Category: Politics

by Smitty

UPDATE 14:53 the bottom line on the allegation:

“In my over 40 years of running businesses and corporations, I have never sexually harassed anyone,” he told an audience at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
“I was accused — falsely, I might add. When the charges were brought, I recused myself, and allowed my general counsel and human-resources officer to deal with the matter.
“After a thorough investigation, it was determined there was no basis for the complaints,” Cain related.

UPDATE 3:41 PM ET (RSM): The media scrum waited around in the Press Club to catch Cain after his speech, but he eluded us, exiting via a back way down the garage. Then we all raced to the elevators and down to the street. I went around to the exit of the garage and spotted one of Cain’s advance men on lookout duty. Cain had evidently left by another route, but in a couple of minutes, chief of staff Mark Block walked out — smoking a cigarette, naturally. The advance man on lookout duty was giving me the Evil Eye, so I didn’t approach, but shouted out, “How’s it going, Mark?” He made a hand gesture: “call me.” And I shouted, “Hey, I been calling you all day.”

Block was ushered to a waiting Cadillac sedan and they paused briefly before pulling away from the curb, so I trotted up to the open rear window and said, “What’s going on, man?” Block answered: “Gotta got to the next thing.” And off they went.

I’d parked my car a block away at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel, and stopped in the ornate lobby to call Smitty and consult as to updates, etc. Then down to the car and out Constitution Avenue, across the river to Rosslyn and the offices of the American Spectator, where I’m now logged in on a borrowed computer. People have asked me how I thought Cain did today, and I answered — striking a John Travolta gesture — “Stayin’ alive.”

There’s a deadline looming, so I’ll update more tonight when I get home. As for now … Hit the freaking tip jar!

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*** PREVIOUSLY (11:59 a.m.) ***

Stacy is in shoe leather mode at the National Press Club, standing by for remarks.

The luncheon will begin promptly at 12:30 p.m. Remarks will begin at 1:00 p.m., followed by a question-and-answer session.
Luncheons are webcast live on press.org. Follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #NPCLunch, or on Facebook at (facebook.com/PressClubDC) and Twitter (@PressClubDC).
Submit questions for speakers during the live event by sending them to @QNPCLunch on Twitter. Or email a question in advance; type CAIN in the subject line and send to [email protected] before 10 a.m. on the day of event.

He has interviewed sources close to the campaign who said that the campaign had known for some time that Politico was pursuing the allegations of sexual harassment that are in circulation. During a conference call of Cain operatives on Sunday, the Politico story was discussed. The story had been expected within 24-48 hours as of yesterday afternoon, and was published sooner than the campaign had expected. However, there was ‘no sense of doom’ about the story, which is ‘not something that is going to derail the campaign’.

Stacy is seated in the balcony section with a sandwich and coffee, where Cain is expected shortly.

Via Beltway Confidential, we have Herman Cain responding to Jenna Lee on Fox discussing his National Restaurant Association settlement.

UPDATE 12:05 PM EST (RSM) Herman Cain just arrived at NPC. He evaded the sidewalk stakeout by coming in through the parking garage.

UPDATE 12:52 PM EST (RSM) There was a small press gaggle with Mark Block on his way into the luncheon. Have audio, video and photos but am currently poaching a computer in the NPC library and can’t access that now. Security is pretty heavy here.

However, Block denied any knowledge of whether the Politico story was the result of another campaign’s opposition research.

Right now, Politico is looking worse than Cain. Dana Loesch at Big Journalism writes: “Cain has a right to face his accusers and the American public has the right to know the details of a story and not be expected to rush to a judgment predicated on ‘unnamed sources.’” It’s a pretty heavy situation to be sourced so lightly.

UPDATE 13:11 PM EST Linked at Nice Deb and Haemet.

UPDATE 13:21 PM EST Welcome, Instapundit readers!

UPDATE 13:36 PM EST (RSM) In an impromptu press gaggle before the luncheon, Cain campaign chief of staff Mark Block was asked if he believed the Politico story came from another campaign. Block said,

“I would find it hard to believe that anybody with another campaign would do that. But then again, this is politics.”

UPDATE 13:42 PM EST CNN has some talking heads who are concern-milking the scandal cow in a desperate attempt to make cheese:

UPDATE 13:55 PM EST Found the C-Span live stream. We do not have a health care problem; we have a health care cost problem. His interest in running for president was piqued by BHO’s performance.

UPDATE 13:59 PM EST Singing a variation on “Amazing Grace” for a closer. Sans teleprompter.

UPDATE 14:19 PM EST (RSM) Stacy McCain on stakeout duty awaiting Cain’s departure.

