Liberals are experts on sexual predation.
Posted on 10/31/2011 6:56:09 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
What better day than Halloween – famous for ghosts, ghouls and goblins – to deal with skeletons. And this week we’re going to find out if Herman Cain has any real skeletons in his closet. By this time I’m sure you’ve already seen the damning headline which Politico launched on Sunday night. Rather than reprinting all of the details here we can best summarize it with the lede.
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.
When this news first broke and we began immediately dissecting it on Twitter, I was mostly cautioning everyone among both Cain’s supporters and detractors to slow walk this one. Stories such as this, ripe with the juiciest buzzwords, are serious poison pills which can leave pundits looking very silly when they finish blowing up. One of the main problems is that the story, while apparently fairly well sourced and researched over a period of time, fails to deliver some of the bedrock facts which would help nail this down one way or the other. Of course, while I wish the reporters from Politico had showed us a little more leg, so to speak, I can also understand how the sources could leave them tongue tied in key areas.
Some things to consider before you jump too quickly into this maelstrom center on the types of accusations being levied. As Da Techguy points out, when you are a successful businessman in a position of power with a lot of money in play, you can attract lawsuits. It’s just a fact of life. I’m not in any way implying the two women in question were disingenuous in their accusations – we simply don’t have enough details to say either way at this point. But such things do happen in the real world, and sometimes large organizations will pay somebody off to just make a problem go away and avoid a prolonged freak show. The payments in question here are apparently in the “five figure” range, so that would be a cheap parachute to grab, IF that’s what happened.
There are also many levels of “sexual harassment” which fall well short of sexual assault. (Which has not even been alleged here, we should point out.) Again, we’re lacking the details of what is alleged to have been done. While not excusing anything, there’s a bit of a difference between grabbing someone’s private areas and, for example, a wink and a nod at an inappropriate moment which somebody might interpret as being more suggestive than it was intended. Politico doesn’t give us enough specifics to see where the alleged activity falls on that scale, so it’s too soon to say one way or the other.
But even with all of that said, this looks pretty bad, and Cain’s supporters may want to be careful in how exuberant they are in his defense. The responses we saw both last night and this morning make it look as if there is either some serious fire under all of this smoke or the Cain campaign is incompetent beyond description. It is now confirmed that Politico was working on this story and in contact with Cain’s people for ten days before they went to press. In all that time, surely somebody must have sat down with the candidate and said, “Look… the storm is coming. This is going to go public. We have to be ready with an answer.”
The answer they wound up going with was nothing short of disastrous, taking the form of an attempt at blaming the liberal media for reporting on it rather than denying or clarifying the story in a less damaging light. Cain’s campaign spokesperson called in to Geraldo and flatly refused to answer the “did this or did this not happen” question, saying instead that the media should contact the restaurant association. The question was put to Herman Cain himself, who glared silently at the camera for an uncomfortable period before saying, “… have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?”
If there’s a worse answer out there, I’m hard pressed to think what it might be, other than grabbing the reporter by the crotch and running away. With a week and a half to prepare, they had to be able to deliver better than this, and thus far it’s all been fumbles coming out of the gate.
I’m seeing some other defenses and postures coming from Cain supporters this morning which should really be avoided. The first is the knee-jerk reaction to say, “But… but… BILL CLINTON!” Yes, we all know what nasty business Bubba got up to. But if the past several years have taught us anything, it’s that liberals have beclowned themselves to the point of Bad Joke Status by responding to every criticism of President Obama with, “But.. but… BUSH!” Pointing out someone else who did something worse doesn’t alter what your guy has done.
The second – and probably worse – line I’m seeing is an attempt to conflate this situation with that of Clarence Thomas. Aside from both cases involving a prominent black man they have little to nothing in common. Anita Hill emerged from obscurity years after the fact to level undocumented charges which couldn’t be effectively substantiated only when Thomas was on the verge of ascending to the highest court in the land. The two women in question here apparently brought forth their complaints in a timely fashion and sought a resolution. They then seem to have remained silent on this and were not the ones who brought up the charges we’re seeing this week. This gives them a lot more credibility than Anita Hill.
So who did leak this particular story? I’ve already received a number of e-mails from correspondents suggesting a variety of theories. One popular one is that the Cain campaign leaked it themselves to “rip the band aid off quickly” and get this out of the way well in advance of the general election. While that can be an effective strategy for candidates, I call baloney on it in this case. If this had come from the Cain campaign they would have been far better prepared with a response as opposed to the train wreck currently unfolding in the press.
Was it either Romney or Perry? Possible, I suppose, and if that’s the case Politico’s reporters would never out their original tipster. But somebody else might let it slip, so it would be a hugely risky move.
The best bet – and this is only a guess, mind you – is that somebody connected to the National Restaurant Association in some fashion who has an ax to grind with Cain decided to whisper in Politco’s ear. Or perhaps just somebody familiar with the case from the 90′s who wanted to feel important and be the hero for some reporters and make a big splash. Hard to say, really.
But, to wrap this up, from what we’ve seen thus far I think Politico has the goods on this one and they’ve got more that they’re not letting out of the bag yet. (If they ever plan to do so at all.) There are too many people weighing in on the story for this to be complete fiction at this point, so Cain’s defenders should be cautious about trying to lay this entirely at the feet of the liberal media. The question at this point is whether this will merely be a thorn in Cain’s side or a gaping breach in the hull of his campaign’s ship. We should know soon enough… probably after a week or ten days gives the story enough time to soak in nationally and then get a few new rounds of polling completed.
