text:
Politico and Cain: Return of the High-Tech Lynching
It took the mainstream media nearly a year to catch up with the John Edwards Affair, but only weeks into Herman Cain's narrow frontrunner status for the GOP nomination, the goodfellas at Politico are letting the uppity black conservative have it.
They begin their "Exclusive: Two women accused Herman Cain of inappropriate behavior" this way:
During Herman Cain's tenure as the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, at least two female employees complained to colleagues and senior association officials about inappropriate behavior by Cain, ultimately leaving their jobs at the trade group, multiple sources confirm to POLITICO.
The women complained of sexually suggestive behavior by Cain that made them angry and uncomfortable, the sources said, and they signed agreements with the restaurant group that gave them financial payouts to leave the association. The agreements also included language that bars the women from talking about their departures.
It goes on with a fair amount of unsourced innuendo. Is there any way we can ever know the truth of this? Probably not since the parties are said to have agreed to remain silent for a five-figure payment, a paltry amount in this day and age. One thing is certain, whatever Cain did (if anything), it certainly isn't in the ballpark of using campaign funds to support a mistress and love child while your wife is dying of cancer or even inserting a cigar in the pudenda of an unpaid intern in the corridors of the Oval Office. Those are certainly more than five-figure infractions — more like eight-figure.
Nevertheless, Cain's campaign is taking a body blow. We'll see what emerges. But I would like to mention one thing. Back in 1991, during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, I believed Anita Hill. Years later, my life had changed, and I came to meet Thomas himself at a social gathering. He turned out to be a delightful, unassuming person — it was hard to believe a Supreme Court justice could be so down to Earth and decent to be with on a social level.
I liked him a lot and am now skeptical that I was right about Hill. Maybe it had been just a high-tech lynching. Of course, I don't know for sure — how can you in these things? But that's the point, isn't it? We all live on the knife edge of accusation. I'm the CEO of a media company and I am frequently concerned that I will be sued for sexual harassment. I'm not that kind of person at all, but given the way things are now, you can't be too careful. I dare not compliment a woman on her hairdo in the workplace for fear I am open to suit.
266 Comments, 121 Threads
1. Ken_phd
A typical smear piece. Par for the course. Let's see how Cain handles it. There will be more hits if he becomes the Republican nominee.
One thing is for sure. Everyone in America will know Herman Cain within a week.
October 30, 2011 - 10:19 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
I agree. "Politico has learned" from whom? Anonymous sources are telling us that unnamed women claim they made unsubstantiated allegations twenty years ago. And this is newsworthy? There's better sourcing on the Vera Baker story than this.
This is following the same pattern as the attacks on Senator Rubio (it still gives me a big smile to say that), or Clarence Thomas, or Sarah Palin. The Left has always made a point of targeting minority Republicans for all the vitriol and dirty tricks they can summon (in fact, the leaked congressional documents show that this is an explicit strategy, explaining why they blocked Miguel Estrada).
They'll be sure to reference the story in every article about Cain, and later they'll call his campaign "scandal-plagued". The other Roger Simon did everything in his power to sabotage Fred Thompson's campaign, I don't doubt that they'll work overtime to torpedo Herman Cain.
October 31, 2011 - 8:09 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Cynical Wonder
Bottom line: he either did it or he didn't. We will know very soon as to whether or not this is some sort of hit piece. They are pretty strong allegations. If true he's done. The Cain camp is already backing of the flat out denial meme. Not looking good.
October 31, 2011 - 10:18 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Pretty strong allegations? OK, what is he accused of actually, you know, doing? In the articles I've read they've never actually come out and said what he specifically is supposed to have done.
If specifics come out, then it's a story. Until then, it's a non-story hit piece. We all expected the democrats to go for the groin-punch… I can only imagine that they're hitting early so Cain won't be around in time for the primaries. You know, when we actually put all this to a vote rather than letting the media droids pick our president.
October 31, 2011 - 10:47 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Not even the ridiculously bogus and unserious "seriousness of the charges" standard applies here. We have no idea what exactly the charges are, but just imagine what they could be!! Apparently a brand new standard applies, as pioneered by Politico — call it the "potential seriousness of the unknown charges" standard.
However, as per usual, such standards only apply to Republicans.
November 1, 2011 - 12:47 pm Link to this Comment
Magical thinking there, Cynical. If this is the best you guys have got, it is not enough.
October 31, 2011 - 2:09 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Ding! Sorry just saw this, Surfer. Yeah – real strong mojo there (not).
October 31, 2011 - 6:48 pm Link to this Comment
Clinton was accused rape by one NAMED person, and sexual harrassment by multiple NAMED women, yet skated right on into the White House (where he promptly got embroiled in multiple other sexual activities with women).
Why would you hold Cain to a higher standard, even if any of these smears are true? Because you hate conservatives, or are you a racist?
October 31, 2011 - 3:12 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
But we're supposed to forget about Mary Jo, hardly a false accusation that.
October 31, 2011 - 4:16 pm Link to this Comment
Roy N
Cynical, if the women agreed to remain silent for a five figure settlement, how did this story get out? Who are the women? There are numerous sexual harassment cases brought daily that businesses settle out of court because it is cheaper than fighting a prolonged law suit even though the plaintiff doesn't have a valid claim. This is a product of political correctness imposed by the legal lobby.
Until more is known, this is just another high-tech lynching by Politico.
October 31, 2011 - 3:28 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
And Politico is funded by whom? George Soros? Really?
Soros funded Obama? so follow the Dots and you get:
George Soros -> Barack Obama -> Rahm Emmanuel -> "Un-named source" -> Politico = High Tech Lynching of Cain -> BUT Parry got the Blame and Perry is now Blaming Romney.Very Well Done Socialists, Kudo's!
November 6, 2011 - 6:13 pm Link to this Comment
I was a female executive during the same time period when a male employee accused his female supervisor of (totally false) sexual harassment. He could well have received a settlement similar to these two women, and not word he said was true. He was merely trying to save his job through the well-known strategy of filing a harassment claim to stave off termination for other, legitimate causes. He declined the settlement offer of 3 months back pay. Three years later, all cases were either determined non-factual (spurious), except Workers Comp. He was ordered to pay back the many thousands in benefits and prescriptions he received and narrowly avoided prosecution. I also never believed Anita Hill during that incident. I am myself a victim of real (not prosecuted) sexual assault.
October 31, 2011 - 6:47 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
I believe Rush said this.
The Lefts Battle Cry:
It's not the nature of the evidence, it's the seriousness of the charge.
October 31, 2011 - 8:22 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
Tom Perkins
What backing off? What species of troll are you?
First he said no sexual harassment happened, then he says what did happen.
There is no there here.
November 1, 2011 - 1:56 am Link to this Comment | Reply
Cynical Wonder
Cain has no one to blame but himself.
Sequence of events today:
1. Politico allegations are false. Story is crap.
2. Yes, there were allegations. But they were false.
3. Yes there were allegations that were false and I don't know what money was paid.
4. I don't know whether money was paid. And it would be wrong for me to find out whether money was paid because it's confidential.
5. There was a in-depth investigation. And I was cleared. But I don't know anything about it.
6. Here's the gesture that led to my getting accused of harassment.
7. Okay, I remember some discussion of a settlement number.The cracks are starting.
October 31, 2011 - 7:18 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Straight talk
Cain only has himself to blame?
You are completely discredited by your stubborn refusal to recognize the point of this article. There is a double-standard by those who claim to be objective and trustworthy.
Maybe, as a cynic, you accept this as inevitable. I see it as repugnant.
By the way, cynicism is not something to brag about. It's contemptible.
October 31, 2011 - 8:18 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Cynical Wonder
Stick a fork in Cain. He's done.
Also, this isn't a liberal hit job, it's a conservative hit job! The establishment GOP are taking Cain out now with a scandal because they know that the southern primaries will not vote for a hot-n-tot (black person). Now they can blame his poor performance on his moral shortcomings and thus escape the charge of racism. Actually, kinda brilliant from a strategery perspective.
Get a clue.
October 31, 2011 - 8:41 pm Link to this Comment -
Tom Perkins
Oh, so you're a pro-Romney sock puppet, maybe even the ProRomney himself.
That's what species of troll. Racism is dead and gone as a force in politics. So long as he didn't actually do anything objectionable and the NRA paid the crazy ladies to go away, Cain isn't done, he's even on more solid ground.
November 1, 2011 - 2:04 am Link to this Comment -
Cynical Wonder
@Tom "Racism is dead and gone as a force in politics."
November 1, 2011 - 11:49 am Link to this Comment -
Victor Erimita
Sure, it's a conservative hit job. That's why the story was put up by Politico. And that's why CNN is foaming over it 24/7.
The corrupt Democrat media machine is just warming up for its campaign of aggressive deception next year against whomever the GOP nominates. We still won't know why Barry has two (or is it three?) Social Security numbers, but we'll know the Jockey shorts size of the Republican within nanoseconds.
The only, repeat only, reaction conservatives should have to this story is to express contempt for the corrupt media.
November 1, 2011 - 8:42 pm Link to this Comment -
Claudia USA
The Tom's posting here are really tiresome. Of course Cain and Paul's support groups have to blame everything on Mitt Romney. Seems it impossible for them to recognize that lovable Herman has not handled this well. I like him too, but the nasty cracks at other candidates or their supposed supporters is rather telling about the character of those making the accusations.
November 2, 2011 - 6:14 am Link to this Comment
Luke Dubya
One of Politico's "un-named sources" is Rahm Emmanuel. Good old Rahm is now mayor of Chicago. Now Rahm is close friends with Barack Obama – OMG!
Barack Obama? yup The Emperor himself.
Emperor Obama wouldn't have any motive to cast aspersions upon a Republican Candidate would he? And He wouldn't then cast blame onto another GOP Candidate to cause dissent and internecine warfare amongst the Republicans would he? It would only cause infighting and give him ammunition when it came to him Vs a GOP Candidate.
No way! The Demonrats wouldn't have anything to do with this at all! would they?November 6, 2011 - 6:06 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
Yeah, I dreamt about being harrassed all through my teens, but never had that 'misfortune'. I believe this is one of those issues where men and women are just completely different. I recall an experioment at, I think, UC-Berkeley where men asked girls to go out and if they said 'no' asked them if they'd go to bed. Natch, screams and outrage. But when girls asked guys to go out, and the guy said 'no', if they asked them to go to bed, the guys went for it like my dog goes for bacon. Just different.
October 31, 2011 - 10:27 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
And the smears will emanate from those educated since the 1960s, for blacks are supposed to be victims only, not self-made men. See http://clarespark.com/2011/02/22/inflaming-minorities-in-the-universities/, for a fighting front that we should all be addressing. All the education reform in the world will be for naught unless the curriculum is drastically changed away from "inequality" and reparations, and toward the old work ethic, and neighborliness.
October 31, 2011 - 11:33 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
Ted the ex-Republican
Cry me a river. After the Clinton affair attacks by special prosecutor you think any candidate for President gets a pass from past documented behavior? Cain and the GOP crybaby support squad should grow up. He is in the spotlight now so deal with it.
btw, why not just admit it? Who cares if he was accused of something 20 years ago???? At least he is not a big fat hypocrite like Newt.
October 31, 2011 - 2:07 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Tom Perkins
"After the Clinton affair attacks by special prosecutor"
Is actually, "Lying under oath to a court of law.", for which and other misbehavior he was disbarred, and should have been impeached. Ever since Clinton, at least, the Democrat Party has stood for the President being above the law.
November 1, 2011 - 2:08 am Link to this Comment | Reply
Cain is the Deem'o'crats and Obambi's nightmare. A REAL African American running against the HALF WHITE part KENYAN part ARAB Affirmative Action USURPER. And with no RACE CARD to play whatever will they do run on their record dont make me laugh.
Now THAT is why this UNSUBSTANTIATED and UNPROVED slur of a SEXUAL harassment has suddenly appeared.October 31, 2011 - 10:06 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
Once everyone gets to know Herman, he will be ahead by an even larger margin. His fundraising has gone thru the roof after this hit piece came out.
November 1, 2011 - 9:30 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
PJ Media's breaking story….oh, the ironies!
November 3, 2011 - 2:13 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
2. Boogeyman
I dont think his supporters will flinch. Those on the Right will see this for what it is. The Left will hate Cain, or who ever might end up with the nomination, whether he is accused of sexual harassment, cannibalism, if he finds the cure to cancer, discovers pollution free cold fusion ect.
They will hate him whatever his policy's, speeches, the way he presents himself or his past. Republicans = evil. That is all they need to know. Everything else is just tactics. Screw 'em. I've given up on talking sense to them. Can't be done. Progressives only change when they have an epiphany.
Kinda like an drug addict. You can't talk them out of being junkies. They have to get to where they are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
October 30, 2011 - 10:24 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
That's a fact Jack! Fox news radio this morning is reporting water shortages after heavy snow fell in the NEast. What does that have to do with this? It's another report that says, "I think you people are stupid and helpless".
Where I live, snow turns into water.
To answer Rogers question, How can you know for sure on these things? You can't, however: A mans history does mean something! If there is no history (a distinguishable pattern of deviant behavior) the validity of the charge as well as the source are brought into question.October 31, 2011 - 4:45 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Rob Crawford
"Where I live, snow turns into water."
Potable water?
If there have been long-term power outages, then the pumps that fill the water towers and pressurize the supply lines may have stopped. If there have been outages and unheated homes, pipes may have frozen and burst, removing the supply from that home, and possibly endangering the pressure and volume available to other homes.
October 31, 2011 - 6:17 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
These systems pretty much all have backup generators. More likely explanation: some know-nothing jurno type let his imagination run away. These drama queens live for the adrenaline rush of "OMG!!!".
