Herman Cain is pretty sure that the attacks on him coming this week are racist. But he can’t prove it.
It’s just a sense he has. And it’s a growing theme from his friends.
On Fox last night, Cain sat for yet another interview following the Politico story that threatens to upend his candidacy. And he seemed more than willing to stand behind his PAC, which called the sexual harassment allegations a “high-tech lynching” Tuesday.
Race has been a big part of the conservative pushback to the Cain story — yesterday, Ann Coulter summarized that response with her “our blacks are better then their blacks” line.
And then it fell to Cain to pick up the torch and accuse his opponents of racism. So he did, though he made it clear that he couldn’t prove a word of what he was saying. Here’s the relevant transcript:
CAIN: Â I believe the answer is yes, but we do not have any evidence to support it. Â But because I am unconventional candidate running an unconventional campaign and achieving some unexpected unconventional results in terms of my, the poll, we believe that, yes, there are some people who are Democrats, liberals, who do not want to see me win the nomination. Â And there could be some people on the right who don’t want to see me because I’m not the, quote/unquote, “establishment candidate.” Â No evidence.
KRAUTHAMMER: Â But does race have any part of that? Â Establishment, maverick, yes. What about race?
CAIN: Â Relative to the left I believe race is a bigger driving factor. I don’t think it’s a driving factor on the right. Â This is just based upon our speculation.
It’s worth noting here that one of the things that irks the right the very most is when they perceive the left crying racist with no evidence. During the tea party movement’s rise, for example, conservatives would get spitting mad at any suggestion the folks standing around doubting President Obama’s national origins had any racial motivations whatsoever.
Nevertheless, it’s the meme that’s taking over on the right: the people wondering about Cain after the series of really bad stories (and even worse interviews) are probably racist. They just can’t prove it.
Here’s the video:
