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"Sexual harassment settlements: 'cost of doing business'"

Well, sure. And that was well known even before the Politico hit piece on Cain. Which is why the serious, sober, and “sane” journalists are now worried about how the Cain campaign has performed with respect to its spin control, the cover up being worse than the crime and all.

Frankly, were you a high-profile CEO in the 90s and you hadn’t ever been accused of sexual harassment, the mainstream liberal press would today be digging into questions about whether or not you were either a rightwing religious zealot, or perhaps a closeted homosexual.

That’s how cynical and low-rent our mainstream media culture has become.

And of course, it’s always great to see “pragmatic” Republicans helping to maintain this kind of new journalistic status quo.

Gghah.

194 Replies to “"Sexual harassment settlements: 'cost of doing business'"”

  1. McGehee says:

    This morning I had another spell of wanting to disavow membership in the human race. It may take a while before I’m completely over it.

  2. sdferr says:

    I feel kinda like Dory, mindlessly singing, “just keep swimming, just keep swimming.” But, I have to admit, I’m very tired.

    Oh, what’s that light?

  3. Pablo says:

    Gghah.

    Yep. Until we learn to spit it back in their faces, they’re going to keep trying to feed it to us.

  4. Jeff G. says:

    Yep. Until we learn to spit it back in their faces, they’re going to keep trying to feed it to us.

    Been this blog’s theme since day one. It doesn’t sell particularly well, but it’s the fucking truth. Sooner or later choosing to deal with it will no longer be an option.

  5. Jeff G. says:

    This morning I had another spell of wanting to disavow membership in the human race. It may take a while before I’m completely over it.

    If it wasn’t for most of you and my family, I would have gone off to the barn to live with the horses years ago.

    I feel Gulliver’s pain.

  6. Pablo says:

    Sooner or later choosing to deal with it will no longer be an option.

    Yes, and that will be a glad yet ugly day. “I told you so” will not be a matter of schadenfreude, but rather a preface to “Now pay attention, you fucking morons.”

    The big trick is to survive the crash.

  7. happyfeet says:

    I’ve heard people say that too much of anything is not good for you

  8. Pablo says:

    Jeff, are you keeping offline backups of this place? Hard copy, even? History should be interested.

    “You won’t be famous ’til you’re pushing up the daisies. Many times these wise words have been said. They won’t care about you while you’re alive and kicking but they’ll write a song about you when you’re dead.”

  9. Squid says:

    The grasshoppers will never listen to the ants, Pablo. Without the government to steal our food on their behalf, they will just steal it themselves.

    I ain’t sticking around to say “I told you so.” I’ll be out in the country, where the neighbors are friendly, capable, and armed.

  10. Pablo says:

    I ain’t sticking around to say “I told you so.” I’ll be out in the country, where the neighbors are friendly, capable, and armed.

    Oh. I’ll see you when you get here. City people are fucked.

  11. batboy says:

    I’m amazed at the amount of heat this issue has caused.

    I think the Republican establishment is all excited about the chance to take him down, while the Democrat establishment is all excited about the chance to, well, take him down.

    For the Republicans it’ll be the chance to put Romney – the “safe” choice – on the ballot. For the Democrats, it’ll be a chance to make an example of a black man who walked off the plantation.

    I’m beginning to think this country is going to have to crash before the political system will change. I hate thinking that because at the very least it’ll mean a lot of hardship and deprivation; at the worst violence and bloodshed.

    Experience is an expensive school, but fools will learn in no other.

  12. Slartibartfast says:

    Meanwhile, the media seems to be confused about what political party Jon Corzine recently held office in.

    I’m wondering: did he qualify for Federal pension?

    And: was he just barely small enough to fail?

  13. Slartibartfast says:

    Meanwhile, the media seems to be confused about what political party Jon Corzine recently held office in.

    I’m wondering: did he qualify for Federal pension?

    And: was he just barely small enough to fail?

  14. bh says:

    Concealed carry just became legal here in Wisco today — huzzah! — and there have been so many hits on the server with the permit application that it keeps crashing. The number I’m hearing on the radio is… 400,000 applications. On the very first day.

    This feels related to the conversation above.

  15. geoffb says:

    I may have been right yesterday.

    The lawyer for a woman who settled a sexual harassment complaint against Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain in the late 1990s says that Cain may have violated the confidentiality terms of the agreement by commenting on its specifics over the past 24 hours.

    “Herman Cain and others have already disclosed that there was a confidential settlement,” says Joel P. Bennett, a Washington-based attorney specializing in employment law, who also represented the woman when she negotiated her settlement.
    […]
    “I don’t know if she’ll ever go public,” he said Tuesday.
    […]
    Bennett declined to comment more specifically on the settlement terms because he no longer has a copy of the 12-year-old agreement, and is relying on details provided to him by his client. He expects to receive a copy of the agreement from her Tuesday or Wednesday.

    Without having the agreement in hand, Bennett says he doesn’t know what it specifically says about Cain’s obligations under the non-disparagement and confidentiality clauses.

    “I haven’t seen the agreement” in a dozen years, he said. “I haven’t seen whether it goes both ways.”
    […]
    Bennett said his client, a graduate of an Ivy League university, worked in professional positions in government for many years before her tenure at the restaurant lobbying group, and does so currently.

    It is “inconceivable,” Bennett told NPR, that his client was motivated by money, or by a romantic interest in Cain.

    “I’ve known her for a long time, and she’s happily married,” Bennett said, adding: “I can tell you also that I don’t represent people who are trying to shake down employers.”

    Ratcheting it up.

  16. bh says:

    I was just simultaneously wondering the exact same thing in a different thread, Geoff.

  17. geoffb says:

    Ah, you went WaPo and I went NPR.

  18. Joe says:

    Ace is noting that the accusers’ attorney is asking the confidenitality agreement be lifted so they can talk. It may be those individuals who spoke to Politico and who now are using Cain’s denials to circumvent the agreement and make all the comments they want.

