but to quite my chief of staff and all of the people i've talked to around this country, herman be herman. and herman. thank you very much. >> our thanks to terry moran. >>> coming up next on this halloween night, if you think there's no such thing as ghosts, how do you explain what goes on in this basement? if insurance were sold in the grocery store -- whoa, wait. whoa, whoa. wait a minute. what? just like that? did you even see the allstate? it's cute. what is it? great insurance. you get accident forgiveness, deductible rewards, safe-driving bonus checks, plus a free lifetime membership in good hands roadside assistance just for calling. sold. tiny tow truck -- works every time. shop less. get more. make one call to an allstate agent. i find investments with e-trade's top 5 lists and use pre-defined screeners to work smarter. not harder. i depend on myself to take charge of my financial future. [ bell dinging ] can the aetna app make you healthier? well, that all depends on what you do with it. and there's an awful lot you can do with it. access your medical history, view claims, get reminders fo

let herman be herman, sure! let's just make sureer

. >> her main be her main and her h -- herman be herman and herman is going to stay and be herman. reporter: herman cain would not say if he had been sued for sexual harassment. >> i have never sexually harassed anyone. reporter: but at the national press club later cain offed his version of what did or did not -- offered his version of what did or did not happen. >> while at the restaurant association i was accused of sexual harassment. falsely accused i might add. reporter: at issue was a politico story claiming cain was sued by two women for inappropriate sexual behavior when he headed the national restaurant see, in the 1990s. cain -- restaurant association in the 1990s. cain said ole is unaware of a reported -- said i is unaware of a reported -- he is unaware of a reported five-figure settlement in the case. earlier cain had told fox news he believes the story which did not name his accusers was circulated to damage his presidential campaign. >> now obviously some people are going to be turned off by this cloud that someone wanted to put over my campaign. reporter: everywhere h

little thing they end where he kind of took a puff, well, we have a saying in my campaign, let herman be hermanmark be mark. and let people be people. that's really one of the things of my whole campaign. he smokes. he wasn't trying to tell anybody else to smoke but that's him. that was mark being mark. >> jimmy: you do not smoke. >> i do not smoke. never have i smoked. mark is respectful. if he smokes he doesn't smoke around anybody. >> jimmy: unless it's the cameraman. >> you got a camera in your hand he might light up. >> jimmy: have you ever smoked pot? >> no. >> jimmy: you have never smoked pot. >> i have never smoked pot. >> jimmy: even as the owner of a pizza chain i have to get to the bottom of what my customer base is really thinking? no? [ cheers and applause ] >> here's how -- here's what i used to do to figure out what pie customers were thinking. >> jimmy: huffing. >> no, just serve them a great tasting godfather's pizza. >> jimmy: i want to ask you about godfather's pizza because i know you're not involved with the company anymore. i want to ask you -- they now have something call

be vulnerable in the general campaign. >> and this is the way herman cain puts it. let herman be herman. people feel he's an authentic conservative voice in america. they don't see a flip flopper. they see a guy who stands up and makes his case and makes it emphatically with strength. they want that against barack obama. if you go begin to introduce the doubt you're talking about, you're undercutting the guy. >> but it's hanging out there now. >> and it's terrible. >> it's horrible. >> to me, it's only possible when you see a strong black conservative that is now being permission given by the black liberal establish the to go after this man in a low ball way. >> this has got to stop. these attacks against conservative african americans, conservative women has gotta stop. i know it's going to happen i've gotta tell you. people like you who i almost always disagree with have the courage to speak out. i give you a lot of credit. i really do. >> i think it's an outrage. >> you're going to get beaten up. >> i get beat up all the time. you say juan, you're more left than i am. >> you're way lef

we keep being told that we should let herman be herman. maybe.ould just ask those seven in ten republican voters this question -- imagine if it was your daughter that was the victim of sexual harassment at the hands of a powerful man at the top of a company. would you be keen to elect him as president? no.

