Cain Iowa supporters: Media 'took a good man down’
Urbandale, Iowa (CNN) - Staff and supporters at Herman Cain's Iowa headquarters shared tears, hugs and overall fond memories of a candidate they say they'll continue to support in whatever his next venture may be.
"Without a doubt," Iowa communications director Lisa Lockwood said when asked if she'll continue to fight for him if there is a plan B for Cain, who announced Saturday that he is suspending his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
Lockwood and a handful of volunteers sat in front of a laptop to watch a live stream of their candidate as he made the announcement that he'd be suspending his campaign.
"I think he's an awesome man and I think he would have been an awesome president. I still hold out hope that one day he will," Lockwood said.
But amidst the sadness and hope for the future were feelings of frustration toward members of the press over the coverage of sexual harassment allegations against Cain.
"I don't recognize my industry anymore," Lockwood said. "I was taught objectivity, accuracy, fairness, balance. I don't see that happening."
"Where's the investigation behind who [these accusers] are?" she said.
Asked whether she believes any of the allegations are true, Lockwood said she "wouldn't speculate" but that she "believes in him."
"I'm not judge or jury. It doesn't matter to me whether it's true or not."
Volunteer Patti Spencer Burdette of Des Moines and her son Thom Moore are staunch supporters who've devoted a significant portion of the past year to Cain's campaign. When they heard him say the word "suspend," their hearts sank.
"I don't mess with things unless I'm really going to invest my whole self," said Spencer Burdette. "And now what I've invested in has broken down in a way that I'd never ever expected. So yeah, I'm upset. I'm disappointed, a little heartbroken."
Her son echoed those feelings.
"I'm not happy," Moore said. "I feel like I've lost my second best friend. When I lost my best friend I lost all control of any capacity that I had, and it's taking everything in me not to fall apart."
Moore said he's never been one to actively participate in politics, but when he met Cain that all changed.
"This is the one time that I've actually cared."
The mother and son pair came to the offices shortly after the speech ended because they said they just had to find out if it's really over.
Spencer Burdette was most upset when discussing why she thinks the campaign ultimately failed.
"I'm not angry at him," she began, before turning to the media gathered around her. "Present company included or excluded, you guys know what you've been doing."
"You're supposed to have facts when you report something, and I just don't think that any media anywhere has taken facts and then fact-checked them before they reported them. That's what I'm angry about. It's just taken a good man and his family down."
"The very good are often the target of the very evil, and I think that's all this is."
This week, Ginger White, an Atlanta woman, told the news media that she and Cain engaged in an on-and-off affair for more than 13 years. She described the affair as "very casual." Cain told the Union Leader newspaper in New Hampshire this week that he repeatedly gave White money to help her with "month-to-month bills and expenses." But he denied the relationship was sexual, as White contends.
Two women - Sharon Bialek and Karen Kraushaar - previously accused Cain of sexually harassing them in the 1990s while he was head of the National Restaurant Association. Two other women also have said Cain sexually harassed them while they worked at the association, but they have declined to be identified.
Spencer Burdette said she believes the accusers are lying and that she feels sorry for what he and his wife have gone through.
Asked if she had an opinion about the fact that Cain did not disclose his relationship with White until after he revealed it to the media, Spencer Burdette said that some people "are just built that way," implying that some people don't like bragging about helping those less fortunate.
"It's because he is a Christian. He is an associate Baptist pastor. He is a father."
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Bill Clinton left stains on Monica's clothing yet continued on with his presidency. Cain is only accused and has to abandon his campaign. What a shameful country we are.
Asked if she had an opinion about the fact that Cain did not disclose his relationship with White until after he revealed it to the media, Spencer Burdette said that some people "are just built that way," implying that some people don't like bragging about helping those less fortunate.
"It's because he is a Christian. He is an associate Baptist pastor. He is a father."
Give me a break...Ever heard of Jimmy Swaggart, Ted Haggard, and Eddie Long.
