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My quick takeaway from Cain press conference

Cain denies the Bialek allegations entirely. What he hasn’t denied — and which was pressed today, now that Joel Bennett client Karen Kraushaar has allowed her name to be released — is that this former NRA employee is the woman who filed a claim against him (that he knew about); the one with respect to whose claim he then recused himself; the one for which the NRA lifted confidentiality; and the one about whose claims the NRA statement noted the following:

Based upon the information currently available, we can confirm that more than a decade ago, in July 1999, Mr. Bennett’s client filed a formal internal complaint, in accordance with the Association’s existing policies prohibiting discrimination and harassment. Mr. Herman Cain disputed the allegations in the complaint. The Association and Mr. Bennett’s client subsequently entered into an agreement to resolve the matter, without any admission of liability. Mr. Cain was not a party to that agreement. The agreement contains mutual confidentiality obligations.

Cain left the Association before a settlement was released — and he continues to note that the agreement reached was a personnel agreement, essentially, a severance agreement. Which, if that’s true — and the NRA release would suggest that, based on its finding of no admission of liability (which the complainant and her lawyer both agreed to, and to which Cain — who was never questioned or deposed by the complainant’s lawyer — was never party to) — would explain why Cain early on Monday after the story broke on Politico Sunday evening would have denied that the NRA had ever paid out any harassment settlement on his behalf.

As we keep hearing about the number of women who’ve made accusations, we need to keep in mind the following: the first NRA woman, Karen Kraushaar, released her name but still will not go on record about what she alleged; a second NRA woman has not come forward. A third NRA woman never even filed a claim, and she, too, remains anonymous. Ms Bialek is the fourth woman. There is no fifth, the first and the fifth being one and the same (Unless, of course, you count the woman who was “suspicious” about Cain’s wanting to meet for dinner after a speech a woman who’d asked him a question. Instead, he ate with the suspicious woman and two others, engaged in no inappropriate behavior, and then left. I see nothing at all troubling there).

So what we have now is essentially what we had all last week, with the addition of Ms Bialek — who has a rather strange resume, and whom Cain says he doesn’t even know — and the name of the accuser whom Cain has always admitted he’s known about.

Cain early on tried to walk through the specifics of the claim made by Ms Kraushaar — she made the claim, he recused himself, the NRA conducted their investigation, Cain was found not liable. The severance package this woman received Cain wasn’t a party to, and there was confidentiality attached, as is SOP in such cases.

After the story broke, the most likely explanation is that Cain, confronted with news reports of a “settlement,” later understood that what the media was reporting on were severance agreements and not harassment suit settlements. Not being party to the agreement, he only had vague recollections to go on.

The media has not really reported on the commonality of such agreements, or on the sums involved as being anything that might suggest a “pay off”.

There are reports that Bialek met Cain at TeaCon. But if that was before or after a speech, she may have been one of many people he met with — and in fact, he likely meets thousands of people each week.

So it matters not that he wouldn’t remember meeting her. In fact, that’s about what one expects: if you go to an Oprah book signing and sigh over Oprah during your minute at the table, that doesn’t mean she’s going to remember you a month later.

You just aren’t that important.

156 Replies to “My quick takeaway from Cain press conference”

  1. sdferr says:

    Best, though, of all I’ve seen trotted across our tv screens, is Cain’s focus on the political problem and the bigger picture. He won’t be swayed. He returns to the nation over and over again, and if the nation, then the nation’s necessary structure, now gone missing lo these many years. And that is the deal. Not some hoochie’s coochie.

  2. McGehee says:

    The Establishment is going to look back on these last few days and kick itself. Repeatedly and with a passion.

  3. sdferr says:

    Amen McGehee, especially if an amen will help make it so.

  4. sdferr says:

    Another thing about the press’s questions: the absurdity of many of them reveals the members of the press don’t understand the simplest facts of their own story as presented over the last week. Motherfuckers aren’t even trying, and don’t mind shaming themselves in the asking.

  5. dicentra says:

    There are reports that Bialek met Cain at TeaCon.

    There are photos, actually, and first-hand accounts of warm embraces.

    But that doesn’t mean he remembered her name at the time. I imagine he has to pretend to remember people all the time, and just go along with the nicey-nice to avoid humiliating someone with a “who are you again?”

  6. dicentra says:

    From the WMGD link:

    Does it strike you as strange according to mainstream media the only women Herman Cain harassed were those he was associated with at the National Restaurant Association? After all, Mr. Cain has had a great many jobs and a great many political appointments.

    The NRA has a large Chicago office and much of this orchestrated attack appears out of the Windy City.

    Why indeed?

  7. LBascom says:

    I heard one witness to the TEACon thing say it was immediately before his speech.

    She walked up, gave him a hug, put her mouth inches to his ear for ,like, two minutes, while he kept saying uh-huh, uh-huh. Then he went onstage.

    I’m thinking there was more than one stage that day…

  8. Joe says:

    dicentra is right. The photo I saw just showed the typical politican photo you see of a person with the pol. I did not see photos of “warm embraces.” Of course that meeting undercuts Bialek’s account. Who meets friendly friendly with some guy you are accusing of pawwing you? When asked why she did not contact Cain and tell him to come clean or she would, Bialek claims she felt like she needed to go through Ms. Allred (and have a press conference).

  9. geoffb says:

    The photo is not of Cain and Bialek but of Cain and a WIND radio person Amy Jacobson. She is the one who reported the encounter.

  10. bh says:

    Very good, Geoff.

    I oftentimes scroll and skim through this stuff during the day… and I also had the same misunderstanding as di in regards to that photo.

