Herman Cain’s campaign touts ‘Princess Nancy’ comment

After spending more than a week defending himself against mounting allegations of sexual harassment, you’d think Herman Cain might try not to appear condescending toward women.

Or, that after announcing during a televised debate that “Princess Nancy” blocked Congress from taking up a Republican healthcare bill, his campaign might hope the comment would fade away.

Nope, not the Herman Cain campaign.

Moments after Cain uttered the comment, this popped up on the candidate’s official Twitter page, THEHermanCain: “The answer to Health Care: HR3000, the bill killed by ‘Princess Nancy’ in committee.”

The bill Cain was referring to was introduced in the summer of 2009, when Pelosi was speaker, by Georgia Republican Tom Price.

“We didn’t hear about it in the previous -- the previous Congress, because ‘Princess Nancy’ sent it to committee and it stayed there, it never came out,” Cain said at the CNBC debate.

Meanwhile, the rest of the politically minded Twitter universe was remarking on Cain’s poor timing, if not his choice of words.

Former George W. Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino: “Ay yi yi, former Speaker Pelosi called a princess in the debate? Not fair. We may disagree on policy, but she earned the Speaker title.”

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell: “@thehermancain dismisses former speaker as ‘Princess Nancy’ for burying GOP health care bill.. wonder if this is the week to do that?”

The Daily Beast’s Andrew Sullivan: “Someone with so many allegations of sexual harassment might not want to belittle a former speaker as ‘Princess Nancy.’”

In an interview after the debate, Cain told CNBC: “That was a statement that I probably should not have made, but I was trying to make a point.”

Lucky for him, the comment will most certainly be overshadowed by Rick Perry’s failure to recall what three federal agencies he proposes to eliminate.

Cain’s thoughts on that? “The American people can be very forgiving.”

kim.geiger@latimes.com