So why are the accusations of infidelity hurting Herman Cain in Iowa more than admitted infidelity damages Newt Gingrich?
Iowa’s senior Senator says it comes down to honesty.
“It may not be exactly the same, and Gingrich’s is over a longer period of time and he’s spoken more openly about his problems, been more candid about them and seems to have convinced a large number of people that he’s a different Gingrich now from the standpoint of his personal life than he had been in the past,” Grassley told reporters recently, according to the Des Moines Register. “Herman hasn’t had an opportunity to do that yet and that’s the main difference.”
Grassley, who hasn’t endorsed a candidate in the caucus race, took a pretty clear shot at Cain about the many women who have come out to accuse him of sexual harassment along with the latest, who said she and him had a consensual affair for more than a decade.
“I don’t want to say he hasn’t been candid, because he’s either been candid or else he’s lying, and I don’t know which it is at this point,” Grassley said.
Grassley notes that Gingrich was able to rehabilitate his image after “his personal problems,” but with Cain digging in on his contention that the accusations he faces are part of some kind of political plot to destroy him, Grassley seems to be suggesting Cain can’t pull off what Gingrich has.
