Me, on Wednesday:
I may be in the minority, but I don’t think Cain’s history of sexual harassment is going to hurt him at all with the GOP, and the insanity of the Republican party will really work to his favor in the short run, at least. Half of them have convinced themselves that this is just a liberal media hit job, and the rest of them think women are property, so I really don’t expect him to lose any support over this. If anything, in the short term, I expect him to gain ground. Wingnuts love crazy shit. It doesn’t matter if Cain has made any number of differing and contradictory statements about what happened, the fact that Cain is not handling this conventionally is all they need. They love a good show, and to them, Cain is fighting back! He’s not taking it! Plus, did you see him show them at the Press Club what he is made of when he broke into song?
The WaPo, today:
Businessman Herman Cain and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney are running nearly even atop the field of 2012 GOP presidential hopefuls, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows, with most Republicans dismissing the harassment allegations that over the past week have roiled Cain’s campaign.
Seven in 10 Republicans say reports that Cain made unwanted advances toward two employees when he was head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s — allegations which have been stiffly rebutted by Cain’s campaign — do not matter when it comes to picking a candidate.
But the potential threat to his burgeoning campaign is evident as well, with Cain slipping to third place among those who see the charges as serious, and Republican women significantly more likely than men to say the scandal makes them less apt to support Cain.
The poll was conducted Oct. 31 through Nov. 3, starting the evening after Politico first reported the harassment allegations. Support for Cain was basically steady over the four nights of interviewing, even as new charges against him surfaced.
Nearly a quarter of all Republicans and GOP-leaning independents now back Cain as the party’s nominee, his best showing in Post-ABC polls this year, and up significantly from early October. At 23 percent nationally, Cain is neck-and-neck with Romney (24 percent) atop the GOP field.
“I think [the charges against Cain are] mostly garbage that they throw at people who want to be president,” James Kindsch, from Middleton, Wis., said in a follow-up interview.
“I don’t believe it,” said Paul Bradley from Fishersville, Va., adding: “The further in the past they happened, the less accurate they are.”
In the poll, a majority of Republicans — 55 percent — see reports of Cain’s alleged misconduct as “not a serious matter,” and 70 percent say the situation makes no difference in their vote.
If the NY Times were to do a piece showing that Cain had murdered a dozen people in the 70’s, the response of most Republicans would be “Why is the liberal media waiting until now to bring this up? Clearly a hit job.” We’re dealing with crazy people.
Reality Check
Only 80,000 jobs added in October–and you need at least 150,000 to keep up with population growth. Stagnant economy, deep recession, mass unemployment, no end in sight, even after a ONE TRILLION dollar stimulus–that’s Obama’s America.
ornery
Suspicions of infidelity are important enough to investigate and impeach a sitting President … but it is “not a serious matter” and does not matter “when it comes to picking a candidate.”
John Arbuthnot Fisher
Have we all so quickly forgotten the Clenis?? I swear to FSM we must be approaching the IOKIYAR event horizon.
cathyx
I don’t think this will be the end of the garbage that will come out about Herman Cain. There’s still plenty of time, and plenty of scandals.
The Moar You Know
Anyone who watched the confirmation of Clarence Thomas knew how this was going to end. Republicans genuinely feel that sexually harassing women is not an issue.
dmsilev
@Reality Check: So, I guess your concern means you’ve been writing your Senators and Representative to urge them to support Obama’s fully-paid-for jobs and infrastructure bills? Right?
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@John Arbuthnot Fisher:
Is that anything like Peak Wingnut? You know, that supposed point that was supposed to have come at least 2 years ago?
I think you’re just a wee optimistic there. :/
willard
“Stiffly rebutted by Cain” indeed
Hawes
GOP=DSM IV
I think we can safely say that in 2011, being a Republican is a form of cognitive disassociation syndrome.
xian
the troll has convinced me. we need to bring back the Republican job-creation numbers of the Bush era!