October 31, 2011 - 8:57 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Art Chance
I dunno, but I'm leaning towards stupider and stupider! I live in Anchorage, AK where you can expect to drive on snow and ice six or more months of the year. We had our first snow of the season over the weekend (late), only a couple of inches. There were 103 reported accidents on ANC roads during and after the snow! In this part of the World, you don't notice two inches of snow and you go to work if you got two feet, yet 103 people managed to wreck their vehicles on a minor dusting of snow. Now, granted, ANC is very transient and has lots of military, so maybe this weekend was some people's first experience with driving on snow, but 103 wrecks of presumable relatively modern, mostly front or four-wheel drive cars on at minimum all-weather radial tires. Studded snow tires have been legal since Sept. 15, but I suspect a lot of people, like me, haven't put them on because they're rough, noisy, and wear out quickly on dry roads.
And to the point of the story about water shortages, if Katrina taught nothing else it should have taught everyone that they needed enough supplies and equipment to live totally on their own for a minimum of three to five days, so a stash of bottled water or some emergency water jugs is pretty much an essential, but as someone pointed out, you can melt snow and as long as its not yellow, you can safely drink it. If you're paranoid, you can boil it or put bleach in it but as long as it is clean it is perfectly potable and probably cleaner than the tap water in most of the urban Northeast.
October 31, 2011 - 11:26 am Link to this Comment
Yea it's true. Several communities around us had their water treatments plants loose power. Their drinking water can't be treated or pumped.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."October 31, 2011 - 7:33 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Has no one ever heard of boiling water? Or putting 8 drops of chlorine to 1 gallon of water? Are people really that helpless?
October 31, 2011 - 9:34 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Steve DeMarcus "Real electrician/data technician"
Apparently they are, and possibly on government assistance, probably also voted for Obama and will again because well he's a Democrat!
October 31, 2011 - 4:35 pm Link to this Comment
Jim Baker
"Progressives only change when they have an epiphany."
I think this is the reason we should stop allowing these "regressive" morons to carry their self proclaimed progressive banner. Time to call them what they have always been at all times. What they preach is a 150 year old misguided doctrine full of unsubstantiated assertions.
October 31, 2011 - 7:52 am Link to this Comment | Reply
3. Charlie Martin
We know now they're taking him seriously.
October 30, 2011 - 10:45 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Exactly. As soon as Cain became a perceived threat to the Commie Loons it was time to dig up some dirt and the ugly smears commenced per usual…
October 31, 2011 - 10:32 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
Art Chance
I'd love to believe the lefties cooked this up, but my money's on another Republican campaign doing the leaking. 'Course, now that it's leaked the Left will display all their brazen hypocrisy about it, but I don't believe they started it.
October 31, 2011 - 12:22 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
I'm not a betting man, but if i were, I'd give you odds that this came directly from the RNC – they want Herman out of this race, out of contention and most of all, out of the lead in all the polls. Don't all the ignoramuses realize Herman is not "our" candidate? Why do they keep voting for him as a favorite in these state polls? What is sadder still is that the establishment Republicans don't even want to consider Herman as Mitt Romney's running mate. We are looking at vicious politics.
October 31, 2011 - 12:51 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
Cynical Wonder
By "taking him seriously" you mean the establishment GOP? Don't kid yourself. They are the ones behind this. This isn't a liberal hit job, it's a conservative hit job! They are taking Cain out now with a scandal because they know that the southern primaries will not vote for a hot-n-tot (black person). Now they can blame his poor performance on his moral shortcomings and thus escape the charge of racism.
October 31, 2011 - 8:58 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Tom Perkins
The southern primaries will vote for him in spades. ;^)
November 1, 2011 - 2:11 am Link to this Comment | Reply
4. Baobo
A political trick? No… remember the democrat explanation for Rathergate is that somebody knew Dan Rather would fall for easily refuted documents. Dan being Dan, I tend to agree. And anyway it's too early for those kind of ploys.
So what to make of the story? Well, ever since JFK a prerequisite for nomination is the ability to be scandalized. Perhaps Cain is too clean to be president, and this fictitious blackmail will provide the exemption.
October 30, 2011 - 10:49 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Two things. First, it's not "too early" for these things anymore. The Republican primaries are now looming, and the Obama administration is very busy working to choose the Republican candidate that they want to run against. Herman Cain is not the candidate they want to run against. They want to run against Romney, or Perry if they can't have Romney, so they have to start tearing Cain into shreds now.
This is why all the people who said that Sarah Palin was too "damaged goods" to run were wrong. Palin was not damaged goods. She was fully vetted. Now we have to go through the same endless "gotcha" surprise smear tactics with Cain, except that if the candidate had been Palin, their gun would be empty by now. With Cain, they have the factor of the unknown. With Palin, they would be old, used-up stories everyone was tired of.
What this says is that the administration is scared of Cain. If they didn't think he could beat Obama, they wouldn't be attacking him now. They would wait for him to take the nomination and then launch their attacks. The fact that they are throwing this stuff at him now means that they are afraid and they don't think that the accusations will stick tight enough to stop him from beating Obama. They are playing their card now on the hope that the accusations will stick just tight enough for Cain to be defeated in a crowded Republican field. We know Cain is smart. He'd better be tough and shrewd as a fox because he's going to need all of that to get through what he's up against now.
October 31, 2011 - 6:17 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Austin in TX
I'll agree that they want to run against Romney. Say what you will about the minutae, but Romneycare cancels out Obamacare as a line of attack, to most of the libs Obama's religious history/lack of observance in the Presidency will be cancelled out by Romney's Mormonism (a ridiculous assumption on their part, but there are people who harbor an irrational dislike of the LDS church), there's not much public record for either of them to run on (Romney's been governor of MA for one term, Obama's been president for one term.)
In the end against Romney it'll come down to debates, which will be heavily prejudiced to help Obama no matter who runs, and private sector experience, which Romney has and Obama doesn't. But the class warfare'll be amped up to 11 and in my opinion Romney is the most beatable Republican nominee outside Huntsman.
I don't think they do want to run against Perry, or if they do they certainly didn't when he declared. The Post articles, the gotcha questions, the moderators either prompting massive attacks (which in fairness he didn't handle all that well) or trying to ignore him in the debates make me think they don't want to run against him.
Personally I think Cain takes almost all the positives from Romney and cancels out most of the negatives namely the flip-flopping, although the abortion stance was there it was explainable by the fact that Cain's an economic guy, not a social policy guy. Cain's about as close to Reagan as we've seen in some time, but he hasn't spent the time Reagan did thinking about policies and issues. If Cain had been a governor of a state he'd almost be the reincarnation of Reagan, but whether he pulls it off remains to be seen.
October 31, 2011 - 9:54 am Link to this Comment | Reply
5. Harrison O'Toole
There was a time when such concepts as "He that is without sin … let him first cast a stone," and "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."
Here we have the hypocrisy of POLITICO appearing to forget Jesse Jackson's use of campaign funds to support his employee, mistress and mother of his love child (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/925362/posts), the ever-charming Al Sharpton's 1987 despicable lying about six men raping a 15-year-old African-American girl, now rewarded with his own program on MSNBC.
This was before his 1989 arrest on charges of theft of $250,000 from a "charity" he'd founded 20 years earlier to "help young people." (http://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/30/nyregion/sharpton-arrested-to-face-charges-of-stealing-funds.html)
And who can forget Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson who literally froze his stolen assets in his freezer, and was then sentenced to 13 years in prison and the payment of $470,000 to repay bribes he solicited in office two years ago. (http://articles.cnn.com/2009-11-13/politics/jefferson.sentencing_1_wire-fraud-counts-of-money-laundering-mr-jefferson?_s=PM:POLITICS)
Some might think that with Democrat lights like that, POLITICO would choose to avoid flimsy he-said/she-said tales such as this. But no. Herman Cain, the great Herman Cain, in POLITICO's view, is guilty of the worst sin of all: being a Republican.
Cain's supporters will pay POLITICO no mind on this as on everything else. What did we expect? The Left's eager anticipation of watching Herman Cain demolish Obama in every debate they have? I didn't think so.
Shame on POLITICO, a word they couldn't define if their website depended on it. Fie on them. This is the work of scumbags, pure and simple.
October 30, 2011 - 11:11 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Harrison you are so right. less than a year into obamas reign I swore I'd never vote for a black man for President. then along came Herman Cain. I hope the republican party will have enough sense to make him the nominee and not pull another STUPID blunder as they did with McCain. John McCain lost the election. had they been smart enough to give Sarah Palin her head instead of muzzeling her he could have won, Herman Cain can win the electiopn,
October 31, 2011 - 8:10 am Link to this Comment | Reply
6. Alan Kellogg
Once again we see how reactionary the left is. They refuse to see anyone becoming president who doesn't follow their script. And when that person happens to be black, why then he's a traitor who must be taught his place. Racism runs riot in leftist circles.
October 30, 2011 - 11:23 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
7. trangbang68
Get back on the plantation, and be a good Stepinfetchit for your liberal overseers. The left are amoral swine every last damn one of them.
October 30, 2011 - 11:56 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
When you call the Left "amoral" you give them too much credit.
They are evil. They begin with lies, and if allowed move on to theft.
If not enough is produced for them to steal, they move on to enslavement.
If the slaves are not productive, they move on to torture.
If the tortured slaves try to get away, they move on to murder.After a generation of being told that lies, theft, torture and murder are virtues, a society becomes sunk in perversion.
Evil is about the only word to describe them.
November 1, 2011 - 5:36 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
8. Alaina
If someone is slimy enough to falsely accuse someone of harassment, there's not enough money is the Bank of England to keep that person from saying something to someone, who will then feel free to dig for their own goldmine. Paying someone to shut up and go away is a dumb strategy. If you're innocent, fight back and scare the heck out of the accuser. Payoff's resemble guilt. Better to fight for your reputation, 'cause that's all we've really got in this world of sleaze bullies.
October 31, 2011 - 12:26 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
You've obviously never been on the receiving end of such a lawsuit.
To just answer a formal federal court complaint, do some basic due diligence, and go through a round of initial disclosures and discovery will easily cost you in excess of 20-50K in legal fees. Going to trial these days can easily cost 50-100k (2 lawyers + 1 paralegal = $600/hour cheaply, assume three 12 hour days for trial/witness prep, 2 days in trial (8 hours in court, at least 3-4 more post-trial day preparation on day 1), plus 15 hours for pre-and post-trial briefing if you don't have a jury). That's minimum 70 hours, or 42k, for bare bones-ing it. Add in costs of copying exhibits, equipment rental if you want to put anything up on a computer screen, court reporter rush transcript fees, etc. and that adds up quickly).
And, if you alert your insurance carrier so that they cover the cost of your defense, they have the right to settle it for you, and if you don't want to accept the settlement dollar amount the insurance company is willing to settle for, then in many states you're on your own paying for costs of defense.
The same holds true for any employment discrimination lawsuit, which is precisely why larger employers would rather give you extended health benefits and some token severance in exchange for a release of all claims against the employer.
This is also why, perversely, if you want to hire a female/minority/protected class member, you had better make damned sure you won't have a reason to fire them within the next year, because documentation of grounds for firing is a bitch if you don't want to get dinged for a pretextual discrimination suit.
So if these women really did settle for somewhere in the five figure range, and their attorney gets a third on contingency, it was likely a bullshit nuisance claim.
October 31, 2011 - 6:21 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Marc Malone
Thank you for posting that. Very clear. Such a nuisance suit is often settled perfunctorily. It is often a racket. It may even be that Cain never heard of the claims against him.
October 31, 2011 - 12:07 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
The claims were against the restarant association and not against Cain, himself.
October 31, 2011 - 1:15 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
Exactly. I heard Mr. Cain say that the settlement he knew about was for 3 months salary – that's standard. If the person has a weak case – or even none.
October 31, 2011 - 6:57 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
And how do you fight for your reputation when it's a case of he said/she said? Unless you have something on tape or video, you can kiss goodbye any way to clear your reputation. Having said that, though, I'm not buying there was even a payoff or any instance of harassment.
Given that people high up in the restaurant association had never even heard of the charges, it's doubtful there was any settlement or harassment at all… I mean, really? No one remembers even hearing about this? I should think it would've been all over the place at the time. Yet funny that people are going on the record (not making anonymous comments) about being completely unaware of this.
Yeah… I don't buy it, and I'm a chick.
October 31, 2011 - 6:27 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
It does seem too conveniently crafted. I mean, "The people involved were sworn to secrecy" is just a smokescreen to apply a seemingly legit reason why they can't get any more information. And, like all left-originated accusations, it's open-ended, meaning that they couldn't possibly have any control over the content of the message since they, themselves (media) aren't the involved parties.
I ran into this in the military, as I did with a lot of things where someone made up a lie about me, due to an ongoing personal clash, and I endured an investigation. The investigators never found anything but the damage was done.
It's ok, though. I didn't have to lift a finger for revenge as the perpetrator of the lie self-destructed over time. Vindication enough for me.
But this sort of thing has always been part of the "human condition". But in today's day and age, the power of the media gets so abused that only the drooling mouth-breathers take it seriously. "Why, it's in PRINT…It MUST be true!" But all such activity does is further lower the standard to National Enquirer levels.
So I think it's a made-up story as well. The fact that it's being trumpeted by Politico makes it even more suspect. Remember, suicide bombing and Kamikaze tactics are all design-features of the left. And they are panicking. They will always tell you who they fear the most.
October 31, 2011 - 8:24 am Link to this Comment | Reply
Art Chance
I did labor relations for a deep pockets employer. I'd have cheerfully paid six figures on even the most frivolous charges to avoid the tender mercies of 12 morons with drivers licenses. As long as I could settle it for less than or even a little more than the cost of winning it, I'd settle it most of the time. YOu had to fight some of them either out of principle or to make sure the plaintiff's bar didn't think you were a total pushover, but 12 morons with driver's licenses WILL find the better off, powerful guy, with the high-level job with a big, rich employer guilty of something and give the plaintiff a few million bucks just because they can.
I'm given to understand that these were five figure settlements. That puts it firmly in the "go away money" category; cheaper to settle than defend, and that's how the plaintiffs' bar and the poverty pimps keep up their Mercedes and Lexus payments.
October 31, 2011 - 11:37 am Link to this Comment | Reply
9. cfbleachers
Did he drive drunk off a bridge with one of them? If so, he would get a pass wouldn't he?
Did he have a prostitution ring run out of his basement? If so, he would get a pass wouldn't he?
