An Atlanta woman claiming to have had a 13-year affair with Herman Cain has gone public, and the local Fox affiliate has the story, as well as this statement from Cain's lawyer:
"Mr. Cain has been informed today that your television station plans to broadcast a story this evening in which a female will make an accusation that she engaged in a 13-year long physical relationship with Mr. Cain. This is not an accusation of harassment in the workplace – this is not an accusation of an assault - which are subject matters of legitimate inquiry to a political candidate.
Rather, this appears to be an accusation of private, alleged consensual conduct between adults - a subject matter which is not a proper subject of inquiry by the media or the public. No individual, whether a private citizen, a candidate for public office or a public official, should be questioned about his or her private sexual life. The public's right to know and the media's right to report has boundaries and most certainly those boundaries end outside of one's bedroom door.
Mr. Cain has alerted his wife to this new accusation and discussed it with her. He has no obligation to discuss these types of accusations publicly with the media and he will not do so even if his principled position is viewed unfavorably by members of the media."
This statement is unlikely to satisfy anybody. We're long past the time when candidates personal lives are considered off limits, and it's especially difficult for conservatives who made character-based arguments against Bill Clinton to downplay these charges. Gennifer Flowers, for instance, claimed to have had an affair with Clinton during his 1992 campaign. He denied it and his war room went to work smearing her, but he later admitted to have at least had a sexual encounter with her. I'm not saying Cain had the affair as I don't have enough information. But it's hard to believe he'll get away with not addressing the issue.
