Posted on 11/07/2011 5:41:39 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Via Todd Starnes of Fox News, is it still a “so-called story” when you have a woman making accusations on TV under her own name? If The One were suddenly facing a bunch of similar claims from his community-organizing days, including one from a named accuser, I’m thinking … yeah, story.
When in trouble, trust in the magic formula to firm up support: Media-bashing + “outsider” authenticity (“I won’t play by the establishment’s rules”) + vagueness on the particulars.
Unfortunately, the media-driven process by which one must seek this opportunity is fundamentally unserious. I have touched on this before – the emphasis on “gaffes,” gotcha questions and time devoted to trivial nonsense – and everyone knows the process only became further detached from relevance this week as the media published anonymous, ancient, vague personal allegations against me.
Once this kind of nonsense starts, the media’s rules say you have to act in a certain way. I am well aware of these rules. And I refuse to play by them…
Another reason I refuse to play by these rules is that, by doing it my way, I’m getting much better results. My fundraising has skyrocketed since all this nonsense began. Just this weekend, the Washington Post has come out with a new poll – taken since all this started – showing me in the lead nationally, with my numbers on the rise…
But the process by which we choose our presidents has become so warped that, when something like this happens, the media and political strategists start grading you on whether you play an absurd game by their absurd rules.
A few things. One: The reason there’s been an emphasis on “gaffes” in his case is because all too often the gaffes have to do with significant policy matters. Go watch the clip here again if you missed it earlier. Two: He says later that the witnesses to these alleged harassment incidents are all conspicuously anonymous. Not true, though. Chris Wilson put his name on the record. Three: He makes the point that he’s had thousands of professional conversations over the years, so some people were bound to be rubbed the wrong way. Right, but of course so have Romney and Perry and no one’s accused them of harassment, let alone four people.
Here’s Allred talking to Wolf Blitzer tonight about the charges. She says Bialek won’t accept money for this story and, more noteworthy, claims that she has sworn affidavits from two people who say Bialek told them about the alleged incident with Cain around the time that it happened in 1997. She won’t reveal their names — yet — but she did supposedly read the affidavits to reporters after today’s presser. Oh, and according to John Nolte of Big Hollywood, it turns out Bialek is indeed a registered Republican and that she did in fact attend “Teacon” in Chicago last month, as she claimed. Stay tuned.
I am a serious person, seeking the opportunity to do a serious and very important job. Our nation has very serious problems, particularly of an economic nature, and Barack Obama does not have the skill, knowledge or will to solve them.
I do.
Unfortunately, the media-driven process by which one must seek this opportunity is fundamentally unserious. I have touched on this before – the emphasis on “gaffes,” gotcha questions and time devoted to trivial nonsense – and everyone knows the process only became further detached from relevance this week as the media published anonymous, ancient, vague personal allegations against me.
Once this kind of nonsense starts, the media’s rules say you have to act in a certain way. I am well aware of these rules. And I refuse to play by them.
There are several reasons for this. One is that, lest anyone forget, we actually have serious matters to talk about. Since the media went bananas over this so-called story, my schedule has not changed in the slightest. I have continued to make all planned public appearances. I have continued to answer questions about my 9-9-9 tax reform plan. I have continued to do everything else that our strategy proscribes.
Another reason I refuse to play by these rules is that, by doing it my way, I’m getting much better results. My fundraising has skyrocketed since all this nonsense began. Just this weekend, the Washington Post has come out with a new poll – taken since all this started – showing me in the lead nationally, with my numbers on the rise.
The media may be obsessed with this business, but the voters are not. And I am not.
But there’s another crucially important reason I refuse to play by these rules: These rules stink. Can the process by which we pick the leader of our nation be any more absurd? I’m not talking about the primary process or the role of the electorate. There is nothing wrong with that. I am talking about the media’s trivializing of such an important matter.
Consider: I held various executive positions in corporate America for several decades. I had thousands of employees working for me. I can’t even begin to recall how many conversations I had with people during that time, how many directives I gave, how much friendly banter might have taken place.
I also had to make tough decisions during these years. I turned around a poorly performing region for Burger King, then turned around a struggling Godfather’s Pizza organization. At some point during a career like this, someone will not like things you do, or how you do it. Someone will complain.
That is just the nature of things if you’ve ever done much in your life.So once the editors of Politico started looking for people who would make claims against me, their chances of finding a few takers were probably about 100 percent. These people will not give their names. The so-called “witnesses” who purportedly corroborated their stories also will not give their names. That’s about what you would expect when people are engaging in a “hatchet job,” as it’s been described by Joseph Fassler, who was chairman of the National Restaurant Association board when I was there.
It’s easy to make accusations when, by virtue of your anonymity, you don’t have to be held accountable for the claims you’re making. It’s easy to publish them when, like Politico, you don’t follow basic rules of journalism by naming your sources or giving any details whatsoever about what supposedly happened.
But the process by which we choose our presidents has become so warped that, when something like this happens, the media and political strategists start grading you on whether you play an absurd game by their absurd rules.