Look, let's face it..Bill Ayers and his cadre of mass murdering plotters want to put us in re-education camps or kill us off. George Soros wants to break the American banking system the way he tried to break Britain's and France's. (while buying Jet Blue and One West Bank and Petrobras among other things…and as much media as he can). Capitalism is under direct assault.
The Midwest Academy and Cooper Union types want to Cloward Piven us out of existence.
This current administration is the most devious, most "Nixonian", most dirty in history. They have a hair trigger reaction to every perceived slight, to every investigative question, to every mild rebuke, to every curious inquiry.
Those of us who write or comment often and out loud…are probably on a "list" somewhere, comprising the "enemies" spoken about on Spanish radio….and in Bill Ayers powwows with other radicals.
Bill Ayers was indoctrinating our children. Frank Marshall Davis said not to sellout to "the man". The New Party, ACORN, SEIU, Cooper Union, Midwest Academy, UNO all had an agenda…and it all was to "transform" this country against the will of the people.
So, smearing Marco Rubio and Herman Cain in order to destroy ANY impact they may have on minority communities…is not just expected…it is demanded by leftist orthodoxy. Losing blacks, Hispanics and Jews in large numbers would wipe out leftist impact in the voting booth. They would still have the Workers Party, the propaganda machine, (mass media, Hollywood and academia)…a great advantage.
Smearing Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich…damaging their brand, slandering the Tea Party and calling them racists…will pale in comparison to the actual racism of leftism against a black, Hispanic or Jew reaching national prominence who dares to not adopt leftist dogma. If you leave the leftist plantation…they will not just cut off a foot. They will go for the throat. Joe Lieberman went first on the national stage for an elected position…the reaction was vicious. Rubio and Cain will feel the rage and frothing as well.
Standing up to them will create a vehement reaction. They will set the propaganda machine into full smear, tear you limb from limb, slander you, lie about you, …and coverup every leftist's misdeeds, malfeasance, misfeasance, manslaughters, and murders at the same time they are savaging Cain, Rubio, the Tea Party…and maybe you next.
They will coverup treason, anti-Semitism, bribery, graft and corruption.
They will continue to radicalize our schools, create propaganda films against the free market, our military, and our Judeo-Christian heritage.
EVERY movie, EVERY TV show, EVERY article, EVERY humanities class, will have the same elements. Hatred and loathing for America and Israel and Christians and Jews and non-leftists…and especially free market capitalism.
Herman Cain's reputation is in mortal danger. Obtain prominence and adopt a vocal stance against radical leftism…and yours would be too.
They will crush you Mr. and Mrs. Non-Leftist…by any means necessary. There are two reactions to this. Sit down, shut up…and cower in a corner. Deny that these things exist. Pooh-pooh them. Ridicule the facts. Tremble at their power. Succumb to their will. Surrender to their treason, fascism, totalitarianism.
Or not.
October 31, 2011 - 12:26 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
thanks for saying what I think, in so much better words than I could ever write
October 31, 2011 - 7:39 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
Thank you cfbleachers! I'm more committed to Cain than ever because of this attempted smear. He's got feet made of clay just like everyone else, but he stands for conservative principles and we need to stand by him during this high tech lynching.
October 31, 2011 - 10:07 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
I have to say though, that after the ridiculous and blatant smear jobs against Sarah Palin, these stories have lost their bite. We don't jump at them so readily — its just another day in the life of the leftist propaganda machine.
October 31, 2011 - 10:57 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
Joe CItizen
I think this is pretty obviously a parody of rightwing ranters, no?
October 31, 2011 - 10:58 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Art Chance
No, he's saying exactly what many, probably most, on the Right think about the Soros Junta and Camrade Obama and his minions. They intend to destroy America, and we intend to stop them!
October 31, 2011 - 11:44 am Link to this Comment | Reply
sonoma conservative
cf bleachers, I have enjoyed your posts in the past, but this one you hit out of the park.
Keep up the great posts.
October 31, 2011 - 11:47 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
Quesstion: How do they sleep at night?
Answer: Easy — they have no soul.Wow! That rocked my boat, CF. My hat's off to you for your keen-eye observation and eloquence. With folks like you standing up to the ugliness permeating this great nation, we have a chance.
God bless you, and keep that mighty pen flowing.
November 2, 2011 - 2:33 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
10. Silver Shamrock
Real Clear Politics has a Sunday night radio show on WLS AM in Chicago. The Politico story dropped shortly before RCP went on air, so tonight's show dealt entirely with the new purported Herman Cain scandal. When RCP's Tom Bevan opened the lines for calls, the first caller was a guy who claimed to know Cain from their mutual days as National Restaurant Association insiders. The guy kept saying that everyone knows Herman Cain has a fetish for the white women and that he's a serial philanderer (with white women!).
My guess is that the caller was a political flak, and that the left/Mainstream Media/Democratic party will subtly (or not so subtly — e.g., the caller tonight) push the narrative that Cain — already established by the New York Times & NBC as the GOP's designated "minstrelsy" Uncle Tom — sure does love him some white women. If the story has legs and Cain suffers in the polls, it will likely be presented as proof that the Republicans really are the mouth-breathing racists that everyone at the NYT and MSNBC keeps saying they are. The narrative will be that Republicans were happy to use the "house negro" Cain as a Trojan horse to stealthily push their racist anti-Obama message, just so long as the "house negro" knew his "place." But he was a dead man walking the minute they found out he had his eyes on the masters' women.
So if the caller on the Real Clear Politics show was, in fact, attempting to do what it appeared he was trying to do, the Democrats and the Mainstream Media will have Herman Cain and the Republicans in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario . . . familiar territory for Republicans. If the scandal becomes a big deal, and Republicans abandon Cain (and knowing the way the GOP operates, Cain will be a dead man walking if the story is legit: he'll have to extract himself from the primaries — and probably from public life altogether — sooner rather than later), it will be presented as further proof of Republican racism. But if Cain survives the scandal and Republicans stand behind him, it will be presented as damning proof that the Republicans are "anti-woman" and sexist. If that happens, feminists will, on cue, become very publicly outraged. Anita Hill will become a celebrity again, and maybe even a media "go-to" on the topic of being sexually harassed by "self hating" conservative black Toms. Gloria Steinem might even emerge from her crypt to walk arm-in-arm in protest with third wave feminists who've surpassed her, like Jessica Valenti and girls-of-the-moment Jill Fillipovic and Kate Bolick.
If the latter scenario plays out, by the time you sit down for Thanksgiving dinner, your girlfriend, wife, mother, sister, cousin and grandmother will hate Herman Cain as much as they hate Sarah Palin and Michele Bachman.
The gears are in motion now. The template was, most likely, being laid out moments after Politico published the story. Things are probably going to get very ugly, and very soon.
October 31, 2011 - 1:00 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Kathy Hughes
Well, this is one woman who does not buy into the MSM at all. I like Herman Cain, and will vote for him in the primaries as well as in the general if he gets the nomination, God willing. This so-called "story" is a load of B/S and I don't buy it., although I'm not surprised by it..someone must be very afraid of Cain's popularity among the voters.
October 31, 2011 - 8:47 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
Why can't someone in the MSM from the right wing respond, "Bill Clinton was a serial philanderer with white women too."
It's about sex lefties, a personal issue.
I doubt it's true but he's still better than Obama and not as good as Rick Santorum.
October 31, 2011 - 10:35 am Link to this Comment | Reply
11. An Préachán
If this turns out to be Herman complimenting a couple of females on their hairdos, something on that order–really, anything less than serious sexual harassment, there will be hell to pay. Herman's supporters, and ALL other conservatives and a great deal of the 'Undecideds' in general, will be white hot with rage.
Perhaps it has broken out now because the Romney or Perry campaign 'planted' the info. If that is the case, and we find out Perry or Romney, or whoever, was behind this, they'll find themselves disemboweled. Primary season over before it begins.
But if it is from the Left–well, well. As other commentators above have pointed out, the hypocrisy of the Left is beyond belief–at some point, this excrement gets deep enough that a backlash develops.
The Left was successful in going off the reservation in their 'borking' of Robert Bork. They weren't successful with Clarence Thomas. They were successful with Miguel Estrada. But all that is dangerously close to the edge of hellfire for them. I.e., this could backfire and end up turning the Black vote against the Dems–a long shot at this moment, but not an unthinkable scenario.
We'll see.
This is definitely a turning point in the campaign, one way or another.
An Préachán
October 31, 2011 - 1:08 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Old Soldier
Of course this was a Romney hit job – just like the hit on Perry a few weeks ago. Who else has the money and motivation to dig for dirt on other Republicans? And the need to derail the Cain campaign right now? Only Willard.
Romney is scum, I'm rapidly approaching the point where I won't vote for him even in the general election. He's no better than Nixon politically or morally.
November 1, 2011 - 8:21 am Link to this Comment | Reply
13. Becky
It's not working. Not only is it not working, but I find the writers at Politico to be disgusting whores to accept the money that they are being paid to debase themselves in this manner. eech.
I know that the True Believers Of The Progressive Faith will jump all over this, because they are blind belivers. Sorry, no excuses this time. What worked in the 90′s now is the purvue of vicious fools.
For sane people, all that this Politico smear does is to vindicate Clarence Thomas.
October 31, 2011 - 1:15 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
14. Becky
Good news! They have named a woman who accused Herman Cain. Her name is Mayella Ewell. Here is the video of the accusation (you will have to watch a short advertisement):
October 31, 2011 - 1:43 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
Ha Ha! Sums it up pretty nicely. Well done.
October 31, 2011 - 9:59 am Link to this Comment | Reply
15. JDanielBoone
I'm done folks. This country is no longer worth fighting for. I will squander no more of my life in a futile battle.
When the inevitable collapse comes, I hope a patriot revolution takes arms to establish a new republic consistent with the collective genius God's providence assembled together 235 years ago and gave man this last best failed hope of liberty. Only then will I re-up in pursuit of that cause and pledge what little is left of my life, my fortune, and my sacred honor to a hopefully longer enduring victory over tyranny for our posterity. If there is one faithful lesson from history's futile cycle, it must be that tyranny is not subject to eradication on the battlefield of ideas — especially when the tyrants reside within your own borders. Our tyrants are not King George whose influence could be pushed offshore; they must be buried deep.
Bye all, I'm out here for good. I've spent nearly 50 years actively involved politically, and in all that time we have never learned a damn thing. This is the last straw. I wish you all Godspeed. Once I hit enter to post this, I'll never return to this or any other site to waste another minute of my life concerned about matters wholly beyond reason and control. God bless you Mr. Simon; here's hoping you and yours prove this old fool wrong.
October 31, 2011 - 2:51 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
and yet you are reading my comment.. Freedom is worth fighting for and your assistance is needed. But then, you already know that. You are just feeling cranky. Buck up, your service is needed.
October 31, 2011 - 3:29 am Link to this Comment | Reply
16. davidinvirginia
This story looks to be typical leftwing media nonsense and BS. But, what it does do is let Cain play the victim card (and the race card as he's already done once in this campaign so excuse me if I don't cry over him being hoisted on his own petard), and it also takes the focus off the real problem with Cain which is that he doesn't seem to know what the heck he's talking about most of the time.
Attacking him just because he's a black conservative is wrong. Defending him just because he's a black conservative is just as wrong.
October 31, 2011 - 3:09 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
So responding to an unfair and potentially untrue attack is playing the victim card? We'll keep that in mind, should you ever decide to defend yourself when you're unfairly attacked.
Jeeze… thanks for your input, MOBY!
October 31, 2011 - 6:36 am Link to this Comment | Reply
17. Maggi Cook
If various board members, including chairs and vice chairs, are unaware of these allegations then I would believe they are untrue. A legal payout would not have been possible without board approval and/or knowledge.
October 31, 2011 - 4:02 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Art Chance
You can't say that categorically. I depends on the size of the organization and how much authority was delegated to the HR and Legal people. A small settlement, as these seem to be, would be well within the authority of a HR Director or Attorney in most large or well off organizations.
October 31, 2011 - 12:29 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
18. spinoneone
This will be Cain's first, but surely not only, opportunity to handle a crisis. I will be interested to see how he does it. That will tell a more important tale than the accusation. Perhaps we should look at this as the first 3am telephone call.
October 31, 2011 - 4:29 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Terry Gain
I agree. Nobody knows what happened. Cain needs to get out in front of the story. He should make a statement surrounded by female employees and associates and he should demand that Politico reveal their sources as that is probably even a bigger story than these accusations. Sometimes all it takes for a man to be accused of harassment is to have been in the presence of unstable or unscrupulous women.
October 31, 2011 - 5:41 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
"…he should demand that Politico reveal their sources as that is probably even a bigger story than these accusations."
twang!…zzzzzttt…>>——->…thunk! Bullseye.
October 31, 2011 - 6:12 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
But, you see, you can't make Politico tell you who the accusers are. Did you miss that part of the story, where the alleged victims of the alleged harassment — as part of the settlement — are barred from making public comment about the matter?
Funny how Politico got wind of the charges and settlement, then, isn't it, if people weren't supposed to talk about it at all. It's almost as if the whole thing were just some made up political hatchet job…
There's no point in Cain surrounding himself with female supporters to "prove" he's a good guy, because that would simply be a cheap photo op.
There's nothing for him to defend, and any rational person wouldn't take this hit piece as fact. Those who are inclined to think the worst of a black conservative or a conservative in general will believe it. And those who don't won't.
It's pretty pathetic that Politico thinks this is worthy of their time, when so many actual crimes perpetrated by democrats get glossed over. It's almost like there's some kind of bias or agenda at work, isn't it?
October 31, 2011 - 6:44 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
This depends upon how the gag order was written. If there is a non-disparagement order THEY can say that THEY were not the ones to release the information…they are only "responding to it".
Herman Cain would then still be bound by it. The Court could order a contempt finding if HE breaks the order…or open up the settlement for breach purposes.
Please allow me to disabuse anyone of the notion that he can "simply respond" and "get out in front of" these issues. He is bound by a court order that has consequences.