UPDATE 14:21 PM EST Further linkage at:

• The Camp of the Saints
• Gay Patriot
• Religio-Political Talk
• Radio Patriot

UPDATE 14:45 PM EST (RSM) Cain evaded the press scrum in the parking garage.

UPDATE 16:38 PM EST (RSM) Linked at Maggie’s Notebook.

You have to read pretty far down into the Politico story before you find that response from Herman Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon, and the article sticks all the exculpatory material at the end:

Ron Magruder, Denise Marie Fugo and Joseph Fassler, the chair, vice chair and immediate past chairman of the National Restaurant Association board of directors at the time of Cain’s departure, said they hadn’t heard about any complaints regarding Cain making unwanted advances.
“I have never heard that. It would be news to me,” said Fugo, who runs a Cleveland, Ohio, catering company, adding such behavior would be totally out of character for the Cain she knew. “He’s very gracious.”
Fassler, who helped bring Cain on board as CEO of the restaurant association, said that any inappropriate behavior was not brought to his attention and that he would be upset to learn it had gone on and he was not made aware of it.
“That’s a shock to me,” Fassler said. “As an officer during all of Herman’s years there as a paid executive… none of that stuff ever surfaced to me. Nobody ever called me, complained about this, nor did I ever hear that from Peter Kilgore, nor did I ever hear that from Herman Cain.”
Fassler — who ran a Phoenix food-service company and finished his term as chairman the month before Cain’s June 1999 departure but remained on the board’s executive committee — described Cain as treating men and women identically and asserted it was “not within his character” to make unwanted advances. “It’s not what I know of him,” Fassler said.
Much like Fassler, almost all board members remember Cain fondly and say he left on good terms.
Cain was “extremely professional” and “fair” to female staffers at the restaurant association, recalled Lee Ellen Hayes, who said she “worked fairly closely with” Cain in the late 1990s, when she was an executive at the National Restaurant Association Education Fund, a Chicago-based offshoot of the group.
Cain’s treatment of women was “the same as his treatment of men. Herman treated everyone great,” said Mary Ann Cricchio, who was elected to the board of the restaurant group in 1998. She said Cain left such a good impression on the organization that when he spoke at a group event in January of this year, as he was considering a presidential bid, “he had unanimous support in the room.”

We know nothing about the accusers and the specifics of the accusations from a dozen years ago are reported rather vaguely by Politico: “episodes that left the women upset and offended” and “physical gestures that were not overtly sexual but that made women who experienced or witnessed them uncomfortable and that they regarded as improper in a professional relationship.”

All in all, it’s a long run for a short slide. Unless and until we have some specifics — including names, dates and places — my instinct is to agree with Gordon that this is “part of a smear campaign.”

Why are Cain’s enemies firing the thermonuclear component of their oppo-research arsenal so early? Generally speaking in such matters, you save your big stuff for later in the campaign.

UPDATE: A commenter reminds us of the Inept Elevator Nerd incident, which prompted Rebecca Watson to lecture her fellow atheists about how it “creeps me out and makes me uncomfortable when men sexualize me in that manner.” The basic problem is that, absent a court proceeding, “harassment” is an accusation impossible to refute. And if you can get tens of thousands of dollars in “go-away” money by making such an accusation, hell, why not?

UPDATE II: A female Republican operative who worked on Herman Cain’s 2004 Georgia Senate campaign scoffs at the accusations against him. “I don’t believe story that Cain behaved inappropriately,” wrote the woman, who uses the Twitter handle @KarolNYC. “He never even bordered on inappropriate in the slightest,” she Tweeted, and added that she “just can’t believe there’s anything to the charges.”

Cain’s supporters are furious and there is widespread suspicion that the Politico story was the result of opposition-research by Cain’s GOP rivals.

UPDATE III: Linked by Andrea Shea King, The Lonely Conservative, Maggie’s Notebook and Fire Andrea Mitchell — thanks!

Many women who know Cain are prepared to vouch for his character.

UPDATE IV: J.D. Gordon’s call-in to Geraldo didn’t go well:

UPDATE V: Thanks to the commenter who pointed out that on Friday, the Arizona state coordinator for the Rick Perry campaign Tweeted this:

This is (a) intriguing, but (b) not actually proof that the Perry campaign was dishing “oppo” on Cain. It so happens that I spoke by phone with Mrs. Bolick last year during a visit to Arizona with my blog buddy Barbara Espinosa. Mrs. Bolick is a nice lady, but we are left to wonder where she he might have heard about this “not pretty” opposition research.

UPDATE VI (Smitty): Linked by Ed Driscoll. Does it count as ‘First Blood’, though?

UPDATE VII (Smitty): More thoughts at ResCon1.