BrassScorpion wrote:Funny, I can't see how that's important at all. Justice delayed is justice denied, but better late than never.

Herman Cain doesn't remember if women he allegedly sexually harassed were paid off. And yet he wants to run our economy.

Herman Cain said Monday he was “falsely accused” of sexual harassment while he was CEO of the National Restaurant Association and had no knowledge of any settlements paid to his accusers.

“It is totally baseless and totally false,” Cain said in a Fox News interview. “Never have I ever committed any kind of sexual harassment.”

He added: “If the restaurant association did a settlement, I wasn’t even aware of it and I hope it wasn’t for much. If there was a settlement, it was handled by some of the other officers at the restaurant association.”

Cain’s response to POLITICO’s report that at least two women had accused him of inappropriate behavior during his NRA tenure came after the GOP presidential candidate’s campaign issued a lengthy statement Sunday night attacking – but not directly denying — the revelations.

And in a phone interview with Fox News Sunday evening, Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon repeatedly evaded questions about whether the trade group made payments to two female employees who expressed discomfort with Cain’s actions.

“All I’m telling you right now is, this is something the establishment is trying to attack Mr. Cain on,” Gordon said. Pressed by host Geraldo Rivera as to whether there had been any cash settlements, Gordon said: “You’d have to get that from the National Restaurant Association.”

Gordon told the Associated Press Sunday evening that the campaign was flat-out denying POLITICO’s story.

Earlier Sunday, Cain repeatedly declined to answer several direct questions from POLITICO about the allegations, and the campaign’s first statement on the story did not include a denial.

“Fearing the message of Herman Cain who is shaking up the political landscape in Washington, Inside the Beltway media have begun to launch unsubstantiated personal attacks on Cain,” Cain’s campaign said in a statement. “Dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from Mr. Cain’s tenure as the Chief Executive Officer at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, political trade press are now casting aspersions on his character and spreading rumors that never stood up to the facts.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/67203.html#ixzz1cNsDCOxg

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories
/1011/67203.html#ixzz1cNrzQQBe

“To my knowledge, this is not an accurate story.”

-- Herman Cain campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon on allegations of payments to two former female subordinates whom Politico reports made claims that Cain sexually harassed them.

Maybe if Herman Cain’s campaign manager had spent less of the past two weeks on self-promotional smoke breaks, the GOP’s putative presidential frontrunner would be having a better Monday.

Politico says that in the less than three years Cain led the National Restaurant Association, the trade group paid two female accusers more than $10,000 each to leave the organization and to be silent on the subject.

Despite having known that the story was in the pipeline for weeks, the Cain team and the candidate seemed utterly unprepared for the onslaught that has predictably followed. They have issued evasive denials and immediately gone to political DEFCON 1 by invoking the fricasseeing of Clarence Thomas, also a conservative black man from Georgia, in 1991 for allegations of bawdy talk at his office.

“Sadly, we’ve seen this movie played out before -- a prominent conservative targeted by liberals simply because they disagree with his politics,” said spokesman J.D. Gordon (who is the campaign’s “vice president for communications” as well as a senior foreign-policy adviser).

While conservatives still bristle at having Thomas hectored by none other than Sen. Ted Kennedy for lasciviousness, jumping right to the infamous “high-tech lynching” doesn’t leave Cain a lot of running room. Remember that Justice Thomas’ ordeal was hardly a public relations success, even if he survived to go on and become a distinguished jurist.

Power Play will stipulate that these kinds of payouts are hardly rare in litigation-averse corporate America and that what Bill Clinton called “the politics of personal destruction” tends to keep competent and qualified people out of public life. Many Republicans still lament that two potential candidates this cycle, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, opted against runs because they did not want themselves and their families to have to endure the dumpster diving that is so much a part of American political life today.

So how could Cain and his team not have been prepared for this? If there was a payout to these women, which the campaign seems to allow is possible, then how was there no plan in place for this contingency? Surely they long knew that some rival campaign would unearth these allegations and that this would be tremendously dangerous for a candidate who is an ordained minister.

Allegations of physical sexual misconduct would be ruinous for Cain or any candidate on the Republican side, but even bawdy talk of the kind Thomas was accused of would badly undercut Baptist preacher Cain’s image. While some GOP primary voters may celebrate Cain’s lack of political correctness when talking about high-voltage border security or the funny names of America’s allies in Central Asia, they wouldn’t be so forgiving of raunchy language directed at women.