In other words, it is possible for someone (or a couple of someones) to set him up to be accused of "inappropriate behavior"…file suit…demand settlement, then have a gag order bind him from a vigorous defense if "someone else" discloses the set and settlement and disparages him through the propaganda machine…which is saved from EVERY slander by an "absence of malice".
For people raised in an old fashioned culture…hugging people, calling someone sweetheart or touching their arm when in an otherwise polite conversation…can be twisted into a sexual affront by a greedy, gold digger or disgruntled, passed over or fired employee.
How do I know? I have taken depositions on hundreds of these matters. For the ones who are guilty…there is usually a pattern of very predictable behavior. For those being set up…there is usually a very vocal defense that says it is NOT what is being portrayed.
I don't know the situation here. I can't comment on the particulars. But this is sleazy from the leftists no matter what the situation is…because they KNOW that it is intended to hurt him, they KNOW that there is a gag order, they KNOW that there is no allegation of inappropriate sexual conduct, touching, groping, …when Clinton was accused of this…the propaganda machine attacked the women.
After they tried to bury all the stories.
Herman Cain cannot "simply" come out and get into the details. And the left knows it.
October 31, 2011 - 7:12 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Are you saying he can't publicly deny the allegations and say no more than that? Something to the effect of:
"I was accused of something I didn't do. I have no idea why. We made a rational business decision to settle. This is the only point in my life when I was accused of such a thing. I am not a sexual harasser and never was."
If he isn't allowed to say something like that, then there is something seriously wrong with the legal system.
On a separate note: they can probably come up with hundreds of women from his past who are willing to lie about him. These people are leftists after all. Expect to hear from several of them in the cooming weeks. If I was in Cain's campaign, countering that is the strategy I would be working on. If the 20 or so women who worked most closely with him over the last 30 years won't publicly defend him, he is toast. As his strategist, I would be recruiting their endorsements right now.
Third note: they had to know this was coming. Why do they seem so unprepared?
October 31, 2011 - 8:37 am Link to this Comment -
Terry Gain
Cf, who says there is a Court Order? Non-disclosure agreements aren't usually made part of a Court Order. They are private agreements. Cain has already responded. I doubt that the non-disclosure agreement contained in the settlement documents prevents Cain from responding.
October 31, 2011 - 10:16 am Link to this Comment -
Art Chance
Trouble is, cflbleachers, I think there's a pretty good circumstantial case that the leak came from our side of the ditch. I agree with everything you said about how totally effed up the whole sexual harassment claim scene is and I have LOTS of up close and personal experience with the traps of settlements and non-disclosure agreements. I went so far as to change the boilerplate on our settlement agreements with unions to include language like, "except as is necessary to enforce its terms" as a way to get past unions playing the bag trick with me. At least I could wave the settlement around to shut them up or try to get my side out. But even then you were often at the mercy of a lefty judge or arbitrator.
The lefties are doing all the stuff you'd expect from their brazen hypocrisy, but I believe it started on our side. I'd love to have that belief disproved, however.
October 31, 2011 - 12:45 pm Link to this Comment
well Elain poliyico is a PATHETIC peice of CRAP,
October 31, 2011 - 8:24 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
proreason…there IS something seriously wrong with the legal system.
And something seriously sinister and definitely wrong with our mass media/information stream system.
I have not seen the settlement, the order upon the settlement or the terms of the agreement.
In front of a leftist judge, Cain could get whipsawed. "Someone else" goes to a leftist fecal farm and "drops a dime". The Journolista slime Herman…and he has to get to his attorneys before he can respond…I would insist my clients do the same.
That's no unprepared, that's getting ambushed by a violated protected court order.
I don't care which candidate anyone is pulling for or against…this is an assault on this country and the way we conduct our affairs. The media have turned into slime, conspiring to destroy ANY non-leftist. Standing up for Herman here is NOT a vote for him…it is being a sentry at America's gate…for ALL of us non-leftists.
We need to separate out whether this "helps" our "favorite" candidate…it damages this nation.
Fair is fair, right is right, wrong is wrong. The media are scum. We need to fight back…together…or surrender. The common bond we have here is a conscience. The Journolistas need to be rooted out, exposed and universally condemned.
October 31, 2011 - 9:13 am Link to this Comment
The sound bites I have been hearing today featuring Cain telling his side indicate to me that so far, he is handling this cock-&-bull story just fine.
As for being "prepared" for such a thing, I am not sure exactly how one is to do that. The best thing Can can possibly do is tell the truth,& it appears to me that he is doing just that.
We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg of dirty pool the MSM are going to be playing as this presidential campaign unfolds. I figure there will be riots in the streets a la 1968 before it's all over.
October 31, 2011 - 10:10 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Terry…that's the way it's been done in cases I have handled.
As part of the settlement, the parties gave the Court authority to preside over certain post-settlement issues. Parties could go back into Court based upon a breach and the Court could issue findings…we always had orders signed off in those cases.
It eliminated any debate over whether the Court retained jurisdiction…no new action was required. Maybe it is done differently in different jurisdictions.
I don't know where these allegations arose…if it was from the convention, that was at McCormick Place in Chicago. If it was at the association, that would be in D.C.
The settlement agreement in federal court, imposing conditions antecedent on the parties…I certainly would want the Court to approve and enforce them. A stipulated settlement agreement in federal court barring disclosure or sealing the files would not be as common as a vanilla non-disparagement clause.
I simply don't know the facts here. However, if it was an extensive gag order…the Court would have had to have been involved, I believe.
October 31, 2011 - 11:00 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
oh, so you know there are two harassment cases where the accusers were paid, and there is no way to prepare for that? huh?
Give me a break.
The fact that Cain was blindsided is a huge red flag. How could he possibly NOT be prepared with a well thought out response? Maybe it's just me, but I want a Presidential candidate with some foresight.
The odds of these incidents being revealed was, let's see, oh yes, 100%.
We're lucky it happened now rather than October 2012.
And if there is anything else, it better come out now as well. If there is more bad stuff, it won't improve with time. (and don't tell me these two incidents aren't bad. They are formal settlements. By definition, that's bad.)
October 31, 2011 - 3:50 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
proreason, I'm not fighting with you.
I have some expertise in this area. A settlement of a nuisance case from 20 years ago is not driving a nude young girl off a bridge, having multiple bimbo eruptions with payoffs of jobs at Revlon…but they must be handled.
Fox News today was saying how swiftly they got on top of this. I think your personal opinion of the Cain candidacy may be impacting your judgment a touch here.
This is a hit job on some very minor matters, it appears. You don't have to like Cain as a candidate to appreciate that decades old charges of pretty mild accusations, unproven and unsubstantiated…is pretty thin gruel on which to derail a candidacy these days. Again, I get it. You don't like Cain's candidacy. You have made that clear.
But, at least defer to me on this issue…nuisance settlements of unsubstantiated claims….the cost of defense or less…are made all the time on behalf of completely innocent people. I know this for a fact….not opinion.
It happens every day in America, unfortunately. It sucks, but that's our legal system.
October 31, 2011 - 4:25 pm Link to this Comment -
cf, I was responding to bobbcat who was claiming there is no way to be prepared for an incident like the attack on Cain. The opposite, of course, is true. It should be the first thing a wise candidate prepares for.
Sorry for the confusion.
October 31, 2011 - 6:11 pm Link to this Comment -
Tom Perkins
I am having a bit of fight with Proreason, for one thing because he isn't proreason, he's ProRomney. He's a shill for Romney. If he weren't, he wouldn't say silly things like this, "but I want a Presidential candidate with some foresight."…
..and then he goes and supports a pro-gun control, pro-AGW, pro-huge-government, business as usual, left-of-center candidate like Romney. Romney is so left of center, one of the few policy decisions he hasn't flipped flopped on in a craven attempt to make himself electable, is Romneycare, a top-down, totalitarian government healthcare system which is bankrupting his state.
Romney would be disastrous nominee for the GOP. He is the perfect Democrat Party candidate. He's the liberal who'll get some of what he wants. Romney is someone who likes business as usual–he's some one who thinks a big enough government can design laws and society so our troubles are ended,witness his steadfast belief in Romneycare. He's the liberal who'll get some of what he wants, he wants to take us over the cliff at 5mph instead of 105. We need instead to stop all movement towards the cliff, and if that means gridlock for 4 years, so be it.
Romney is movement towards the edge, there is not one thing wrong with Washington he can credibly claim he will improve.
I prefer as flat and simple an income tax as possible, with no sales or corporate tax. I'm happy with 9-9-9 because it moves us in that direction, and even where it takes us sideways, it's a vast improvement over what is going on now. Even the debate over it will move us towards where I want to go.
Romney's plan has something like 118 parts. He is a technocrat who doesn't understand his job is to be as uninvolved in our lives as possible, he wants to tinker with us in the details, engineering our laws and lives to fix us.
He's a Democrat who will preserve the GOP portion of the establishment that got us into this. Romney isn't the safe candidate, he's the Democrat Party candidate.
Ignore this distraction from the real issues and obliterate Romney.
Obama's toast. He loses just as much if he loses 50.5 to 49.5 as if he loses 55 to 45, the question is, what can we make out of his loss?
Electing Romney is throwing that victory away, I WILL NOT VOTE FOR ROMNEY.
The 25% he's still got is the best he's getting.
November 1, 2011 - 2:41 am Link to this Comment -
fyi, i'm for Newt. Romney is my second choice.
It's an easy call. The logic is simple.
1. Defeating Obama is paramount. It's 100 times more important than ideology.
2. The president's role from 2012 to 2016 will be to rubber stamp the new Tea Party Congress. That's where the real leadership should be and will be.
3. Only two candidates have the brain power to defeat the one billion dollar marxist lying machine. Newt and Romney. Cain isn't even in the league, nor are the other candidates. (Perry is pitiful as well).
4. The difference between Newt and Romney is that Newt is smarter but has more baggage. Romney has more money. It's close to a toss-up, but I go with brains for now.
5. No Republican president will get in Congress' way. In the case of Romney, if he gets elected his primary goal will be to be re-elected. He is probably the Republican candidate MOST likely to follow the Tea Party's lead. Cain, in contrast, will do whatever the hell he pleases. He has already made that clear. And everything that comes out of the guy's mouth is a roll-your-own moment. He looks good and sounds good saying it, but he couldn't say the same thing twice in a row if his life depended on it. I can't figure out whether it's a strategy or just that he can't keep things straight, but I favor the latter.November 1, 2011 - 9:21 pm Link to this Comment
At The Rubicon
I agree. I am particularly interested in seeing if he is able to turn the tables on his attackers and put THEM on the defensive. The relationship between the press and the next Republican president will be very adversarial and so we need someone willing to engage in some 'thrust and parry'
October 31, 2011 - 6:18 am Link to this Comment | Reply
19. L. McKinnon
Mr. Boone !! Before you kick the bucket, please stay around long enough to vote the dastards out……and join the group of over-80′s to which I belong with a kick in the arse and some jail time for those now in office. Go Cain and Newt !! And God Bless the U S A !!!
October 31, 2011 - 5:02 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
Steve DeMarcus "Real electrician/data technician"
Hope to join your over 80 club and possibly that will happen as A Vietnam Era Vet that is still hanging at near 60 and still healthy and still carries a weapon and can use it accurately that will be the case.
Have a great day my mother is now 87 and except for some colon polyps left for two more minor surgeries she is fine excepting for her hearing, and we are working on fixing that as well!
October 31, 2011 - 5:31 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
20. Jack in Silver Spring
Why am I not suprised? While I am no fan of Herman Cain, I commented here, on PJM, and elsewhere that just something like this might happen. After all, if it was good enough for Clarence Thomas it certainly would be good for Herman Cain. PJM and other conservative sites should call out any member of the LSM that carries this canard as copying Dan Rather in 'Rathergate.'
October 31, 2011 - 5:24 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
21. Buzzsawmonkey
Is there any way we can ever know the truth of this? Probably not since the parties are said to have agreed to remain silent for a five-figure payment, a paltry amount in this day and age.
But it appears that they didn't remain silent, did they? Or else there would be no accusation at all. Somebody would seem entitled to some money back—and to being able to strip off the bogus mask of anonymity being used to promote this campaign of innuendo.
October 31, 2011 - 5:26 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Jeff Mitchell
That's the point… This allegation came from sources within the Restaurant Association who "heard about" the action itself, not the actual females… and a whopping 5-figure payout. For all we know, Cain came to work one day in a pink shirt and the women "felt uncomfortable" because their mom's told them men who wore pink shirts might attack them. Who knows…
October 31, 2011 - 6:32 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
Bingo! If they weren't supposed to talk about it, then how did Politico learn of it?
This positively reeks of desperation on the part of the left. Why should we care about some guy saying something that might have made a couple of women angry or uncomfortable? It's not like he showed them unsolicited photos of his junk, like Anthony Weiner. It's not like he let some woman drown, like Ted Kennedy did. It's not like he had an affair, like more politicians have than you can shake a stick at. It's not like he embezzled or extorted large sums of cash.
I mean, really? He may have said something that made someone feel uncomfortable? That's the standard now for a political smear? That's the worst they can do?
Yep, Mr. Cain. The left now fears the crap out of you. Good job!
October 31, 2011 - 6:51 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Tom Perkins
"This positively reeks of desperation on the part of the left."
On Romney's part, too. The 25% he's got is the best he's getting.
November 1, 2011 - 3:02 am Link to this Comment | Reply
I'd be curious what the penalty for leaking was. It might be more than the amount received.
It also might be a small enough figure to where some MSM firm might be willing to pay it, to get a scoop. Because, you know, we have the right to know this stuff. Obama's transcripts, not so much.
October 31, 2011 - 9:11 am Link to this Comment | Reply
22. sinz54
The media jumped on the story.
But someone fed them the story.
And I'm going to suggest it was the Perry campaign:
"apparently Perry's supporters have been bragging for a couple weeks about having major dirt that would finish him off. Clearly the Perry camp is really desperate after his meteoric freefall"
Polls suggested that many potential supporters of Perry switched to supporting Cain after Perry's subpar performance in the first few debates. Cain has so attacked Perry's immigration policy that he even suggested he couldn't support Perry as the GOP presidential nominee.