I think that some of these people are delusional. Cain's plans couldn't have passed the 999 plan through Congress in any way shape or form. That would have hurt him. It would have basically made him impotent if he couldn't get it passed.
Mr. Cain may be a good man, but he has absolutely no business running for President. I can think of 3 reasons. 1.) He is not smart enough or knowledgeable enough to handle the job. 2.) He has too many skeletons in his closet and he lies about every one of them. and 3.) I can't seem to think of the third one ;-), but two should be good enough.
Sounds like Cains supporters do wanna accept personal responsibility.
Lisa Lockwood you have shamed yourself and humiliated your Family name.
This man is a proven womanizer and has been doing it for years and his wife knows it.
The Secret is out
To keep supporting someone like this is cult like.
How embarracing it must be to have tried to elect this Womanizer.
SHAME
Occupywalstreet
OccupyWashington
OccupytheMedia
Ron Paul; 2012
Herman Cain's Iowa Communications director Lisa Lockwood asks: "I don't recognize my industry anymore. I was taught objectivity, accuracy, fairness, balance. I don't see that happening." Well Lisa, I have two words for you: Fox News.
What is a Christian or Baptist pastor have anything to do with it does Being anyone of these mean you can't do the things people say he did. Check out what Catholic priests do all the time they are priests and they are doing these things alot so being Christian and And a associate Baptist pastor means noithing when it comes to his character.
Cain took himself down
More correctly, sticking his wick in places other than his wife was what took him down.
Yep, it's that liberal, leftist, commie, socialist news media that did poor old innocent Herman Cain in. I'm starting to think denial is contaigous.
Uhm, excuse me!! There's a good man in the White House, who the media and Cain gangers have been trying to take down for 3 years. Obama has been trying to serve the people for that long and has been accused of all kinds of cr@p...daily. Of course the media brought Cain down, but it was him that gave them the ammunition. You sympathize with Cain and only bash the president of the USA. Even lawmakers, holding offices that should show more respect as an example to the rest of us are reprehensible, near-educated thugs. Too many are democrats. I don't hate Cain, but his departure from the campaign trail is overdue. Don't thing that the other 7 would disagree with me and and the same for others in DC who wouldn't have wanted him to represent the GOP.
What a bunch of whiners. The media beats the crap out of *every* politician. Cain isn't the first to go under the microscope. Maybe if he kept his mouth closed and his hands to himself, the media wouldn't have had so much material.
a man took a man down. how bout.... now theres those words again " blame yourself" you narcissistic, elitist fool. you took yourself down.
The media had the affairs.
"It's because he is a Christian. He is an associate Baptist pastor. He is a father."
Lol and maybe a hypocrite .
Media took good man down? Really?!? So it's a good man who cheats on his wife for at least 13 years? He's a pathological liar; get your heads out of the sand, Cain supporters!
plan b? what? he knocked one of em up? oh dear.
oh. p.s. "blame yourself"
People like Spencer Burdette deserve people like Herman Cain. The rest of America, however, should be spared such damnation.
No, Herman took down his pants.
The allegations are not what sunk Herman Cain. What sunk Herman Cain was that he was a candidate without much substance to begin with and that he absolutely botched his reaction to the allegations. He appeared to anyone watching like a guilty man. But even that is not what sunk him.
What sunk him was that his character was all he was running on. He lacks any foreign policy knowledge and his knowledge of domestic issues is thin at best.
Put another way, if people are going to vote for a potential serial philanderer, they would rather vote for a serial philanderer who actually knows something about policy issues....or at least that is the only way I can describe Newt Gingrich's sudden rise/.
This idiot took his own self down. I feel for his wife who has to go through this public humuliation.
Hey, this is politics. We all have skeletons in our closet–some worse than others. How fast we forget how much they talked about Rev Wright in 2008. Sorry Mr. Cain, you made your bed over the years, so don't blame the media for it now.
Herman Cain took Herman Cain down. Guess he got away with it so long he figured he was home free. The media, PLEASE! It's about time he took responsibility for what he has done.