Every presidential election cycle, there seems to be a group that is supposedly responsible for the downfall of at least one candidate: the media.

Whether or not you have been following the Republican primaries, it follows the same dramatic storyline as any other political contest: A skeleton in a politician’s closet is brought out after some journalist’s investigation, and the politician tries to avoid talking about it as long as possible- until he is forced to address it at the last possible moment in a huge press conference.

At the center of this week’s storyline is Herman Cain, with past allegations of sexual harassment recently coming to light. Earlier this week, when Cain was pressed with the question of whether he planned to never answer questions about the incident, he responded, “You got it.” Also when asked what surprised him the most about running for president he said, “The nit-pickiness of

the media.”

Seriously? After the media coverage surrounding Bill Clinton’s multiple affairs and the scrutiny of all of Sarah Palin’s comments, how could Cain not expect the media to play a large factor in

his campaign?

One of the ideas our country was founded upon was freedom of the press. It is the press’ job to check facts, to be nitpicky, to make sure that the person who is going to be our future president is going to be a morally upstanding individual. After all, it was “the media” who broke the Watergate scandal.

Now granted, the coverage surrounding the allegations has been somewhat extreme, especially considering how long ago the allegations were and how little evidence there has been to confirm the claims. But for Cain to lump all news entities together and blame “the media” for his problems was wrong.

If an individual, or a number of news organizations, has been too harsh in the coverage of this story, then they should be called out about it on an individual basis. The actions of some should not be allowed to ruin the reputation of the media as a whole.

Blaming the media is not something that makes any candidate look good. The public wants a president to be someone who stands strong under pressure. The fact that Cain is already getting this worked up about sexual harassment allegations — allegations that many politicians have to face today — does not bode well for how he will handle future problems. What will Cain do when he has to face an even bigger crisis? Will he lose his temper again?

Cain also came across as just plain childish by refusing to address any of these allegations. While they may be false, there is a reason why they were brought up- whether the claims are true, or they arose out of jealousy and spite. Cain needed to address why these accusations were brought up. By foolishly not defending himself, he made himself look guilty of

these actions.

Fortunately for Cain’s campaign, he seems to have gotten the memo, and he held a press conference on Tuesday to address the sexual harassment charges. Now if only all other politicians could follow Cain’s example and stop making the media their scapegoat.