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The Spectacle Blog
As AEI turns into a three-ring circus for Herman Cain's appearance, let's review the Politico bombshell story about his alleged inappropriate conduct toward two female coworkers, before he fields any questions.
The first question is whether this is a legitimate story. The answer is plainly yes: if a candidate has a track record of inappropriate behavior toward women, that's of public interest. The accusation, voiced by some conservatives already, that Bill Clinton got a pass from the media for loutish behavior lacks force, because Clinton should have faced more scrutiny.
The second question is whether Politico's story holds up. The story is definitely weak in that it mentions no specifics and includes no quotes from anyone accusing Cain. It does contain, however, a number of quotes from people supportive of Cain who express disbelief that would have behaved inappropriately. Furthermore, the charge that the National Restaurant Association settled two suits relating to the broad category of "inappropriate behavior" tells us very little. It isn't confirmation that Cain was actually guilty of inappropriate behavior, much less that he committed sexual harassment specifically.
Nevertheless, there are two aspects of the story that raise it above the level of the accusations made against Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearings (another event brought up by a number of conservative defenders of Cain last night and this morning). The first is that Politico's story is verifiable, because it references a paper trail the National Restaurant Association has in its possession. This isn't merely "he said, she said," and if Politico got it wrong, they will be caught out. The second is that Politico's Jonathan Martin asked Herman Cain four times, in person, if he'd ever been accused of sexual harassment, and Cain did not deny that he had. His spokesman also failed to deny it on Geraldo. Not until the past hour did anyone in the Cain camp deny that he had sexually harassed anyone, even though they'd been aware of the story since Politico asked Cain about the accusations prior to reporting it.
In summary: there is a real story here. It's possible that Politico got the story wrong, in which case they will be exposed. It's also possible that the story is totally accurate, and yet Cain is innocent of any wrongdoing. There are plenty of reasons, after all, why a businessman would settle a harassment suit even if he were blameless. The final possibility, of course, is that Cain did behave inappropriately toward women he worked with. Let's hope that's not the case.
A few final points: the accusation that Politico is unfairly liberal (made by Jeff Lord, among others) is itself unfair. Politico undoubtedly employs reporters from liberal media backgrounds, including at least one of the reporters who contributed to the Cain story, Ken Vogel. On the other hand, they also feature writers hired from conservative outlets. It's worth noting they have published pieces by a number of Spectator writers, myself included.
Lastly, it's likely that the story was motivated by opposition research from one of Cain's primary opponents. The article doesn't include any hints about who that might be, but, given Cain's ascent in the polls, it's not too hard to think of a few possibilities.
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More Blog Posts by Joseph Lawler
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Mimi| 10.31.11 @ 10:00AM
If it turns out to be one of the " primary-contenders" ...and if the story holds NO water...The contender will go down too!
Gosh how we hate this stuff......Cain needs to come out with specifics!
Bob| 10.31.11 @ 10:13AM
Trick or Treat Herman? His gals did the tricks and he enjoyed the treats.
Bumr50| 10.31.11 @ 10:41AM
The Perry camp knew Friday at the latest.
http://theothermccain.com/2011.....e-patriot/
See update V.
Magnitude And Velocity| 10.31.11 @ 2:23PM
That may be the real smoking gun here, given that the only campaign that will benefit from taking down Cain at this point would be Perry. True Conservatives aren't going to Romney except as a last resort and maybe not even then. Bachmann and Santorum are essentially out of the race.
Ricco| 10.31.11 @ 10:41AM
"The first question is whether this is a legitimate story. The answer is plainly yes..."
Not according to his talking hack, J.D. Gordon who said, "These are thin allegations" and are non-sourced." What kind of trust and credibility is being fostered here?
If Cain is to be taken seriously as a candidate, unless there is a NDA, he needs to, 1) rip off his own band-aid and come clean about this and, 2) replace Gordon, his pathetic "spokesman," and with an effective communicator.