  11. geoffb says:

    Jacobson said of the same encounter, “I recall Sharon was hell bent on going backstage at the TeaCon convention — where she cornered him. I was surprised to hear she claims she did not know Cain was going to be there. Cain was expected and was late.”
    […]
    “It all began when I took a convention break and joined my pals at the hotel bar. Sharon was drinking Mimosas with them,” said Jacobson. She said she was a Republican, a Tea Party member, had once dated [White Sox sports announcer’ Steve Stone] and had worked at WGN radio.”

    “Sharon also said she was anxious to meet Cain again and had once gone to an afterparty with him and her boyfriend years ago. But she never mentioned he had sexually harassed her.”

    Meanwhile, Bialek has since applied for employment in sales at WIND radio and is scheduled for a second interview Thursday.

  12. newrouter says:

    Quoth Jacobson: “I had turned on TV to find out who was Cain’s accuser, and I almost fell over when I saw it was Sharon Bialek accusing Cain of groping her genitals.”

    “I was waiting for Herman Cain’s ‘Accuser No. 4’ to surface — and up pops Sharon!”

    “I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked.”

    “I recall Sharon was hell bent on going backstage at the TeaCon convention — where she cornered him,” said Jacobson.

    Link

  13. geoffb says:

    So far as Google images can tell those two images are the only ones out online and they are both very small images which makes it hard to see who or what is in them.

  14. McGehee says:

    Amen McGehee, especially if an amen will help make it so.

    I’m willing to help them with the kicking if they need it.

  15. Pablo says:

    There are photos, actually, and first-hand accounts of warm embraces.

    Are there photos? I’m seeing this one referred to, but that isn’t Bialek, that’s Amy Jacobson.

  16. Pablo says:

    Or, what geoffb said.

  17. geoffb says:

    NY Times — What did Karen Kraushaar accuse him of and what really happened. “I can only recall one thing that I was aware of that was called sexual harassment.” “One day in my office I was standing next to her and gestured” about being same height as wife. “That was the one gesture that I remember.” Other things in accusations I’m not aware of or don’t remember. “She did not react at the time.”

    I had thought from what Joel Bennett had said that his client was not the “gesture” one but could be wrong in that.

  18. dicentra says:

    Oh, this is good: She was fired from the NRA for filing a false allegation of sexual harassment against her boss.

    “She was fired from her job, and her boyfriend suggested she contact Cain in hopes he could help her find employment.”.

    In this particular incident she was fired for falsely accusing her boss of sexual harassment, a charge denied by co-workers, as well as being pretty much a pain in the ass to work with.

    “I remember her as a time-waster, and rabble-rouser. If she didn’t get her way she cried about sexual harassment”. A former co-worker, a female no less, emailed me. “She was trouble with a capital “T”. The fact that she waited 13 years and never said a word not even during Cain’s earlier forays into politics. She only now magically appears because Cain is leading in some polls and proving a threat to Barack Obama?

    The photo is not of Cain and Bialek but of Cain and a WIND radio person Amy Jacobson. She is the one who reported the encounter.

    Oh! Thanks for the clarification, geoffb. I’ll edit that in my mental file.

  19. LBascom says:

    I think it should be stressed the first two “accusers” made an agreement. There was no “settlement”, there was an agreement that the accusation would go away for a termination package. Thus, no accusations.

    The third is immaterial(literally), and should be dropped from the count, which leaves us with the new, named woman.

    One woman. Making un-provable and unsubstantiated accusations.

    Yes, let’s speak of facts.

  20. newrouter says:

    from the amount of flak coming in we may be over the target

  21. Jeff G. says:

    I wonder how many people Cain meets after speeches and the like in a course of a month. Like asking people to remember every face at a book signing.

    Get over it: you’re just not that important.

  22. Joe says:

    There is no way Cain remembers everyone he meets. There are some savant old time polticans and ward bosses who could do that–who could recall people’s names years later just on remeeting them. I doubt any of the politicans running can do that. Unfortunately technology has made people’s memories worse, not better.

    I am no fan of Erik Erikson, but he has a disturbing factoid if true. He claims Cain is losing women in Iowa. If these allegations accomplish that goal, it does not really matter if they are true. Mission Accomplished.

  23. sdferr says:

    Erikson plays a recursive game. Leave him to himself.

  24. newrouter says:

    oh since this wench is from chicago maybe some refresher info:

    In Illinois, there has long been an expression which describes the relationship between the two political parties: The Combine. Chicago Tribune writer John Kass seems to have originated this expression. See, for example, this article: In Combine, cash is king, corruption is bipartisan. Kass quoted former Illinois Senator Peter Fitzgerald: “In the final analysis, The Combine’s allegiance is not to a party, but to their pocketbooks. They’re about making money off the taxpayers,” Fitzgerald said. Kass went on: “He should know. He fought The Combine and lost, and the empty suits running the Republican Party encourage their friendly scribes to blame the social conservatives for the disaster of the state GOP.”

    Sound familiar?

    America, welcome to Illinois.

    The way it works is this. The Democrat party is the senior member of the Combine. The GOP is the junior member of the Combine. The game is exactly the same, and whoever is up, or whoever is down, based on the random behavior of those rubes, the voters, does not matter. The game is always exactly the same, and the people who are in on the game, from either party, have a shared stake in defending the game.

    The Combine is a term that should be more widely used in Illinois. It is also a word that should be more widely used in the USA in general.

    Lisa Murkowski’s family, and her career, exist because of the Combine. Her interest is in preserving the existing game. She is preserving her stake and her family’s stake in a game they have benefitted from. There is no mystery about this at all. There is no need for psychiatry to understand why she is trying to stop Joe Miller. He threatens the game. It has nothing to do with the label “Republican.”

