At first appearing nervous (who wouldn’t be?), Cain gradually composed himself after saying emphatically that he had “never acted inappropriately with anyone, period!” He probably should have stuck to that single message – as any savvy risk management advisor would have counseled – but then Cain veered into dangerous territory by making the somewhat wild accusation that the “Democrat machine” was behind the sexual harassment allegations because it is desperate “to keep a businessman out of the White House.”
Yet a smart corporate executive aware of the sexual minefields in the workplace these days and steeped in the art of damage control, would never have made ill-advised statements such as: “It’s not just men who sexually harass women. I have seen women sexually harass men.” And perhaps Cain should not have characterized Bialek as “a troubled woman” whose name, face, and voice he couldn’t remember.
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