Emma
@Reality Check: Whistling by the graveyard, RC? All the polls show that people are much more likely to blame the Republican Congress for that. The president’s poll numbers are inching up…. But you keep dreaming, kiddo.
cat48
Cain has an AD running about his “High Tech Lynching.” Unbelievable to me. They’ve played it on msnbc 4 times. Ugggh
MattF
How is FoxNews covering the story? I don’t watch FoxNews myself– my taste in fiction runs to sci-fi/fantasy these days.
rumpole
So the plan looks like this–
1. Unwilling sexual advances = election.
2. Consensual relationship = impeachment.
3. ????
4. Profit.
Boots Day
Wait – the allegations “have been stiffly rebutted by Cain’s campaign”? Don’t they mean the allegations “have been largely confirmed by Cain himself”?
Steve
Don’t you hate how those Democratic race hustlers are always playing the race card on every issue? What America needs is a proud black conservative who won’t resort to those race-baiting stunts!
Kristine
Troller needs more pie.
Blitherdick.
MacKenna
@Reality Check: That’s Obama’s America?
That’s Obama’s inheritance and the Republic*nts persist in keeping it that way.
schlemizel
Whats next JC? You gonna predict the sun will rise in the East & then say “see, I told you so”?
I.O.I.Y.A.R.
Rosalita
party of family values only believes that someone else’s family should be living up to those values, or something. ratfuckers
Chyron HR
@Reality Check:
At least nobody will ever accuse you of “sounding like a Christian”.
Violet
Heard on the TV this morning that one of the women wants to come forward now. If she’s white, that’ll be a game changer for Cain.
WereBear
Actually sleeping with them is bad!
Elizabelle
OT: Paul Krugman takes off David Brooks’ head in today’s column.
Recognize anyone here?
Krugman: Oligarchy, American Style
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/opinion/oligarchy-american-style.html
That’s Brooks’ basic shtick. Oh, and the upper class works harder too. (Why, those bankers are going to work, every single day, while you have unemployed engineers in their 50s writing novels. Kid you not, Brooks went there.)
Over to you, Driftglass.
Reality Check
It’s just another stimulus bill. We tried stimulus already. IT FAILED and did nothing but add to our massive, huge, unsustainable deficits and debt.
Special Patrol Group
Whatever. I still say Cain will not win the South Carolina primary. For some reason.
Rome Again
God saw to it that Herman Cain seeks the GOP nomination with the question of sexual impropriety (and possible adultery) hanging over the ballot because He LOVES Cain so much!
:P
OzoneR
@Reality Check:
Good thing we created that many in August and September, otherwise the unemployment rate wouldn’t have dropped by .1%.
Stagnant economy, deep recession, mass unemployment, no end in sight, even after a
ONE TRILLION dollar stimulus—Republican attempts to torpedo the country because they’re sore losersRome Again
@Reality Check:
IT FAILED because it wasn’t enough, not because it was too much!
Stimulus is the only thing that will get this economy working again, but, apparently you think choking the country is a better idea.
OzoneR
@Reality Check:
which would explain why we went from losing 700,000 jobs a month, to gaining an average of 120,000 in the last three.
clearly the answer is more unpaid for tax cuts, right RC?
sal
Yes, you did, but that’s about as low hanging fruit as you can go without having to dig out out of the ground.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@Rome Again:
Don’t forget how much of the stimulus was rerouted into tax cuts and more tax cuts rather than rebuilding the financial base.
Dave
What drives me crazy about the Cain-deniers is their persistence in calling these “charges” or “not accurate”. The facts are that the NRA paid off women who accused Cain of sexual harassment. That isn’t a “charge”…it’s the truth. 100% factual.
Rome Again
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:
I didn’t. Explaining it to this idiotic troll is useless. :S
schrodinger's cat
I have a question, how much of the population does the Republican base represent?
Reality Check
@Rome Again:
LOL,whatever. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expencting different results. You think $2 trillion would make any difference? Nope, it would just mean more boondoggles to corrupt scammers like Solyndra and more borrowed money, more debt, more deficits, more credit downgrades. Government is the problem, not the solution.
