The Hill News

Herman Cain saw himself above the presidential vetting process which is why he was "blindsided" by allegations that he sexually harassed two women, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) said.

"Well, at the risk of sounding as if I've been brainwashed, I feel some sympathy for Herman Cain because I do believe that in some strange way he saw himself above the kind of vetting that takes place in this kind of process and I think that's what happens to a lot of people who are novices to the political process," Clyburn, the Assistant Minority Leader for the House Democrats, said Monday on the Bill Press show.

Clyburn's comments come as Cain, who has jumped to the front of the Republican presidential field, battles a report that he sexually harassed two women while he was president of the National Restaurant Association.

Clyburn added that Cain probably thought he could just ignore the reports on the allegations and they would go away.

"I thin! k that he was sort of blindsided by this," Clyburn continued. "I think he thought he could just explain this away or ignore and it'd go away. That may work in the corporate world where he can just pay someone off and somebody will be quiet but you can't do that in this world."

On Sunday Cain's campaign said it was done answering questions about the allegations. "Don't even go there," Cain said to one reporter trying to ask him a question about the allegations.