let herman be herman. i'm trying to -- have you ever been accused of sexual harassment? >> there's nothing to this. >> can you now confirm that these allegations were made. >> i would be delighted to clear the air. i have never sexually harassed anyone. i am unaware of any sort of settlement. there's nothing else there to dig up. >> was there any behavior on your part that you think might have been inappropriate? >> in my opinion, no. yes, that was some sort of settlement three months' salary. i'll never know why jesus came to love me so >> what i can now remember, what i couldn't remember, it's just been difficult trying to recollect many of the pieces that happened 12 years ago. i was aware that an agreement was reached. didn't intend to contradict myself. my campaign was made aware that this story might break ten days ago. there are factions that are trying to destroy me. >> i'm not taking herman's word for it. >> don't even bother asking me all of these other questions. >> erm hadden needs to herman needs to chill out. >> are you concerned about -- >> excuse me. excus

herman cain, both the limits of his strength and the exposing of his weakness. his strength has always been he's a straight talker. whatever you say about herman, you let herman be herman. and, obviously, he kept changing his story, coming back with different eventes, remembering things and so forth. he violated the first rule of all political scandals which is get it all out immediately, answer all the questions, get it behind you. instead of being a one-day or two-day story, it's now a five-day story, it's going into the second weekend, and his weakness is that he's never had a campaign. he's never had a structure. so he didn't have people who could sit down and woopped shed him. >> lehrer: what about the point that people say-- and you value said it-- he's not a normal candidate for president, and people like that. and so he's being judged by a whole different set of standards than the traditional candidates, of very people you were talking about early. >>ing if we're in a new world and the normal laws of political gravity don't apply because people are so disgusted with politics they're willing to break all the normal patterns then he'll be fine. i don't bel

herman be herman, sure! let's just make sure herman isn't president. thanks very much for watching. dylan ratigan is here. and he'll take us forward. dylan, all yours. >> thank you so much, martin. hope you have a wonderful weekend, by the way. >> same to you, sir. >> i won't be seeing you, but it will be nice, i'm sure. >> invite me and i'll come and see you. >> you've been playing music without me. i know how it is. the show starts right now. >>> all right. the big story today, reading the numbers. good friday afternoon to you. i am dylan ratigan. and as always, it is the first friday of the month. and as such, the u.s. unemployment data for the previous month is released. in october, the employment rate did inch down a tenth of a percent from 9.1 to 9%. some would say, let the good times roll, although not too many these days. it comes as the european debt mess serves as a backdrop for a meeting of the g-20. that in the south of france. truth be told, our country, america, needs 30 million jobs added here at home, not 80,000. but to the cheerleaders out there that say, hey, at least jobs were created a

be me in order to run, i'm not running. what people like is herman is being herman. : but presidents have to show discretion, >>guest: i know how to act the presidential image if this is what they want and bore them to death like a lot of other people that speak political speak. people have connected with me because it is plain talk. >>neil: it is like the pressure ronald reagan was under when he called the soviet union evil empire or the off the cuff remark about we begin bombing now, he could be flippant and he pulled it in, because, i guess, people felt you have to rein it in. >>guest: true. i will dial from a 10 to a 9. >>neil: 9 will still attract people. >>guest: i will dial back to 9, because of 9-9-9 and $9 million man. >>neil: what came up with 9-9-9. now you got the $99.99 event. who came up with you? >>guest: me and my senior economic adviser. this is a true story. rich, from cleveland, lowrie, not the guy with the publication, we have been working on this and we worked on the plan and he was doing the analysis explaining it and because my background is mat

the campaign is structured about letting herman be herman. so in these, in the denial, the way he handled the accusations is he just being herman cain and do folks like that? >> well i think folks find it charming. even his competitors in the republican primary, some whom seem to dislike each other quite a lot all seem to like herman cain but i think ultimately the question is whether you're ready to be president. the pollster peter hart conducted a focus group in the midwest a couple weeks ago in which people expressed a lot of positive feelings towards herman cain, republican participants expressed those feelings and yet when he asked for people to raise their hands if they thought herman cain was prepared to be president, nobody raised their hand. ultimately that is the question. pollsters ask, who would you vote for if the election were held today but everybody knows the election isn't held today. jon: right. >> i think it is impossible to simulate that decision-making process in advance when there's questions about whether the candidate i