Villago Delenda Est
Yes. The proud legacy of the shitty grade Z movie star and the deserting coward.
Chris
@Rome Again:
So said every Keynesian economist at the time, but somehow now it’s proof that Keynesianism failed.
Culture of Truth
Cain was leading last weekend, so it doesn’t seem to have helped a great deal.
Rome Again
@Reality Check:
If you don’t want to live under the government, than GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!
OzoneR
@Reality Check:
says the guy who wants to continue giving tax cuts to the rich.
It certainly isn’t the problem when we bomb other countries, keep women from deciding what to do with their vaginas and keep gays for marrying. Then it’s the solution.
schrodinger's cat
Bobo is really BOB, this morning he has a column about shale.
Cat Lady
If it’s such a winning issue for him, why doesn’t he just own it? He should double down and say “I groped the bitchez cuz I could suckas, and if y’all don’t like it, bite me”. He’s a lying cheating coward instead, but I guess that just makes him a typical Republican.
Rome Again
@schrodinger’s cat:
27% :P
Villago Delenda Est
@Rome Again:
My suggestion: the Libtard utopia that is Somalia.
Rome Again
@Chris:
Exactly!
Mike in NC
If Cain comes forward and admits he drove cross country with a dog strapped to the roof of his car, he’ll have effectively sewn up the nomination.
Rome Again
@Cat Lady:
I wonder if he’s just saying all this “it never happened” because his wife doesn’t know.
kindness
Myself, I welcome the Republican Party nominating Cain, Perry or any of the other fruitcakes over there in lala land. Any one of them would make re-electing President Obama that much easier to do. Mittens will be much tougher to beat. Maybe it isn’t too early to start dropping that ‘Cult of Mormanism’ stuff around the web.
@Reality Check: Why does the first post gotta be a troll?
West of the Cascades
Unless the people murdered were rich white men. Cain would then have done something horrible to the only people who actually count among Republicans, and would be quickly processed to the nearest death penalty facility.
Chyron HR
@Reality Check:
Mitt Romney
20082012! He has to win eventually, right?Rome Again
@Villago Delenda Est:
Perfect choice, it has all the makings of a place that would satisfy Reality Check’s checklist.
OzoneR
@Reality Check:
you know why I hate people like you. Because people like you never said a GODDAMN WORD about any of this shit when the Iraq war and tax cuts were adding to it during the Bush years.
No, then deficits didn’t matter. Now suddenly it matters.
You’re a liar and a hypocrite and when Mitt Romney or whoever is president, you aren’t gonna give a shit about any of this and you know it.
jibeaux
DNFTFT
I do love talking about Herman “Case o’ Footbullets” Cain, but I can’t say that I think he’s going to be the nominee.
It would be awesome, though.
Republicans sometimes forget that women do vote, and we’re not fucking morons.
Ahem, John McCain.
Culture of Truth
Since Dec. 2007 (Start of recession)
Jobs Lost: 6,400,000
In 2011:
Jobs Added: 1,250,000
West of the Cascades
@kindness: I’m not so sure about that. It’s hard to see the GOP base getting excited about Romney in the general election (no matter how much they try to get it up by screaming about Kenyan Socialism), and he can be crushed in this economic environment based on his track record of job destruction at Bain Capital. But it certainly would be more ENTERTAINING if Cain or Perry or Gingrich won the GOP nomination.
Rome Again
@kindness:
No need, Freepers are already on it!
Rafer Janders
@schrodinger’s cat:
27%. It’s always 27%.
Villago Delenda Est
Well, duh.
All you have to do is look at our resident Rethuglidumbfuck troll, Reality Check, who screams about deficits and debt, when he was told by the Dark Lord himself that the shitty grade Z movie star proved that deficits don’t matter.
Deficits only matter when one of the usurpers is in the White House. Otherwise, go nuts, invade multiple countries, cut taxes for the parasite overclass!