But as was the case with Cain’s bewildering responses on federal abortion policy and whether to negotiate with terrorists, neither Cain nor his nascent team seemed to be ready for a predictable challenge.

And so the question of the day: Where is Gloria Cain?

The candidate’s wife has stayed home in Georgia and is unknown to her husband’s fans. If she suddenly emerges now, it would have a Spitzerish, guilty-seeming quality. But if she doesn’t emerge soon, it will only deepen concerns about her husband’s conduct.

That’s why other campaigns are sure to introduce spouses to voters early and often. Not only can it be a big plus in humanizing candidates, as both Anita Perry and Ann Romney have done for their husbands, it also provides a person to vouch for the good character of the potential nominee. Hillary Clinton perfected the modern version of the political spouse as scandal-soaker-upper, but even those candidates who do not need the historic levels of help that her oft-erring husband did need a little assistance from time to time.

Which brings us back to Cain campaign manager Mark Block. Block has been busy calling attention to himself and his nicotine cravings, hardly wise if you have played the political game as close to the edge as Block did in his Wisconsin career.

Now, even as Team Cain tries to handle the sexier story of harassment hush money, the more boring claim bubbles up that Block violated federal campaign finance laws by having a company he established in Wisconsin improperly finance Cain’s campaign launch. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that the company seems to have existed almost solely for the provision of funds to the Cain campaign. What we don’t know is what matters most: Where did the money come from?

Block provoked this story with his smoke signals. By releasing the bizarre smoking video, Block begged the question “Who is this guy?” That prompted unhappy answers about questionable campaign practices and deepened reporters’ curiosity about this colorful character.

A laughing Block asked the Associated Press last week: "Can you imagine Karl Rove doing what I did with that cigarette?" No. And now you see why. Rather than talking about himself, Block should have been talking to his boss about getting ahead of the harassment story by introducing Mrs. Cain ahead of time.

When Mick Huckabee had his moment in 2008, he was ready for the spotlight after surviving and thriving in the ongoing knife fight that is Arkansas politics. He and his family-run campaign managed to hold their own against the well-funded, professional teams put in the field by John McCain and Romney. It was good enough to put Huckabee in contention for the nomination, but ultimately not enough.

The Romney organization this time around is even sharper and clearly a couple of steps ahead of McCain’s 2008 effort. It looks increasingly unlikely that Cain will be able to do even as well as his fellow Baptist preacher did four years ago. He may be as good as Huckabee on the stump, but he lacks Huckabee’s command of the issues and, more importantly, he lacks a strategist as able as Sarah Huckabee.

Melissia wrote:I'm not sure brass scorpion really wants to participate in conversations so much as he wants to spam us with nonsensical images, videos, and links...

That said, you don't need these allegations to make Cain look bad. Just the 9-9-9 tax plan alone makes him look bad.

Frazzled wrote:

Melissia wrote:I'm not sure brass scorpion really wants to participate in conversations so much as he wants to spam us with nonsensical images, videos, and links...

That said, you don't need these allegations to make Cain look bad. Just the 9-9-9 tax plan alone makes him look bad.

Actually it doesn't. With a few moinor tweaks, its a succinct workable plan. 9-0-9 is getting closer to an ideal.

Mark Block is the man with the cigarette in that Herman Cain ad. He also ran the Wisconsin arm of the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity. According to what look like internal records published by Daniel Bice at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Mr. Block gave Mr. Cain an early push:

Balance sheets showed Wisconsin Prosperity Network was more than $62,000 in the hole by early February; Prosperity USA was in even worse shape, with its liabilities exceeding its assets by $110,000.

In fact, the records indicate Prosperity USA's biggest asset was nearly $40,000 that it was owed by "FOH," a reference to Friends of Herman Cain, the name of Cain's presidential operation.

A more detailed checking account says the Cain campaign owed nearly $15,000 for an "Atlanta invoice," about $17,000 for chartered flight service and $5,000 for travel and meetings in Iowa, Las Vegas, Houston, Dallas and Louisiana. The document says the Cain campaign had been billed $3,700 for iPads purchased on Jan. 4.

The Bice report suggests that the way the money went to support Mr. Cain could run afoul of campaign finance and/or tax law -- the groups Mr. Block founded were nonprofits that aren't allowed direct political involvement. Since the laws on campaign finance are not all that fiercely enforced, the story may say at least as much about the Cain campaign's roots with Americans for Prosperity.

