Daily Beast Analyst: Cain Will Probably Skate On Sex Charges With Conservatives, For Two Reasons: 1, Conservatives Are Troglodytes Who Don't Take These Heinous Woman-Victimizing Crimes Seriously, and 2, There Are No Specifics In The Charges

After detailing the various ways in which conservatives are backwards, pro-harassment, and hyperpartisan, Tomaskey (no talent, no link) makes this curious end-of-column statement:

So there are two factors at work here. One, the cultural history, which suggests that conservative voters will rally to Cain more forcefully than ever. [Detailed previously, which I now omit -- ace. ] Two, the fact that in each case, the public-opinion verdict comes down to the particulars. Right now, there are no particulars in this story. But let’s face it, that’s what it takes for these stories to achieve real lift-off. Long Dong Silver videos. Pubic hairs left on Coke cans. Wide stances and lascivious toe-tappings. Details that intensify the “ick” factor.

Um, couldn't he have begun the article with this paragraph and then ended it there as well?

So his column says:

1, conservatives are horrible and only care about sex charges against Democrats and otherwise assume men are free to harass women with impunity.

He goes on about this thesis for like six paragraphs. And then he adds, almost as an aside...

2, oh yeah, without any specifics, this story isn't going to go anywhere anyway.

What?

This is a good time to clarify my own take here, which I didn't express properly yesterday.

For those saying, "There is no firm evidence here, it's all vague allegations, we're not even sure what Cain's meant to have done," and so on: I agree with that.

I wouldn't back off supporting a candidate I admired over this thin stuff.

I won't go into it in a post (shouldn't have mentioned it in comments, either), but I'm worried about the future, not the present. The present case against Cain is weak and vague and rightfully dismissed.

I don't know about the future -- no one does -- but I worry about it.

But if this is it, then this is not just survivable, but little more than a speedbump. One woman was "paid off," we think, with what amounts to merely a more-generous-than-average severance package (two or three months' salary? nothing), which is, as people note, such a cheap "pay off" as to indicate nothing about the strength of the case against Cain. No lawyer would blink twice before making that deal. Pay this woman 2-3 months salary to make her complaint go away? It's a no-brainer. Let's face it, this type of accusation gets tossed around a lot by the unscrupulous.

On the other hand, if there's more, well then, there's obviously more. But that, at the moment, is entirely hypothetical.

posted by Ace at 12:43 PM

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