Cain could have strapped on of the women he harassed to the roof of his station wagon and the Rethuglifucktards would cheer him on.
kindness
@MattF: re: taste in fiction. I also am a science fiction geek. Am I alone in thinking the SyFy channel sucks donkey balls right now? Not one science fiction show, all just ghost hunters and stupid bullshit. WTF is up with that?
Rome Again
@OzoneR:
It only matters because there is a black Democrat in the oval office.
rikyrah
they are some crazy mofos
Reality Check
@OzoneR:
I didn’t like the deficits under Bush, either, but they’re MUCH worse under Obama:
http://tinyurl.com/3j75ot8
The facts don’t lie. The deficit was going down until the Dems took over Congress in ’07, and it EXPLODED under Obambi.
Villago Delenda Est
@Rome Again:
There is the drawback, of course, that it is populated by Allah worshiping mudpeople, you know.
I’m sure with some 2nd Amendment solution work that could be taken care of, though.
cleek
such as: arguing with a troll
Villago Delenda Est
@Reality Check:
It “exploded” because Obama ended the lie of the deserting coward that the utterly illegal and immoral war of aggression against Iraq was “off budget”. Obama included those numbers along with everything else.
The cretinous stupid of the Rethuglifucktards. It burns.
Martin
GOP, same as they ever were:
Of course, the Dems have SUCH AN EASY WAY to rebut this, that there’s no fucking way they’ll find it. And that is to accuse the GOP of changing the legislation in order to specifically protect Westboro, and to do it with pictures of the Westboro folks running around with “God hates fags” and “God hates soldiers” signs.
burnspbesq
@Reality Check:
If you had the intelligence of a puddle of warm piss, you would know that the stimulus was ineffective because it was too small, and it was too small because Republicans wouldn’t have voted for anything remotely big enough tobe effective.
If you had the integrity of a pile of dirty towels, you would admit that you don’t care about the truth.
You have neither.
You are a contemptible piece of shit.
RalfW
With the newer post about the daughter-beating GOP judge, you really have to wonder. But I do think that the GOP is in serious danger (and that’s a good thing) of alienating all but the Bachmannesque women in America.
La Bachmann is in that sub-set that willingly submits to their husbands as an act of faith.
But there are sentient women in the GOP. I can’t see how they don’t go into the secret polling place and disobey their husbands.
SO…in addition to Voter ID laws, expect to see a bill to eliminate the secret ballot.
MattF
@kindness: I gave up completely on that channel after their desecration of Le Guin’s Earthsea books. And then, truth to tell, a couple of years later pretty much gave up on TeeVee entirely.
dww44
@OzoneR: Thanks for posting this scream. I do it lots when I’m in front of the TV or reading stuff on the internets that makes me scream out loud. It’s nice when someone else provides the outlet. I hate Republicans with a passion too, for these very reasons.
Villago Delenda Est
@Martin:
Bullying is bad.
Unless it’s in the name of Jeebus.
Then, it’s good!
Bully the infidels into the fold!
Jay in Oregon
@The Moar You Know:
It’s worse than that — they don’t see it as anything other than a tool to attack liberals and Democrats.
Rome Again
@Martin:
Someone needs to hire you in the capacity to make this kind of sh*t happen, quick! I like it. :)
Rome Again
Whoops, I said a bad word and I’m in moderation now. Dam(n)!
Chris
@Reality Check:
“The individuals in the Tea Party may come from very different walks of life, but most of them have a few things in common. After nearly a year of talking with Tea Party members from Nevada to New Jersey, I can count on one hand the key elements I expect to hear in nearly every interview. One: Every single one of them was that exceptional Republican who did protest the spending in the Bush years, and not one of them is the hypocrite who only took to the streets when a black Democratic president launched an emergency stimulus program.”
– Matt Taibbi
Hill Dweller
@Reality Check: As opposed to what exactly? Tax cuts for ‘jobs creators’? More austerity? Cut our way to growth?
The trickle down bullshit has destroyed the middle class and brought about third world country levels of income/wealth inequality over the last 30 years. In fact, republican economic policy has been an abject failure for anyone not in the top income brackets.