    Link

  25. newrouter says:

    oh one more thing about “the combine”. this:

    Congressman Calls for Federal Investigation of Penn State

    November 8, 2011, 5:56 pm

    Rep. Patrick Meehan, a Republican from Pennsylvania, has called on the U.S. Department of Education to investigate whether the Pennsylvania State University’s failure to report allegations of sexual abuse to authorities constituted a violation of federal law. Representative Meehan said the university’s response may have been in violation of the Clery Act,

    Link

    pennsylvania has a republican gov. who was before that attorney general of pa and a republican legislature. this idiot wants to bring in baracky’s doe. dude federalism.

  26. Roddy Boyd says:

    I hope I don’t become really, really famous or important because it’s pretty clear people just come out of the woodwork and say stuff.
    Moreover, all the dumb things I’ve said here will come back and be used against me, so then I’ll have to have you all killed.
    Except Jeff, who will be in prison already, for what he’s going to do that Jacobs guy at the convention.

  27. geoffb says:

    In a logical world the women from the NRA who were semi-outed (enough info so that reporters could find them) by the original Politico piece would be going after that publication since they were private citizens at the time the piece ran and were harmed by it. At least they would be calling for the name[s] of the source[s] that provided the information that led to their lives being turned upside down.

  28. Blake says:

    Roddy, you wrote book, that, if memory serves, did rather well.

    That makes you somebody.

    Fair warning: I’m armed and more than adequate with my firearms.

  29. DarthLevin says:

    Deary dear. Michael Medved has decided Cain can never be president. Guess it’s all over but the shoutin’, huh?

    @MedvedSHOW
    Problem for Cain: it’s not just he said/she said. It’s he said/she said, and she said, and she said, and she said. He’ll never be president.

  30. sdferr says:

    Wasn’t Medved the sort to be determined that Cain wouldn’t be made President before these anonymous evidence lacking accusatory women came forward? And if so, what on earth is the use of any opinion from him on the subject after the fact, or anyone else in the same position for that matter?

  31. Abe Froman says:

    I once saw Medved fucking an underaged goat. Prove me wrong.

  32. Blake says:

    This whole Cain thing is a fucking sideshow.

    Eric Holder lied his fucking ass off to Congress today.

    Holder, at the very least, should be facing criminal charges and possibly should be sitting in jail awaiting trial.

    Instead, we’ve got a media circus of a distraction that doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of our country.

    This is the same goddam playbook the media used to avoid reporting on the real Clinton scandals. However, this time it is being played out with a GOP contender.

    Damn right I’m furious.

    /rant

  33. LBascom says:

    Something tells me these people saying Cain is done, were the shoe on their foot, would expect a little more evidence before being condemned.

  34. Roddy Boyd says:

    You know, Medved was a decent film reviewer once who got it in his mind that he would be a…..pundit.
    I’m not sure much hilarity ensued.

  35. newrouter says:

    ace thought he was a pundit too. they both should embrace their hackdom side.

  36. LBascom says:

    In the big picture, it is chilling how they show anyone even thinking of running, “this will happen to YOU

  37. sdferr says:

    This whole Cain thing is a fucking sideshow.

    In and of itself, that’s all too true, but there is one public good to notice Blake, and that is Mr. Cain himself, continually returning to speak to the people of the main problem at hand, and their need to take ahold of the problem and to deal with it politically. Not to say that he wasn’t turned aside in some measure from achieving what it was he set out to do last week visiting Washington to introduce himself to other politicians there, but merely that he keeps at what is most important, even in the midst of his responses to the falsehoods he fights.

  38. leigh says:

    He went over to the dark side when he decided to move his family to the Northwest and developed a sort of reflexive need to flash his “conservative” cred every time he opens his yap.

  39. geoffb says:

    Jen finds her projector and turns it on full.

  40. newrouter says:

    the combine™ wants some mittens

  41. serr8d says:

    Want to see how ‘professionals’ choose a photograph to set a specific tone for an article?

    Bastards.

  42. newrouter says:

    It probably took something more than a height comparison to trigger Kraushaar calling Cain a “monster.” And Cardona’s hiring Kraushaar took place years ago when Kraushaar left the NRA, before Cardona worked at the DNC. That history proves Cardona’s a Democrat, but it doesn’t disprove the underlying allegations against Cain. But if you’re looking for how this story got brought to Politico’s attention, Cardona may be a good place to start. Want more confusion? Kraushaar may be a registered Republican — according to Cardona, the Democrat pundit.

    Link

  43. Blake says:

    sdferr,

    According to this, Perry was smart about the whole Cain thing:

    “Rick Perry on Cain: “I don’t have an interest in getting off my message of how to create jobs in this country”

    http://twitter.com/#!/rickklein/statuses/133941093736792065

  44. Blake says:

    serr8d, well, look at that, a racist photo. Look how they’ve framed a Black man as beaten down by “The Man.”

  45. happyfeet says:

    good for Mr. Governor Perry he has loads more class than that Wall Street Romney weasel

  46. newrouter says:

    dan reihl

    Each person I’ve spoken to claims they felt the early-in-the-day drinking they observed impacted his affect, to one degree, or another. Being free-thinking, or Libertarian is one thing – I get it. But what does it say about the judgement of someone running for POTUS, that they’d think this was really okay? No doubt Mark Block would approve, what with his two DUI’s on record. But, sorry, it’s not okay in my book and it shouldn’t be in Cain’s, either. So, why would he do it? It’s one reason why I always assumed he wasn’t serious.

    It also causes me to think about the two Herman Cain’s we see. There’s the happy, smiling, I love the world and the world loves me Herman Cain, and then there’s a different side of him, quick to anger …. and even scream at reporters on occasion.

