The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Did Politico Stop By The National Restaurant Association For A Herman Cain Bite, And Wind Up With Botulism?

Posted on | November 1, 2011 | 36 Comments

by Smitty

Northern 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.

Update: via Allahpundit:

Update II: Trifecta does their standard great work on the Cain allegation story.

Update III: Linked at Mark America.

 

Category: Herman Cain

Comments

36 Responses to “Did Politico Stop By The National Restaurant Association For A Herman Cain Bite, And Wind Up With Botulism?”

  1. Anonymous
    November 1st, 2011 @ 9:56 pm

    Even if this came from the Romney campaign it wouldn’t necessarily have been with his blessing. In any case if that’s the case it looks like it’s backfiring. Assuming this “scandal” turns out to be much ado about nothing HC is getting name recognition and no-body’s talking about Romney.

  2. smitty
    November 1st, 2011 @ 10:01 pm

    Concur, hence the fact I went with the snark angle on the story.

  3. Joe
    November 1st, 2011 @ 10:03 pm

    If this is tied to Romney’s supporters he will be hurt very badly from it (even if he had no knowledge of it–which I would assume to be the case).  Of course it still may be the Dems trying to do some Alinsky crap on the GOP and hoping the infighting pisses everyone off. 

    Who benefits most from all of this?  Not Romney.  Not Perry.  Herman Cain sure as hell did not do this…

    But it does potentially benefit Obama. 

  4. Paul Prados
    November 1st, 2011 @ 10:08 pm

    As the author of the referenced article I can say two important things about Mr. Anderson. 

    1. I confirmed that the exact same Mr. Anderson at the exact same home address made campaign contributions listing his employer as the National Restaurant Association in the early 2000’s. 

    2. I did not publish or directly link to a document listing his home address on purpose.

    This is a man who may not have leaked thee info but is probably on a first name basis with the person who did.

    I can withstand the snark . . . thanks for the link.

  5. Joe
    November 1st, 2011 @ 10:09 pm

    There is another potential source that Ace noted, the two disgruntled women.  They got a shitty settlement, they have an ax to grind, so why not violate their confidentiality agreement by being an unnamed source to Politico?  http://ace.mu.nu/archives/323262.php

    Of course Ace is no fan of Cain.  http://ace.mu.nu/archives/323267.php

  6. richard mcenroe
    November 1st, 2011 @ 10:45 pm

    If Romney was determined not to risk any surprise upsets in the early primaries, this might have seemed an attractive ploy. 

    The ‘tell’ will be which campaigns use it in their attack ads.  Ball’s in your court, Mitt…

  7. Signs Begin To Point To Mitt Romney’s Team As The Source Of The Herman Cain Smear « Virginia Virtucon
    November 1st, 2011 @ 11:06 pm

    […] there, The Other McCain picked up this story.  Allahpundit then linked to a CNN story where the attorney for Cain’s […]

  8. Anonymous
    November 1st, 2011 @ 11:32 pm

    Wow!  Good work.

    Of course…Romney almost certainly has plenty of firewalls (I’m sure he plans to play dirty this time…if it comes down to it). 

    It could of been his staff or the NRA guy working on his own…..still, pretty terrible (and would mean that Romney couldn’t be Cain’s VP anymore….LOL…).

  9. Anonymous
    November 1st, 2011 @ 11:40 pm

    The two womym are vulnerable to what ever sanction the agreement spelled out for violating it. I’m convinced that is the reason their or I think her attorney wants the confidentiality and no disparagement clause lifted. I’m sure they have been sulking about the “raw” deal and unconscionable denial of “justice” they’ve suffered. But they could now be required to pay back the money if their proven to be the source for the story. If they are not the source then politico is guilty of using unattributed third parties for their story.

  10. Anonymous
    November 1st, 2011 @ 11:56 pm

    I really think the most probable culprits aren’t with any of the campaigns or not anyone important. Its more likely IMHO that one of the two womym thought they saw a chance to get even. Absent any compelling evidence to the contrary I think this was as trivial as Herman Cain says it is. Using that premise, only a dedicated brul would think this a big deal, sentient life is tired of this PC crap, having no reputation to protect Politico could just fling this out there. I doubt this does Obama any good at all and if any of the Republican campaigns had a look at the facts as they appear to be now they’d pass on this because it fails cost/benefit analisys.