When someone stops you on the street and hits you with an accusation like this, they subsequently write a story about the look in your eyes, and how many seconds it took you to speak some words in response.
They go to “crisis management experts” who offer the usual sage wisdom about “getting all the information out” – as if you can get any “information” out (aside from telling them nothing happened, which they don’t want to hear) in response to allegations that are unsourced and nonspecific.
Then, when you haven’t “calmed the firestorm” – if only because the people wielding the blow-torches have no intention of putting them out – more experts are put on the air to say this proves you are “not ready for prime time.”
Maybe that would matter if I was trying out for the cast of Saturday Night Live. But this should be a slightly more serious undertaking than that.
Contrary to the belief of experts, so wise and learned in the ways of politics, I do know what the established rules say I am supposed to do. I simply refuse to do it. That’s because the rules are ridiculous, and they produce leaders like Barack Obama, who play the political game like experts but govern like complete incompetents.
The nation needs its tax structure reformed, its spending brought under control, its debt reduced and its overall governing structure made far more responsive to the needs of the people. The nation needs many other problems addressed. If it’s OK with the American people, I would like to address them.
If the media want to continue talking about nonsense, that’s fine. I’m not going to join them. It doesn’t look like the citizenry plans to join them either.
she never got in the race.
Good enough for me too. The burden of proof is on the accuser.
Cain is still riding high in the polls, is still the frontrunner, you must think we are all stupid to fall for something this dumb.
Oh, and ignore that “online” poll from the weekend that showed Cain losing some points of support, online polls are crap.
So she told two people about the supposed harrassment after it supposedly happened. That does not make her story one iota more true. She hired Gloria Allred. That says far, far more about her than anything else.
RE: Cain will have to do a lot better than this or he will be out of the race before the first primary vote is cast.
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OK, what EXACTLY should he say that will satisfy you?
Sarah Palin was accused of adultery in a book ( with a black NBA player at that ). What should she have said? Should she have disputed the specifics as well?
The timeline according to ABC is that she was “let go” from NRA in mid 1997. After that she went to Washington DC to talk to Cain to get his help finding a job. She met with him at a restaurant to discuss this issue. WHAT????? She went to DC to meet with Cain, was she a good friend of Cain”s that he would help a former underling from a different office get a job with a different company? Did she schedule this meeting directly with Cain via his 1997 cell phone? Did she have his direct office phone number thus bypassing the Personal Assistant of the CEO of NRA? When did this restaurant “meeting” happen? Where did this meeting happen? She can’t even name the restaurant or her hotel?
I was unfamiliar with Allahpundit. My initial impression after the past week is that he isn’t very bright.
No I don't want her back in this race. I think she quit because she wasn't up to taking the kind of treatment Cain is getting right now. I hope Mr. Cain is tough enough to hang in there and not quit like Palin did. If the American public allows this kind of stuff to work then we deserve what we get for leadership.
State-controlled media is not choosing our candidate again.
TWO QUESTIONS JUST JUMPED OUT TO ME AS I READ THE ENTIRE NARRATIVE:
1) Why would she ask him to drive her back, after her supposed horrific experience?
Wouldn’t a decent woman quickly leave the car in a huff and abandon the boor?
She accused him of forcing her face on his crotch ( sexual assault ), I would have expected her to get the hell outta the car and scream for help.
But no, she asked him to take her back to the hotel.
2) As scripted stories go, this looks so badly written...
One would have to assume that Cain is so stupid that he can’t wait to at least invite her to the hotel room before attempting anything. He had to do it in the car, where people might see them make out.
Gloria Allred can’t even write a credible script. She wants to make Herman Cain look like a barbarian.
Worst case, if she’s telling the whole truth, is she (almost) got felt up a bit buy a man who stopped when she asked him to.
If we were to hear similar escapades from other politicians, who long do you suppose it would take? Thankfully the Kennedys are dead, none of us would live long enough to hear them all.
Different Axelrod, according to Michelle Malkin.
I'm getting, quite frankly, sick of this s**t.
TWO QUESTIONS JUST JUMPED OUT TO ME AS I READ THE ENTIRE NARRATIVE:
1) Why would she ask him to drive her back, after her supposed horrific experience?
Wouldn’t a decent woman quickly leave the car in a huff and abandon the boor?
She accused him of forcing her face on his crotch ( sexual assault ), I would have expected her to get the hell outta the car and scream for help.
But no, she asked him to take her back to the hotel.
2) As scripted stories go, this looks so badly written...
One would have to assume that Cain is so stupid that he can’t wait to at least invite her to the hotel room before attempting anything. He had to do it in the car, where people might see them make out.
Gloria Allred can’t even write a credible script. She wants to make Herman Cain look like a barbarian.
In the interview with her dad even he said she had a “big heart” in “SPITE OF HER PROBLEMS.” I wonder what her “problems” are?
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Bi-polar?
He would write in Romney if Romney didn't get the nomination.
That’s part of the whole marxist, communist, socialist MO...make the lie sooooo ridiculous that it has to be the truth.
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