    I’ve never met the man and I’m in no position to suggest he has a problem with alcohol of some kind.

    Link

    man all these clowns want to ride “the combine™”

  47. Stephanie says:

    In and of itself, that’s all too true, but there is one public good to notice Blake, and that is Mr. Cain himself, continually returning to speak to the people of the main problem at hand, and their need to take ahold of the problem and to deal with it politically. Not to say that he wasn’t turned aside in some measure from achieving what it was he set out to do last week visiting Washington to introduce himself to other politicians there, but merely that he keeps at what is most important, even in the midst of his responses to the falsehoods he fights.

    Except those morons at ‘that’ site saw this as evidence of Cain trying to change the fucking subject. Were all over his ass for actually talking about… issues in the middle of this high tech lynching. The arrogance of this uppity… went downhill from there.

  48. happyfeet says:

    Mr. Riehl surely knows that no matter how many drinks Mr. Herman has he still makes the sentences better than Governor Rick

    it’s just the way it is some things will never change

    get a job

  49. sdferr says:

    That looks like a reasonable and decent response to me Blake. He may even understand that his own turn in the barrel isn’t far off, given his prudential decision to not take up Cain’s side of the issue and so laying off the left-media under the circumstances.

  50. newrouter says:

    “I’ve never met the man and I’m in no position to suggest he has a problem with alcohol of some kind. ”

    thanx dan r. for floating that. good allah i’ve started to debookmarking a lot of silliness.

  51. Stephanie says:

    Reihl’s a major piece of work. I keep him in my twitter feed for humor. His hair is on fire so often he’s brain is toast.

  52. BBHunter says:

    – Roger Hedgecock mentioned a couple of things during his radio program this afternoon, right after Cain’s news conference. Maybe you’ve heard this, maybe not.

    – Bialek lives in the same apartment complex as …..are you ready for this?

    David Axelrod

    – Bialek ran a scam on a harrassment suit she got her ass handed to her on…..her atty?

    David Axelrod

  53. newrouter says:

    “- Bialek ran a scam on a harrassment suit she got her ass handed to her on…..her atty?

    David Axelrod”

    different middle names i’ve seen. see malkin.

  54. serr8d says:

    ace thought he was a pundit too. they both should embrace their hackdom side.

    Ace should give up his signature H.L. Mencken quote, as his recent throat-slittings are but pragmatic vestiges of his former glories.

    Instead… “Don’t underestimate the appeal of mendacious moral certitudes. Because the sheen of our candidate’s gleaming ‘R’ is all’s that’s important!” – Frumley Brookings

  55. BBHunter says:

    – Irony abounds.

  56. LBascom says:

    Does anyone have the video of Cain screaming at reporters?

    ‘Cuz honestly, I can’t imagine that anymore than I can imagine him shoving a woman’s head into his crotch in a car.

  57. BBHunter says:

    – OMG – He said “excuse me” really loud !!!!!111oneleventy!!!

  58. newrouter says:

    but this coming from chitown says: baracky. oh noes to hopey change.

  59. sdferr says:

    On the sad and important news front, Prop. 2 in Ohio went against the taxpayers and for the bloodsucking public unions. It’s hard to figure when people commit either real or nominal suicide like that.

  60. motionview says:

    I noticed Shemp Smith repeatedly saying “a fifth accuser has come forward” even though in the report he acknowledges that this fifth accuser is actually the first anonymous accuser. For a total of two. Not five.
    That has to be Fox management with their thumb on the scale.

  61. Pablo says:

    different middle names i’ve seen. see malkin.

    Yes, the lawyer is a different one. She did live in the same building as that Axelrod.

  62. newrouter says:

    “Does anyone have the video of Cain screaming at reporters?”

    yea here it is be “shocked”

    Herman Cain Screams at Reporter at Right Online

    coulda also bin called “Herman Cain gropes the armadillo”

  63. newrouter says:

    better time for prop.2 oh is next year. prop. 3?

  64. geoffb says:

    This morning he was at $825K, and now.

  65. Stephanie says:

    Yeah, but geoffb, he’s pointing at it with that finger. You know.

    ‘If the finger don’t smell, he shouldn’t tell.’

    Only intelligent thing I read in that thread after the presser at Ace’s today.

  66. Pablo says:

    This morning he was at $825K, and now.

    New scandal: Cain is rolling out his own accusers.

  67. newrouter says:

    “I’ve spoken to claims they felt the early-in-the-day drinking they observed impacted his affect, to one degree, or another. Being free-thinking, or Libertarian is one thing – I get it. But what does it say about the judgement of someone running for” At Zuccotti Park, a Sound of the ’60s

  68. Blake says:

    sdferr, just wait until all those public employees who voted to repeal SB5 start getting laid off. They’ll be the first to scream.

  69. leigh says:

    I thought Obama’s Axelrod was not a lawyer? The David Axelrod on the complaint (David M? or David J?) is a lawyer. The blonde hootchie who is past her sell-by date lived in the same building with Obama’s Axelrod.

  70. newrouter says:

    to dan r.. mr. perry could have taken on “niggerhead” straight on by explaining the history of the term. mr. perry could have asked the “black communists” why they still used that word in their communes and music. but mr. perry is a 2nd rate gwb. bow down to the commie narrative.

  71. LBascom says:

    Is the lawyer any relation to the Axelrod?

    Oh, and raising your voice equals “screaming” now?

  72. leigh says:

    I’d be surprised if there were two different families of Axelrods in Chitown, but stranger things have happened.

    I thought using ALL CAPS was screaming. Raising your voice to a reporter is the same thing, evidently.

  73. cranky-d says:

    I stopped reading Ace’s posts on Cain. I don’t see the point.

