My heart bleeds for Herman Cain (see here). Actually, my heart goes out the his accusers, working under the assumption that where there’s smoke there’s fire. A good rule of thumb for personal determinations, not advocating it as a standard of justice, mind you. More theoretically, this seems to be an excellent example of why “experienced” candidates in the political science literature are almost always found to out-perform newbies in elections, controlling for a host of other factors. Campaigns, particularly Presidential ones, for all their sensationalism, are very good vetting institutions. New candidates haven’t ever been through the wringer before. They don’t know how to respond to attacks or scandals. They’re unlikely to have the forethought (or funds) to do appropriate opposition research on themselves. And, surprise, when you get into politics you can’t simply preach to the choir all the time.
Additionally, I personally think it may have to do with the psychology of people who decide to run for office with no experience. Those folks may not be the most…self-aware people in the world. I honestly don’t think Cain thinks he did anything wrong, which is disturbing in and off itself. His stunning lack of compassion for the accusers is informative as well. Although, after flailing with his response, he has settled for the tried and true method of attacking the media (and to a lesser extent the victims), which at least gives him a consistent message, although it’s unlikely to be a winning one.
I think what annoys me most about the general response to this kind of scandal (see Palin, Ryan, etc.) is the “blame the media” strategy. Seriously, it’s red meat to the right and almost guaranteed to get conservatives to give you a pass on almost anything, but it’s disingenuous and insulting, not to mention a strong indicator of a political amateur. I understand the temptation to use (and abuse) the strategy; it just gets on my nerves. Plus, the liberal media stuff is empirically B.S., so there’s that. Obviously, the media chasing scandal stories is only ok when they’re targeting the other guys (really missing the sarcasm punctuation mark today).
Anyway, the constant coverage of the Cain fiasco finally penetrated my self-imposed media blackout and I figured I’d comment. My advice to Cain: if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Oh, and stop (allegedly) sexually harassing and groping women, then blaming the media when they report it. Makes you look like a jackass, even more than that ridiculous 9-9-9 plan no one is covering right now because you’re an bumbling amateur without the political acumen to buy your way onto a local city council, much less run a country. Good to get that off my chest. Back to the dissertation.