    I am not sure that is true or not, but it is an interesting take on it. http://ace.mu.nu/archives/323262.php

  19. Joe says:

    Ah, you went WaPo and I went NPR…and I’ll be at [pick your pragmatic GOP site] before ye!

  20. geoffb says:

    From the WaPo link bh posted on another thread.

    Bennett represents one of the two women, who attended an Ivy League school and now works for the federal government. She has avoided the limelight since the allegations were aired, and she is staying with relatives while the media stakes out her home in suburban Maryland, Bennett said.
    […]
    “If there hadn’t been [sexual harassment] claims, there wouldn’t have been a settlement,” Bennett said.

    Over the weekend, as the story was breaking, Bennett said his client called him. At the time, he said that he had not even remembered the name of the association official who his client had accused. He said doesn’t remember going to the association offices and thinks the matter might have been handled over fax and phone, and quite expeditiously.

    “[Q]uite expeditiously”, okay. A routine matter then?

  21. Crawford says:

    Ace — for a change — recognizes the real enemy. The press.

    Others (Preston over at PJMedia, for example) seem to be more interested in taking the opportunity to trash Cain.

  22. geoffb says:

    And another small detail emerges.

    “I reference this lady’s height,” Cain said. “And I was standing near her and I did this, saying ‘you’re the same height as my wife.'”

    Bennett said Cain was talking about the case of another woman, not his client. But Bennett said now that Cain is talking about specifics, the confidentiality agreements may no longer be binding.

  23. newrouter says:

    “, the confidentiality agreements may no longer be binding.”

    why the nra ain’t be talking.

  24. Crawford says:

    What state does Bennett practice in? Seems to me that his client is the one who broke the confidentiality agreement first — if she hadn’t, Politico wouldn’t have published, right? — and his current statements are either made without checking or are purposeful lies. He should be disbarred.

  25. bh says:

    I don’t write up non-disclosure agreements for a living so this might be a stupid question. When you offer someone a settlement you basically pay them to drop all future legal action and to shut up.

    I wouldn’t automatically assume that this non-disclosure would be reciprocal or equal. It certainly wouldn’t need to be. Now, as a practical matter, you might not talk shit about the person because then they could sue you for messing up their future employment prospects and this would be a new legal charge. But, that wouldn’t be because you had contractually agreed to keep mum.

    Am I wrong here?

  26. sdferr says:

    meh, says Tank the Democrat.

    Bitches.

    Cost of being alive.

  27. newrouter says:

    cfbleachers
    2011-11-01 15:50:25

    Let me make sure I have the facts (as we know them) straight:

    1)The confidentiality and non-disparagement clause…which has been breached by someone on behalf of this woman…

    2)Who works for the Obama federal government…

    3)is being requested to be “lifted” from the level of specious innuendo…

    4)to all out attack…

    5)on the leading REPUBLICAN candidate…

    6)who now has to defend himself….

    7)so that he can be eliminated by the propaganda machine on behalf of…

    8)the Democratic candidate…

    9) who has gone completely unvetted…

    10) because Cain didn’t have any divorce records that could be mysteriously leaked and opened.

    Does that about cover it?

    Link

  28. geoffb says:

    Law Offices of Joel P. Bennett, P.C. – employment law and civil litigation in the District of Columbia and nationwide before the EEOC and the MSPB.

  29. Abe Froman says:

    I’m still trying to figure out what the purpose of characterizing this woman as “an Ivy League graduate” was? I mean, Harvard, well, of course she’s a victim. And upright. But Brown chicks are duplicitous whores, and what if she went to the same E-I-E-I-O pseudo-Ivy Cow College as Olbermann? So confusing.

  30. happyfeet says:

    didn’t it come out that the EEOC looked at it and ended up laughing off this racist hoochie’s complaint?

  31. bh says:

    Missed that, ‘feets. Got a link?

  32. newrouter says:

    “ivy league” = hey they’re one of 99%

  33. geoffb says:

    Crawford.

    Third parties who had knowledge that an accusation and settlement happened are likely the sources. Third and fourth hand knowledge. Who they then told who then shopped it to the press? That is where I disagree with those who say a Republican did it. This is SOP for the Dems and the fact that they couldn’t get their hands on documents just means that they didn’t have the juice with the two women or the NRA, then.

  34. happyfeet says:

    Cain also told Bloomberg News that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had investigated the charges and found that there was “no basis” for them.

  35. dicentra says:

    Jeff, are you keeping offline backups of this place? Hard copy, even? History should be interested.

    Two Three possiblities:

    EMP from a dirty bomb
    Gigantor solar flare, for which we are due
    White House kill switch

    That’s why I bought a non-quartz watch awhile back. I also bought a cheap laser printer (one of Insty’s Amazon announcements) and plan to print off all my good stuff. And if I have time, the other 99%.

  36. happyfeet says:

    I bet lots of Ivy League sluts dream of getting a job with a black boss what makes them do naughty naughty things

    probably like 73% of them

  37. happyfeet says:

    it was in Cosmo

  38. sdferr says:

    Cain’s time in the Special Report barrel Center Seat was generally desultory and lackluster I thought. Everyone seemed bored near to tears.

  39. happyfeet says:

    from that last article I linkered

    On a day when the allegations against him dominated the news, Cain also tried pitching his 9-9-9 tax plan, at one point comparing it to a cupcake being served. “How sweet it is,” he quipped.

    I would die for this man

  40. newrouter says:

    cosmo lies ax jonah g.

  41. dicentra says:

    Michael Walsh at NRO gets it.

    Second, ambush the candidate (in this case, a novice unused to the poisonous ways of the Washington press corps) to get him on the record regarding the “charges,” which establishes the baseline reaction narrative against which all subsequent statements can be compared and adjudged deviational. You may now discard the original story, since in the immortal words of Newsweek regarding the Hitler Diaries, “genuine or not, it almost doesn’t matter in the end.”

