Herman Cain's 'High-Tech Lynching'
November 4, 2011 by Chip Wood
Six months ago, a virtually unknown candidate for the Republican nomination for President predicted that he would be the victim of “the same high-tech lynching that [Clarence Thomas] went through” — once he became more popular with voters.
Congratulations, Herman Cain. That is exactly what has happened.
I knew very little about the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza when I was asked to introduce him at a large conference in Las Vegas last July. And to be honest, neither did most of the audience. The overwhelming majority of the people who packed the ballroom that night were there to hear the speaker who would follow Cain: Kentucky’s newly elected freshman Senator, Rand Paul.
By the time he had finished his rousing, passionate address, though, Cain had made many new friends among the 2,000 or so people who heard him. In fact, many of them followed him to a private meeting upstairs, where he received several donations and pledges to help him reach more voters with his message.
Thanks to his magnetic personality, his unflagging energy and his novel policy proposals — including his 9-9-9 tax idea — Cain has climbed in the polls as rapidly as others have fallen. So it should come as no surprise that his prediction last May is also coming true. The smear campaigns have begun.
Just like with Thomas, the media dug up an unproven, decades-old allegation of sexual harassment. And virtually overnight, it was treated as the most important story of the month. CBS News led its evening broadcast with it. The New York Times put it on the front page the next morning — and announced that it was assigning seven reporters to track down the facts. (Read: Pass on every nasty accusation and unproven allegation they can find.)
Cain has denounced the accusations as being “totally false.” Many people who worked with him at the National Restaurant Association, which he led when the rumored harassment took place, have leapt to his defense. But no matter. The smear artists of the national press think they have found a nice juicy bone to gnaw on. And you’d better believe they are going to do everything in their power to chew it — and Cain’s aspirations — to pieces.
None of this should come as a surprise to Cain. After all, here is the rest of the quote that I used at the beginning of today’s column: “I’m ready for the same high-tech lynching that [Clarence Thomas] went through – for the good of this country.”
Of course, if any white conservative comes to Cain’s defense, it will just be more proof to those on the left that we are racists.
Think I’m kidding? Listen to what Karen Finney, a former spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, said on MSNBC last week:
“One of the things about Herman Cain is, I think that he makes that white Republican base of the party feel okay, feel like they are not racist because they can like this guy. I think he is giving that base a free pass. And I think they like him because they think he’s a black man who knows his place.”
Knows his place? Cain thinks his “place” is in the White House! How’s that for being “uppity?”
In the twisted logic that passes for thinking by the left in this country, it simply isn’t possible to be a black and a conservative. These liberal do-gooders actually believe that every minority in America is beholden to them. They view any black who has the temerity to be a conservative as a traitor and a turncoat. If they can’t convert black conservatives or frighten them into silence, then they will try to destroy them.
The worst example of this in my lifetime was the campaign to destroy Thomas’ reputation and aspirations. I had seen nothing like it since the communists and their allies set out to ruin Senator Joe McCarthy. Unhappily for our country, they succeeded with McCarthy. Happily for us, Thomas stood up to the worst they could throw at him and emerged victorious. Thank goodness we have someone of his rock-solid character, powerful intellect and unwavering adherence to the Constitution on the Supreme Court. I wish we had half a dozen more like him… of whatever color.
Many on the loony left honestly believe that if white conservatives don’t like the policies of Barack Obama, it means we are racists. And if we’d much rather see Cain in the White House, that really proves we’re bigots.
Don’t look for any logic in this rationale. There isn’t any. The left loves to rig the debate. I can’t tell you how many variation of the “you’re a racist” argument I heard before, during and after the 2008 Presidential contest. No matter how calmly we presented our objections to some new socialist scheme from Obama and his “community organizer” buddies, you knew there would be some liberal somewhere who would denounce us as “racists.”
This well-worn slander worked for a while. But today, almost everybody is fed up with Obama’s failed policies and arrogant posturings. The few remaining exceptions are students, intellectuals, Hollywood elitists and union members — or, as someone remarked about the Occupy Wall Street protestors, the homeless, the jobless and the clueless.
And then along comes Cain, the fast-food entrepreneur with a skin that is several shades darker than the current occupant of the White House. His rise in Republican polls is driving many on the left absolutely crazy. They simply can’t believe that an intelligent, successful black in America can be a conservative. And when they find one that is, their fury knows no limits.
So their only recourse is to do what Cain himself called a “high-tech lynching.”
I hope Cain is strong enough to withstand all of the lies, smears and nasty allegations the left and their allies in the media throw at him. I suspect he is.
I also suspect that many Americans are sick and tired of such mudslinging — even when (or especially when) the perpetrators are the self-appointed guardians of the public good on network TV and the national press.
Please do your part to expose their lies. Your country will thank you for it.
Until next time, keep some powder dry.
–Chip Wood
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