  74. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Prop. 2 in Ohio went against the taxpayers and for the bloodsucking public unions. It’s hard to figure when people commit either real or nominal suicide like that.

    Simple really. It’s the other guy’s kid whose gonna get sucked dry. Their kid is gonna grow up to be a vampire. John Derbyshire over at NRO has been advocating just that for years.

  75. sdferr says:

    What happened to that other Ace who ran nice Soviet parodies back in the day, then somewhere along the way turned to the left?

  76. leigh says:

    He probaably started reading Charles Johnson’s twitterfeed and lost his way.

  77. newrouter says:

    “It’s hard to figure when people commit either real or nominal suicide like that.”

    #3 eff the left #2 we will get back to

  78. Stephanie says:

    OMG. Invocation and without jumble bees.

    Incoming!

  79. sdferr says:

    The vote is 61.06 – 38.94 (80% of counties in so far). That’s a beefy win for the bloodsuckers.

  80. newrouter says:

    “The lone approved measure, Issue 3, the health care amendment, had 66% of ‘yes’ votes. The measure will exempt residents of Ohio from national health care mandates which would stop any state law from forcing persons, employers or health care providers from participating in a health care system. ”

    http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Ohio

    big win against baracky. add it to missouri.

  81. Blake says:

    Idaho palate cleanser: Collective bargaining reform passed: http://tinyurl.com/bsuwq5s

    n/t hotair

  82. newrouter says:

    so for baracky care there is a state to move to close by. or be amish.

  83. newrouter says:

    i hate all the effin being “personal”. leave me alone.

  84. Ernst Schreiber says:

    That’s a beefy win for the bloodsuckers.

    And firefighters, cops, teachers and nurses too!

    The governor [Kasich] reiterated that his priority was creating jobs and that he would not bail out municipalities whose budgets were in the red. Although he believed Senate Bill 5 would have given those municipalities the tools to fill their budget gaps, he promised, “We will continue to look for tools that will put them in a position of being able to control their costs.”*

    Oh wait.

  85. newrouter says:

    “Ohio voters opt out of health mandate
    Updated: 34 minutes ago
    story image +

    Voters in Ohio have approved a ballot measure intended to keep government from requiring Ohioans to participate in any health care system.

    The constitutional amendment passed is largely symbolic, coming in response to the 2009 federal health care overhaul, a provision of which mandates that most Americans purchase health care.”

    what no 9 or 10 amendment?

  86. newrouter says:

    oh Link

  87. newrouter says:

    lotta barackycrats shot down brackycare?

  88. Ernst Schreiber says:

    14 effecticely repealed 9 & 10.

    Because SCOTUS PRECEDENT says so. That’s why!

  89. sdferr says:

    Jeff linked RightScoop’s grab of Mark Levin’s reaction to Cain’s presser. Worth a listen.

    Toward the end Levin speaks of the genuine misery abroad in the nation (and he’s right of course, there’s plenty), but among the causes he lists, he doesn’t mention the misery caused by a simple distrust of one’s own government, or of one’s own fellows, or witnessing ineptitude and stupidity at work in politics, a thing hard to quantify I don’t doubt, but real enough nonetheless.

  90. dicentra says:

    I’m having it out with Ace on Twitter right now. He’s stuck thinking Cain knew all these things could surface so he’s a jerk for not telling us up front they’d be a’coming.

    I reminded him that all the allegations come from one company, the NRA, even though he’s worked lots of places and he didn’t get why that was important.

  91. dicentra says:

    What happened to that other Ace who ran nice Soviet parodies back in the day, then somewhere along the way turned to the left?

    He hasn’t turned to the left; he’s just gone squish.

  92. Jeff G. says:

    That, and they were supposedly protected by confidentiality agreements.

    Plus, some are just bogus and have come out because of the Politico hit job. Which he’s helping make sure gets repeated in election cycle after election cycle.

  93. sdferr says:

    I don’t know why I thought he’d gone left dicentra, but maybe I got it in my head, mistakenly, that he went for Obama in ’08. I can’t remember where the idea came from.

  94. dicentra says:

    Plus, some are just bogus and have come out because of the Politico hit job.

    Check this out:

    @dicentra63
    We should’ve raked Politico over the coals FIRST, then if THEY checked out, we could cast a jaundiced eye on Cain.

    @dicentra63
    Were you born yesterday? ALWAYS suspect the press before condemning a black conservative.

    @AceofSpadesHQ
    Politico is not asking for my vote or for me to bet our nation’s future on them.

  95. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Ace always gets wobbly in election years. He’s like a lot of Republican arm-chair coaches: he doesn’t want to lose.

  96. dicentra says:

    Also, I’m avoiding going into my room, because the maids came today and closed the bedroom door where the cat was hiding and left it shut. I came home at 9:00 pm and let him out.

    I have no idea where he dropped it; I just know that he did.

  97. Stephanie says:

    Nope, just to bet our nation’s future on their judgment and integrity. Which is so spectacularly awesome.

    Geez, Ace can be a dope.

  98. sdferr says:

    Politico is not asking for my vote or for me to bet our nation’s future on them.

    That strikes me as palpably insane. That’s precisely what they’re doing, though they simply won’t admit it up front.

  99. Jeff G. says:

    Politico is not asking for my vote or for me to bet our nation’s future on them.

    But he is buying their version of the world, and using that to decide who to bet on and how much to bet.

  100. Jeff G. says:

    It comes down to this: if you believe Cain and support him, vote for him. If you don’t, don’t.

    Trying to tell others they shouldn’t believe him, or should join you in your efforts to look “sane” and sophisticated in the face Cain’s lack of law school / Kennedy School of Govt. finish, is something else entirely.