    Third, attack any subsequent statements as that most ominous of developments, “changing the story.”

    Fourth, watch with pleasure as the victim’s allies edge away from him (after all, it’s not the truth that matters, it’s the seriousness of the charge), and he starts to founder, the latest victim of the scorpion’s bite.

    Hewitt is totally playing into the Left’s tactics on this, and so is Krauthammer.

    SOBs, all of them.

  42. newrouter says:

    “Everyone seemed bored near to tears.”

    he’s getting lessons from mittens?

  43. sdferr says:

    The boredom, newrouter, had little to nothing to do with what Cain had to say or how he had to say it, at least from what I thought about the appearance. It was more a matter of everyone of the panelists looking as though they were caught in the midst of a chore, something they had to do but had no relish in doing, because the chore, I’d guess, they see as beneath their station. Cain is dismissible to both Krauthammer and A.B. Stoddard — they think he’s a cruel joke — and I’d guess he’s just uninteresting to Steve Hayes. Brett played the part of a mere functionary. Cain, for his part, looked tense to me, and grinding it out.

  44. Alec Leamas says:

    Oh, I see what they did. They got the women to confirm the fact that there are settlements for “sexual harassment” (I remember when it first came out and was pronounced “sexual haarriss-mnt”), letting everyone imagine what horrible things the man might have done, and then goading him into defending himself, at which point you declare that the confidentiality provision of the agreement has been breached and therefore can fill in the lurid details of the allegations.

    N.B., I think the women will speak regardless and the Left’s paymasters will pay to defend and indemnify them. After all, for as little as the return of $10,000.00, they can destroy the man’s candidacy.

  45. geoffb says:

    Isn’t he on O’Reilly now?

  46. geoffb says:

    After all, for as little as the return of $10,000.00, they can destroy the man’s candidacy.

    Macaca rate, adjusted for inflation.

  47. newrouter says:

    “Cain, for his part, looked tense to me, and grinding it out.”

    Monty Python – Spanish Inquisition Torture Scene

  48. Roddy Boyd says:

    The media has staked out her house but we don’t know her name?

    She may well have a valid claim–sexual harassment is no joke, especially if you’ve seen it upfront–but it strikes me as fairly ridiculous that this woman has gotten a complete free pass. It’s pretty ugly, however, that one of Cain’s opponents did this to her; it’s uglier that her lawyer isn’t on the phone with both of those camps right now threatening to subpoena them if this ever comes to a head.

    I am, however, impressed by one Machiavellian move that was embedded within this whole passion play and that is by forcing this into the open, his opponents–and I have a gut feel it’s Romney’s camp (but no proof of any sort)–have mandated he discuss it and most likely break the terms of the confidentialty clause, leaving him open to liability and further scorn.

    Still, Politico should never have run the story without a whole lot more Who, When’s and Where’s.

  49. newrouter says:

    “She may well have a valid claim–sexual harassment is no joke”

    yea it is a joke. eff these proggtard’s use of the legal system to silence people.

  50. geoffb says:

    it’s uglier that her lawyer isn’t on the phone with both of those camps right now threatening to subpoena them if this ever comes to a head.

    If/that he isn’t says to me that he already knows that they didn’t do it and that the higher power ( in the DC lawyer universe ) did.

    Of course YMMDV from mine.

  51. Crawford says:

    The press isn’t reporting this story. They’re making it. They’re actors in the drama. They’re as partisan as Romney’s team or Perry’s team.

  52. BBHunter says:

    – I predict this will end badly for whomever is behind it.

    – Donations to the Cain campaign are up 87% since this non-story broke, and continue to climb.

  53. newrouter says:

    or baracky’s team

  54. LBascom says:

    “If it wasn’t for most of you and my family, I would have gone off to the barn to live with the horses years ago.”

    I’ll add my name to that list. Plus, I have a barn and talk to horses all the time. They love me these days, the apples are ripe on the tree.

  55. LBascom says:

    I think it is a near certainty this is a democrat financed story for Obamas benefit.

    I doubt most of us have the capacity to even imagine how badly Obama doesn’t want to run against Cain, especially since he will be unconstrained by the establishment.

    It’s gotta be keeping him up at night.

  56. happyfeet says:

    our friend Mr. narciso found this just now

    and he also points to this

    The lawyer for one of the Cain accusers, Joel P. Bennett, just told the panel on Anderson Cooper’s CNN show that it was “his understanding” that the allegation was “leaked to Politico from a Board member of the National Restaurant Association”.

  57. newrouter says:

    “It’s gotta be keeping him up at night.”

    drudge had baracky and the hermanator head to head earlier. i think herb can debate the totus.

  58. newrouter says:

    Sally Smith
    Chair

    Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar
    Minneapolis, Minn.

    Rosalyn “Roz” Mallet
    Vice Chair

    PhaseNext Hospitality
    Plano, Texas

    Phil Hickey
    Treasurer

    O’Charley’s, Inc.
    Nashville, Tenn.

    Dawn Sweeney
    President and Chief Executive Officer

    National Restaurant Association
    Washington, D.C.

    http://www.restaurant.org/aboutus/leaders/

  59. happyfeet says:

    …the board consists of 90 to 95 directors

  60. bh says:

    We’d also have to assume that past board members going back a couple decades would be included under the generic “board member”.

  61. bh says:

    Wait, I don’t have a barn. That feels unfair.

    #occupylee’sbarn

  62. happyfeet says:

    someone needs to put a reporter on this story

  63. LBascom says:

    “drudge had baracky and the hermanator head to head earlier.”

    Whatever. I think Cain would steal a sizable chunk of minority support, and maybe the majority of the black vote.

    That would be devastating to the Democrats.

    Uh-oh…I’m becoming concerned for Mr.Cains safety…

  64. newrouter says:

    maybe politico?

  65. LBascom says:

    That’s just mean newrouter.

  66. newrouter says:

    @28 be baracky no?