i think it's fair to say that, you know, his defense probably is just letting herman be herman. very serious accusations seriously while you're running for president which is by definition a serious process. >> all right. john avalon, thank you so much. have a good weekend. we're awaiting president obama at arlington national cemetery. just moments away he'll be making remarks on veterans day. >>> we are waiting for president obama to make live remarks. arlington national cemetery where he'll be addressing the nation on this veterans day. the secretary of veterans affairs there making the introductory remarks. we'll bring that to you as soon as he steps to the podium. he is stepping up right now. let's listen in. >> thank you. please be seated. thank you, rick, for your extraordinary service to our country and tireless service to our veterans. secretary of defense leon panetta, chairman dempsey and mrs. dempsey, to our wonderful veterans service organizations for the extraordinary work that you do for our nation's heroes, to all who tend to and watch over the sacred cemetery. and

be a real problem for herman cain. both ends of the party saying the same thing. of course, whether it gets through to hermant rick perry is the candidate who should be staying up late at night trying to figure out how to use this to his favor. the disabling of the cain campaign. is there some way for rick perry to leapfrog over herman cain and get into that second position, get back up into that top tier? >> well, there's easily enough time for the anti-romney position to be filled. whether it's newt gingrich or rick perry. don't count him out. he has lots of money. in this multi-candidate field, even if herman cain loses only half of his support out of all of this, say 10% still sticks with him, 10% to rick perry's numbers puts him right up there with mitt romney and the race goes on and on and on. the difficult thing is how do you coax those voters away without looking like you're piling on? clearly rick santorum does not have the solution here. >> richard wolffe whose book is out in paperbook "revival." thank you very much for joining us tonight, richard. >> thank you, lawrence. >> a quick programming no

herman cain is now, it's his turn at the wheel. >> that suggestion she made that all four women get together and go on stage and have a joint press conference, would that be it for herman cain? >> i tend to think there will be people that will believe herman cain. that believe there's a conspiracy no matter what they say collectively. i think it would be a death wish for the republicans at this point to nominate herman cain, because these kinds of stories do not go away. there's the drip, drip, drip, that will continue. even if he weathers this and somehow imaginary world becomes a republican nominee. he will be very easy pickings for democrats. >> in other words, you think it's unlikely the democrats are doing this to discredit him, because they would like him to win. >> absolutely. i think the democrats would love to run against herman cain and that was true before these scandals. a more professor, thanks for the conversation. we appreciate the insight tonight. obviously this one goes on. we move on to yet another big story today. legendary head coach, joe paterno could be the next one out at penn state because of that school's on going sex abuse scandal. this according to the "new york times." the school is discussing his exit and it c

will the economy be the focus or will herman cain? >>> herman cain may be ready to move past all the allegations of improper behavior but the debate tonight between all the republicans could have him answering more questions about it. he and his fellow g.o.p. presidential hopefuls will meet in michigan for a session and a conversation about the economy. >> hard hit state there. but with cain's trouble dominating the headlines his opponents could bring up those accusations. danielle nottingham reports from the white house. >> reporter: all eyes will be on herman cain when the g.o.p. field squares off in a prime time debate. cain will have to brace for more questions about the sexual harassment allegations that have dogged his campaign for more than a week. he tried to put the issue to rest tuesday. >> i have never acted inappropriately with anyone period. >> reporter: on stage in rochester, michigan, the other republican candidates are hoping to get back some of the spotlight. cain has been occupying the headlines and they are ready to spar over