Melissia wrote:

Frazzled wrote:

Melissia wrote:I'm not sure brass scorpion really wants to participate in conversations so much as he wants to spam us with nonsensical images, videos, and links...

That said, you don't need these allegations to make Cain look bad. Just the 9-9-9 tax plan alone makes him look bad.

Actually it doesn't. With a few moinor tweaks, its a succinct workable plan. 9-0-9 is getting closer to an ideal.

No flat tax is an ideal.

Ever.

AustonT wrote:Well that's what the left says, how about the unabashed far right.



Damn you Herman Cain for your "inappropriate gestures that were not overtly sexual"

Time will tell if this sticks to Cain.

Frazzled wrote:Whether I agree or disagree, thats opinion.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Denying he sexually harassed anyone, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Monday he was falsely accused in the 1990s while he was head of the National Restaurant Association, and he branded revelation of the allegations a "witch hunt."

The former pizza company executive was responding to a Politico report that said the trade group gave financial settlements to at least two female employees who had accused Cain of inappropriate sexual behavior. He said he had no knowledge of whether the association provided any such settlements, and he declined to address specifics of the accusations or the resolution.

"There's nothing else there to dig up," he declared at the National Press Club. "We have no idea the source of this witch hunt, which is really what it is."

He added, "This bulls-eye on my back has gotten bigger."

Cain said an investigation into accusations of impropriety while he was the head of the restaurant group determined they were baseless.

"I've never sexually harassed anyone," he told Fox News.

Earlier in the day, Cain acknowledged, "I do have a sense of humor and some people have a problem with that." And by the afternoon, he was joking: "As a result of today's big news story, I really know what it feels like to be No. 1."

The trade association refused to comment on the allegations.

"The incidents in question relate to personnel matters that allegedly took place nearly fifteen years ago. Consistent with our longstanding policy, we don't comment on personnel issues relating to current or former employees," National Restaurant Association spokeswoman Sue Hensley said in a statement.

Cain - a self-styled outsider relatively new to the national spotlight - is facing a new level of scrutiny after a burst of momentum in the race for the GOP presidential nomination.

He's been at or near the top of national surveys and polls in early presidential nominating states, competitive with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, long considered the Republican to beat. Cain has been pointing to his long record in business to argue that he has the credentials to be president during a time of economic strife.

So far, Cain has seemed to weather a series of stumbles; the former radio talk show host had to clarify recent statements on abortion, the treatment of terrorism suspects and the placing of an electrified fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. He's also shrugged off questions that have started to surface about his management style, including criticisms about a lackluster approach to his own presidential campaign. He lags his top competitors in organization and fundraising.

The new allegations could hurt Cain's efforts to reassure the Republican establishment that someone with so little political experience - and who hasn't been fully vetted on a national stage - is prepared to go up against President Barack Obama next fall.

But there were signs that conservatives were rallying behind him, attacking the report as inaccurate and perhaps racially motivated.

The head of the conservative Media Research Center, Brent Bozell, called the Politico story a "High-tech lynching of Herman Cain." That was a reference to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' response to a former worker's allegations during his confirmation hearing.

"In the eyes of the liberal media, Herman Cain is just another uppity black American who has had the audacity to leave the liberal plantation," Bozell wrote on the conservative website Newsbusters.org.

The allegations came to light Sunday night when Politico reported that at least two women who complained about sexually inappropriate behavior while working for Cain had signed agreements with the restaurant group that gave them five-figure financial payouts to leave the association and barred them from discussing their departures. Neither woman was identified.

The report was based on anonymous sources and, in one case, what the publication said was a review of documentation that described the allegations and the resolution. Politico said spokesman J.D. Gordon told their publication that Cain himself had indicated to campaign officials that he was "vaguely familiar" with the charges and that the restaurant association's general counsel had resolved the matter.

But Cain, himself, refused to comment to Politico when asked specifically about one of the woman's claims. And when asked if he had ever been accused of harassment by a woman, the publication said Cain responded by asking the reporter, "Have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?"

In a statement late Sunday to The Associated Press, Gordon told the AP that the Politico report was not true - and blamed the media.

"Inside-the-Beltway media have begun to launch unsubstantiated personal attacks on Cain," Gordon said in a written statement. "Dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from Mr. Cain's tenure as the chief executive officer at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, political trade press are now casting aspersions on his character and spreading rumors that never stood up to the facts."