  67. serr8d says:

    OT, but I needs a Californian to ‘splain what the acronym “ACCE” means on this sign? Google is of little use or value.

    It might be a spinoff of ACORN, as like the NYCC in NYC.

  68. newrouter says:

    Deep in their heart, many of these pundits or English professors or whatnot realize they don’t know much, nor are their skills that valuable. They are important only as courtiers for the Knowledge Class. Anything that threatens its perceived hegemony is a threat to these hangers-on, even the journalists. And the only way they see to prove their loyalty to their masters in the New Class is to make a rabid defense of its dogmas.

    So the journalists and others on the low rungs of the Knowledge class defend the dogma. And of course this also goes for the dogma of Keynes, and multiculturalism, and much else.

    And it goes to self-image too. They see themselves as Obama: a bright, arrogant fellow content to spin words and theories, separated from those (wrinkle nose) facts and people.

    To attack Obama, or the warming fanatics, is to attack the vast serfdom of the New Class, the journalists and bureaucrats and grad students and social workers whose financial and psychological survival depends on the unquestioned authority of the Upper New Class.

    Link

  69. LBascom says:

    Actually bh, it’s cool. I just rent the property the barn is on, and the horses are the neighbors.

    I am the 43.6%…

  70. happyfeet says:

    here’s their site Mr. serr8d

  71. geoffb says:

    Serr8ed here.

  72. geoffb says:

    Damn you ‘feets :-)

  73. newrouter says:

    the happyfeet: doing politico’s job klondike in hand

  74. happyfeet says:

    i kinda felt obliged cause of my zip code Mr. geoff speaking of

    a census lady came today to do an NIH thing and I asked if it was mandatory and she said no so I said I really don’t want to help “you people” but she was a sweetie the way she responded so I said I’d go through the pre-screener and just see if maybe they didn’t even need me and bam that’s what happened – they’re way more interested in families with children for this sort of thing

  75. BBHunter says:

    “The National Restaurant Association released the following statement after public remarks by attorney Joel Bennett:

    “We have seen media reports that attorney Joel Bennett is publicly making requests on behalf of a former National Restaurant Association employee. Mr. Bennett has not been in contact with the Association. If we are contacted by Mr. Bennett, we will respond as appropriate,” said Sue Hensley, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Communications for the National Restaurant Association.”

    – A very definite shot across ambulance chaser Bennett’s bow.

    – This attack is losing steam by the hour, as HuffPo and the MBM keep trying to re-spin to keep it alive.

  76. geoffb says:

    In case anyone wants to know I just googled the phone # from the sign.

  77. newrouter says:

    mr. bennett needs a full monty and toilet paper

  78. bh says:

    I’m 40% less off topic now that I twitter.

    Oh, sorry, off topic.

  79. Jeff G. says:

    I taught English and I’m not like that at all.

    Individualism: it’s what makes America great!

  80. happyfeet says:

    hmmm – so they paid the slut a whole year’s salary?

    this is bad news for team Cain I think

  81. Jeff G. says:

    A guy called Levin this evening and said it costs $35K just to get the lawyers going, so $35K is probably going to be the sum you’re going to see.

    And, VOILA!

  82. Jeff G. says:

    this is bad news for team Cain I think

    Only because the media won’t do its job.

  83. happyfeet says:

    here seems to be a nice synopsis of where we are I guess … from the link at #83

    The precise nature of the encounters between Mr. Cain and the two women remained murky. He has said over the past two days that he joked with one of the women about her height, but he has not addressed what happened with the first woman — the one who received the $35,000 payment, according to the people who knew of it — or even acknowledged there was an incident with her. Her friends and colleagues said she had told them at the time that she was upset about the situation.

  84. bh says:

    Just saw that myself, ‘feets.

    $35k isn’t a large amount. You don’t base your risk/reward analysis off of someone’s base pay. You make that decision based on legal costs and possible later awards.

    $35k is still a fraction of that. Still a nuisance amount.

  85. happyfeet says:

    A guy called Levin this evening and said it costs $35K just to get the lawyers going, so $35K is probably going to be the sum you’re going to see.

    I don’t understand… for one thing these were 90s dollars and I forget what those were like and also a year’s salary is a very generous severance – but maybe it wasn’t in the 90s. Also she was an Ivy League slut and you always have to pay more to make those ones go the fuck away. I guess we need to know how long she’d worked for the association to make an evaluation of whether or not the size of the severance is a reflection on whatever it is Mr. Cain is alleged to have done

  86. happyfeet says:

    but isn’t the point more that Cain’s been out there saying 2-3 months pay?

  87. BBHunter says:

    – If nothing else, this mud slinging potentially connects several GOP candidates to Bummblefuck in a most unsavory way.

    – Should that become the story, even die-hard Rino’s will be running away from the insider “Queens”.

  88. Jeff G. says:

    I don’t understand… for one thing these were 90s dollars and I forget what those were like and also a year’s salary is a very generous severance – but maybe it wasn’t in the 90s.

    It doesn’t matter. The insurance company’s lawyers told this guy that that was the baseline price to begin a defense (he wanted to fight the charge, because he was innocent); they told him, too, that though the insurance company will cover the cost of the defense, the defendant is responsible for paying damages if he loses. This is why the whole thing is a racket, and this is why businesses settle. The kinds of lawyers who bring these cases know the figures to bring to the table. That’s why this thing may have been settled with a phone call or fax.

    Also she was an Ivy League slut and you always have to pay more to make those ones go the fuck away. I guess we need to know how long she’d worked for the association to make an evaluation of whether or not the size of the severance is a reflection on whatever it is Mr. Cain is alleged to have done

    This doesn’t follow.

  89. newrouter says:

    who does this help people!!11!! baracky where’s your effin transcripts NOW!!11!!!!!!

  90. happyfeet says:

    in my experience severance pay is usually calculated along the lines of x amount of months pay per year of service, with a minimum of three months usually

    but I never worked in DC and I never went to a fancy school I am the 99%

  91. newrouter says:

    start hammering the efftard baracky you dolts. good allan too much stupid.