. >> will herman cain be able to protect herman cain from herman cain? rtion question but he thought about if elected president here's how i want to be identified. >> because his next food business is actually corn bread. so it all comes together in the marketplace. there's no question that he's great at marketing. but there has to be some there there. it's one thing not to know how to say corn bread in cuban. but really he has to be able to -- >> or spanish. >> he has to be able to say i can at least take a decision as commander-in-chief. he doesn't even come close to finding the bar, never mind getting over it. you cannot just say let other people know this stuff. uzbekistan is a long way away. you have to know the front pages of the newspaper. >> every day you wake up there's a new herman cain gap, there's a new i don't know what to say about libya, there's a new i don't know that china's had nuclear weapons since the 1960s. and i think it's run out the string. and i think there's a certain as you say there's a bar you have to cross. he hasn't crossed

herman cain is an art project. herman cain is an art project. the whole beltway allegation of the sexual harassment allegations is how the allegations hurt his standings in the poll. it may be more useful to note whether or not the herman cain sexual harassment allegations cause him to hire any staff. to handle these allegations and the other responsibilities of campaigning. as far as we can tell, herman cain still has no real campaign staff to speak of. in any early states or nationally beyond a few americans for prosperity koch brothers guys who have worked with him from the beginning. this lack of a campaign structure, this lack of having a real campaign not only made it really hard to get over the sexual harassment abuse allegations, it's now showing itself in some ugly new ways. one of the things a campaign does is better or worse raises money off a candidate's popularity. the fact herman cain does not have a real campaign to do that has not left him completely unable to raise money but left him unable to capitalize, literally capitalize on how much republican voters have liked him. that has left a void if for other people to do that on his behalf in his name, except to not give the money to herman cain but keep t

herman cain. herman cain adding herman cain does not even know herman cain's latest accuser but being persecuted byemocrat machine and the media and forces that do not want a businessman such as herman cain to be president. >> i've also had the privilege to represent a number of innocent victims accused by the media of serious crimes, false accusations, on trial in the court of public opinion where there are no rules. the rules are made up by the media. >> the machine to keep a businessman out of the white house is going to be relentless. and if they continue to come, i will continue to respond. >> mr. cain, lee ross with fox news. you made several mentions of machine, the democratic machine. who are these people? who is involved in this? is it a conspiracy? >> i cannot -- i cannot say that it is a conspiracy. we do not have definitive, factual proof. we can only look at some coincidences to suggest it that maybe someone is deliberately behind this. we have not been able to make any determination to point any fingers or place any blame on anybody at this point. when we step back and look at the fac

herman cain right now. all right? herman is the man. how bad could these new charges be? >> he put his hand on my leg, under my skirt, and reached for my genitals. >> the democrat machine of america has brought forth a troubled woman to make false accusations. there will probably be others. >> at the press conference, it was brought up that karen has come out agency one of the women. we came to find out her son works at politico. >> these are serious allegations and they'll have to be addressed seriously. >> a businessman by the name of hermanstepped forward. that's the kind of person herman cain is. one thing people don't want to see people don't want herman cain. >> you believe the poes, it could be a good night for workers. >> i certainly support the effort of the governor. >> it's clear the people have spoken. >> would you have supported the constitutional amendment that would have established the definition of life at conception? >> absolutely. >> in mississippi, a controversial anti-abortion amendment was also defeated. >> let's get right to it now. with us from washington, michelle from the daily beast and "newsweek" magazine, as well as nbc news's national investigaty correspondent michael isikoff. good afternoon to both of you. if could i start with you, we're looking forward to tonight's ninth gop debate. but it's coming off some big wins on women's choice and the labor movement. do you think republicans may soften their tone tonight because of what happened yesterday? >> well know we're talking a lot about the ec

herman cain is described as someone who has offended black people by the suggestion of brainwashing. the attacks on herman cain from the far left seem to me to be evidence of how frightened they are by herman cain and part of your question is how would he do with black america? herman cain is saying wait a second. how has president obama performed for black america? how has he performed for all americans in asking hard political questions that go beyond racial identity simply saying this is the first black president, automatically you should support him. herman cain is breaking down that paradigm. a lot of them but particularly people who dominated the thinking on the left in the black community herman cain is a big threat. herman cain can make the case, this has been touched on, racially sensitive, he is a southerner who comes from morehouse and been through so much of the black experience that even president obama can't claim. so it really is an excitable nerve in terms of the black community and people saying don't go there. we don't want to do that but people are talking about it. if you think of him as a churchgoing gospel singer and all the rest herman cain said he could get a third