As for the stimulus, GDP shrank 8.9% and nearly 8% in the 4th quarter of ’08 and 1st quarter of ’09 respectively. There were over 800,000 job loses in Jan. ’09. The economy was in the midst of a catastrophic collapse when Obama was sworn in. Once the stimulus passed, GDP turned around almost instantaneously(growing by the 3rd quarter in ’09).
The truth is the stimulus was never meant to solve the problem; just stop the bleeding, and the give the vaunted private sector an opportunity to take over, which they didn’t do.
While imperfect(too many tax cuts) and too small, the stimulus did lead to some economic momentum by the end of last year, which translated into the best jobs numbers in years(granted, not exactly a high bar) in early ’11(the shameless bastards on the right took credit for said numbers). But that was all stamped out by the nihilistic republicans at the state and federal level using the deficit, which was largely created by republican policies, to rationalize making massive spending cuts in a recession. Austerity in a recession is the economic equivalent of bleeding a sick patient.
The truth is the republican party is a morally and intellectually bankrupt party. They couldn’t govern their way out of a wet paper bag, but are great at messaging, which goes a long way in today’s politics.
So if you want to have a discussion about economic insanity, I’m more than happy to have it.
Reality Check
@Chris:
That just shows Taibbi’s incredible ignorance. The TEA Party was at first a response to the bailouts, which happened under Bush.
Crusty Dem
@Reality Check:
Sorry to troll-feed, but you do realize that first red line in your graph was a budget passed and signed by/under GWB, and that unlike the previous lines, the last 2 red lines include the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, unlike the prior blue lines.
Never mind, you probably have no idea or interest in your own errors.
RalfW
@Rome Again: I hear that Somalia is a Libertarian paradise. No pesky government. No annoying taxes. Plenty of beachfront property.
Make your move, RC.
Villago Delenda Est
@burnspbesq:
Oh Mr. Burns! Counsel for the National Association of Dirty Towels on line two, something about defamation?
Rome Again
@Villago Delenda Est:
You mean that Second Amendment from that “Non-living Constitution?”
LOL
Chyron HR
@Reality Check:
Did you just admit that BUSH did the bailouts? Whoops. Time for some Romney-esque flip-flopping as you desperately try to claim you meant the time-traveling Obama bailouts.
Chyron HR
@Reality Check:
Did you just admit that BUSH did the bailouts? Whoops. Time for some Romney-esque flip-flopping as you desperately try to claim you meant the time-traveling Obama bailouts.
Rome Again
@Hill Dweller:
As I’ve been stating recently to TZ, I can’t understand how anyone could say they’re proud to be a Republican with a straight face. It must take a lot of booze for them to look at themselves in the mirror.
The Dangerman
I wonder what would happen if there were any discoveries of Little Hermans (no, not THAT, get your heads out of the gutter) walking around. Or, if proof came forward that there was ever an abortion with his fingerprints on the payment.
geg6
@Hill Dweller:
I want a cigarette now.
Rome Again
@Chyron HR:
Bush signed the bailouts but Obama is the one who tanked the economy I believe was the answer I got when I called him on it yesterday. Apparently something about it being a Democratic congress with Obama in the senate and them being the ones responsible for the failure.
Villago Delenda Est
@The Dangerman:
As we used to say to a guy I worked with about 10 years back, getting his head to the gutter would be an upgrade!
Elizabelle
@cleek:
word.
No arguing with trolls, y’all. Let them wither and go elsewhere.
ed drone
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:
I suspect “Peak Wingnut” and “Event Horizon” go together. They speculate that the closer one gets to a black hole’s event horizon, the more time changes, and that objects change size — stretch, actually — so that your feet would be “running” at one speed, and your head at a different (faster, I think?) speed.
It’s the same with “Peak Wingnut.” The closer we get to that ultimate moment, the longer it takes to arrive.