Despite the controversy, Cain pressed ahead with his full slate of campaign appearances in Washington on Monday.

At a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, he refused to answer questions about the allegations but said he would further discuss them later in the day while appearing at the National Press Club.

Still, as he was leaving the stage, he stopped, turned to the crowd and talked about his sense of humor without providing any context. He said his staff tells him to be himself - or "Let Herman be Herman."

He added: "Herman is going to stay Herman."

An hour later, he was on Fox News.

"If more allegations come, I assure you, people will simply make them up," Cain said. Besides his job as CEO of Godfather's Pizza, he worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

"What you can expect from my campaign is for me to stay on message, for us to continue to do the things and execute our strategy in order to win the nomination," Cain said.

Still, he acknowledged that the controversy could become a significant political problem.

"Obviously, some people are going to be turned off by this cloud that someone wanted to put over my campaign," he said. "But a lot of people aren't going to be turned off. We'll just have to wait and see what happens."

© 2011 The Associated Press.

Two out of three Americans surveyed tell the Hill the middle class is shrinking, and they've got some ideas about what's gone wrong:

Close to 7 in 10 said the income tax system is either somewhat or very unfair — a finding that was supported among most ideological groups and income levels.

But voters are also far from convinced that a flat tax — like the one Texas Gov. RickPerry (R) proposed last week — was the solution to that problem.

A clear majority — 58 percent — said they favored a graduated income tax system, with only 35 percent backing the sort of flat tax that magazine publisher Steve Forbes pushed for during his 1996 presidential campaign.

But here's the disjunct: Voters appear to be split almost exactly between the two parties when it comes to taxes. Democrats are pushing higher taxes for the rich and breaks for everyone else. Republicans are pushing a regressive flat tax, tax breaks for the wealthy and an end to tax breaks for working families. The choice is stark, but somehow it's not clear.

Piston Honda wrote:Yup, a woman said it.

Melissia wrote:

Frazzled wrote:Whether I agree or disagree, thats opinion.

No really, you just figured that out?

Melissia wrote:

Piston Honda wrote:Yup, a woman said it.

You think that's bad?

Try "Concerned Women for America", also known as "Ladies Against Women". An entire group of women following a misogyinstic viewpoint under the guise of trying to enforce Christian family values.

"If you're a poor woman you should work, you lazy slob, stop leeching off welfare!"
"If you're middle class, you should keep your damn ass in the kitchen, stop working to support your family!"
"If you're rich, it's okay to be a trophy wife who married for money into a loveless relationship!"

biccat wrote:I think keeping this thread open for BrassScorpion to post his Rachel Maddow conspiracy stories/fanfic is a good idea. That way he doesn't pollute the rest of OT with his fanciful stories and conjecture.

Piston Honda wrote:But, a woman who can cook is sexier than a woman who cannot.

Report: Cain Campaign May Have Gotten Illegal Boost From Aides' Firm

This is shaping up to be a really blue Monday for Herman Cain and a very busy Halloween for political reporters.

Not only is there the report of alleged sexual harassment during his time at the National Restaurant Association. Now there's a report that his campaign may have received early help from a company run by his campaign aides, a situation which legal experts say could have violated federal election and tax laws.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports:

Herman Cain's two top campaign aides ran a private Wisconsin-based corporation that helped the GOP presidential candidate get his fledgling campaign off the ground by originally footing the bill for tens of thousands of dollars in expenses for such items as iPads, chartered flights and travel to Iowa and Las Vegas - something that might breach federal tax and campaign law, according to sources and documents.

Internal financial records obtained by No Quarter show that Prosperity USA said it was owed about $40,000 by the Cain campaign for a variety of items in February and March. Cain began taking donations for his presidential bid on Jan. 1.

Prosperity USA was owned and run by Wisconsin political operatives Mark Block and Linda Hansen, Cain's current chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, respectively.

That's the same Block, of course, who took a drag off a cigarette in that weird Cain campaign ad that was such a hot topic last week.

And here's a passage from the story that, apropos of the day, may be the scariest for Cain and his aides:

Election law experts say the transactions raise a host of questions for the private organization, which billed itself as a tax-exempt nonprofit, and the Cain team.

"If the records accurately reflect what occurred, this is way out of bounds," said a Washington, D.C.-based election lawyer who advises many Republican candidates and conservative groups on campaign issues. The lawyer asked not to be identified because of those affiliations.