  101. sdferr says:

    Update (Ed): After last week’s aborted accusation against Rick Perry as being the leaker of this story and now this “epic facepalm,” as one of my Twitter followers called this, Mark Block has to go. If he’s not gone by tomorrow, no one will take this campaign seriously again — nor should they.

  102. JD says:

    Speaking of betting, the two guys playing heads up at the WSOP are sensational.

  103. dicentra says:

    I’m not supporting Cain so much as fighting the media.

    Making false accusations of sexual harassment carries no downside for the accusers: they’re often paid off regardless of the merits of the charges, and the accused has no way to prove his innocence.

    That’s why Ace’s insistence on “Cain knew ahead of time,” is ridiculous.

    Which, gentlemen, never put yourself in a situation where it’s going to be he said/she said. Never be alone in a car, at a dinner table, in a hotel room or office. Keep one or more disinterested companions with you if necessary. Leave doors open. Bring hidden cameras if you have to.

    Me, I don’t reckon on being alone in a car with a man unless I WANT to be hit on.

    Stakes are to high; lies are too easily believed; defense is almost impossible.

  104. Jeff G. says:

    I’m not supporting Cain so much as fighting the media.

    BULLSHIT! YOU ARE AN UNSOPHISTICATED RUBE AND A SILLY CAINIAC, JUST AS YOUR WERE ONCE AN UNSOPHISTICATED RUBE AND A PALINISTA!

    THE ERA OF CITIZEN LEGISLATORS IS OVER! LONG LIVE THE DAVID BROOKS PARTY!

  105. dicentra says:

    Glenn Beck thinks the hit job comes from the GOP establishment; if it were the Dems, they’d wait until later in the game to unload on him.

    I think he has a point.

  106. Mike LaRoche says:

    Guess I shouldn’t say anything about when Jennifer Rubin sexually harassed me at a Taco Bell in Corpus Christi last summer. Prove me wrong!

  107. Jeff G. says:

    Which, gentlemen, never put yourself in a situation where it’s going to be he said/she said. Never be alone in a car, at a dinner table, in a hotel room or office. Keep one or more disinterested companions with you if necessary. Leave doors open. Bring hidden cameras if you have to.

    Me, I don’t reckon on being alone in a car with a man unless I WANT to be hit on.

    Stakes are to high; lies are too easily believed; defense is almost impossible.

    As they’ve controlled language they will also control behavior. They have us walking around on eggshells, terrified to offend.

    Unless you’re a lib. Then it’s cool. They’ll circle the wagons for you and laugh it all off.

    But really, why fight back? Maybe you’ll get lucky and they’ll eat you last.

  108. sdferr says:

    There’s a weird sort of fastidious distraction built into the maintenance-of-image mongers, like they’re all extreme autistics incapable of dropping their microscopic focus on tiny details for the larger picture in the world.

  109. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Mark Block has to go. If he’s not gone by tomorrow, no one will take this campaign seriously again — nor should they.

    [G]entlemen, never put yourself in a situation where it’s going to be he said/she said. Never be alone in a car, at a dinner table, in a hotel room or office. Keep one or more disinterested companions with you if necessary. Leave doors open. Bring hidden cameras if you have to.
    [….]

    Stakes are to high; lies are too easily believed; defense is almost impossible.

    Best to just know your place. Politics is for professionals

  110. Stephanie says:

    Doesn’t even take that…. they’re getting kindergarteners for sexual harassment charges now. Might as well give em the mark of Cain. Unemployable at age 4. Nice.

  111. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Glenn Beck thinks the hit job comes from the GOP establishment; if it were the Dems, they’d wait until later in the game to unload on him.

    I think it’s The Combine. Democrats started it, the Perry camp piled on, and now Democrats are keeping it going.

    If it were just another GOP campaign, they’d have given it up by now because it’s not working.
    And the Democrats can’t wait until the general. If they do, everyone is going to know it’s them and they’re worried about a backlash.

  112. dicentra says:

    LONG LIVE THE DAVID BROOKS PARTY!

    Then I quit. I HATE creased pants. They’re always those polyester grandma things with elastic waistbands and stitched creases.

    THE HORROR! THE HORROR!

  113. sdferr says:

    Had a great uncle who lost his arm to a combine.

  114. Joe says:

    I like Cain. He does seem generally conservative. But I hope he fights as a big fuck you to the media, the left, and to pragmatic republicans.

    Dan Riehl may slowly be coming around http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2011/11/herman-cain-discredits-himself-or-does-jennifer-rubin.html

  115. happyfeet says:

    If Cap’n Ed says he has to go then Mr. Block has to go

    that’s just the way it is some things will never change

    get a job

  116. happyfeet says:

    Jen Rubin is a crazy cat lady times 1000

  117. dicentra says:

    As they’ve controlled language they will also control behavior. They have us walking around on eggshells, terrified to offend.

    Actually, in my church we’ve had these guidelines for a long, long time, conforming to the avoid the appearance of evil clause. Married men aren’t supposed to give a woman a ride home just the two of them alone, etc. Partly to protect against accusations but also to prevent inappropriate feelings from developing. Just ain’t worth it. Best avoid the situations entirely.

    My brother always makes sure when the neighbor kids are over that he’s not alone with them such that he can be accused of anything. Not that he would do anything, of course, but he doesn’t want to leave any doubt. Such awful things result when lies are told.

    And it’s not just the left, not just “fear of offending,” but old-fashioned prudence and propriety. Used to be a time when everyone followed these kinds of rules, but the sixties counter-culture declared them unbearably square and so they had to go.

    They, of course, always took such care to discover why a wall was there before removing it.

    Bastards.