  92. Jeff G. says:

    but isn’t the point more that Cain’s been out there saying 2-3 months pay?

    With one of the two women.

    Trying to play gotcha with people’s memories is how Scooter Libby wound up in jail. There’s no crime here. So there’s no story. Unless these woman want to come forward and make a buck. But so far they seem more inclined to hide out.

    I’m not falling into the Politico/Jen Rubin trap of pretending the “cover-up” is worse than the crime. There was no crime to speak of, and the “cover-up,” such as it is, is tied to the nature of what can be said and what can’t.

    That’s why this is a trap: they didn’t name the sources because they knew Cain can’t, and that he’s not allowed to comment. Somebody should find out if Politico knew of the non-disclosure agreements. Perhaps that’s why they kept saying “you’ll have to ask Cain for specifics” — baiting him to say something, or, if he didn’t, that their hazy allegations would just sit out there allowing people to create their own story.

  93. bh says:

    For what it’s worth, I’m covered by a D&O policy now. When I was briefed on it, I got a feel for your current “go away and shut up” amounts and translating it back to 90s dollars this still seems a bit low to me.

  94. newrouter says:

    hey baracky what you have to do with ryan’s records? effin this a-hole. start attacking the scoamf you dumb effs.

  95. happyfeet says:

    ok got it so the 2-3 months thing is about the hey you’re about as tall as my wife chick and the year’s pay thing is the other hoochie we don’t know anything about yet

  96. John Bradley says:

    The great Bill Whittle opines on the question “if you’re Cain, how do you deal with this issue?” in the latest Trifecta, starting around the 5:00 mark.

    Much like our esteemed host, Mr. Whittle “gets it.”

  97. happyfeet says:

    35 a year will buy a lot of beer things are going great for Mr. cain

    and they’re only getting better

  98. LBascom says:

    “but I never worked in DC and I never went to a fancy school I am the 99%”

    Oh! This reminds me of a brilliant idea I had for a counter owie campaign!

    First line bold red :I am NOT the 1%

    Second in baby blue :I am NOT the 99%

    In red, white, and blue: Free people don’t wear numbers

    I will take 5% of T-shirt sales with that slogan though…

  99. happyfeet says:

    I have a buy one entree get the other one half price coupon for my favorite mexican foozle I am the 99%

  100. Abe Froman says:

    I still don’t fully understand sexual harassment after all these years in the workplace. I just think of all the interactions/discussions I’ve had over the years that could be made to sound embarrassing in the hands of some faggoty-assed journalist, yet if you have a modicum of social intelligence (and have faith in the person you’re talking to having it also), it adds up to a whole lot of nothing.

  101. happyfeet says:

    bad bosses are bad and all but it hasn’t even been made clear who these hoochies reported to

  102. sdferr says:

    Since there isn’t any substance to impeach you with Mr Cain, says A.B., you don’t mind if we use process instead, do you? Sure, go right ahead A.B., says Mr Cain, arbitrage your zeroes all you want.

  103. LBascom says:

    If the coach slaps all the players on the ass is it still sexual harassment, or only if he slaps the cute ones?

  104. dicentra says:

    Only because the media won’t do its job.

    Yeah, they do. The problem is that people like you and I used to believe that the purpose of a free press was to keep the powerful in check, to keep disinfecting politics with sunlight.

    When really their job is to help immanentize the eschaton.

    Silly us.

  105. newrouter says:

    maybe the baracky don’t like herman talking 9-9-9

    9-9-9: A Vision for Economic Growth

  106. happyfeet says:

    here is what the article says Mr. Jeff

    Four people with contemporaneous knowledge of the encounter said it had taken place in the context of a work outing during which there had been heavy drinking — a hallmark, they said, of outings with an organization that represents the hospitality industry. They spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid being publicly drawn into the dispute, and declined to provide details of the encounter, saying they did not want to violate the privacy of the woman.

    Two of them said that other factors had been involved in her severance, and that other workplace issues had been making her unhappy at the association as well. But they said the encounter with Mr. Cain had added an emotional charge and contributed to the size of her payment. One former colleague familiar with the details said such a severance was not common, especially for an employee with the woman’s relatively short tenure and her pay grade.

    but I think the key takeaway is that the hoochie was already miserable in her job in ways that were completely unrelated to Mr. Cain … and it very much sounds like whatever happened wasn’t a pattern of behavior on Mr. C’s part

    so without a pattern she’s just a whiny bitch – not a for reals harassed person

  107. Abe Froman says:

    If the coach slaps all the players on the ass is it still sexual harassment, or only if he slaps the cute ones?

    That’s kind of what throws me about all this. I mean, I could have done without the homo boss who used to call me “pretty boy” all the time, but the thirtysomething and losing her looks account supervisor hag who’d occasionally massage my shoulders when she was waiting for me to finish writing something just made me feel bad for her.

  108. happyfeet says:

    interesting how they imply that Mr. C was drunk off his ass without coming anywhere close to actually presenting that as a fact

  109. bh says:

    Long, long time ago I used to have a boss who slapped my ass when he gave me my paycheck, Lee. Seriously. Last high school job I had before moving to Chicago. We made playground equipment.

    Funny thing about that is that I was 18 and correctly interpreted it as him saying I was doing a kick-ass job on the grinder station over by the welders.

  110. bh says:

    You’re thinking about this wrong, ‘feets. It’s not really a normal severance package when you threaten to sue. Then it’s a legal fees and just-go-the-fuck-away-please package.

    Sp of course it’s larger than the normal severance package. Because it’s not one. Category error.

  111. bh says:

    So of course it’s larger

  112. happyfeet says:

    oh. But Mr. C was making that sort of distinction about the other hoochie – the one who got 2-3 months pay. He said it was a in the ballpark of a normal – I think he said “termination agreement.” So for sure I think the two hoochies are in different categories, how they were handled by HR.