NOTE: See also Ed Morrissey’s analysis of this breaking story this morning.
lol
I call BULLSHIT on this “story”.
It only makes me wonder if it was fabricated by the dnc, The Ubama campaign or Karl Rove on behalf of Mittens Romney. Has to be one of those three.
Was it either Romney or Perry?
Two of the most foul people I have ever witnessed. They are disgusting for even bringing up this crap. Perry is so jealous of Cain. I am voting for Cain unless a picture of him that shows him over a dead baby that he killed with his own hands. Other than that he gets my vote.
This is why people, or the company they work for, should never pay off accusers if there was no wrongdoing.
The fact that there were at least 2 settlements makes Cain look guilty. It’s won’t even matter if he did absolutely nothing wrong, people will wonder why the National Restaurant Association paid off the 2 “victims” if Herman had done nothing wrong.
Liberals are experts on sexual predation.
This current president is acting like the King of the United States by governing with executive orders to go around congress and this is what the news media thinks is important!!! Unbelievable.
Or f@cking else what asshole [Hotair]? Me? I'm sick of this Sh!t. I'm gonna revert to those old Progressive answers. It wasn't sex. We have 400 [liberal] historians ready to quote that [whatever conduct] is not an impeachable [sexual] offense. And on and on and on and on. I'm gonna vote for him regardless.
Slightly hysterical article.
That is for sure. A lady I once supervised filed suit for age discrimination some years ago. The reason? I had stopped her operation of a football pool and other such activities on company time, and she was ticked off. (By the way, there was information in her employee file of past thefts, so I was also concerned about her handling other people's money.)
While the allegations were unfounded, the company decided to settle with her because it was cheaper than going to court.
This story about Cain is going to have to present some evidence besides a "pay off" for me to believe there is any substance to it.
I've never heard one member of Big News criticize how women are viewed and treated under Sharia Law so I'm sure they all agree with me.
yep.
This is ridiculous, and will only ending up helping Cain and possibly destroying one of the other candidates if they try and make something of this.
Sometimes, if the claims are covered by insurance, it is the insurance carrier that dictates that a settlement be reached and paid..the company has no choice.
Uh, there were at least 2 cash settlements paid out to women that accused Cain of "inappropriate behavior". How do you figure that was fabricated? There were either settlements or not, and it sounds like there most definitely were. The underlying accusations may be a bunch of nonsense, but the National Restaurant Association apparently took them serious enough to pay off the accusers.
This is pretty slimy behavior from Mitt Romney; stooping to this level.
(Hey... My charge isn’t provable or disprovable either!)
Well I feel raped whenever a Rat proposes a new spending program.
Clinton is a rapist.
Obama is a cokehead.
Herman Cain may haveasked someone to come to his hotel room. The horror.
Well Morrissey is, as usual, on the money.
First, Morrissey laments how the Cain campaign is handling this matter, from the spokesnoid’s response that this is a Liberal media campaign to Cain’s rather odd long stare and response of a question of whether the questioner (in this case, Geraldo) has ever been accused.
EXCEPT, it seems to me that a logical conclusion that can be brought is that there IS something to this story and the Cain campaign is trying to deal with it beyond an outright denial. Supposedly the “settlement”, under $99,999.99 as we are to understand, forbids release of the details. But for a large enough fee to exceed any loss of a future lawsuit can pry open mouths closed just for the money. The Cain people know this so they’re walking softly and not saying anything that can be brought up later and make them look stupid.
So I think the story’s true but I think, for now, there’s not much to it. Maybe Cain did invite some sweet thing up to his suite after partying up at a corporate meeting. Not like this hasn’t happened before. But if you’re right, a CEO or some such, an insulted female could get money as settlement to go away. As for Cain, if true at all, well he’s a sinner. Not like there aren’t others on this planet.
Also....it really COULD be a scam. Females do this sort of thing. She got drunk, Cain had a few. She flirts shamelessly, knowing that in due course, all men eventually give in to their little heads and he’d respond. Maybe she had a tape recorder though I know I’m stretching it.
So there’s TWO of them, allegedly...heh. Two always plot quicker and deeper than one.
Still and so I sit with a wide open mind. But I assert that the coyness of the Cain people, and Cain himself, is a serious indicator that there’s something to this story.
Best to let whatever facts will come out....come out.
If Cain’s some kind of serial philanderer or masher he never would have embarked on a presidential campaign. But there might be something in his past that just plains look bad. Americans know we are not saints. It’s just how bad of a non-saint we are that makes all the difference.
I don’t agree with the conclusion of the author, but this article is not the problem.
In fact, it lays out what is probably the correct scenario - that these women picked out a target and knew they could get a nice settlement and go on their way - and that the association cut it’s losses by paying it. 5 figures, which could be as low as only 10K of course, could easily be an annoyance pay out with no basis in fact. I agree this is a very likely scenario.
The author also points out that the campaign has not handled this correctly. I would agree with that too.
That the main stream media is scared of a conservative black guy is nothing new.
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