  11. Adjoran
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 12:05 am

    Question:  according to Cain, the matter was settled while HE was still there.  So what makes you think his successor, who came in after the position had been open for a time, would have been briefed about minor matters settled well before he got there?  Because there wasn’t enough to do in his new job?

    What hypocrites I’ve found among Cain supporters!  Up in arms about a thinly sourced accusation against THEIR guy, but no hesitation about casting guilt on others with no evidence at all.

    And what about Cain himself?  Notice how all his rivals in the GOP stood down to let him handle it – but when there was a hit piece on Perry about a word painted on a rock his family didn’t own but painted over decades ago anyway, Cain jumps up to say he couldn’t support Perry as the nominee because of “insensitivity.”

    At the end of the day, there is a noticeable double standard for Cain supporters, it seems. 

  12. Ladd Ehlinger Jr.
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 12:21 am

    Being upset with [insert campaign name here] who leaked the info on the sexual harassment lawsuits is akin to attacking the guy [insert anonymouse name here] who discovered the offending Anthony Weiner prickture.

    Just because someone creepy and anonymous discovers and publicizes your indiscretion  doesn’t make your indiscretion suddenly hunkey-dorey.

    That little creepy kid, pointing out the emperor has no clothes. Obviously he is a main-stream-media RINO racist troll blah blah blah…

  13. Anonymous
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 12:40 am

    Given the nature of this particular story…it is a big deal.

    The “rock” thing.  Ummm…yea…that only seems something that hard core Perry people bring up. 

    I think it is important to note, that Romney took a harder stance on the rock than Cain did (who mentioned that it was insensitive…which is about as mild as you can get)…and that was after the story had been around a bit more.

  14. ThePaganTemple
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 12:49 am

    What little money they made is long gone by now, so they have nothing to lose. And if this guy is the current head of the National Restaurant Association, he might have led them to believe he can absolve them of damages. Maybe he can. But if this did come from him and he’s a Romney supporter, its going to blow up in Romney’s face whether he lit the fuse or not.

  15. Jacob
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 1:12 am

    If any campaign did it, it was Perry.

    Usually these things can be solved by motive.  Who had the most to gain by a Herman Cain implosion?  Rick Perry.

    Who had the most to lose from Herman Cain’s support drifting to another candidate?  Mitt Romney

    This isn’t Romney’s style either, way too risky and unpredictable.  A rising Cain was only helping Romney.  A wounded Cain could mean all of his support would drift to Perry.

  16. Anonymous
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 1:46 am

    I don’t know….it seems like Perry has so much going on…trying to stop his downward cycle.

    Seems that an easy explanation is that a Romney supporter leaked the story.  Maybe team Romney encouraged it, maybe they didn’t.

  17. Anonymous
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 1:57 am

    I thought Perry at first, and Bachmann looks pretty good for it as well, but my working theory at this point is that the whole thing was leaked by the Cain campaign. They knew it would come out at some point. There’s no good time for it to come out, but right about now is the least bad time for it to come out. He’s up in the polls and he has several weeks to spin it out before the Iowa caucus. Much, much better now than the Friday before Super Tuesday or next October 29th.

  18. Anonymous
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 2:17 am

    Paul Prados who comments below and wrote the piece Smitty quotes suggests it was the person immediately following HC who leaked the story. Based on the video from AP above Plaintive #1’s attorney seems to agree. I suspect she smells an opportunity for some more coin and perhaps a chance to makeup for the satisfaction she didn’t get last time around. I read somewhere that she’s hiding out in Maryland because the press is haunting her home. It’s only a matter of time before her name is revealed at which point she’ll want her measure of fame and fortune. Don’t know if HC can influence the NRA to not grant her a waiver from the agreement or whether or not she’ll start yapping any way. It will be fun if she has to try talking to the press without violating the agreement.

  19. Joe
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 2:25 am

    I doubt it…if only because Cain would have had his story down pat if that was the case. 

