She cain’t tell a lie.
The CainTrain is screeching to a halt:
Herman Cain accuser Sharon Bialek, appearing on three morning shows Tuesday, pushed back against the candidate’s denial that he had groped and sexually harassed her in 1997, saying Cain could “end this” by admitting to the alleged transgressions.
“He can step forward and just end this — just end it. I don’t want to be here. I don’t think anyone wants — just end it,” Bialek said on “Good Morning America.” “Let’s move forward — but unfortunately I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen.”
Bialek also emphasized that her decision to come forward was not politically motivated. On CBS’s “Early Show,” she said that she would at least “think about” voting for Cain if he admitted what had happened, while on “GMA” she said Cain would be fit to be president once “he tells the truth.”
“I don’t despise the man; I actually did it because I wanted to give him the platform to come clean, to tell the truth,” Bialek said on the “Early Show.”
From a PR standpoint, Bialek is the perfect “victim” (if there can be such a thing): She’s pretty, well-spoken, and — let’s get real — blonde. Moreover, she doesn’t appear vindictive or bitter; after all she would “think about” voting for this fool if he simply told the truth.
Of course he didn’t and won’t:
It’s time for Cain to get his affairs in order and start hammering out the deets for his Fox News gig.
In other news, George Stephanopoulos is still pretty.
[via The Hill]
[cross-posted at ABLC]
dmsilev
I think I’ve found the Cain Train’s new logo.
joeyess
I fully expect Herman Cain’s exit from the political stage to look something very akin to this.
BGinCHI
Wait a minute. She’s blonde, a Republican, with no political experience.
She’s going to run for President, isn’t she.
Brilliant.
geg6
Ewwwwww. Seriously? No fucking way.
But perhaps my visual perception is too clouded by what I know him to be. A little tiny man, in more ways than one.
The Moar You Know
She also routinely throws drowning people anvils.
It really couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, but I have a feeling that Ms. Bialek is the tip of a very long spear wielded by Mr. Romney.
cleek
does it matter at all that GOP primary voters, in poll after poll, disagree with this ?
JPL
The Chicago Tribune tells me she declared bankruptcy a few times. Donald Trump must be proud that he still holds the record though. Oh yeah, the Trib didn’t compare her to Trump.
harlana
It’s all a leftist/Obama/Dem plot!*
*Even though all of the above would absolutely love for Cain to be the nominee. But let’s not concern ourselves with logic and common sense, here.
Carnacki
So she almost endorses the man who sexually harassed her? Best. Republican. Voter. Evah.
C. Isaac
@Carnacki:
Is this where IOKIYAR transcends memehood?
Punchy
Actually, I think she stopped his sexual advance before he was able to do this.
stickler
@cleek: Cleek — it matters, in so far as it shows just how strong the Romney Hate Virus is among Republican primary voters. Anybody But Romney could probably poll 27% or more right now.
What’ll be interesting is their attitude once Romney gets (inevitably) nominated. Do they suck it up and discover the wonders of Mitt? Or do they stay home?
Violet
@geg6:
Agreed. Stephanopoulos kind of creeps me out.
She’d be a better victim, from a PR standpoint, if she were married with kids, hadn’t ever declared bankruptcy, and her husband was standing there next to her. As it is, she’ll be raked over the coals with “she’s being paid because she’s broke” and “liberal plant,” etc.
geg6
@cleek:
Yeah, but have they heard about this? This is a much bigger crime than sexual harassment to a Teabagger:
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/11/herman-cain-yes-my-wife-is-a-democrat.php?ref=fpb
amk
If only george is as ‘serious’ when he questions the pols in his shows …
font
Guess a book deal must be in the works.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@cleek:
Yes, so far they have turned down Cain being an idiot, so what’s a little rape among friends? It’s not like Cain is gay.
geg6 right, Cain’s wife is a Democrat is a much more serious issue.
cleek
@geg6:
ouch!
now that’s gonna hurt.
doubletall
What is with that cyclops hairdo. Is she trying to hide a scar or 3rd eye or something? Does she even have a second eye?