There has been a lot of bad blood between Perry and Cain, and I think Perry is the source of this attack.
October 31, 2011 - 5:46 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Rob Crawford
Yeah, sure. Anyone but the left, correct?
October 31, 2011 - 6:19 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Look at the timing:
If it was the Left, why would they spring this story now, when most Americans aren't even paying attention to politics yet? 11 months from now when the general campaign begins after Labor Day 2012, this story will be old news. The Left doesn't care who the GOP nominates; they will wait to see who that is and then try to destroy him.
No, this story was timed specifically at damaging Cain's momentum going into the Iowa Caucus (just 9 weeks from now) and other primary contests. And that is of prime interest to–guess who?
Perry knows he can't get the GOP nomination if Romney and Cain are sucking up all the political oxygen. Perry is hoping that if Cain self-destructs, Cain's supporters will come flocking back to him.
Which is another reason I'm not backing Perry. He's not too bright if he believes that.
October 31, 2011 - 8:28 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
The old school Texas politics that Perry grew up with (when he was a Democrat) was as "brass knuckles" as anything in the more notoriously politically corrupt/degenerate states of Louisiana, Illinois or New Jersey. And throughout his political career, Perry has been known known as a "tough guy" and a "fighter." There's got to be a reason he's never lost a race.
Of all the Republican candidates, Perry stands to benefit the most from a potential Herman Cain implosion. Mitt Romney is rumored to have helped facilitate Cain's surprising Florida straw poll win (the event that started the big movement of conservatives to Cain's camp) to hurt Perry. Of all the "anybody but Romney" candidates, Cain has been only one to sustain momentum. If Rick Perry plans on winning the Republican nomination, he needs Herman Cain out of the way.
October 31, 2011 - 11:13 am Link to this Comment | Reply
I'd give that story as much credence as the sexual harassment accusation.
Both could be true, but probably aren't.
Unless someone gives hard evidence, don't believe the MSM regarding conservatives.
October 31, 2011 - 6:20 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
This anonymous smear comes from Politico, a pro-Obama leftist propaganda machine. Every single "allegation" is completely vague and leaves plenty of wiggle room against being sued. It's typical leftist tactics from a typical leftist source. I'll bet there is nobody the left fears more than a Conservative Black man – they pulled this same stunt against Clarence Thomas and love those old playbooks. Cain can peel off some black voters from Obama, Perry has a strong economic record as opposed to the poor Obama record. The left wants Romney to run against Obama, that's why they barrage of hit pieces against all the other GOP candidates.
And yet ….. you are promoting the idea that the Perry campaign is behind this???? onaccountof – you figure the Perry camp loves all the hit pieces that Politico has done on them AND because they trust Politico to not burn them as the source???
Yeah, I'm buying that. Interesting google search on the poster sinz54
October 31, 2011 - 8:20 am Link to this Comment | Reply
Smallish Bees
"Politico is raaaaaacist."
You know what? You're right. When an African-American conservative comes to the fore, out come these racist tropes. The Democrats and their media lackeys are hereby implying that Black men cannot control their animalistic sexual urges, and so sexual harassment of female staffers is certainly what they'll do when they're in power. Everyone can be guilty of projection, but the Democrats seem to make it an ideological necessity. Because they find themselves feeling White Guilt whenever they check their wallets when they see a Black man on the street, they project racism on the right, and then go on to make genuinely racist (or sexist, or bigoted, whatever) statements and actions themselves.
We need to call them on it. We need to be demanding they hold their own to these standards they say they promote. If they hate racism so much, why are they implying that Herman Cain is some sexually dangerous jungle creature? It's grotesque, and they need to be shamed and slammed mercilessly for it.
October 31, 2011 - 6:59 am Link to this Comment | Reply
24. Karen Miller
I am sure Politico is rushing to investigate and
expose the "Vera Baker" story next…
fair and balanced that politicult…
I hear, Vera was a 6 figure settlement.
In addition, Michelle gifted her a new life…
on an island…October 31, 2011 - 6:20 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
25. LovelyEarth
I knew it! Cain ALWAYS came across to me as a creepy sex fiend. He's got that really dark, scary, molestor look. From those deep, chocolaty rings around his eyes, to those purplish swollen lips of his. Everything about him screams "perv"! But that's how his kind is, correct? Sex crazed. Look at "Justice" Thomas….he's another fine example of what I'm talking about. Perverts, all of them. This is why I will always support President Obama. You'll never hear such a thing about him. He's so gentlemanly, sophisticated, well-spoken, clean and light skinned.
October 31, 2011 - 6:31 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Jack in Silver Spring
LovelyEarth – A lovely satire.
October 31, 2011 - 7:37 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
October 31, 2011 - 9:05 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
Lovely, LovelyEarth. I'm a little slow on the uptake so it took a few posts (and some help from others smarter than I) for me to catch on to your subtle satire.
Rage on.
October 31, 2011 - 1:56 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
Steve DeMarcus "Real electrician/data technician"
And he uses the teleprompter so well, when I see a teleprompter I say does he have one like that? Then I say to my self no of course not he has a magic teleprompter, one that make everything he says so real, so what ever his magic teleprompter does is just GREAT!
I can not wait for the next magic teleprompter interview or show to take place, does he get to take the magic teleprompter to any debate he does with a republican (but of course he does) and there might be some interim's of silence as the magic teleprompter lets Obama speak his majestic prose but that is just how it works. So Vote for Obama to keep him doing all the wonderful things that he does, like take vacations, and play games and then rinse and repeat ad nausea!
October 31, 2011 - 5:53 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
26. TerriD
In my opinion, Geraldo is not entitled to AN INSTANT RESPONSE from ANYONE! Let's just evaluate Mr. Cain's official response.
October 31, 2011 - 6:36 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
If someone would like to measure the treatment of women by Geraldo vs Herman, I would buy front row tickets to watch that event.
October 31, 2011 - 4:26 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
27. DRayRaven
Give me a break. This isn't some grand conspiracy to get an "uppity black," and this doesn't mean the media is taking him seriously. I don't know if the charges are true or not, but the way I see it, the media is doing the GOP a favor. Cain has always been the "not ready for prime time" candidate, and he never had a serious chance of beating Barack Obama in the first place.
I mean, seriously…is it too much to ask for a presidential candidate to know more about the issues and current events than I do? It's true that Cain is not a professional politician, but then again…neither am I. And I could certainly do better than cluelessly stammer about the Palestinian Right of Return like Cain did, making it obvious he had no idea what it was. I wouldn't run a campaign like a book tour, either.
If this "scandal" knocks Cain out of the top tier of candidates, I'm fine with it. He'd be embarrassing, anyway. Better than Romney, but embarrassing nonetheless.
October 31, 2011 - 6:37 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
28. Thomas_L......
And so it begins. Time to take gloves off, stop attacking each other and unveil all of BHO's unseemly associations. Talk openly and hammer him on Reverend Wright, Billy Ayers etc. and let's find out what was said at that event in L.A. with the terrorists. Innuendo will do if the LA Times won't release the video. If not, why not?
October 31, 2011 - 6:39 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Here, here. I'm all for going on the attack as your comment suggests. If nothing else, this latest attack on Cain,just reinforces the sleezy and unscrupulous nature of the MSM. I am hoping that this will just make people mad, ending up with even more support for Cain. Coulter is right, the left is scared to death, of a Cain, Obama match up for the Presidency.
October 31, 2011 - 8:20 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Steve DeMarcus "Real electrician/data technician"
It would be a debate where the father takes the son out to the woodshed that you can only imagine, but you would see the real situation between father and son on live television in real time, that would be most interesting and a lesson I think to those that are black to possibly say hey Herman is right and go for it as well as the rest of the country!
Hope it happens and just about any VP nominee picked by him is just fine with me!
October 31, 2011 - 6:13 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
This is par for the Legacy Media's course. Sexually, politically, or otherwise, Republicans can do no right, and Democrats can do no wrong. The only surprise is that anyone is surprised by it.
October 31, 2011 - 6:39 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
30. Voluble
Everybody makes fun of there being an unwritten crime on the books called driving while black. But no one mentions the one just as frequently enforced of being a Republican while black.
October 31, 2011 - 6:41 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
31. roger arango
I am not sure the "truth" will ever come out–I second Charlie Martin's comment above that the white house and the running dogs of journolist are taking Mr Cain seriously. When Perry was thought to be the "front runner" we had the niggerhead ranch story; now that Mr Cain is surging, we have unsourced allegations about "inappropriate behaviour" in the 1990s–Really! Bill Clinton gets his cocked sucked in the oval office, squirts all over her blue dress and sticks a cigar in her pussy; John Edwards fathers a child with a bimbo–not a bit deal– But unsourced allegations about a conservative black? This is Nina Totenberg redux with Clarence Thomas–This situation is why I actually hate the hard corps liberals in our society.
October 31, 2011 - 6:43 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
LOL at roger. Don't beat around the bush!
October 31, 2011 - 2:18 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
"Beat around the bush" – Are you using sexual innuendo?
October 31, 2011 - 4:53 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
Those accusations will not stick. I don't know a single person who doesn't use sexual innuendo in social interaction occasionally. It's like farting. Half of all jokes by stand up comedians is sexual innuendo. Go watch an Austin Powers movie. It's basically 2 hours of sexual innuendo.
October 31, 2011 - 6:48 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
33. At The Rubicon
I suggest we all report Politico's smear to AttackWatch.com
October 31, 2011 - 6:49 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
34. R. Woods
Well that does it for me! Herman Cain is the candidate I am supporting. If Politico is attacking him that means he is the best choice to govern America.
October 31, 2011 - 6:53 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
35. Army of Davids
"back of the bus" Obama
The racist smear campaigns have been a valuable tool for the "Socialist agitator" as Allen West calls him.
It's the one thing he does really well. Play hard ball, bottom of the barrel politics. I personally find it distasteful. But that is the way the game is being played….and those of us who oppose this corrupt manipulator may as well accept it. It was played that way w/ the smears of Sarah Palin's family. It was played that way w/ the racism smear of Bill Clinton in South Carolina.
You can read Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" to get an idea of how the guy thinks. Or you can think about the mentality he and Michelle may have learned hanging out w/ Reverend Wright for 20 years. But to really understand how the Obamas think I recommend one book. "48 Laws of Power"…Robert Greene.
When you have no ethics it's easy to play the kind of games Obama plays. These tactics are also common in other countries. The Fall of Rome?…. nah…. I think we'll survive…it's just a shame….didn't have to be this way.
October 31, 2011 - 6:58 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
36. Army of Davids
We've had 2 hit pieces targeting Rubio (Univision, Wash Post)
We had one targeting Perry (Wash. Post)
Now this one vs Cain (Politico)
It's coming from Obama. He has an interest in smearing both the top and bottom of the ticket early and often.
Buckle up…over a year until the election and the dirt is already flying. Voter fraud…also a concern. This will be the dirtiest election in our lifetimes.
October 31, 2011 - 7:02 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
This is the "top down/bottom up and inside out" mantra.
"Top down" = Mssrs. Obama, Axelrod, and Holder. This political (early on), sparring is merely a sure sign of what's in store for this re-election campaign.
"Bottom up" = is the Wisconsin Recall "trail and error" practice round followed by the more "polished" OWS. Of course, Mssrs. Trumka, Bill Ayers, Van Jones (to name a few) are heavily involved.
"inside out" = this administrations fellow travelers, hidden way deep in its bowels, i.e., Mr. Cass Sustein, Ms. Sibelius, some of Holders recent additions to his staff (working in concert with one another – like, across party lines?),have at the ready policy and procedures for their "New World Order." One wonders if that's what they'll call it, upon Mr. Obama's planned re-election bid.
Is this fact, or is it fantasy? Well, Mr. Van Jones has several viral videos of his STORM manifesto as does Ms. Piven (that's Francis) of Cloward-Piven fame. This last, an update of Saul Alinsky's babblings and Fabian Socialism, all cooked into the mix as well.
How to combat this onslaught? Don't be dismayed! Stand tall, stand firm. It's Our Beloved USA that's at risk, folks. If We The People don't buckle up and vote massively (the left wants us to stay home – that's their objective with all this "yellow journalism"), because massive fraud is already befalling Our USofA.God Bless America.
October 31, 2011 - 9:10 am Link to this Comment | Reply
37. Boris Badenoff
If this is out of the Perry camp he has made a serious miscalculation…
This will backfire on Perry big time..
I am a Texan and have never liked or particularly "Trusted" Perry.
There is simply something there I do not trust…If Perry cannot make his case against the "real " opponent (Obama) I have no use for him if he attacks Cain.. = desperation..
October 31, 2011 - 7:08 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
There is simply something there I do not trust…
October 31, 2011 - 10:38 am Link to this Comment | Reply
38. Donna
I take this story as hard evidence that Herman Cain can beat Obama, not just the Romney machine.
October 31, 2011 - 7:12 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
39. Yooper
Now we're supposed to believe that Herman Cain was so stupid that he decided to run for the presidency with the hope and belief that his past history of being involved in a bribery situation would never surface. How more predictable can the left's media become? Herman should respond by simply stating that this accusation is about the dumbest thing he has ever heard of and then follow with a request for an adult comment or question from the media. Even the average voter is getting bored with this grade-school playground crap. Not worth worrying about it.
October 31, 2011 - 7:15 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
40. crypticguise
This is going to turn out to be much ado about NOTHING. It's obvious that the left is taking Herman Cain very seriously as a Republican Candidate for President.
October 31, 2011 - 7:17 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Remember the smear on Rand Paul about the aqua-buddha hi-jinx in his college days? This is probably along the same line.
October 31, 2011 - 11:40 am Link to this Comment | Reply
41. Thomas W Dinsmore
Comparisons to Kennedy, Clinton and Edwards won't work because the politics are asymmetric — Democrats don't run on character and appeal to middle-class virtues. NOW gives serial abusers a pass if they vote the right way.
Five-figure settlements and nondisclosure clauses are standard practice in any separation agreement, and discrimination claims (based on race, gender or age) are virtually automatic when folks are laid off or fired. Privacy laws prevent the employer from responding in public to such charges, so it seems we have the perfect allegation, one that requires no substantiation and cannot be refuted.