  20. Did Politico Stop By The National Restaurant Association For A Herman Cain Bite, And Wind Up With Botulism? « Scottie's News
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 2:31 am

    […] http://theothermccain.com/2011/11/01/did-politico-stop-by-the-national-restaurant-association-for-a-… Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. […]

  21. Anonymous
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 2:42 am

    You’d think. And you may be right. On the other hand, this is the second time he’s run for president in 12 years, and he seems to have had very little down pat before launching his second campaign. He seems to be a “fly by the seat of your pants” kind of guy.

    But the more I think about it, the more I lean toward Bachmann. She’s trying to get her mojo back, Iowa is where she makes her stand, and she’d need it out there far enough in advance of the caucus to capitalize on it.

    Perry’s already writing off Iowa, so it would be to his benefit for Cain to hurt Romney badly there.

    With Romney and Cain closer to each other in Iowa, he’d have been better served by a last-minute pump of something like this.

    The biggest tell for it not being Cain is that his campaign staff seemed genuinely surprised.  I know the look (I’ve done both oppo research and damage control for presidential campaigns — heck, I got personally blamed for knocking out the Libertarian Party’s 2004 front-runner, by his manager).

  22. Ann
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 3:12 am

    ya it’s a mess. Not sure who I think did it. But whoever did, that’s really messed up trying to blow the confidentiallity of the two women that made the allegations. Seems in society that is why women don’t like to come forth with claims (whether or not they be true)

  23. Anonymous
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 3:34 am

    That is another angle.

    This could pose a huge problem for the NRA.  The women evidently did not bring this story up.

    If it was somebody inside the NRA, that would expose them to HUGE levels of liabilities to both Cain and the women.

    I assume they will work to deny any requests to unseal any records as they are exposed to massive litigation risks (and they will lose).  They need this story to end as soon as Cain does.

    It is also interesting that Politico seems to imply that what Cain said happened is accurate.  In TV interviews they haven’t refuted Cain’s version of events and in one interview, one of the authors said that Cain’s talks about the issue were sufficient to gain knowledge of the story’s background.

    Ultimately, the worst thing that could come out, but never proved, is that a drunk Cain, allegedly, asked a lady up to his room.  That is not something I care about or think is a dis-qualifier for POTUS.

    Additionally, the one accusers’ lawyers seems to indicate that his client is the one that Cain didn’t know about and who received a $35k settlement which only partially related to the allegations against Cain.

    Politico implies that the other women (the one Cain knew), did not receive a much of a settlement….and that settlement was pretty typical (in dollar amount) to a severance package ( a few months salary).

  24. Chip Jones
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 5:38 am

    And heaven forbid….a person actually HONOR their written and signed word.  The violation of the agreement would FIRST serve to prove them very visible liars.

  25. Chip Jones
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 5:46 am

    Of course, the difference just might have to do with fact. Fact One: Rick Perry’s family owned the offending rock for a long time without dealing with it (Sub-fact One: had that rock been on property I purchased it would have been gone or scrubbed.”  Fact Two: Herman Cain simply made a gesture (comparing the woman’s height to his wife’s) that even the woman complaining said was not overtly sexual.

    But why would we entertain fact here when we could otherwise use this to further drive politics into the cesspool.  Here’s the deal. With THAT fact alone we know that the person who leaked the info from the National Restaurant Assn, and the person who directed Politico in his/her direction are unprincipled.

  26. McGehee
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 7:01 am

    Let’s face it: there isn’t a campaign on either side of the aisle that wouldn’t like to see Herman torpedoed. My default assumption therefore is it could have been any of them.

    Just blame them all and lets move on, shall we?

  27. Bob Belvedere
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 8:23 am

    Damn fine work.

    IMHO: Smitty wasn’t aiming the snark at you, but, rather, at the Winston Smith Media.

  28. Bob Belvedere
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 8:28 am

    To address just your first paragraph, Adj: It would not be unusual for HC’s successor to find out about these incidents.  While it unlikely he would have been formally briefed, it would not be unusual for him to have found out about this during a luncheon with someone from the Legal Department, especially from someone there who wasn’t a fan of HC’s tenure and/or the man and who was trying to score points with the new boss.

  29. Bob Belvedere
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 8:32 am

    Murder On The Herman Cain Express, eh?