This woman needs a makeover starting with that hairdo. It does not help her credibility.
boss bitch
I’m sorry this is nonsense. If you sexually assault/harass me I’m not going “think about” endorsing you for president. Fuck that. She has a press conference making a big deal of what happened WHILE downplaying the seriousness of it?
khead
Here’s some awesomeness from the latest column by my favorite southern WV wingnut, Smokey Shott:
soonergrunt
OT–courtesy TPM—
BREAKING NEWS—11:05 am: DC Circuit Court upholds Affordable Care Act, Individual Mandate
Nothing follows as of yet.
In other news, the Duggar clan of Arkansas (where else?) continues their tradition of treating the vagina as a clown car:
http://moms.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/07/8684372-20-kids-and-counting-michelle-duggar-announces-shes-pregnant-again
r€nato
so, who was the first right-wing media screamer to decry the ‘politics of personal destruction’???
I love it when those fuckers pretend like they didn’t invent it in the 1990s. Almost as much as I love it when they pretend like Bush/Cheney weren’t running the show up until recently.
ABL
@cleek: i think the poll data is going to start to change this week. i think conservative women will sympathize with bialek. she’s a pretty blonde tea partier.
i’ve been wrong before, though!
r€nato
@boss bitch: she’s awesome at slipping in the shiv and making it look like a handshake. Indeed, the ‘perfect’ victim.
Certified Mutant Enemy
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Being an idiot is a virtue in the modern GOP.
Jay in Oregon
@Carnacki:
A small, weaselly part of me wants to make a comparison to Dick Cheney shooting his friend in the face and the friend apologizing for it, but the decent part of my brain is screaming out in horror at the image…
Keith G
@doubletall:
WTF?
How 1950s of you. Go away!
r€nato
@doubletall: wow.
Catsy
@boss bitch: You may not–and you’d be right not to–but we’re talking about a self-described loyal Republican voter. She might just be saying that to make the point that she’s not motivated by hate, but I think it’s just as likely that she means hold her nose and vote for the guy with an R beside his name before she voted for a Democrat, no matter who he was.
amk
@Keith G: it’s a sockpuppet of banned troll. ignore it.
Keith G
@amk: kthx
boss bitch
@Catsy:
I still don’t get her line of thinking. I’m a loyal Dem voter, if a Dem candidate did that to me nothing you can say or do will make me vote for that person or even think about it.
soonergrunt
@Keith G: @r€nato: There’s a reason this shitbird made it into the pie filter with one post.
scav
She really has to be one of them, what with the voting for him despite my anvil throwing and I just love this detail. 1) She decided to come public after first checking with the 13-year-old son show said “You need to tell on him.” and then 2)
Explain that logical chain to me.
One. Of. Theirs.
scav
@scav: Won’t let me add the link. ChiTrib.
eemom
@geg6:
and a disgrace to the Greeks. Can’t stand that little wispy voice of his.
Catsy
@soonergrunt: Un-fucking-believable. It’s people like this that make me think approvingly of Ender’s Game-style reproduction limits. I don’t care what they think their reasons are, it’s selfish and irresponsible.
I mean, 20 is bordering on too high for the number of students in a classroom. What kind of bond or personal time could they possibly have with each of the 20 kids?
Catsy
@boss bitch: You don’t get her line of thinking because you’re not a Republican or a teabagger.
For conservative True Believers, the tribe is everything.
Linda Featheringill
There will probably be more offended women come forward. We’ll see about them.
Maybe when it comes to women, Cain is egalitarian: He pisses them all off.
Samara Morgan
@Catsy: and alsotoo, backfire effect has only been observed in conservatives….so far.
;)
has Cain only hit on white wimmens? that will be interesting if its true.
Martin
@cleek:
There have been no polls since a face was put to the issue. Released in the last 2 days maybe, but not run. The soonest we’d see a non-robo poll is Friday, and IMO, the soonest you’d want to start the poll to get a real result is tomorrow-Friday. You want to run the poll starting a day after journalists have had a chance to dig in to really spread the news. That’s happening today. Opinions will really shift tomorrow, and poll for 3 days.
Snarki, child of Loki
@cleek: (Cain’s wife a Dem)
Yes, but the GOP is okay with that kind of bipartisanship
Martin
@boss bitch: I’m guessing that Jesus isn’t your dough tosser. That makes all the difference in the world.
El Cid
Has it been screamed yet that Cain is being persecuted for being Christian?
Dee Loralei
Guardian is reporting that Penn State cancelled it’s JoePa press conference, no reason yet. My guess is they realized a presser only about the upcoming game wasn’t going to happen the way they intended it to.