  113. happyfeet says:

    He said it was a in the ballpark of a normal…

  114. sdferr says:

    Isn’t the Cain story a fairly simple one yet? I mean, on the one hand, the collective intends that he will not be the opponent nominee to run against Obama, and on the other, the people of the US are still free to flip the collective the bird and make certain Cain runs and beats Obama like the cur he is.

  115. newrouter says:

    so let’s beat off on this. where the eff is baracky’s effin records? start hitting the scoamf you rino losers. yea play the the politico game you idiots.

  116. happyfeet says:

    I’m no closer to voting for Wall Street Romney now than I was after Steve Jobs died.

  117. newrouter says:

    hey can we talk about fed gov’t power now like fast and furious?

  118. bh says:

    Yeah, I’m a little less interested in playing gotcha with him that way. (C’mon, he said “termination agreement” so I’m supposed to say the payoff was high for a severance package? This is just silly.)

    I’m saying what I’m saying. And what I’m saying is that these are low dollar amounts.

  119. newrouter says:

    hey can we talk about fed gov’t power now like solyndra?

  120. bh says:

    so let’s beat off on this. where the eff is baracky’s effin records? start hitting the scoamf you rino losers. yea play the the politico game you idiots.

    Really?

    Rino loser? Idiot?

    You’re much more enjoyable when you’re not being a dick, nr.

  121. Abe Froman says:

    Newrouter is a natural born Tweeter.

  122. newrouter says:

    yea thanks ass of spades(hey ain’t that racist?) for being an a-hole for rickyperry™ instead on defending the conservative cause. anncoulter glib.

  123. happyfeet says:

    I’m not playing gotcha I’m saying that he described the one chick as getting a “termination agreement,” and that’s who he was talking about today – but as the article makes clear he never characterized the agreement the 35K hoochie got

    you say that 35 is small, and that may be true – but it sounds like she was a fucking monkey that wasn’t there long – I’m just saying it’s bigger than the other hoochie got

    what kind of Ivy Leaguer was making 35 a year in the 90s? I have no idea.

    Or maybe it was just the other hoochie that went to a fancy school.

    Someone should make a chart.

  124. newrouter says:

    the mr. jeff needs the twitter widget. pw raw occupy now #opw or sumthing.

  125. sdferr says:

    We could review our potential choices quick like here.

    Obama: Won’t have.

    Romney: Don’t want.

    Paul: Don’t want.

    Santorum: meh

    Bachmann: double meh

    Gingrich:

    Ryan says he’s even on good terms with Newt Gingrich, who called Ryan’s reform “right-wing social engineering” on Meet the Press last spring. “With allies like that, who needs the left?” Ryan said the day after Gingrich’s appearance.

    “There was never a hatchet to bury really. He said what he said. And what happened happened,” Ryan now says of Gingrich. “I ran into him the other day at the airport. We’re fine. I talked to him. He emails me fairly often.”

    Perry: Bring it, brother Governor.

    Cain: What you see is what you get.

    So, are we going to let the fucking media choose again?

  126. Jeff G. says:

    newrouter, there are other posts from today. I happen to be trying to get the Politico reporters to admit what they knew when they went to press.

    This matters on a number of levels. If we ever want these kind of predictable, nearly-systemic attacks on our candidates — which work to help select them — to go away, we have to show how this game works. It’s kinda a thing with me.

  127. bh says:

    Okay, I withdraw the “gotcha” characterization. Still not sure why these sorts of things are relevant or particularly, well, anything. It’s like using settlement rather than agreement. Termination agreement rather than whatever else.

    Want to catch my eye on this story? Do it like a real attorney would, with a flashy dollar amount.

  128. Abe Froman says:

    what kind of Ivy Leaguer was making 35 a year in the 90s? I have no idea.

    You’ve got the wrong idea about Ivy Leaguers, son. The billionaires paper over all the failshit spizzledicks.

  129. bh says:

    #131 for #127.

  130. newrouter says:

    out moose hunting

    I Am America

  131. happyfeet says:

    I’m just trying to follow the bouncing ball Mr. bh. I didn’t really make an effort all day.

    ok … so the Ivy League hoochie is the one with the ambulance chasing piece of shit lawyer – that’s an easy google – do we know if she’s the 35K hoochie or the cut-rate hoochie? The Macaca Post article seems to imply that the 35K hoochie is NOT the Ivy Leaguer – the 35K hoochie is the “second woman.”

    The New York Times reported Tuesday night that a second woman received a settlement of $35,000, or one year’s salary, after Cain made her uncomfortable working at the restaurant association, according to three people with direct knowledge of the payment.

    so the cut-rate hoochie has the ambulance chasing lawyer, and she’s the one that alleges a pattern of *whatever*

    the “second woman” hated her job and she was hanging around somewhere with lots of liquor and she says she got all freaked out by something

  132. happyfeet says:

    yeah I know a sad sad Harvard Law grad here in LA he’s like in his late 60s and he’s wearing suits he bought in the 80s and he’s still desperate to get something going on to where he cuts his rate for small businesses just to have somewhere to go in the morning

    I have no idea what his story is but it breaks my heart.

  133. newrouter says:

    @130 mr. jeff

    the twitter thing is easy ask rsm ’cause he has that on his site. not that i look at his tweets. i “admire” your tweets. in a non gay way.

  134. Jeff G. says:

    A nice takeaway from the article re: the lawyer is that he had no real recollection of any of the facts of the case, either.

  135. happyfeet says:

    that would seem to indicate the case wasn’t very memorable

  136. happyfeet says:

    but to be clear the not-memorable case is the Ivy League monkey chick that didn’t win the 35K showcase showdown – yet she nonetheless is the one that alleges a “pattern” – which is how the more typical sexual harassment cases are built – and it’s a pattern her ambulance-chasing dickhead media whore attorney is very very keen to get the go-ahead to talk about

  137. Jeff G. says:

    I will figure it out at some point, nr.

