Local Tea Party: Media Pushed Cain Out

It may have come as a shock to some, but Herman Cain’s announcement that he was suspending his campaign Saturday was not unexpected.

It was clear to conservatives that he had become a target for the media.

Lou Desmond, host of Inland Empire News Hour on KTIE 590/AM, noted that during a Nov. 22 Republican presidential debate on CNN, event moderator Wolf Blitzer kept throwing the thorny questions at Cain.

"He was trying to trip him up," he told Redlands Tea Party members who gathered to watch during a live Newshour broadcast. CNN failed in their mission, Desmond said.

But the damage had been done, said Phil Naman, Redlands Tea Party Patriot member.

“If he had an affair and lied about it, that puts him on the same scale as (Bill) Clinton and we don’t like liars,” Naman said. “We want someone with high moral character in the White House. We don’t have one right now.”

“Here’s the thing,” Naman added. “If Cain is innocent of this, what a political assassination that was.”

Herman Cain, 65, announced on Saturday that he is suspending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

Cain’s announcement comes in the wake of yet another accusation of sexual impropriety. Last week, an Atlanta businesswoman claimed she and Cain had a 13-year extramarital affair.

Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, denied any wrongdoing. During an address on Saturday to supporters, Cain said he decided to suspend the campaign after a lot of prayer and soul searching.

He called the allegations "false" and said that they have had a "tremendous" and "painful price" on his family, according to a story by the Huffington Post. "That spin hurts," he said.

His wife, Gloria Cain, stood behind him on stage.

"I am at peace with my God,” he told the crowd. “I am at peace with my wife. And she is at peace with me. And I am at peace with my family and I am at peace with myself.”

Looking to the future, Cain told his supporters that he is now turning to "Plan B," a new effort and website, TheCainSolutions.com, and working "to be a voice for the people," according to the Huffington Post.

He said, "I am not going to be silenced and I am not going away."

As the GOP presidential primary race goes on, Cain signaled he could be expected to endorse a candidate in the contest "in the near future," according to the Huffington Post.

The decision will be stunning for many Loma Linda and Redlands conservatives. While the crowd at last month's debate viewing event agreed that Newt Gingrich won the night, Cain also got a good response from the crowd.

A handful of viewers attended wearing “Caniacs” T-shirts.

If support dried up, Naman said it was possibly from financial backers, not from the public.

Naman said he and other Redlands Tea Party Patriot members are upset over how the media has chosen to ignore what they believe are credible reports of President Barack Obama’s indiscretions, instead jumping on Herman Cain.

“I like Herman Cain a lot,” he said. “If he did this, he should not be president. If you’re a liar, I don’t want you in that office.”

“If you didn’t lie and if you were politically assassinated, we really need to hold people accountable for that and they need to be fired from their positions in the media,” Naman said. “Because if he really didn’t do anything, look at all the damage they did."