It’s sort of like the idea of advancing toward something one-half of the remaining distance with each step. Each increment is smaller, and you never really get there. And, unlike the joke of the experiment involving a pure scientist, an engineer, and, as the target, a naked woman, with “Peak Wingnut,” there is no, “True, we’ll never reach it, but for all practical purposes, it’s close enough” punch line.
With Peak Wingnut, we’re the punch line.
Ed
Libby
Hell, I called it on Monday, but nobody listens to me. Take no comfort that we were right about it. These crazy people have way too much influence on the system.
Bill E Pilgrim
Way too early. Day one was still “I don’t know anything about any woman ever complaining or any settlements and never did”. This thing took days to get ugly.
I’m not saying that Republicans in the general public who they poll won’t continue to support him to some degree, but the numbers will drop, but the political class is a different story and he’ll be history as a candidate and pretty soon.
That’s my theory anyway and it’s mine. His candidacy, when all is said and done, will resemble nothing as much as the creature formerly known as the brontosaurus: small at the start, quickly bulging into a big middle part, and then just as quickly diminishing to nothing again.
Mary Jane
@Reality Check: What a pathetic little nobody you’re showing yourself to be. Hope you’re paid at least 25 cents per post.
Yutsano
@Rome Again:
You fergot the “BECAUSE SHUT UP THAT’S WHY!!” part. You’re welcome. :)
ed drone
I think it’s time to leave Bounced Check to his own devices.
DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS!
Ed
OzoneR
@Reality Check:
no, they’re just actually accounted for under Obama. Bush hid them with “emergency supplementals.” so our budgets had smaller deficits because the deficit-causing spending wasn’t put in the damn budget. You’re right facts don’t lie, when you actually have them.
Brachiator
@ornery:
@The Moar You Know:
Goddam, I wish you people would stop making shit up. The charges against Clinton were bullshit, but it wasn’t simply about infidelity.
There were allegations that Clinton abused his authority and power as governor, and as president, to make unwanted propositions to women. And as a reminder, here is the outcome of the Paula Jones case:
Money was paid. Did something happen?
The other sad thing is, yes, both sides do it. Both sides will easily minimize claims against the people they like, and magnify the claims against people they hate.
It didn’t reach levels of sexual harassment but, for example, there were allegations during the recall craziness that California governor Gray would regularly verbally abuse and at times throw things at staffers, particularly female staffers. Apart from a couple of political reporters, no one ever looked at this. It just wasn’t sexy enough.
For the longest time, a lot of people who should have known better turned a blind eye to the sexual improprieties of Republican Senator Robert Packwood, who once wrote that he was doing his “Christian duty,” by having sex with a female staff member, according to a Washington Post story. Packwood was ultimately done by a steady parade of women who kept coming forward with credible, verifiable stories, and by Packwood’s own diaries.
And I remain bemused by those who want to ignore all issues surrounding the sexual exploitation of women that is at the heart of prostitution, and wail that a dope like Eliot Spitzer was really the victim.
And for the sake of those of you who are terminally stupid, Monica Lewinsky was an adult, everything that was dragged out about this case indicates that their relationship was consensual. I don’t give any credence to the claims that Clinton sexually assaulted Juanita Broderick.
And don’t waste my time by implying that I am in any way defending Herman Cain.
Again, I am tired of the sanctimonious bullshit that liberals or Democrats have cornered the market on morality, while evil Republicans just don’t care.
Brachiator
Crapola! Mysterious Moderation.
@ornery:
The charges against Clinton were nonsense, but it wasn’t simply about infidelity.
There were allegations that Clinton abused his authority and power as governor, and as president, to make unwanted propositions to women. And as a reminder, here is the outcome of the Paula Jones case:
Money was paid. Did something happen?
Bill E Pilgrim
@Brachiator:
Best typo of the week, that.
Yutsano
@Brachiator:
The actual charge Clinton was impeached on was perjury. He was acquitted by the Senate. Everything else is just poo flinging.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator:
What you’re overlooking in your indignation is that people are mostly discussing not the allegations of harassment, but are discussing how Cain (and his followers) are reacting to the reports of the allegations.
