Herman Cain says his wife didn't know about the whole Ginger White thing

By Michael J.W. Stickings

And the lies keep spewing:

Herman Cain acknowledged Thursday that he repeatedly gave Ginger White money to help her with "month-to-month bills and expenses" without telling his wife of more than 40 years.

In fact, the embattled presidential candidate said, his wife, Gloria, "did not know that we were friends until she (White) came out with this story" alleging that the two had a 13-year extramarital affair.

In his most candid interview since the latest allegations emerged, Cain adamantly maintained that he and White were no more than friends.

Who gives money for "month-to-month bills and expenses" (whatever the latter even means) to someone who is just a friend? Is it really likely that Cain kept this from his wife even though, as he claims, it wasn't an affair? Then just what was he hiding? An innocent friendship with a woman? That hardly seems likely.

And, really, no more than friends? Isn't it possible that she came forward not so much because she "felt bad" for the women Cain had sexually harassed and was now attacking, as she initially claimed, but because Cain had cut off the affair and, with it, the financial support? (The AJC is reporting that "[j]ust days before coming forward with allegations of a 13-year affair with Herman Cain, Ginger White was repeatedly having contact with the presidential candidate, according to her cellphone records.)

I don't mean to suggest that White has done anything wrong. Perhaps she just felt hurt after years of playing Cain's mistress. Cain does, after all, seem to have a long history of using and abusing women. The issue here isn't about her but about him. He has presented himself as a "family values" candidate, as morally upstanding along religious right lines. But all we seem to be getting from him is dishonesty, a covering up of his past (his recent past included). Normally I'd say such matters should remain private, that an affair like this is no one's business (whether it was sexual or not), but such hypocrisy and dishonesty shouldn't be excused.