Michael Maistelman, a Wisconsin campaign attorney, agreed.

"The number of questionable and possibly illegal transactions conducted on behalf of Herman Cain is staggering," said Maistelman, a Democrat who has represented politicians from both parties on campaign issues.

This type of story by itself would keep any presidential campaign busy on a normal day. But, of course, Cain is also dealing with the fallout from allegations that at least two women accused him of sexual harassment in the 1990s when he ran the National Restaurant Association during their time there. According to Politico, the women received were paid before they left and signed pacts committing them to silence on the matter.

Cain appeared at the American Enterprise Institute Monday morning for a previously scheduled event to talk about his 9-9-9 tax plan.

Although reporters were told the only questions he would entertain after a question and answer session with the moderator would be fiscal, ABC News' Jon Karl asked Cain about the harassment charges.

Cain declined to answer, saying he was abiding by his hosts' groundrules. He promised he would field questions at a later appearance at the National Press Club.

Block had prior campaign-law troubles. He was banned for several years from involvement in campaigns after Wisconsin election officials accused him of illegally coordinating the judicial candidate's campaign he was running with outside groups. Block settled without admitting guilt.

Block has been associated with the political network created by the Koch Brothers as well. He headed Wisconsin's branch of Americans for Prosperity, the group underwritten by the Kochs.

Frazzled wrote:I still like his ads. They are just this side of crazy.

biccat wrote:

Frazzled wrote:I still like his ads. They are just this side of crazy.

Cain's or Maddow's?

Herman Cain says sexual harassment claims 'baseless'

Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain has strongly denied allegations of sexual harassment against him dating from the 1990s.

"Never have I committed any sort of sexual harassment," he told Fox News.

Politico reported that two female employees complained of sexually suggestive behaviour from Mr Cain when he led a restaurant lobby group.

It said the National Restaurant Association paid the women to leave the group and not speak on the allegations.

Mr Cain told Fox News: "I've never sexually harassed anyone."

"And yes, I was falsely accused while I was at the National Restaurant Association, and I say falsely because it turned out after the investigation to be baseless."

He said he had no idea whether the trade association provided financial settlements to the women who complained.

"If there was a settlement, it was handled by some of the other officers at the restaurant association," he said.
'Witch hunt'

The National Restaurant Association said it did not comment on personnel matters.

Mr Cain kept to his campaign schedule on Monday.

He did not discuss the issue when addressing the American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC about tax reform.

But later in the day, he told the National Press Club in the city the allegations were "totally false" and a "witch hunt".

His campaign also denied the reports.

"Let me tell you that Herman Cain has never sexually harassed anybody, period. End of story," Mr Cain's chief of staff, Mark Block, told MSNBC on Monday morning.

Mr Block said top officials at the National Restaurant Association thought Mr Cain was "a man of total integrity".

A statement on Sunday attacked the story.

"Dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from Mr Cain's tenure as the chief executive officer at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, political trade press are now casting aspersions on his character and spreading rumours that never stood up to the facts," spokesman JD Gordon said.

The Cain campaign also responded on Twitter. "From Team HC: Sadly we've seen this movie played out before. Mr. Cain and all Americans deserve better," @THEHermanCain tweeted.
'Sexually suggestive'

Mr Cain, who was CEO of Godfather's Pizza before heading the restaurant lobby group, has taken a lead in opinion polls of Republican voters in recent weeks, despite never having held public office.

Politico said it had confirmed the identities of two former female employees of the National Restaurant Association who made sexual harassment complaints to colleagues and association officials about Mr Cain, but was not publishing their names out of concerns for their privacy.

The website said the allegations included conversations "filled with innuendo or personal questions of a sexually suggestive nature" at association events.

Mr Cain also allegedly gave "descriptions of physical gestures that were not overtly sexual, but that made women who experienced them or witnessed them uncomfortable".

Politico said its report was based on multiple sources and documentation, including the recollections of close associates of the two women.

When asked by Politico on Sunday about the allegations, Mr Cain said he has "had thousands of people working for me" at different businesses over the years and could not comment "until I see some facts or some concrete evidence".

A poll on Saturday placed Mr Cain ahead of his main rival, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, in Iowa, which holds the first of a series of state-by-state contests to choose the Republican candidate.

The hopefuls are vying to become the party's nominee to challenge President Barack Obama for the White House in November 2012.