  118. happyfeet says:

    with my new Sarah Palin glasses on you’d be hard-pressed to accuse me of evils I think

    cause of how beautiful I look

  119. dicentra says:

    But ‘feets, you’ve always been beautiful!

  120. happyfeet says:

    garsh

  121. Ernst Schreiber says:

    As they’ve controlled language they will also control behavior. They have us walking around on eggshells, terrified to offend.

    “[I]f thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. [….] “This invasion of one’s mind by ready-made phrases [e.g. harrassment is in the eye of the beholder, it’s the seriousness of the charge, the cover-up is worse than the crime, somebody should have “gotten out in front of” something, sombody hasn’t proceeded according to somebody else’s arbitrary expectations] can only be prevented if one is constantly on guard against them, and every such phrase anesthetizes a portion of one’s brain.” (George Orwell, Politics and the English Language).

    Our problem it seems is we’re arguing with a bunch of numbskulls.

  122. geoffb says:

    Glenn Beck thinks the hit job comes from the GOP establishment; if it were the Dems, they’d wait until later in the game to unload on him.

    My contention is that the research and the setting up was done by the Obama people but they have fed it through a Republican Illinois “Combine player” [thanks nr] for deniablity.

    The new Journalist is also likely too. I liked the line that the story was shopped to all these big mainstream press people who all turned it down as a non-story. Then Politico runs it and wham it now has credibility and so they all now run with what they has said was not good enough before. Journalist controlled release.

  123. Stephanie says:

    Cain’s new attorney addition to the team should be causing Allred some heartache. Lin Wood is a high powered attorney who defended Richard Jewel, the not-Olympic Park bomber. No slouch, he. And he’s known for not taking a case where he doubts his client. A rare decent lawyer. Once he gets going expect major fireworks.

  124. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Had a great uncle who lost his arm to a combine.

    He was lucky. The Combine chews up your soul.

  125. happyfeet says:

    praise Jesus that stupid Mississippi abortion thing failed

    National Soros Radio would’ve been like a dog with a bone with that right up to the election

  126. dicentra says:

    My contention is that the research and the setting up was done by the Obama people but they have fed it through a Republican Illinois “Combine player” [thanks nr] for deniability.

    I have no strong opinion on who is behind it all. I reckon we can apply the old Arab saying: “A falling camel attracts many knives.”

    It’s such an obvious hit job there’s no reason for anyone to so much as suspect Cain, or to so much as ask him Question One about it, until the press’s story has been raked through.

    And the press raked over, if need be.

    It’s just TOO EASY to make false accusations about sexual harassment, and NIGH ON IMPOSSIBLE to defend against them. That puts the entire onus of proof on the accuser.

    Sorry, ladies, but there it is. Somebody’s being inappropriate with you? Tape it!

  127. happyfeet says:

    it’s a racist thing in this case dicentra this is all about a black guy violating white womens, with a particular focus on their nethers

    and National Soros Radio is reveling in it like a pig in slop

    did we know that the other slut they identified today was also a “registered” Republican? Err… a Republican independent I mean.

    Kraushaar, 55, a career federal employee and registered Republican who characterizes herself as an independent, currently works as a communications director at the U.S. Treasury Department.

  128. happyfeet says:

    oh newrouter already said that about her being all registered and all sorry mr. newrouter

  129. Ernst Schreiber says:

    55 huh? That puts her in her mid 40s when Cain allegedly tried to take liberties.

    Kinda shoots the midlife crisis theory all to hell.

  130. happyfeet says:

    that’s right… and remember all this happened while decent people were still mourning Kurt’s untimely passing

  131. dicentra says:

    this is all about a black guy violating white womens

    They figured the rednecks would FOR SURE get all het up about THAT. Just the accusation, just the whiff of the evil black mens and their uncontrollable sexual urges going after the pure white womens.

    I really hate people sometimes.

  132. geoffb says:

    She has only given money politically once in the past few elections. $250 to the DNC on 1/11/09.

  133. happyfeet says:

    as maybee pointed out the other day…

    A new book by a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter quotes former White House communications director Anita Dunn saying that the Obama White House “fit all of the classic legal requirements for a genuinely hostile workplace to women.”*

  134. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I really hate people sometimes.

    Imagine how dissappointed they are that the only ones playing to their type are our intellectualoids.

  135. geoffb says:

    Gotta love those “independent republicans” who only donate to the DNC and just in time for the Obama inauguration.

  136. JD says:

    #123 from geoffb is spot on. As normal.

  137. McGehee says:

    Unemployable at age 4.

    What’s the difference? Do you honestly think anyone will have a job when that kid is 24?

  138. McGehee says:

    I have no strong opinion on who is behind it all.

    I’m not sure it matters anyway. Over at Stacy’s place I suggested we just blame everybody and move on.

    “The Combine” is as good an answer as any. It’s also why all these blondies think they can accuse a guy of something and provoke a guilty response even if he didn’t do anything to them specifically. It’s D.C., anybody there has got to have some kind of sexual skeleton in his closet (sorry for the mangled metaphor) — it’s, like, the law or something.

    And if Herman didn’t hit on somebody while in D.C., then he violated that law and that’s even worse. BURN HIM!!!

  139. Stephanie says:

    AP has a story this morning about Ms. Kraushaar, Cain’s newly-named NRA accuser, filing a harrassment suit three yrs later in her INS spokeswoman job. She wanted a step increase that would have increased her salary around $18,000, a 1 year sabbatical to the Kennedy School of Gov, among other demands like right to work full-time from home…all denied. She also complained about a supposedly sexually charged comical email workers received about how men and women are different, using a computer as focus…”Men have to be turned on”…”Women store (stuff) in memory”, etc. All her demands were denied.