    Good idea to do it thought.

  138. newrouter says:

    orthern Virginia Lawyer links Virginia Virtucon and:

    Based on a suggestion from a local blogger to look into political donors on the Board of Directors of the National Restaurant Association for potential ties to presidential campaigns, I have attempted to identify anyone privy to inside information about the National Restaurant Association who also has recent ties to any presidential campaign.

    A certain Steven C. Anderson appears to have been a Romney donor.

    Steven C. Anderson is the same gentlemen who took over the helm as Chief Executive Officer at the National Restaurant Association (after a brief intermission) upon Herman Cain’s departure in 1999. As CEO it is highly likely he would have been privy to details of litigation and threats about litigation from the immediately previous tenure of Herman Cain.

    Now, if you were the dot-connecting sort:

    There is little more than a coincidence between the support for Mitt Romney and the likelihood that Mr. Anderson knows the background of the sexual harassment threats.

    As with the allegations against Mr. Cain, it would be way too early to go connecting the dots. For example, I don’t even Google “Chris Smith”, lest my browser ‘splode. There could well be multiple Steven C. Andersons in circulation who have made political contributions.

    Furthermore, connecting Romney’s campaign as such to Politico on information that flimsy would be as outlandish as saying John Edwards would fall for some videographer. Who could believe such a tale? Certainly not our trustworthy media, honing in on the important stories of the day, like jobs Fast and Furious Solyndra Pigford Greece settled allegations against Herman Cain, with laser-like focus.

    Link

  139. sdferr says:

    But for sure there is no pattern to be made of all the named women who have come forward to tell that in their opinion Mr Cain was nothing like what’s being alleged by these anonymous women? Just as there wasn’t in the case of Clarence Thomas.

  140. newrouter says:

    @141 mr. jeff

    you guys be OutLaws

  141. bh says:

    I’m starting to feel the need for a cleansing flame war. Lee had it right.

    nr, sometimes I misread you because you don’t put a clear subject in front of the verb then object. So, at times, it’s a bit like you’re running into a room and calling people in the thread assholes when what you’re really doing is telling the people in the thread about other non-present assholes. Yet, at other times, you’re just calling people in the thread assholes. Which is fine. Just let us know which is which.

    On an entirely different subject, follow Jeff on Twitter. Btw, if it’s doable on wordpress and all of that, I agree, it’d be nice to have a tweeting sidebar thingy.

  142. sdferr says:

    On the twitter thingy, I’ve learned the last few days to just open the twitter page in a tab and leave it there, whereupon new posts are noted with a (#). It’s easy.

  143. happyfeet says:

    yes that’s a pattern Mr. sdferr but that pattern doesn’t have a lawyer on retainer…

    so basically where we are is the low-rent Ivy League monkey hoochie seems kind of eager to go full media whore but the 35K hoochie so far hasn’t shown any appetite for it

    so that’s an interesting difference between the two

  144. sdferr says:

    I’m still left wondering what the heck difference it would make hf? I mean, what’s the worst you could suppose and spin up into a campaign ending scenario? Otherwise, where can it go?

  145. happyfeet says:

    well I think a purgatorius ignis of Media Excess would be the bestest thing imaginable to happen for Mr. Cain’s campaign – I think it might could put him over the top

  146. newrouter says:

    to clarify: 1)nr be super idiot:

    2) mr. jeff get the twitter widget for xmas

  147. Stephanie says:

    Who the fuck is the flaming retard that goes by EricPW over at that other place? Geez I looked in to see what was going on (it isn’t an even semi-regular stop on my browsing, but I occasionally go see what what the 100% wrong club is obsessing over) and lo and behold he’s claiming super sekrit I’m in the know and this is the shits!! eleventy grade status and holding court… I mean WTF?

  148. newrouter says:

    bh: it is hard to emotionally watch this sh*t going down. did ’68.

  149. sdferr says:

    I dunno Stephanie, but JD stopped in here t’other day to comment that precisely that one EPWJ is the dummerest dimbulb on the planet, or somethin’ to that effect. I takes JD at his word. Word.

  150. happyfeet says:

    these days Mr. Eric is mostly a Perry fan

    a lot of people are sort of not very enamored of him, but it doesn’t seem to phase him he just keeps on keeping on. He has a LOT of stamina.

  151. happyfeet says:

    is it wrong I think I kinda find the Greek PM to be sort of an admirable figure, though the only thing I really know about him is from the news today

  152. newrouter says:

    funny how baracky don’t maybe in country re:’68. chanting allan somewhere else.

  153. Stephanie says:

    I saw where JD was pillorying him for his scruntiness. Dimbulb’s haughty I’m in the KookKidsKlub and have absolute moral authority and know things was just so retarded it surpasses concern trolling in its gobsmackedness. Now I remember why I don’t wander down into the sewer very often. Holy shit has that place sunk into the offal.

  154. happyfeet says:

    no is not offal it’s just the times I think

    what branches grow out of this stony rubbish?

    sucky ones, a lot of them

  155. sdferr says:

    I wonder how pancakes would be made with Coke instead of milk?

  156. happyfeet says:

    that sounds like a worthy experiment

  157. bh says:

    bh: it is hard to emotionally watch this sh*t going down. did ’68.

    And, with that, you’re far less one dimensional to me, nr. Good.

    To return the gesture, I didn’t do ’68 (-6 years old), ’78 (liked soft things), or ’88 (really into boobs). Did ’98 (working 12 hour days) and ’08 (people are dying now, Jesus, make it stop, please). Now I’m a bit less one dimensional as well for you.

  158. Abe Froman says:

    Don’t read other blogs. It’s ugly out there. Sometimes I read the comments at BigBreitbart and I want to hang myself over the army of muppets we’re breeding to do battle with the left’s muppets. Life was better before the internet made it possible to know such things about humanity.

