MSNBC's Alex Wagner Tweets 'Sexual Harassment Is a Lucrative Side Gig' for Herman Cain

November 14th, 2011 3:02 PM

Some 24 hours before taking to the air for the debut of "Now with Alex Wagner," the MSNBC host tweeted a snarky comment about sexual harassment being a "lucrative side gig" for GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain, who "raised $9M in Oct."

Wagner's November 13 tweet -- a screen capture of which is shown below the page break -- links to a "The Page" blog post at Time.com regarding a $9 million fundraising boost for Cain since October 1.

But besides presuming Cain's guilt, Wagner's claim is factually inaccurate, ignoring the fact that Politico broke the sexual harassment allegations at the end of October, publishing the story to its website after 9 p.m. Eastern on Halloween night. Indeed, Time magazine notes that only 25 percent of the contributions "came since Politico published its story alleging the Georgian sexually harassed two women."


What's more, as Aaron Blake of the Washington Post noted in a November 10 The Fix blog post, "the last 10 days also represents almost exactly 25 percent of the quarter so far, so it suggests his pace has actually stayed pretty constant amidst the controversy."

In other words, Cain's sexual harassment allegations might not really be so "lucrative" as Wagner would have her followers believe.