Elizabelle
Cain press conference scheduled for 3:00 pm today Phoenix time. (Would that be 5:00 p Eastern — cocktail hour! How fitting.)
Only question: popcorn or scotch.
By the time I get to Phoenix
I’ll be history
A few too many bitches
telling tales.
And I’ll cry inside for the money
I’ll be leaving
on the table, so many skunks out there still
willing to believe
I will flash a grin or two
Mark Block will be smoking …
Martin
@Dee Loralei: Ya think?
Irony Abounds
She’s perfect from a PR standpoint???? Anyone that drags Gloria Allred into the fray is anything but perfect from a PR standpoint. Trust me, she is going to come across as another pretty face looking to cash in on media fame. And the worst part of this is that it obscures the real victims: the two women who were clearly harassed by Cain who settled with the NRA long ago and most likely would just like the whole thing to go away.
Elizabelle
Link from the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/us/politics/cain-to-respond-to-allegation-after-vowing-to-move-on.html?hp
But now the campaign appears eager to confront his latest accuser, Sharon Bialek, scheduling the news conference for 3 p.m. eastern time in Phoenix to challenge her story.
(WHAT’S 3:00 P EASTERN TIME IN PHOENIX? Does that mean 3 p in NYC, and 5 in Phoenix?)
“When I made the statement that I’m done talking about this, I’m talking about the firestorm last week,” Mr. Cain told Jimmy Kimmel on his late-night comedy show on ABC. “But no, we are gonna talk about this one and I am gonna talk about it at a press conference.”
And Mr. Cain said on the show that he now plans to address any future accusations that emerge.
“I will talk about any and all future firestorms, because here’s one thing people don’t know about Herman Cain: I’m in it to win it.” he said.
Jay in Oregon
@Catsy:
I remember reading about them when they were around 16-17 kids; the older kids are basically live-in babysitters and help out with chores around the house.
I’m wondering when the older ones will start breaking away from the family…
boss bitch
From ABC News:
Har Har Har – Hi-Larious.
tkogrumpy
@doubletall: Fuck you. that is all.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@boss bitch: I think you’re mistranslating this sentence out of PR Speech and into English. Here, let me try:
The alternative translation is:
peach flavored shampoo
@Punchy: I see what you did there.
Elizabelle
NYT alert: Penn State said to be planning Paterno’s exit
Certified Mutant Enemy
@Jay in Oregon:
I’m wondering when the older ones will start breaking away from the family…
My wife watches their show, and all the kids, so far, seem to be thoroughly brainwashed fundies. I root for at least one of them to break away…
BGinCHI
Let’s consolidate this thread:
Paterno out at Penn State, Cain in as head coach.
Someguy
Even if Cain survives this, the miscegenation angle is going to totally turn the conservative base against him. I don’t even think Mitt needs to play it up.
tkogrumpy
I don’t know if Ms. Bialek is telling the truth or not, but I know to a certainty she is far more courageous than I ever will be.
flukebucket
@BGinCHI:
Holy Shit! Had not seen that. Thanks! Gotta go now and dig through my football blogs!
Jay in Oregon
@Certified Mutant Enemy:
*spit-take*
They have a TV SHOW!? Please tell me you are kidding…
peach flavored shampoo
@Catsy: I wonder how many times they’ve been audited by the IRS simply because they wrote “17” (or so) on the line for “number of dependents” and the IRS guy went all “no fucking way”….
Any tax peeps out there? What kind of tax refunds did they get back/not pay due to the existence of 17 or so depenedents? I’m guessing it was in the tens of thousands….
Linda Featheringill
@Someguy: #58
It might well become a factor. Even if nobody mentions it out loud.
Personally, I think the biggest problem will come from a bunch of women saying “Ewwww, gross!” If he had a whole string of happy, satisfied ex-lovers it wouldn’t be such a problem. But that’s not the case.
BGinCHI
@flukebucket: NYT reporting it and TPM following up. Not official yet.
No word yet on whether Cain will bring his pizza management skills and lady-groping proclivities to the PSU head coaching job.