Timothy Birdnow| 10.31.11 @ 11:24AM
Cain may be under a gag order on this. This thing smells, and it's not Cain that bears the stench.
amywell| 10.31.11 @ 11:47AM
Sexual harassment type behavior is not a one and done offense most of the time. If this is a false or inflated claim, there won't be others coming out of the woodwork to echo the complaint. If it is a pattern of behavior, many more women will come forward. Presdient Clinton had many, many complainers who came forward and they weren't faceless or nameless. Also, a few crude jokes don't constitute sexual harrassment, anyone who has actually been harrassed has felt very threatened and vulnerable. And yes, businesses settle frivolous cases to avoid bad pubilicty and court costs, so settlement is not an admission of guilt. The press has to report this, but either his co-workers, male and female will say it is nonsense, or they will be silent or support the claim. Only time will tell, but I hope he is innocent.
thomas mc| 10.31.11 @ 11:31AM
Can we just impeach him now, and get it over with?
After what the Republicans did to Bill Clinton, there is no way they can ever get away with this guy!
Claypoole| 10.31.11 @ 11:45AM
Bill Clinton was impeached for perjury, not for his affair with Monica Lewinsky, not even for his double rape of Juanita Brodrick. He lost his license to practice law for the same reason. And the Senate refused to try him after the impeachment because enough senators had worked with once-Senator Al Gore to fear for the country should Gore become president.
LarryK| 10.31.11 @ 11:33AM
It's not the accuracy or truth but the "seriousness" of the accusation.
Dai Alanye| 10.31.11 @ 11:36AM
Let's get one thing out of the way: Politico does indeed lean left, as any clear-eyed person can see. But whether this particular story is biased remains to be seen.
As far as the story itself, if ANY red-blooded man has ever, at some time in his life, failed to act inappropriately, it's because he has some of the features of a eunuch. And the same, I might add, is true of many red-blooded women. Any charming, good-looking man has, on occasion, been pursued by women he would have preferred pick on someone else. Until mind reading comes in style mistakes by both sexes will continue to be made.
After all, the inappropriateness is in the judgment of the "receiver," and can be quite a subjective thing. It's easy enough for the "sender" to perceive receptiveness where none exists. I have even known cases (all second-hand information, of course, since I have never ever, etc, etc) where the receiver inexplicably changed her attitude in the middle of the preliminaries, leaving the man with having acted appropiately in one moment, and inappropriately the next.
Now if, of course, Herman is guilty of anything one-half as bad as Jack Kennedy, or one-tenth as bad as Slick Willy, that's another matter, and no excuse will be acceptable. He's not a Democrat, after all, and as a Republican, he'll be dead meat.
Occam's Tool| 10.31.11 @ 11:39AM
Settlements of cases is essentially meaningless, unless you know the amount it was settled for. If the settlements are for under, say, 50K, it obviously was a settlement done to save the NRA (Food industry) some legal fees. For comparison, Bubba Clinto settled Paula Jones for $700,000.
These types of settlements is why we need "loser pays" in this country more than caps on damages. Caps on damages punishes people with legitimate cases. Loser pays keeps frivolous lawsuits out of court, because both sides have skin in the game.
Kingofthenet| 10.31.11 @ 12:18PM
So the ONLY people who can get justice are one's who can PAY for it? I am ALL for it, as long as it ALSO applies to the State.
Kingofthenet| 10.31.11 @ 11:54AM
This is 'Over-Blown' (Just the way the Heminator likes it) the man sold Pizza for a living, so it is NO surprise he wanted to hide the Sausage, it is one of the most expensive toppings. Although I do believe I found a Pubic hair on my six-pack of Coke from Godfathers.
Simon Templar| 10.31.11 @ 12:10PM
Yeah, I have no doubt that Politico liberals were only thinking about reaching the highest level of journalistic integrity and had the public's interest only in mind when they dug up these little gems.
To think anything otherwise is patently ridiculous and unfair. How could anyone reach any other conclusion?
While were on the topic, I read in the National Inquirer ( I have an inquiring mind) that Elvis was spotted in Vegas this past week.
(sarcasm)
Margie| 10.31.11 @ 12:34PM
Inquiring minds are too smart to fall for yet another phony case of "sexual harassment" in order to bring down a good man.
May the liars, whoever they are, burn in Hell.
Controse| 11.1.11 @ 1:34PM
Isn't it just great. We have a guy that can stear us away from the Progressive iceberg. Who wants to hit the iceberg? Apparently the MSM does. Otherwise why are they spending all this media time on the meaningless. So what if he sexually harassed two women two decades ago? What does that have to do with his leadership? Nothing of course. He probably farted in public sometime in the past too. Who is suppressing that story?