Cain is all over the map on this one. His followers are desperately trying to find someone, anyone, to blame for this “smear” that they would be more than happy to lay on any Democrat, as the Clinton case shows. But when it’s their guy in the crosshairs, suddenly we cannot rush to judgement…and someone is out to ‘get’ Herman Cain.
Funny they didn’t seem so concerned when Bill Clinton was in the crosshairs.
The discussion is not about the validity of the accusers. It’s about the reaction to the accusations.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@West of the Cascades:
This. The difference between Mittens getting the nod and any of the other nutjobs goes something like this:
Romney vs Obama: Historical equivalent of Dole vs Clinton
The Rest vs Obama: LBJ vs Goldwater
I’m convinced that Rove, et al know deep down that they have no chance of regaining the WH in 2012. What they *can* do is focus on solidifying their House majority and possibly flipping the Senate. They do that and Obama will be neutered for the remainder of his Presidency. They can run on that total lack of accomplishment in 2016 and hopefully have a better stable of candidates to nominate.
“The Rest” would mean the LBJ landslide of 1964 and the down-ticket “damage” (from a Repup perpsective) would be immense. Remember, these asshats remember that the 1964 elections resulted in legislation they’ve been fighting to rescind for the last 30 years.
Gustopher
I do wish people would stop claiming that Herman Cain made “unwanted sexual advances” — that trivializes it, and makes it sound almost innocent.
I don’t think there are very many men who haven’t made unwanted sexual advances at one point or another. You take a chance or you misread someone’s interest, and you get shot down, and its a little awkward and everyone moves on. You don’t really know the advance it unwanted until it’s too late. It’s trivial, it’s innocent, it sounds like Cain is being punished by vindictive women.
Herman Cain, however, did much worse. He abused his authority over his employees, and made them think that their job was on the line if they didn’t respond favorably to his advances. We won’t know what he did until the details trickle out (and they will), but if there are settlements with multiple women, it’s a pretty good sign that it was something egregious.
Brachiator
@Yutsano:
Like I said, the charges against Clinton were bullshit. This is “the law’s an ass” stuff. Clinton lied about something that was not criminal (his dalliance with Monica).
@Villago Delenda Est:
Yes, I agree. Doesn’t change anything. The notion that Cain’s followers are particularly bad people who hate women, and that liberals and Democrats would never do anything like this, is a stupid lie.
I also am bemused by the fact that even though we are talking about “reports of allegations,” some Balloon Juicers are convinced that it is a dead solid fact that Cain has a history of sexual harassment, going all the way back to just before he slew his brother Abel with the jawbone of an ass.
And I’m not all that indignant, especially since I know that Balloon Juicers, like most people, just can’t help themselves, even though they are often smarter and less inclined to fall for the okey doke than the average mook.
Brachiator
@Gustopher:
How do you know this? Have details of the allegations been released?
And I do believe that “unwanted sexual advances” in the workplace counts as sexual harassment. It does not have to be attached to a threat of the loss of a job.
Feebog
@brachiator:
What we do know is that the NRA made at least two sizable settlements with female employees to settle their allegations of sexual harassment. We also have a statement from a former NRA pollster who witnessed such an incident. Add to that the complaint of a conservative talk show host about Cain’s treatment of a female employee during a recent interview, and I think any reasonable person would conclude the guy has a serious problem.
I not only consider myself a reasonable person, but I spent many years investigating sexual harassment complaints for a large Federal agency. In my experience, there was almost always a basis for the complaint. This was especially true of complaints such as these, where a high level executive exerts power over a lower ranking female employee.
AlladinsLamp
Cain’s wife votes Democrat
Death Panel Truck
@Reality Check:
Yeah, you hated deficits so much that you and your buddies formed a group called the Tea Party Patriots to protest the profligate policies of the Bush administration.
Lying asshole. Your “concern” for deficits will magically disappear the moment a white male Republican takes the oath of office.