  30. Anonymous
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 1:05 pm

    Romney is toast.

  31. Cain Sabotaged by Fellow Republican? « Mark America
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 1:35 pm

    […] Robert Stacy McCain’s blog sidekick “Smitty”(theothermccain.com) is reporting that one of Romney’s donors is the successor to Hermain Cain as CEO and President of the National Restaurant Association.  McCain links to another site, Virginia Virtucom, for the meat of the story, as McCain himself cautions readers not to be in too great a hurry to connect the dots.  At the same time, Limbaugh discussed the allegation near the end of the first hour of Wednesday’s show.  As I explained in my analysis of the Cain allegations story and the way it was broken, I have always suspected that this was an attack launched from within the bowels of some other Republican candidate’s campaign.  While it’s much too early to know anything with certainty, it does look a bit interesting, but as theothermccain.com cautions, maybe not. […]

  32. McGehee
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 2:33 pm

    Milk toast.

  33. MeanGuitar
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 9:13 pm

     Can  any  of  us  really  see  Romney  or  Perry  securing  our  Borders??   Newt  cuddled  up  to  Clinton  and pushing  made  a  Man  Made  Global  Warming  in  a   T.V. Advertisement  …  Do  we  Trust  NEWT  even  though  his  ex-wives  don’t..??  Santorum  is  a  Lawyer  by  trade..NOT  a  businessman..Do  we  really  need  another  LAWYER  in  D.C.  ??Multiculturalism  does  not  seem  to  bother  any  of  these  candidates..Except  for  Michelle  Bachmann  and  Herman  Cain  ..Both  of  these  candsidates  I  trust  to  carry  out  their  campaign  promises..

  34. MeanGuitar
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 9:16 pm

     Can  any  of  us  really  see  Romney  or  Perry  securing  our 
    Borders??   Newt  cuddled  up  to  Clinton  and pushing   Man 
    Made  Global  Warming  in  a   T.V. Advertisement  …  Do  we  Trust 
    NEWT  even  though  his  ex-wives  don’t..??  Santorum  is  a . Lawyer 
    by  trade..NOT  a  businessman..Do  we  really  need  another  LAWYER 
    in  D.C.  ??..Multiculturalism  does  not  seem  to  bother  any  of 
    these  candidates..Except  for  Michelle  Bachmann  and  Herman  Cain 
    ..Both  of  these  candidates  I  trust  to  carry  out  their 
    campaign  promises..

  35. MeanGuitar
    November 2nd, 2011 @ 9:26 pm

     @ Adjoran,  I  accuse  you  of  Slander  .  Cain  did  NOT  say  that  he  could  not  support  him  ..Cain  was  ASKED  the  question  by  the  MAIN  STREAM  BAITING  MEDIA  How  he  felt  about  the  “Rock”  that had  a  Racist  slurr  that  was  on  his  property  for  many  years..Turns  out  that  the  Family  owned  the  property  ..The  Media  is  stirring  up   a  Republican  Dog-Fight  ..I  do  not  care  If  Cain  Flirted  with  these  woman..He  is  a  MAN  .. and  Therefore  flawed  as  any  human  would  be  Having   EGO  and  Male  Parts    in  the  same  being

  36. Keiker
    November 4th, 2011 @ 9:55 pm

    Just finished watching PBS Washington Week lead with John Harris of Politico…they still have nothing…but given Harris is a dull knife and Gwen Ifill brings a jar of PBJ… they’re all happy to treat Herman like sliced white bread….

    What is strange to me is that everyone…and I mean left right middle on the MSM is ready to play this smear as proof positive HC is not ready for prime time….

    My own opinion is that HC is a gregarious space invader (calm down…not from OS).  You know the type…he engages by getting into your personal space…. causes you to take a half step back, and if you don’t he stays right with you…next thing you know his hand is going from the top of your head to his chin…and voila’…you remind him of Gloria…I had a friend John who was like that all the time…I could handle it…but many people were intimidated by his behaviour…needless to say John was a gentle soul who meant nothing by it…

    I could be all wrong but I think the entire establishment is scared silly the the common man will come to see HC as the decent man I think he is.