meaning the black child who equates doing well in school with “acting white.” Meaning the famous black man who bleaches his skin. Meaning the famous black woman who rationalizes her use of a certain soul-killing racial epithet. Meaning Herman Cain.

In his diminution of African-American struggle, he comes across as a man profoundly at odds with the skin he’s in. He seems embarrassed he’s black.

For what it’s worth, I suspect black folks aren’t real happy about it, either.