October 31, 2011 - 7:19 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
42. Freddie Sykes
RE: I believed Anita Hill
I listened to a lot of the Clarence Thomas hearings and they were the last straws that turned me away from the Democrats.
What did Hill accuse him of? Basically nothing: no advances, no asking out on a date, no touching or grabbing. She claimed that he sometimes used locker room talk around her and that put her into a hospital years later. her admitting to be a neurotic bitch made her a hero of the left.
The worse that can be said, if true, is that Justice Thomas treated her like a guy. It was the outrage over nothing that became the story, not any specific charges.
October 31, 2011 - 7:29 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
43. Bob
The 9th commandment states: You shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor. There is a good reason for you not to tell lies about someone. The punishment is most severe and inescapable.
October 31, 2011 - 7:46 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
44. kjatexas
Any actions taken as a result of alleged sexual harassment, need to be taken only after investigating all the facts surrounding the incident, in an effort to discover the truth. As it stands now, just being accused of sexual harassment, is viewed by the corporate world, as an automatic "guilty", and too often results in the loss of the accused's job.
This whole issue has allowed unscrupulous women, to slur, and destroy, innocent men. A redefinition of sexual harassment is necessary, to remove it as a tool of that type of woman. Unless, someone is provably guilty of attempting coercion of sexual favors, the accused, after an investigation by the company, should be held innocent, and no ill should come to his career with that company. And, perhaps, the complainants should be asked to leave that company, as happened in the Cain incident. However, no monies should be paid to the accusers.October 31, 2011 - 7:55 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
45. tanstaafl
A video where Ann Coulter is rightfully asserts that the Left is terrified of "strong, conservative black men".
Juan Williams argues that the attack is intra-party in some vague attempt to legitimize the claims.
Geraldo, without documentation or proof, references it as a "scandal".
October 31, 2011 - 8:00 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
46. At The Rubicon
They came after Clarence Thomas and they came after Condolizza Rice and now they've come after Herman Cain. They've come with the sheets and burning crosses because he a Black who's gotten Uppity and doesn't Know His Place. 'His Place' being kowtowing to the leftist party line for how blacks should act and talk.
It is up to us ordinary people to decide whether or not we're going to let them get away with it.
October 31, 2011 - 8:06 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
47. Cybergeezer
So; The neo-nazi, neo-klan media focus their character assassination campaign against Herman Cain.
What's new? We knew it was coming.
What intrigues me, is that these media types have any family at all, since, they're eating their own offspring for sustenance.Daylight and truth seem to be the only effective antidote for these diseased organizations. Let's keep our mirrors and documentation focused on these infections to our society.
October 31, 2011 - 8:11 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
48. proreason
Ahead of schedule.
The only good news is that it is now obvious they fear Cain. I thought they would wait until he got the nomination. Since they have started the Borking now, it means they don't want him to get the nomination.
As for the accusations, if a man is or was a harasser, he doesn't do it just once or twice. If more documented accusations aren't revealed, then he was probably just being used as a convenient ATM machine by the women. (Two settlements, however, is much worse than one, and there are already two).
Regardless of whether he overcomes this, there is a very real danger that there are more skeletons, and the skeletons could be in multiple flavors. Cain was the most risky choice from the first minute, mostly because he has never been vetted, but also because they would redoubledouble their efforts to smear a black conservative. Bachman and Newt are also extremely vulnerable, because she is a woman and because they hate Newt with a white hot flame.
Don't go thinking that this is the end of it for Cain. Even if every single thing they come up with is a lie, the accusations still do damage.
October 31, 2011 - 8:19 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Professor Guvinoff
Ahead of schedule
I agree. The innuendo was predictable, and I expect that H. Cain was not surprised by it, not because he did anything untoward, only because he knew that the smears were sure to come, in this particular election more than others. So, he will probably respond deftly enough. This kind of attack always damages the target, because time spent defending oneself against them is, at least partly, wasted time, regardless of whatever happened, and more particularly what did not happen.
Bottom line: They is no way to answer this that will be 100% effective. But I think H. Cain will not cast dirt, if he ever needs to, until much later. In that sense it is good that the attack came so early.
October 31, 2011 - 9:30 am Link to this Comment | Reply
49. emmaliza
What happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'? Does anyone remember the Duke lacrosse accuser? The msm never gave publicity to the facts, and the innocent men suffered because someone wanted $$$$ and her 15 minutes of fame. I wondered what the leftists would dream up against Mr. Cain when his poll numbers got high. Now we see character assassination round 4 or 5, beginning with Gov. Palin. (They learned from their smear of Justice Thomas that some people can be fooled some of the time.) When no facts present themselves, leftists just dream up something.
October 31, 2011 - 8:24 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
At The Rubicon
That is why it is so important for US to respond vociferously and aggressively.
October 31, 2011 - 8:44 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
I remember the Duke LaCrosse incident, where the national press (not to mention nearly the entire academic establishment, including but not limited to most of the Duke faculty) with the complicity of a (later shown to be unethical and then disbarred prosecutor, Mike Nifong) pretty much tried to ruin the guys accused.
When "the dancer" was shown to be a baldfaced liar (she has subsequently had various other legal entanglements), do you think anybody apologized to those guys ?
I remember Evan Thomas' comment (Evan is Newsweek editor and grandson of infamous socialist Norman Thomas)…
"The narrative was right, but the facts were wrong."
Liberal preferred narratives will always trump truth.
Damn these people are wacky.
October 31, 2011 - 8:51 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
criminal, not wacky
a commentor on another thread said something to the effect of "liberalism isn't evil; evil people become liberals"
October 31, 2011 - 9:40 am Link to this Comment | Reply
50. Debrief
I smell Karl Rove. Give it some thought.
October 31, 2011 - 8:27 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
This has Rove's pudgy little pawprints all over it.
October 31, 2011 - 1:37 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
51. inspectorudy
I read a piece about this issue from a harassment attorney and he said a woman can say that she "Feels uncomfortable" with you, if you are her superior, and you have a harassment suit in the making. It can be a joke you told or something you laughed at that someone else told that was inappropriate. If you are in a position of authority you are responsible for the people under you and their perception of what is proper. According to this lawyer if the settlement figure was below $50,000 it was probablly pushed by the insurance company and not Herman. Expect more of this and as the commenter above said we could have had a thoroughly vetted Palin but now we have many months for the bottom dwellers to attack Cain.
October 31, 2011 - 8:33 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
52. messup
Seems as if Politico is a variant form of what niche journalism used to be called, "yellow journalism."
This form of "yellow journalism" reporting was generally understood (and accpeted) to be just a notch above slime. But, it had it's limited public.
Todays, form of "yellow journalism" has found a home on TV (Inside EDition), MSM and even halls of Washington DC where We The Elite People work and play.
Gee, even Charlie Rangel is living the good life. What ever happened to Maxine Waters? What about some members of the "Black Caucus?" Even the NAACP doesn't escape unscathed. What's that all about?Yep, Politico is true to it's form. "Yellow journalism," a page out of America's darkest history.
Vote massively this coming primary and general elections for massive fraud has befallen our Beloved USA. God Bless America.
October 31, 2011 - 8:33 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
53. DRayRaven
No one is afraid of Cain. He's a joke. He can't even go on a book tour without committing a series of gaffes as long as my right arm, and he isn't even up to speed on the issues. If he gets the nomination, the campaign will be a long, humiliating affair as Obama rips Cain up one side and down the other. And it doesn't help that most people will pay more taxes under his asinine 9-9-9 plan. The election wouldn't even be close.
I am seriously starting to despair for our country. We have a huge opportunity to turn this country around, and our candidates are sleazy RINOs, half-baked amateurs, or bumbling rubes. And a lot of Republican voters willing to jump on a band wagon just because a straw poll result and a catchy slogan. What a farce.
October 31, 2011 - 8:39 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
"…our candidates are sleazy RINOs, half-baked amateurs, or bumbling rubes."
Say this is all true just for the sake of argument. It cannot be denied that each & every one of these candidates would make a better POTUS than Obama. If you cannot find it within yourself to support one of them or the one who is ultimately nominated, you are de facto supporting Obama.
Ever wonder why, for the most part, the sharpest knives in the drawer (still playing "devil's advocate" here) don't jump into these races? Two words: mainstream media.
It'd be nice if a group of people would start occupying their asses, hold their feet to the fire & demand quality journalism. Catching clouds would be easier though.
October 31, 2011 - 10:16 am Link to this Comment | Reply
54. jidcat
We're constantly lectured that women are the equal of men, that they, too, are strong, smart, accomplished, attend college in greater numbers, earn more degrees, can serve in the military with the best of men, etc., etc., ad nauseum. Yet, we hear without proof that Herman Cain did or said something to make some women "uncomfortable." Uncomfortable! So uncomfortable, it's hinted, that they could no longer continue to work with him, quit their jobs, sued and, they say, got a settlement…for feeling "uncomfortable." And yet this story is about the alleged deficiencies of Herman Cain and not about the hyper-delicate sensitivities of the women, who, after all, could have said, like any man would have, "Buzz off!"
I await the first filing with the International Court of Justice of a charge that a female US soldier, captured by the enemy, was made to feel "uncomfortable."
October 31, 2011 - 8:40 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
And yet this story is about the alleged deficiencies of Herman Cain and not about the hyper-delicate sensitivities of the women, who, after all, could have said, like any man would have, "Buzz off!"
Real women know how to deal with jerks and don't go whimpering to some higher up.
The whole sue-for-sexual-harassment atmosphere is just another sick, weak way liberals rope people in, another death knell to a strong, free people.
So there.
(over and out)
October 31, 2011 - 9:12 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
So far, no evidence has been presented that shows that this incident even took place. I am inclined to believe the whole thing was made up. These jerks don't have a thing on Cain, so they have to manufacture something out of whole cloth.
October 31, 2011 - 9:56 am Link to this Comment | Reply
55. Sherab Zangpo
I do not know anything about this story, but I am sure that the guys at Politico.com have now a pretty safe financial future.
The candidates must understand that the subversives will do anything to win, anything.October 31, 2011 - 9:00 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
56. RebeccaH
I don't vote on impulse, but it would be worth voting for Herman Cain just to give the lamestream media a poke in the eye.
October 31, 2011 - 9:00 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
i pledge allegiance
I was thinking the same thing. If no other candidate appeals to me better than Cain, I'll do it. This in and of itself is not enough to sway me from Cain. Much more information is needed, and I hope we get it.
October 31, 2011 - 9:52 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Herman is so likeable to most and liked by many that I can easily see this backfiring.
October 31, 2011 - 6:26 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
57. Wally
The fake line-up:
Romney – duplicitous abortion promoter
Perry – Al Gore's right-hand man
Cain – Federal Reserve Board insider
Gingrich – old political elitists with zero conservative accomplishments
Ron Paul – anti-Israel isolationistOctober 31, 2011 - 9:02 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
I'm with you, Wally. Each has his good points–too bad we can't break 'em into pieces and build our own candidate (with a little Sarah Palin and Chris Christie thrown in).
October 31, 2011 - 6:35 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
58. Kevin R.C. O'Brien
Bear in mind, every single reporter at Politico at the time was a member of Ezra Klein's JournOList, a listserv that was restricted to leftists and Democrats, and used for the purpose of coordinating stories, and slanting news to favor "progressive" causes. Fellow JournOLister / Juicebox Mafioso Dave Weigel, a man of no discernible integrity, was pimping this story in his publication before the electrons were all settled at Politico. Just low-level political operatives, doing The Party's work.
October 31, 2011 - 9:19 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
59. don
Hey, it's not about principle, it's about power. It's not about merit based achievements, it's about an A for a lay and redistributing the goodies. When a democratic president gets caught raping and pillaging poontang on the way to the White House, it's not about character or lying under oath over what the meaning of is "is." It's about progressive agendas. And hey, for democrats, the new Arab Spring democracy in the middle east is something to be relished, although it does look sort of like an Arab version of the German night of the Long Knives. Since the Arabs and the West are so simpatico, according to democrats, perhaps for charges of gender exploitation there need to be four independent witnesses to the alleged incident in order to have standing for a quid pro quo complaint? That rule of evidence seems to work in the Arab world when it comes to reporting rapes; they have very few reported rapes, and reportedly no gays in their main stream media. Oh, and the four witnesses have to be of the opposite gender of the person making the complaint of "inappropriate behavior." We wouldn't want gender bias impinging upon the objectivity of due process, resulting in a legal lynching of a conservative black man.
October 31, 2011 - 9:24 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
60. Saul
"Sure as I know anything, I know this – they will try again. Maybe on
another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now,
ten? They'll swing back to the belief that they can make people…
better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'. I aim to
misbehave."– Mal Reynolds, Captain: Space Boat Serenity
October 31, 2011 - 9:27 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
61. TonyB
These Republican need to begin using the ole switch and bate tactic when folks at the various Liberal media outlets ask questions that are designed to frustrate. Here is a bait and switch example. Mr. Cain, are these accusations made by Politico true? Sir, are the accusations that have been made about President Obama's forged birth certificate and fraudulent SS# and fraudulent Selective Service registration and the story about Obama's SS# being flagged by E-Verify true? When you get the answer to those questions back to me I will be more than happy to answer your questions about the Politico story. Have a nice day.
October 31, 2011 - 10:03 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
Have a habit of opening doors for women, the elderly and infirmed, but ever since this "sexual harrassment" *ideology began AND it does precede the Mr. Cain accusations, by eons, I've changed that habit a bit.
If I sense any bit of unease, discontent, or outright hostility from women, I let the door go free. Lest I be accused of "sexual harrassment". When I do let the or A door loose, then I'm just a plain bastard. I like being a bastard. Of course, I could also be a son-of-a-bitch, but being that has a certain "sexual harrassment" tinge to it, let those that think or utter that, live with it. Screw 'em. <—- OOPS "sexual harrassment".
*ideology asterisk: Leftist Female Syndrome. Guess that's better than say, Female Genital Mutilation.
P.S. Does "sexual harrassment" exist? Absolutely. AND it can be from both sets of human species. Just ask the parents of young men lured into the recent spate of female teacher bedrooms, back seats or motels..