Gin & Tonic
@peach flavored shampoo: The personal exemption is $3,700. That just reduces taxable income.
martha
@BGinCHI: A perfect example of elegant editing :)
Pick your prize…New Glarus, Ale Asylum, Capitol, Furthermore, Potosi…so many good WI craft brewers, so little time…
Yevgraf
@Carnacki:
Two words – cheap grace. It is the defining value of the fundamentalcase right here in these here Yewnited States.
I’ve always said that you could have videotape of a nude Limbaugh snorting cocaine from the asscrack of the dead teenaged boy he just had sex with, and he’d not only get forgiven, but anybody who brought it up would be savaged, the excuse being that “his personal failings don’t invalidate the truth of his expressions.”
norbizness
A lot of people forget that Anita Hill was a Republican… I think she subsequently taught at Oral Roberts University 10 years after being at the EEOC during the Reagan Administration.
scav
@BGinCHI: Wait a bit, there may be a natural opening for Cain as Berlusconi v2.0. Tough call.
BGinCHI
@martha: Predictably, New Glarus.
Coffee Stout, please.
Countme In
So, Tea Partier Bialek wants her taxes eliminated (well, that’s what she THINKS the 9-9-9 plan would do to her) so badly that she’ll consider voting for Cain if he admits to trying to force a blowjob and a fingerfuck on her.
She actually received a tax cut from President Obama and he gets neither the blow job nor the vote.
What a fucking bunch of fucks we’re infested with.
boss bitch
@norbizness:
That’s fine that she’s a Repub but did she testify that she would endorse his confirmation if only he would acknowledge what he did?
Yutsano
@peach flavored shampoo: The most you can list on a 1040 is four. After that you have to list them all separately. And I bet Exam keeps them in their sights.
BGinCHI
@scav: Talk about brothers from another mother.
Cain has the philandering part down, but not so much the billionaire part, unless it’s gonna be power-sharing with the Koch Bros.
Actually, those two are perfect for Italy (politics-wise).
boss bitch
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
If you guys say so.
Winston Smith
I checked over at Free Republic. Aggressive counter-top checking is in full swing.
According to the Freepers, she’s a gold-digger who has filed for bankruptcy twice (the latter may be factual).
Martin
@Yutsano: Hey, are conjoined twins one or two dependents?
AxelFoley
Say what?
Yevgraf
@Dee Loralei:
Booo….
I was really hoping to watch JoePa have a stroke on camera.
I wonder which nimrod in the Athletic Department came up with the initial idea to have a presser limited to game talk only. I thought it was the funniest story of the morning.
Yutsano
@Martin: Call tax law. :)
Actually if it’s listed as a double birth on the certificate it’s two.
Samara Morgan
@Linda Featheringill:
i mentioned it. but you likely have me pied. :)
i suspect all the ladies Mr. Cain hit on were white ladies. Partly because of his tastes, but partly because there are very few black lady republicans, and they would be rather visible.
comment from intrade.
pamelabrown
@Someguy: Initially, I agreed with your comment re: miscegenation but then I remembered that Clarence Thomas MARRIED a white woman and he’s a friggin’ hero.
The most damaging info., IMO, is his wife is a democrat.
Villago Delenda Est
@Winston Smith:
Well, of course.
The other three women knew this would happen, but number four seems less concerned with that. Perhaps she thinks her GOP cred is sufficient to offset the countertop checks?
Not likely. Admittedly, having Gloria Allred as your attorney is not good PR wise, but then again, her name is in the news. Just like Cain. She might be a golddigger, but what does that make Cain, who pretty obviously (if you don’t have wingtard blinders on) in this for the moolah as well.
/shrug
Par for the course. Rethuglican base is a vast vein of suckers to be mined by grifters.
Samara Morgan
@pamelabrown:
and of course, she is black.
i think all the ladies Cain hit on are likely conservative white women, he just wouldnt have had much access to black women.
its not miscegenation damage so much Cain has to worry about, but about being percieved as tanking the ongoing effort of the GOP to attract black voters.
Nothing turns off black women like a black guy chasing white women.
i feel bad for his wife and kids and grandkids.
cckids
@Catsy: Especially after their last adventure in natality ended as it did. I don’t know how impaired their last child is, after being born so early, but even if she is not, WTF?? Do you WANT mom to die?? Her chances are going up rapidly.