    Per posters over at JOM

  140. Stephanie says:

    WaPo election blog has a glowing piece on Kraushaar which begins with her claiming she never wanted to go public, but a news organization called her yesterday, so she’s reluctantly speaking now. But it ends with:

    “Last Thursday, Kraushaar read a statement in a senior staff meeting [in Obama’s Treasury Dept.] telling colleagues [fellow Obama appointees] that she was the woman accusing Cain of sexual harassment, according to the source. During the meeting, Kraushaar asked colleagues not to discuss the matter publicly, but said she wanted them to know about it. [I bet she did].”

    And this same source

  141. […] Protein Wisdom has a very good rundown of the accusers. I am still watching Cain for signs of interest in Foreign […]

  142. Jeff G. says:

    Steph —

    Can you get a link to the AP story you referenced?

  143. Stephanie says:

    Here.

    I was doing a little baking and just quick posted from my iphone the comment at JOM.

  144. Stephanie says:

    More from the article:

    Kraushaar told the AP she considered her employment complaint “relatively minor” and she later dropped it. [the irony it burns]

    “The concern was that there may have been discrimination on the job and that I was being treated unfairly,” Kraushaar said.

    Kraushaar said Tuesday she did not remember details about the complaint and did not remember asking for a payment, a promotion or a Harvard fellowship. Bennett, her lawyer, declined to discuss the case with the AP, saying he considered it confidential. Kraushaar left her job at the immigration service after dropping the complaint in 2003, and she went to work at the Treasury Department. [can’t remember details about something that happened in 2002-2003 – Her memory is worse than Herman’s]

    The complaint also cited as objectionable an email that a manager had circulated comparing computers to women and men, a former supervisor said. The complaint claimed that the email, based on humor widely circulated on the Internet, was sexually explicit, according to the supervisor, who did not have a copy of the email. The joke circulated online lists reasons men and women were like computers, including that men were like computers because “in order to get their attention, you have to turn them on.” Women were like computers because “even your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for later retrieval.

    Kraushaar agreed to discuss some aspects of the complaint at the immigration service if the AP agreed to protect her privacy, as it did in previous accounts of her complaint against Cain. She subsequently waived her privacy by confirming for news organizations her identity as one of two women who settled complaints against Cain, so the AP no longer is protecting Kraushaar’s identity.

  145. Stephanie says:

    Another commenter noticed this little issue:

    Compare these 2 paragraphs from the story:

    1) “To settle the complaint at the immigration service, Kraushaar initially demanded thousands of dollars in payment…”

    2) “Kraushaar said Tuesday she did not remember details about the complaint and did not remember asking for a payment…”

    Can you say liar?

  146. geoffb says:

    There is also this.

    Kraushaar, who started her career in Washington as a reporter, was praised for her work in 2000 when she traveled to Miami to help agency officials during the coverage of the Elian Gonzalez case, when federal agents seized the boy from relatives to return him to his father in Cuba.

    “Ms. Kraushaar’s assistance was invaluable and her performance extraordinary,” wrote Robert A. Wallis, the immigration service district director in Miami. Kraushaar provided seven such letters of recommendation to show that her performance was commendable while working at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the restaurant association and the immigration service.

    I know that I was personally never so proud of the USA as when we sent Elian back to Cuba. One of our finest hours since the Fugitive Slave Law was taken off the books.

  147. Pablo says:

    That was one of very few things Clinton did right, if you ask me. Politics don’t trump a father’s right to parent his child. Kidnapping is kidnapping.

  148. Stephanie says:

    BTW, some of the morons are suggesting that Bialek didn’t have a financial motive cause she was living with her boyfriend in a 5 BR house, but I’ve read reporting on him that his resume suggests that the his is not employed. Don’t know if this is through linkedin or some other website, and mediaite has some juicy tidbits about her having contacted Bennett the other lady’s attorney.

    I can’t find the reference to the resume right now from the limited google search I did, but I recall reading it several place, maybe WeaselZippers or iotw. I don’t remember but my google-fu is poor on my phone.

  149. serr8d says:

    Band‘ together?

  150. Stephanie says:

    Pablo, it’s the presser equivalent of going to the ladies room together.

    And I’m out. I have to go to a lady’s luncheon (spit) for the end of season golf for the Wednesday ladies group. Pikers. I’ve got my cart cover and heater at the ready. I’d bow out, but I’ve already ditched all the other socials with these women. I hope none mention this issue or they are gonna get an earful.

    I really really hate women.

  151. Sarah Rolph says:

    To those of us who are familiar with critical thinking, it’s all very obvious. It’s a set-up right out of the usual playbook. Reminds me of Joe the Plumber–one day after the quote got traction, they had dug up some dirt on him that they managed to make stick. I was at a trade show at the time and remember how shocked I was to hear the people in the next booth repeating the meme, with no discussion beyond the “didja hear.” I remember thinking how terribly simple it is to spread a rumor, and realizing that these people who were spreading it that morning had no interest at all in the truth, their motivation was something along the lines of wanting to be in on something. It’s the mentality of seventh grade, what matters is that you are included in the gossip.

    So I was quite disheartened yesterday to overhear two guys in a bar. One says “Didja hear about that guy Cain running for president, now there’s a fourth woman.” The other guy rolls his eyes and shakes his head. The meme proceeds.

    Someone who is really good at information warfare knew that the phrase “fourth woman” would stick.

    Depressing as I find this, I do see a potential silver lining, as others here have said. If this is as much of a set-up as it seems to be, and it backfires, perhaps we will regain some of our collective sanity….

  152. guinspen says:

    [slewfoot’s] always been…

    Garish.

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