October 31, 2011 - 10:15 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
JP, yes, sexual harassment does exist. Those who do it, and those who falsely accuse others of doing it, ruin things for everybody.
October 31, 2011 - 10:46 am Link to this Comment | Reply
63. Intellibronc
I suggest something I did over 15 years ago when I fled caleeforneea. STOP watching, listening, giving creedence to the propaganda, pravda style 'media'. I guarantee your IQ will immediately rise and you won't hear the lies being broadcast by the useful idiots. Facts are more difficult to attain these days but with technology, at least you can be assured you'll find the facts. What's amazing is that there's so many millions of lazy, useful idiots that didn't do a simple search on this imposter occupying our White House. Don't let these hacks cloud the facts with their propaganda. Wake Up Sheeple, the brownshirts are here and they've got a nose ring especially for you.
October 31, 2011 - 10:20 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
Just an add on to the discussion about sexual harassment. People who have not worked in management and policy, or larger organizations in general, don't realize how supercharged the atmosphere is. My wife works at a large academic organization that shall remain nameless. This past summer (which they have off of classes but still work their butts off), she decided to let her prematurely graying hair (previously colored every month by me) go the full silver. It looks great I tell her all the time, but I'm her husband.
At the semester restart, she was meeting with a colleague who mid sentence said "By the way, your hair looks great!". My wife smiled and they continued on. When she told me that I cringed. Not because it bothered me or her, but I wanted to call that guy up and smack him. Don't you know what you just risked you fool!? Never do that again cause maybe next time it won't be a conservative woman comfortable with her womanhood.
Just creating an "atmosphere" of discomfort using anything remotely oriented around the sexes is grounds for action. It is all up to the persons working in that atmosphere in weather they want to sieze hold of the moment and try to profit by it. That is the real world liberalism and trial lawyers has brought us into.
October 31, 2011 - 10:27 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
65. jack carlson
If women wanted the charge of "sexual harassment" to be taken seriously, they should not have abused the use of it so much and so often in recent years!
Every charge of sexual harassment I have ever seen, has been bogus. There is an old story about 'The Boy Who Cried "Wolf!"'.
October 31, 2011 - 10:33 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Now it's the story about the gal who cried, "Wolf whistle!"
October 31, 2011 - 10:47 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
Art Chance
As sexual harrassment began to take over from disability and race as the means for the plaintiffs' bar to make their Mercedes payments, I came to think that the difference between an office affair and sexual harassment was whether or not the woman got the promotion. As the charge came to full flower in the late '90s I came to believe that the only thing between any man in authority and a sexual harassment charge was pure blind luck. I was in government and the "horizontal career move" has been a hardy perinnial for ambitious women for a long time. If you were willing to play that game, you knew that she owned you for as long as you were useful to her; a whisper to a wife or boss and you were done but you usually weren't a headline or out hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. With the advent of sexual harassment complaints, you were damned if you did and damned if you didn't, and if you did, at least you got laid. Any man with a brain learned to avoid travelling with female subordinates and to never, never, ever allow yourself to be alone with a female subordinate unless you were willing to see your name in a caption.
October 31, 2011 - 12:18 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
66. arhooley
They couldn't accuse Cain of racism because — oops! — he's Black himself.
So they went down the list to the next grievance group: women.
October 31, 2011 - 10:43 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
67. TruthReceptacle
Great News!! Ron Paul 2012
October 31, 2011 - 10:59 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
68. Washington76
Herman Cain debated President Bill Clinton on the economic effects of his Healthcare plan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptrTa8C_Pl4October 31, 2011 - 11:13 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
Let's see what Politico can "learn" about the still-unsolved late 2007 murders of Obama's gay church pals, Donald Yong and Larry Bland. Or perhaps Politico can engage in some "learning" about Solyndra or Operation Fast and Furious? Or Obama's use of a stolen Social Security Number issued in Connecticut – a state in which he never lived or worked?
October 31, 2011 - 11:24 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
70. chambers
Is anyone seriously surprised with this? Clarence Thomas, Allen West and Herman Cain (to name a few) CANNOT be black because they are conservatives. Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann (to name a few) CANNOT be women because they are conservatives. Marco Rubio and Susana Martinez (to name a few) CANNOT be Latio because they are conservatives. When they appear they must be destroyed.
As has been pointed out many times the modern Left and the Democratic Party represent the "New Plantation Psychology." In this worldview, all "minorities" are required to know their proper place and stay witin the barbed wire fence of the progressive agenda. Those who jump that fence are vilified as either race or gender traitors.
I also believe that this mindset betrays the essential racism and misogyny of the Left. Minorities and women are all well and good when they take orders and do what they are supposed to. However when the Left perceives someone as a "race traitor" (Herman Cain) this enables them to engage, with that clear conscience so dear to a liberal, in all sort of previously repressed racial invective. This same invective, if expressed by a conservative, would be labeled "racism." It's a very weird and unsettling psychology and explains why it is impossible to talk to a liberal about these things.
October 31, 2011 - 11:42 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
Funny how the left likes to smear black men – this is a modern lynching.
Very ugly stuff.
October 31, 2011 - 11:50 am Link to this Comment | Reply
71. jd
And once again we have the LSM engaging in a little trick the like to use called "Accuracy of Occurance."
How this works is that once the whole story is shown to be what it is, a Phoney, the media will then fall back on the Fact that "Herman Cain WAS Accused." as the basis for their story being Accurate. This is opposed to Accuracy of Content (which most democrat scandals consist of, hence the LSM's propencety for spiking of those stories.)
The fact that they didin't follow through and determine if Cain actually did anything wrong is irrelavent, they were reporting accuratly because it did happen.October 31, 2011 - 11:46 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
72. gliderdriver
Good thing Cain did not hang out with anyone who thought blowing up Post Offices was OK?
October 31, 2011 - 12:29 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
73. Adele Conner
Vague accusations, with no names of those accusing, no sources except anonymous (in this highly politicized environment and a press in the tank for Dems) , and you think this will be a body blow for Cain? I think you are overreaching. I think it will be more of a body blow for the press. The guy is good and decent and most of the public knows you will do anything to elect a Damocrat.
Maybe we need to start looking into the personal lives of those bringing us the news, so we can test what we think of their honesty.
October 31, 2011 - 12:48 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
74. Halcyon
You conveniently left out the part where there was documentation associated with the charge that was reviewed (i.e. a settlement agreement).
Here, let me help you resolve your selective reading problem:
"They have also declined to address questions about specific reporting confirming that there were financial settlements in two cases in which women leveled complaints."
"In one case, POLITICO has seen documentation describing the allegations and showing that the restaurant association formally resolved the matter."
If, as Cain says, he did nothing Why was there a settlement?
October 31, 2011 - 12:51 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Art Chance
Because it is cheaper and far more certain than submitting yourself to the tender mercies of 12 morons with driver's licenses.
October 31, 2011 - 1:03 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
That question was answered in a post above. It's a very common occurrence for the falsely accused to settle.
October 31, 2011 - 1:03 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
"If, as Cain says, he did nothing Why was there a settlement?"
Thanks for sharing, Halcyon. And assuming you're not being disingenuous and actually read my post and the several comments specifically on this issue, I'll repeat. People in corporate America very frequently settle – especially for small number, as in this case – in order to avoid the far more costly (in terms of both legal fees and time) court battle. I have seen this happen numerous times in my position of CEO. It's a fact of our legal lives, sad and unfair as that may be. And I'm surprised you don't know it.
October 31, 2011 - 1:09 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Vox Clamantis
For those who question the settlement: virtually ALL cases settle and to do that you have to pay what we call in the biz "nuisance value." Less than 1% of cases go to trial. A settlement for a low dollar amount (anything below six figures) means that the case was complete bullshit.
October 31, 2011 - 2:04 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
As a follow-up, wouldn't Cain have had to had sign off on the settlement? Cain is claiming he wasn't even aware there was a settlement and that it was all handled by the General Counsel of the NRA.
It seems the more questions you ask about Cain's knowledge or involvement, the murkier the issue becomes.
October 31, 2011 - 6:12 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Art Chance
Cain wouldn't necessarily have to be directly involved; depends on how much settlement authority the HR person or attorney was given. He would have to at least be aware of any non-disclosure provisions so that he would be able to perform.
That said, I've done thousands of settlements of grievances and complaints and while in most of them I had the authority to settle whether or not the principal wanted the settlement, there were only a couple in over 20 years that I used that authority and just did it without the principal's involvement and OK.
November 1, 2011 - 9:29 am Link to this Comment | Reply
I just made a post about this. As others have said here, it's quite common for a company to settle such an accusation, if the costs of going to trial would be higher than the settlement requested by the accuser. I have seen my company pay out such a settlement, even after a due-diligence investigation indicated there was no evidence of any wrong-doing by the individual she had accused.
The company simply realized that it would cost more to try the issue in court, than it would to simply pay out the requested settlement.
It may seem reprehensible to pay when you know you're in the right. . .but if you know it'll cost more to prove it? Remember, companies are first responsible for their bottom line.
October 31, 2011 - 3:20 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
75. Adele Conner
Vague accusations, with no names of those accusing, no sources except anonymous (in this highly politicized environment and a press in the tank for Dems) , and you think this will be a body blow for Cain? I think you are overreaching. I think it will be more of a body blow for the press. The guy is good and decent and most of the public knows you will do anything to elect a Democrat.
Maybe we need to start looking into the personal lives of those bringing us the news, so we can test what we think of their honesty.
October 31, 2011 - 12:52 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
76. Steve
The theory this piece is a hit from the left holds no water. If Democrats did have any information like this on Cain we wouldn't release it when there's a chance Republican primary voters can still do the rational thing and nominate Romney, the only person who can beat Obama. We would wait until you all foolishly picked Cain and then fatally lance him when there was no turning back. Whichever GOP operative dropped this dime did it perfectly. They are getting two very good benefits: one, they get to eliminate the person who cannot win and, most importantly, doesn't have their money and therefore will not carry their water; two, they knew people like Limbaugh and Roger L. would take the bait right on cue and also use this to bash the "liberal media" (note: Politico is a center-right rag, not liberal). Perfect strategy executed flawlessly. The question most conservatives should be asking themselves now is: was it Romney or Perry? Conventional thinking would have it that Romney did it so he could beat back the newest flavor of the month. But, more than likely, it was Perry because both him and Cain share the same base. Whatever the case, we'll know soon who it was: watch the polls and whoever takes what Cain loses did it. No doubt.
October 31, 2011 - 1:14 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
77. Banned by Huffpo
This is such a blatant smear piece that it will drive the sympathy vote to Cain. It won't make any difference to the Moonbats because they already hate him.
Thanks, Politico, for helping out Herman Cain. He should publicly thank you.
October 31, 2011 - 1:14 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
Politico's underhanded behavior is not suprising if one recalls how well represented they were in the 'JournoList' effort to control and coordinate news reporting for politcal advantage.
There's a dearth of ethics at Politico.
October 31, 2011 - 1:20 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
79. Hatta Yathrib
I recall a conversation had by many. It ended in my bemusement and his spluttering forth the outraged assertion that SHE was unable to name a single newspaper and claimed an unobstructed view of Kamchatka from her kitchen. We are dealing with a mob of fools led by people who laugh at them. I'm not laughing.
October 31, 2011 - 1:25 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Art Chance
Everyone should hold their nose and read some Alinsky just to get a thorough appreciation of his contempt for the useful idiots he led.
October 31, 2011 - 2:15 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
80. Washington76
The Fed Audit July 21, 2011
http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9e2a4ea8-6e73-4be2-a753-62060dcbb3c3October 31, 2011 - 1:39 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
81. Trumpeldor
I take it as a good omen.Mr Cain progress in the polls frighten liberals .
Therefore,they begin to use one one their favorite weapon :slander
But ,slander might be useful to propel Mr Cain status far beyond,this is why I am optimistic !October 31, 2011 - 1:43 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
82. JLSeagull
It looks like the Politico staff all received their Christmas present early – MSNBC Knee Pads.
October 31, 2011 - 1:46 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
83. Vox Clamantis
This seals the deal for me – if the MSM hates him so much, then I must love him. I am voting for Cain – hopefully twice.
9-9-9 is not the best flat-tax reform out there. A simpler, and more expedient temporary solution would be to simply eliminate all deductions "below the line" and tax on AGI – at lower than the present "list" rates that no one pays anyway. This would raise revenues, by possibly quite a bit if rates were not reduced all that much. More importantly, it would dramatically increase fairness – imagine how crazy it would be if taxpayers in the same bracket actually paid the same % of their income in tax. In any event, now that the racists have come out of the closet, Cain is my man. You go, Herman!October 31, 2011 - 2:00 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
84. Peter
Remember Larry Sinclair? He still claims to have had a gay affair with Obama, (per his eponymous web site), but that never aroused any interest in the big media.
How about Barack being a British subject at birth, via his father's Kenyan citizenship, and thus ineligible for the Presidency, (see naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com). Just laughed out of sight by our lords and masters.
October 31, 2011 - 2:22 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
85. will
Ignorant Liberals strike at Cain afraid of a powerfull Conservative Black man !!
October 31, 2011 - 2:34 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
86. Shoey
how would I know Roger, i'm extreme and a little racist by your account.
October 31, 2011 - 3:03 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
87. Yashmak
A few years back, we had a sexual harrassment lawsuit filed against my company by a female employee (specifically against her supervisor). Our HR department did its due diligence, and investigated the matter as thoroughly as possible. In the end, they determined there was virtually nothing to suggest any sexual harrassment actually occurred.
They paid her a settlement anyway. Reason? Quite simple. She was quite prepared to push the issue to court, and a trial would have cost our company far more in legal costs than a low 5-figure settlement (which she received, and is in line with what Cain's accusers apparently received).
As has been said, we have little way of knowing for certain what transpired, but payouts to avoid more expensive trial costs are the rule, rather than the exception. . .even if the trial outcome would almost certainly be in the company/accused's favor.
So a settlement should be considered far from a reliable indicator of Cain's guilt here.