  159. happyfeet says:

    I like cupcakes and eurodisco

  160. bh says:

    Okay, fine, I did rape and kill Bob Saget back in the 90s but that didn’t fall on an 8 year.

  161. bh says:

    From what I’ve seen of this ericpwjohnson, he’s not particularly bright. Like, we really shouldn’t make fun of him because his needs and abilities are entirely special.

  162. geoffb says:

    @164

    So you are responsible for what happened to those adorable twins when they grew older.

  163. bh says:

    Heck no. They paid me to do it. Something about being screwed over on their residuals.

  164. Stephanie says:

    I hear that Abe. Life was better when the insane could be confined and medicated. Heavily.

  165. geoffb says:

    That explains much.

  166. Stephanie says:

    #165 Yep. I’d recommend floaties.

  167. geoffb says:

    @165

    Be careful. If you say that name three times he’ll come over here and crap on the rug. He needs to go to the West side of OWS to be with others of his kind.

  168. John Bradley says:

    Some days I find myself feeling excessively spritely, with hardly any desire to put a bullet in my head. At such times, I like to read the comments to any given YouTube video, preferably a political one.

    That always cheers me right back down.

  169. Stephanie says:

    Asia seems to be sinking on their opens… O.o.

    For Jeff:

    Whatever you have done to fix the problems with the site has actually made it load much faster and have many fewer ‘server busy’ timeouts and other issues.

  170. Stephanie says:

    #172 Zero Hedge has that same effect but with more migraines.

  171. bh says:

    Twitter brings this opinion piece to our attention.

    Okay, later folks.

  172. Pablo says:

    OT, but I needs a Californian to ‘splain what the acronym “ACCE” means on this sign? Google is of little use or value.

    It might be a spinoff of ACORN, as like the NYCC in NYC.

    Yup. Rebranded ACORN CA.

  173. LTC John says:

    I am late to this but two thngs….

    “I can tell you also that I don’t represent people who are trying to shake down employers.”

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA is all I can say to that.

    and

    $35K for a “Harris-ment” charge back in those heated days? Utter nuisance money. ‘Cost of defense’ type settlement. I don’t get many files like that (I am more a toxic and/or mass tort claims guy) but I’d laugh if someone thought that kind of money was anything other than a mutual recognition of “uh, we both realize this isn’t worth our time or effort” situation.

  174. Slartibartfast says:

    he’s not particularly bright

    I’ve scraped more sentient life off of my shoe.

  175. Squid says:

    At such times, I like to read the comments to any given YouTube video, preferably a political one. That always cheers me right back down.

    John,

    I hope you’re familiar with this XKCD strip on the topic. This one is pretty apt, as well.

  176. McGehee says:

    #172 and many of the subsequent seem to echo my #1.

    So, shall we take off and nuke the planet from orbit, or stay here and do it? I’m on the fence myself.

  177. geoffb says:

    ReTweeted by PW is Politico’s story on the NDAs where they still fail to disclose their own knowledge. #WhatDidPoliticoKnow

  178. Jeff G. says:

    No answers from any of the Politico reporters to any of the questions I asked them last night.

  179. geoffb says:

    From Politico to Washington Post and on through the “media food chain”.

    [H]ow “fantasy can become fact” by advancing rumors about Whitewater and Clinton’s personal Cain’s life through a “media food chain” that starts in ideological journals and ultimately finds its way onto the front pages of mainstream U.S. newspapers. What is striking about the document is that it lays down this suspicion-laden theory about how the media works in cold print, under the imprimatur of the White House.

  180. So much commentary, so few actual facts.

  181. What I mean is that Politico has accomplished its goal of sucking all the oxygen from the room by having everyone talk endlessly about nothing but speculation.

  182. Last night I went to a college financial aid seminar and was told, seriously, that I my wife and I should consider divorce in order to maximize our children’s potential financial aid awards and scholarship opportunities.

    Seriously. The woman was serious. She was selling ParentPlus loans.

    I told her the National Guard would pay 100% for an eight-year commitment, plus a stipend and that she should consider adding that bit of info into her presentation instead of talking shit.

    She was supposed to be a “professional financial aid consultant” and the PTO paid this idiot to come to town. She never mentioned ROTC, the National Guard, or the automatic scholarship that good students get in the state university system. She also didn’t know what a STEM major was, and the whole presentation was geared subtly toward parents of girls.

    I told the PTO president that she should get our money back.

  183. Oh yeah. I’ll bet 10k that Politico got it’s info from the Romney camp.

  184. […] — even CNN ran a story acknowledging that such claims and settlements are oftentimes just the cost of doing business (Kurt Schlichter follows that up with a good New York Post column today detailing how these suits […]

  185. geoffb says:

    We have this, and this tweeted by Dan Riehl who has been very critical of Cain through this whole thing.

    Meet the Chris Wilson who in the first piece says he was at one of the incidents.

    Wilson served as Executive Director of the Republican Party of Texas when President George W. Bush was governor, working directly for Karl Rove, and following Karen Hughes when she left the Party to join the campaign.

  186. Slartibartfast says:

    Reality-abased community:

    I’m going to let you in on the best-kept secret of the last century: private investment — that is, using business profits to increase productivity and output — doesn’t actually drive economic growth. Consumer debt and government spending do. Private investment isn’t even necessary to promote growth.

    Strike that. Growth is what promotes growth. We need to have more people move into the area so that we can have a bigger tax base to support the schools and other infrastructure needed by those additional people…oh, to hell with it. This guy is preaching the Florida growth model, which works right up until the brakes get slammed on. It’s a prescription for unsustainable growth.

    While we’re musing on the points of the party of the larger IQ, let’s look at what they’re up to, shall we?

  187. Slartibartfast says:

    Oh. Here‘s what they’re up to. Nevermind.

  188. McGehee says:

    Shame on you, Slart. Haven’t you been told repeatedly that vote fraud has never happened?

  189. guinspen says:

    I don’t need oil, I ride the bus.

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