(Jason Reed/Reuters)
Herman Cain yesterday,
explaining what he remembers (or claims to remember) about Karen Kraushaar's sexual harassment allegation:
Well, I can only recall one thing that I was aware of that was called sexual harassment. The one thing that I remember -- that I remembered during the day when all of this broke loose -- is that one day, in my office at the National Restaurant Association, I was standing next to Miss Kraushaar, and I gestured, standing near her, like this, "You're the same height as my wife," because my wife comes up to my chin.
That was the one gesture that I remember. The door was open. My secretary was sitting there. It wasn't anything behind closed doors. I gestured because of her height, comparing it to my wife's height. End of story.
Other things that might have been in the accusations, I'm not even aware of, I don't remember. That one, I remember, because that was the one that my general counsel came to me and said, the one that appears to be the one that she was most upset about was that. So I really can't tell you anymore, because I don't recall it anymore, and that's the only one I remember.
I know Herman Cain hoped his press conference would put the sexual harassment story to bed, but answers like this merely illustrate just how much of the story has yet to be told.
One obvious question here is this: Why did Herman Cain make that gesture in the first place? Doesn't it strike you as odd that he would compare a subordinate's height to that of his wife? Can you imagine him doing that to a male subordinate?
Perhaps there is a context in which it would have made sense as a harmless comment. But especially if he made it in the context of other sexually charged comments, such a gesture would not have seemed so innocent. And this assumes Herman Cain is accurately conveying his gesture. Just imagine if he had held his hand ten or fifteen inches lower than he claimed, for example.
And on the question of the context of the gesture, by Cain's own words, it seems clear it was not an isolated event. Cain says "other things" might have been in the accusations, but he also says his general counsel told him the gesture was "the one she was most upset about." That's an implicit admission that he knows there were other elements to her complaint. So, what were those other things?
Perhaps Cain has forgotten the details, but he's had weeks to refresh his memory. Whether Cain remembers them or not, the complaint still exists, so for him to pretend like the details of her complaint are a mystery is nothing more than stonewalling. And when Karen Kraushaar talks about them publicly—she says wants to hold a joint press conference with the other women who say Herman Cain sexually harassed them—we'll know what they were.