October 31, 2011 - 3:15 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
88. VonBear
Until I see the smoking pubic hair on a Coke can I'm with Cain.
VonBearOctober 31, 2011 - 3:24 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
89. don
An example of being sexually hip: "Hey, wanna ball, babe? Woodstock, circa 1969.
An example of sexual harassment: "Hey, wanna ball, babe?" National Restaurant Association picnic, circa 1996.
And 999 is really 666 upside down, but Politico hasn't figured out that numerology trivia yet, circa 2011.October 31, 2011 - 4:12 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
90. BarbaraS
Herman Cain is finally someone I could vote for without holding my nose. He is a good and honest man, something our professional politicians know nothing about.
October 31, 2011 - 4:23 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
91. big mikey
This issue will propel Mr. Cain farther (up) in the polls
The lib / prog technique and arsenal is becoming rapidly known
And besides, are you gonna compalin about comments like these
or how to stop the (Obama's) inexorable slide to collapseBest Wishes
October 31, 2011 - 4:58 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
92. Rick
I am a Republican. I am such a Republican that I liked Cain even though he speaks with very poor diction. But, I liked him for his conservatism.
Fact is, he is guilty. There would be zero payout if he was innocent. His lame lying today was horrendous. He sounded like a guy from "bait car" who was caught on video yet still proclaims his innocence. His, "I hope they did not give them much because nothing really happened" comment was pathetic.
Cain is the dead mouse in the kitchen of the abandoned Section 8 house – forever forgotten. His attempt at the Presidency ended today.
October 31, 2011 - 5:02 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Do you make a habit of posting blindly, without having read any preceding comments? The reasoning of the settlement has been established. Fool.
October 31, 2011 - 9:11 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
93. PolitiHo...
– identify the accusers and no one gets blogged!
October 31, 2011 - 5:48 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
94. Still Bill
I is a authentic black man because I votes Democrat all the time. I is so happy to be a Dumocrat that I squeals a lot and peoples tell me I sounds like Chris Rock.
October 31, 2011 - 5:52 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
95. ron
MARTIN LUTHER KING WAS A REPUBLICAN google it and you will see .Cain says it Obama is done
October 31, 2011 - 6:03 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
96. Ray Runge
I feel strongly that a story that may have catastrophic results for a public figure is required to have a credible source that the broad public can have access to and then have an ability to determine an independent verification. Politico's piece fell far short;
Any analogy to Clarence Thomas likewise is far short per the high tech lynching reference. Any information was offered in public and in the flesh by the accuser, Anita Hill. Herman Cain, in comparison is abused shadows in a dark alley
October 31, 2011 - 6:41 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
97. Ted Peters
This is just more proof that Herman Cain is much more familiar with the African American experience that the man who tried to pick it up sitting in the pews listening to Reverand Wright. Actually, given the way black politicians are traditionally smeared with this kind of slander, it's really amazing that there is no evidence that Obama ever had any interest in any woman other than the one he eventually married. Unless he just never met one in his entire life who sent tingles going up his leg. That's a real contrast with ol' Slick
Willie.October 31, 2011 - 6:43 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
98. Steve
Only problem with Roger L's analysis is that it was actually a GOP operative who planted the story. If Democrats had this info, we would have held it until the general when there was no chance for the GOP to course correct and pick a clean candidate. Not to mention, we Democrats are chomping at the bit for Cain to get the nomination. He will get demolished by Obama so, trust me, it's not in our interest to bounce him from the nomination. Here's the best test to figure out who planted the story: look who picks up the points this story shaves off. My money is on Perry. He and Cain share a base. Trust me, folks, this is not the work of Democrats. Cain as the GOP is our best case scenario. We'll George McGovern the guy!
October 31, 2011 - 7:15 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
99. Ken
Whether its true or not, this sequence of events shows just how poorly Cain would fair in an emergency. What a mess. He has taken several different positions in just a few news cycles—and they call Romney the flip flopper. Is this really the guy we want leading the national dialogue? Real amateur stuff!!!
October 31, 2011 - 7:52 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Jim Ryan
Nice try, Governor Perry. See, this is why your campaign staff told you too keep off the blogs.
October 31, 2011 - 8:53 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
100. Sue
Welcome to Sarah Palin's world everybody. They smeared her with every thing they could and Rep's and conservatives said she was unelectable- too damaged. They left her on the battlefield. It seemed to work for them with our side- now it's everybody else's turn- only some of them may have plenty to hide and they haven't even began to be vetted. It will be new smear after smear, and I don't feel too sorry for the Cain fans that are outraged now after they threw Palin to the wolves. We told you what would happen
October 31, 2011 - 8:01 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
Yes, Romney is a flip flopper! Any questions? The architect of this smear campaign is Karl Rove trying to advance his flip flopper candidate Romney.
October 31, 2011 - 8:39 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Cynical Wonder
Romney will be the next Dukakis.
October 31, 2011 - 9:09 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
102. davelnaf
Believing in a political party with the fervor normally accorded a religion is something rational people do not do, but for liberals it makes perfect sense. So, a Herman Cain comes along and threatens your religion and what do you do about it? The heretic gets the highest form of punishment the dem Inquisition can legally mete out: he gets his reputation executed. No one threatens the most holy Democrat church and gets away with it.
October 31, 2011 - 8:46 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
103. Sonny119
Isn't it coincidental, and convenient, that this accusation story of sexual harassment comes up, at this point in time.. It is more commonly referred to as a political hit job.. where if you want to take down a political opponent, candidate, or what have you, you publicly discredit them with some kind of political, and or legal scandal.. What else is new with the rabid leftist liberal media, as well as the Crony Elitist Republican RINO right..
October 31, 2011 - 9:11 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
104. carter
Time to give the wife a clipping then an accurate measurement. This will be the first time there's been a midget in the house, and to think, it's all politically motivated, lol.
October 31, 2011 - 9:51 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
105. J Belz
Must have been someone from Pizza Hut or McDonald's trying to get at Cain because of his connections to Godfather's or Burger King! How much in pizzas or hamburgers did it cost the restaurant association?$
October 31, 2011 - 10:23 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
106. mikeD
High-tech lynching of Clarence Thomas? Please. At the end of a real lynching the black victim was always dead, savagely murdered by the mob. He was not sitting on the Supreme Court of the United States exercising enormous power. If this is what comes from a high-tech lynching, please I am begging you high- tech lynch me, so that I can become one of the most powerful men in the United States. What a joke….
October 31, 2011 - 10:58 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
107. Mediocritas
Women do this all the time. It is no wonder that they make mountains out of molehills over a little office bantor. It just shows they can't hang with the big boys. And there is easy money in it.
November 1, 2011 - 2:54 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
108. indie
The left is using the racist politics of 150 + years ago when Southern whites used to try to terrify white women by saying that black men would rise up and rape them. It was one of the scare tactics they used to support slavery and used again to support Jim Crow laws. This is no different. They are trying to portray Herman Cain as a mean, scary black man that women should be afraid of.
That's sad, and another indication of how stupid the left thinks women are.
I've always said that any woman that votes Democrat is like a woman in an abusive relationship going back for more abuse.
November 1, 2011 - 4:07 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
109. John Q
Was the investigation of Anthony Weiner a hit job or a high tech lynching? How about Gary Hart? Commentators are correct that we don't have enough facts to judge the accusations. In that Herman Cain is hurting his own case by back tracking and covering up. Sounds like a familiar failed strategy for dealing with accusations of sexual misconduct, regardless of the party of the politician.
November 1, 2011 - 4:42 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
110. TexEd
Hey, what's fair is fair! The ultra-left wing captive media hallucinated, created fantasies and lied about Obama, his background, integrity, competence and intelligence. There is nothing wrong with them doing the same thing about Cain today.
November 1, 2011 - 6:41 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
111. ella
You can dance around this all you want to…saying this is a high tech lynching…are you kidding me. It is not she said he said. Fact is there is hard proof with Hush money pay outs. This is the first volley…next one is inbound…last one will be scorch earth. Just put a fork in Cain…he is done.
November 1, 2011 - 6:53 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
112. bobbcat
From thread #18, proreason said, "cf, I was responding to bobbcat who was claiming there is no way to be prepared for an incident like the attack on Cain."
From same thread, here is what I actually said: "As for being "prepared" for such a thing, I am not sure exactly how one is to do that. The best thing Can can possibly do is tell the truth,& it appears to me that he is doing just that."
This is hardly the same as "claiming there is no way to be prepared…."
Quit being such a "quickdraw Mcgraw" in some quest to carry out "gotchas" on people, proreason. It makes you look foolish.
November 1, 2011 - 7:35 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
So your case is that you see something different between:
- "As for being "prepared" for such a thing, I am not sure exactly how one is to do that" and
- "there is no way to be prepared"and it's such a big difference that you are making a big deal about it.
and therefore I look foolish.
You're something else bobbcat. You kind of remind me of my wife, who enjoys arguing about whether the sun will rise in the morning if there is a cloud cover. And then gets mad at me if I'm bemused about it.
November 1, 2011 - 9:30 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
113. Coldwarrior57
Lets se, 2 people signed an agreement to not talk about something and now we find out that they have been talking about it. Instead of asking why they broke their word on the agreement, the main stream propaganda machines are working overtime to make sure that Cain is the bad guy. Unsubstantiated rumors by 2 un named people and Cain has to defend himself . Sounds like they have him guilty without a trial. They are doing a Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill on him.
Why didnt they do the research on Obama and all of the unsubstantiated rumors on his drug use? We still have unsubstantiated school records. But because Cain is a conservative its all hand on deck for the public lynching of Cain.November 1, 2011 - 8:41 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
114. bobbcat
#18 Tom Perkins said, "Obama's toast. He loses just as much if he loses 50.5 to 49.5 as if he loses 55 to 45…"
Of course, I can only speak for myself but I simply do not have this faith that it's an absolute that Obama doesn't have it in the bag. To my mind it's not wise to vote in any pattern that could serve to help Obama, regardless of how much I really don't appreciate Romney. He is still a better choice than Obama.
November 1, 2011 - 11:01 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
115. Not Really Conservative but definitely Anti-Liberal
This predictable but despicable attack on Herman Cain has convinced me that now is definitely the time to start donating to the Cain campaign. I've started with a recurring donation of $100 per month and will significantly increase that should he win the nomination. It would be SUCH a welcome change to have an executive rather than a politician running for the Presidency!
I must also say that I was most impressed by the very clear legal explanations and reasoning provided by Deeg, cfbleachers and Art Chance. Thanks for providing well reasoned arguments in response to an article rather than the ranting and simplistic name calling that is all too common on internet posts. Your posts were more informatinve and interesting than the article itself!
November 1, 2011 - 11:18 am Link to this Comment | Reply-
John J
Welcome. God bless you. (And he will).
November 1, 2011 - 5:50 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
116. sky
The more they attack him; the more determined i am to vote for him.
Go Cain!
November 1, 2011 - 12:22 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
117. richard40
I always thought Anita Hill was lying. The reason, she continued to work for Thomas, transferring with him through multiple agencies, and continuing to have frequent contact with him after she voluntarily left gov. that wasw not plausable. If somebody is making your life miserable with unwanted sexual harassment, you dont follow them, and actively seek to be assigned under them, you avoid them.
These stories against Cain look suspicious too. In one case, the lady never filed any formal charges. In the other, she settled out of court for 5 figures. In a suit with real merit, no plaintiff today would ever accept less than 6 figures. And Politico has yet to provide any details as to time and place, and exactly what Cain said or did. Remarks that these women might have considered "inappropriate" might have been normal banter to most sane people. It sounds like Cains lawyers decided to pay a pittance to dismiss a meritless nuisance suit, because the settlement was less than projected court costs. In retrospect, he should have taken it to court and won, but lawyers dont think like that, when they have a very small settlement offer in hand, they normally say, pay the 2 dollars.
November 1, 2011 - 3:33 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
118. Daezy
As baseless as Anita Hill's, and the tongue lashing Justice Clarence Thomas gave the Senate at the end was spot on and well deserved.
Herman Cain comes from the old school of decency, honesty, and a good heart – something the left will NEVER understand. They will continue to be threatened by "uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas,.." as Justice Clarence Thomas told Joe Biden and the rest of the Senate on Oct 11, 1991.
In further analogy of this utter diabolical and baseless attack on Mr Cain, Justice Thomas continued, "and it is a message that unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you. You will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the U.S. — U.S. Senate, rather than hung from a tree." Truer words were never spoken, and God bless them both.
November 1, 2011 - 6:48 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
william of bedford
That's all fine and dandy, unless Anita Hill was telling the truth. I don't believe for 1 minute she made up such an elaborate story. Thomas was just mad he got caught.
Try sticking to the facts and drop the baloney. No one is buying it.
November 1, 2011 - 10:41 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Anita Hill telling the "truth." Suuuure. Explains how Justice Thomas got seated on the USSC.
November 2, 2011 - 11:28 am Link to this Comment | Reply
119. william of bedford
He put his own head in the noose when he broke the law and harassed all those women. Now he will face his comeuppance.
November 1, 2011 - 10:38 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
120. Zedi Runnin
Interesting to see how the narrative from the Cain campaign has shifted since Roger first wrote this piece. It's no longer the liberals, or the liberal media, that are to blame for this "lynching", but the Perry campaign. Evidently one of Perry's staffers worked for Cain's failed '04 Senate race and kept some dirt to spread.
Now that it's a fellow Republican, is it still a lynching?
November 3, 2011 - 6:52 am Link to this Comment | Reply -
121. Terrye
I don't think this is like the Clarence Thomas situation at all…these sexual harassment allegations took place some time ago and the women in question have not been the ones forcing the issue. I think Cain has handled the whole thing badly. He should have been prepared with a concise response to all this, he had 10 days to prepare. Instead he contradicts himself, denies the whole thing happened, is forced to admit that the basic facts in the Politico story were accurate and then blames Perry. All of it has been one great big screw up. Put this together with his numerous mis steps and gaffes and it is obvious that Cain is not up to all this. I like the man, I don't think he is a bad person or anything, but he is not ready for prime time.
November 6, 2011 - 2:22 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
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