Herman Cain's Kimmel Show Allred Joke Was Odd Crisis Management

Herman Cain definitely doesn't seem to have this crisis-management thing down yet.

He presumably went on Jimmy Kimmel Live Monday evening to fight the latest charge of sexual misbehavior, this one from Sharon Bialek that he made a vulgar and unwanted sexual come-on to her in 1997 when she was seeking his help for reemployment at the National Restaurant Association.

You might think the last thing Cain would want to do would be to show the kind of insensitivity towards women that would might lend more credence to the sexual harassment charges against him. You would be wrong.

After Kimmel asked Cain jokingly if he had considered hiring Gloria Allred, the celebrity attorney who has successfully represented a number of women wronged by high-profile men, Cain looked skyward, paused and said:

"You almost made me say something my handlers say you should not say. Let me put it to you this way. I can't think of anything that I would hire her to do. I can't think of a thing." (The interchange starts at the 00:52 mark.)

He laughed, rolled his eyes and gave the audience a naughty, you-get-my-meaning look as Kimmel and the audience joined in the fun.

Telling a variation of the I-wouldn't-touch-her-with-a-ten-foot-pole joke directed at Allred surely can't help Cain's case at this point.

Cain is scheduled to defend himself against the latest charges at a news conference at 5 pm ET in Phoenix, Arizona. He told Kimmel his "team" was working up a response.

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