I am one of 7 kids (blended family, tho), and I know the life of the older kids, taking care/bringing up the younger ones. Not exactly the best you’d hope for.
martha
@BGinCHI: Ohh, haven’t tried that one. I’ll have to test it to see if it’s worthy of sending your way…
The Lodger
@Someguy: The miscegenation angle wasn’t used against Clarence Thomas. Why would the right use it against Cain?
daveNYC
@Someguy: Totally disagree. If the bizarro Republican base is willing to go all in on a black dude in order to show how totally non-racist they are in their hatered of Obama, I don’t think there’s reason to think that they’ll be able to double-think their way out of this situation.
The Lodger
I should have known someone else would get there first…
Someguy
@pamelabrown:
Sure, among the 15% of Republican voters who actually know who Clarence Thomas is. The other 85% probably think he’s the guy who used to own Wendy’s.
Samara Morgan
@Someguy: and MARRIED is the operative word with Justice Thomas. If it turns out Cain was race-limited to white ladies in his skirtchasing, then he is turning off black voters, and he might get expelled… like that tea party guy that wrote the offensive letter to Lincoln while poor Andrew Breitbart was trying to prove the NAACP were the REAL racists.
They kicked that guys ass out of the tea party, membah? because he made them look bad…he made it obvious that they were racists all along.
Town
Um, the GOP does not WANT to attract black voters. The GOP doesn’t want black people voting regardless of which party.
Samara Morgan
@Town: sry, you are wrong. the GOP desperately wants to attract black voters. That is why they furiously deny the racist label. Michael Steele for example.
They want to disenfranchise black voters because 96% of blacks vote democrat now.
The GOP is staring the hammergun of the demographic timer in the face.
If they cant start attracting the darkskinned, they are toast.
Bex
@Yutsano: @Yutsano: Pretty soon you may get to count the fertilized eggs.
Samara Morgan
Being disenfranchised from the black vote hurts the GOP with youth also.
Because racists arent cool.
the conservative elite know all this….but they NEVAH talk about it.
it would interfere with the scam.
Samara Morgan
@ABL
if enough bad shit sticks to Cain, the conservative base will jettison him.
is a preference for chasing white chicks going to do it?
Southern Beale
I keep wanting to hand her a barrette to lock that thatch of hair out of her eye.
Samara Morgan
@Southern Beale: i bet she was smokin’ hawt 14 years ago.
Samara Morgan
@Southern Beale: Cain is 15 years older than Bialek. he is 65, she is 50.
14 years ago, she was 36 and he was 51.
Bill H.
Does anyone think that having Gloria Allred as her lawyer damages her cause?
Anti-Joke Chicken
@Martin:
Two.
rikryah
ah…
his Snowflake problem….
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Uncle Clarence Thomas
.
.
Oh, my word, by all means, yes. Let us get all the way real!
.
.
HyperIon
@Carnacki wrote:
Am I the only one who sees this as a big red flag?
Carnacki
@HyperIon: Honestly I believe it indicates no matter how much a Republican will try to screw them over — no pun intended — Republican voters will stick by them if they piss off liberals and say the right things to indicate their Christian tribalism. It’s just another indication of how deeply Republican voters will vote against their self-interest that she would consider voting for him still as insane as that is to the rest of us.
gelfling545
@cckids: My Mom was one of 11 children – the ones that lived out of about 15 pregnancies. They were good Catholics. Her mom was dead by the time Mom was 10 years old. This number of pregnancies takes a toll on the mother’s health.
Brachiator
@Bill H.:
Allred is just a publicity lightning rod, there to attract the media. She does this exceedingly well.
It’s not even clear that Allred is performing any legal functions here. I think that the statute of limitations has run out, so no complaint can be filed. And Allred already said (for now) that Ms Bialek is not seeking anything other than a … heartfelt confession… from Cain.
There may have even been an interesting bit of subterfuge going on. Allred claimed to have signed affidavits proving that Ms Bialek contemporaneously complained to other people when the alleged offense occurred. But Allred did not provide copies to the press. Either she doesn’t have anything or, more likely, she is seeking to lure Cain into a trap where he seeks to show that nothing happened, and then produce other documentation or witnesses.
This would be in line with how Allred suckered Meg Whitman into claiming that she knew nothing about her nanny’s situation, only to produce a copy of a letter asking about clarification of the nanny’s immigration status, with a note about it scrawled by Whitman’s husband.
If nothing else, Allred provides great political theater.