Did Herman Cain Sexually Harass Coworkers or Not?

A scandal is brewing in Georgia, after allegations emerged this weekend that, while Herman Cain was in charge of the National Restaurant Association, he sexually harassed two (or more) women.

According to

, "at least two female employees complained to colleagues and senior association officials about inappropriate behavior by Cain, ultimately leaving their jobs at the trade group, multiple sources confirm to POLITICO." Since Politico's breaking news report on Sunday, Cain's campaign has been in an inexplicable frenzy of story-telling, with the candidate changing his version of key facts a few times over the course of 48 hours. He can't seem to make up his mind as to whether he knew a settlement was paid out to the women, or if he signed any paperwork authorizing the settlement, or if he was even aware of anything more than just the complaints against him. Cain supporters have been out front of the issue, claiming their candidate is the subject of a high-tech lynching. I would suggest that this is not only offensive hyperbole, but complete and utter crap. The facts suggest that, not only did Cain engage in improper behavior with these women, his organization reached cash settlements with multiple women to make them go away. Politico reported this weekend that their reporters had identified the women via third party sources who were involved with the organization at the time of the incidents, including a former board member. Their reporting suggests an extreme confidence that the reports are accurate and that Cain almost certainly did something to these women to cause them all to leave with legal settlements. What is particularly galling is the way Herman Cain is treating these allegations. He won't come out and say that he didn't harass anyone. He won't come out and say he didn't behave inappropriately. Instead, Cain has said that if he harassed someone, they should come forward and accuse him publicly. Of course, that's a BS way out of the question. The women who have implicated Cain already came forward once. They were given a settlement, and as part of that settlement, cannot speak publicly on the matter. If they were to come out and give an interview publicly, they would lose their settlement...and Cain would get away with the crime all over again. Cain knows this, which is why he continues to peddle this nonsense that the accusers need to re-accuse him in order for it to be a legitimate complaint. These women have already been through enough. It's time for Cain to face the music he was due 10 years ago. The reports come at a bad time for Cain. He is currently leading in many national polls, and is threatening to supplant Mitt Romney as the favored, front-runner candidate in the early primary and caucus states. Republicans, eager to find a candidate who is conservative enough to stay true to their agenda, but also acceptable enough for moderates and independent voters, have largely turned to Cain in the past month or so. As a political outsider (his experience in government comes from a stint at the Fed) with conservative credentials, Cain seemed like an ideal candidate. His background as a CEO could let him talk about creating jobs in a way that other candidates could not, as he would have actually created a job or two in his lifetime. The questions facing Cain now threaten to derail his campaign's progress, and perhaps vault another candidate into the "anyone but Romney" slot that conservatives have been looking to fill since the campaign began. This is why, in my opinion, the leak of this story has to come from Rick Perry's campaign. He is desperate to regain the anti-Romney slot, and only a personal scandal like this could bring Cain down. None of the other GOP candidates could really step up the way Perry could, which makes him the likely culprit. No one would benefit more from Cain sliding than Perry, as the other conservative candidates are just not plausible presidential candidates at this point. Libertarian Ron Paul and god-knows-where-he-stands Mitt Romney would have far more to lose in good will if they were the source of this story, even though both will benefit from a sliding Cain. Whatever the case, it appears that Herman Cain has wounded his campaign, first with these cases of harassment and secondly with an incredibly obtuse attempt at a cover-up. Calling on women who were harassed to accuse him a second time, and face lawsuits to recover settlement money and open themselves up to assaults from the conservative media is not really the way to win over the hearts and minds of female voters. It's also a pretty blatant ploy that just about anyone can see through. If Cain wants to have any hope of remaining relevant through Christmas, he had better come clean and apologize immediately.