The Other McCain

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

Herman Cain At The National Press Club

Posted on | October 31, 2011 | 71 Comments

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!





*** 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:

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.


Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain

Hating Is Easier Than Understanding

Posted on | October 31, 2011 | 10 Comments

From my American Spectator column today:

Documented examples of anti-Semitism among the “Occupy” crowds were sufficiently numerous to prompt the Emergency Committee for Israel to release an online ad questioning support for the demonstrations voiced by Democratic Party leaders, including President Obama, who said the movement “expresses the frustrations that the American people feel.”
Obama’s invocation of “the American people” and their “frustrations” might permit some other conspiracy theorists to suggest — with far better evidence — that the protesters camped in Zuccotti Park are part of a deliberate effort by the president and his party to undermine the free enterprise system. Several conservative commentators have interpreted “Occupy Wall Street” in light of Saul Alinsky’s radical maxim: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it.” Others see the anti-capitalist mobs in the context of the “Cloward-Piven Strategy” to foment a crisis that would bring about a socialist revolution. This suggestion cannot be lightly dismissed. One of the architects of that 1960s-era strategy, Professor Frances Fox Piven, is an active supporter of the movement and told a public-radio interviewer: “I think we desperately need a popular uprising in the United States.” Piven also denounced the financial industry at a Sept. 29 rally in New York where, in a bizarre call-and-response speech, she told the crowd: “You’ve heard people say they’re greedy, and they are greedy. You’ve heard people say that they are thieves, and they are thieves. But they’re also cannibals, because they are eating their own.” …

Please read the whole thing. By the time you read this, I’ll be en route to D.C. where Herman Cain speaks today at the National Press Club.

Category: American Spectator

White House Responses To Petitions

Posted on | October 31, 2011 | 14 Comments

by Smitty (via Slashdot)

It seems like a good time to review the WhiteHouse.gov petition site. After all, if you’re a Constitution weenie, and/or you’ve been following Ott’s excellent exposition, you may know that the right to petition the government is a big deal. I got about halfway through the lot, so here goes: Read more

Category: Barack Obama

By The Time The World’s Youngest Blogger Can Consider College. . .

Posted on | October 31, 2011 | 4 Comments

by Smitty (via Gateway Pundit)

By the time the World’s Youngest Blogger can consider college, I anticipate there will be some outfit in academia advertising itself explicitly as ‘*-studies free’.

The classes, scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. Sunday, were to be held on the Plaza at SCCC and include such subjects as

  • “Why We Support Occupy,”
  • “Legislative Lobbying,”
  • “The Art of the Protest Sign” and
  • “Filming to Document Human Rights Violations.”

Classes will continue throughout the night.

Karen Strickland, Seattle President of the American Federation of Teachers said in an open letter to Paul Kilpatrick, President of SCCC that the board is in support of SCCC accommodating the request of Occupy Seattle for a number of reasons.

I wonder if “Filming to Document Human Rights Violations” will be some sort of Criminology twofer, if the allegations of sexual assault (via Drudge) at #OWS gatherings have any merit. I suspect they may, and trust the authorities and the media to be on the case.

Seattle is a really great place, at least it was back in the Reagan administration when I was a high school student there. Yet the seeds and early shoots of this kind of idiocy were apparent then.

Category: Progressivism, Washington State

LIVE AT FIVE – 10.31.11

Posted on | October 31, 2011 | 3 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Northeast Recuperates From Snowstorm

Trees pick up extra snow in their unfallen leaves

Millions without power from Maine to Maryland

Cain Denies Report Of Sexual Harassment
Candidate to carry on with Monday’s planned appearances, denies allegations



Gaza Violence Subsides As Truce Takes Hold
Border quiet since IDF kills two jihadi rocketeers on Friday



POLITICS
Protesters Busted In Austin, Portland

A protester is removed from Jamison Park in Portland, Oregon on Sunday

Thirty arrested in Portland for curfew violations, 39 in Austin for criminal trespass

Oakland To Return Confiscated Medical Supplies To Occupiers’ Camp

Election Laws Tightening In GOP-Led States


Senate Tangles On Infrastructure

Despite Fiery Base, Paul’s Spark Not Catching On With GOP Voters

Axelrod Defends Obama’s Handling Of The Economy

Rick Perry Reboots Campaign (Video)



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Beacon Power Goes Bankrupt, Had Federal Backing Like Solyndra
Yen Drops On Intervention; Australian Dollar Weakens
Qantas Planes Return To The Air After Court Order
ECB Doomed To Bigger Crisis Role Despite Itself
Oil Prices Drop On Stronger Dollar, Weaker Demand
Panasonic Reports Quarterly Loss, Expects Full-Year Loss
Software Bug Draining iPhone 4S Battery
Google TV Tries Again, Adds Android App Support
Apple Preparing Ultra-Thin 15″ MacBook
Windows Phones To Bring Cats, Control To XBox 360
Google Street View Heads Indoors



SPORTS
Eagles Run Cowboys Out Of Town

LeShaun McCoy begins celebrating as he approaches the end zone for his second TD

McCoy, Vick lead “the All-Hype Team” as the Cowboys get whipped 34-7

Steelers Beat Brady At His Own Game, 25-17

Lions Throttle Tebow, Broncos 45-10 (Video)


Stewart Snags Third Chase Victory

Giants Rally In Fourth Quarter To Win; Fish Still Stink

Senators Hang On To Defeat Maple Leafs

On The Glory Trail With The St. Louis Cardinals

Eight Nationals Declare Free Agency: Pudge, Livan, Wang, Returning?



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Lindsay Lohan Cleans Up – Well, Her Smile Does, Anyway

Lindsay Lohan after her dentist appointment

Celebrity dentist brightens troubled star’s smile

See Heidi Klum’s Halloween Costume

Elisabetta Canalis: George Clooney Was Like A Father To Me


Drew Barrymore’s Neighbors Call Cops On Her Loud Party

Swank Sacks Staff After Chechen Gaffe

Nicole Richie Dead Ringer For J-Lo On Halloween?

Eva Longoria: Eyes On A New Player?



FOREIGNERS
Central Bangkok Escapes Worst Of Flooding
Syria Warns: “Whole Region” Could Burn
Kirghiz Front-Runner Claims First-Round Victory In Presidential Election
Report: Kenya Targets Jihadis But Hits Refugee Camp
Iran: US Exit “Golden Victory”
Egypt Postpones Mubarak Trial To December
Former M-19 Guerrilla Elected Mayor Of Bogota On Anti-Graft Platform



BLOGS & STUFF
Pat Dollard: Cain Accuses Planned Parenthood Of “Black Genocide”
Walter Russell Mead: The Social Security Lies Are Falling Apart
Lonely Conservative: Why Is College So Expensive? Blame Government!
iOwnTheWorld.com: You’re Forgetting Another Large, High-Risk Group – Pole Smokers
Althouse: Bob Schieffer Can’t Control Himself On “Face The Nation”
Yid With Lid: LIAR! Scientist Who Claims To Have “Proved” Global Warming Accused Of “Fudging” Truth By Colleague
NRO Corner: One Size (Still Not Fitting All)
Tim Blair: Al Brings It
Gateway Pundit: Another Sexual Assault Reported At #OWS
The Macho Response: What Are The Dead *REALLY* Doing?


SOTD: Baba O’Riley

Category: Live at Five

Cain Spokesman: ‘Smear Campaign Meant to Discredit a True Patriot’
UPDATE: Former Campaign Aide Says Cain’s Behavior ‘Never Even Bordered on Inappropriate in the Slightest’

Posted on | October 30, 2011 | 140 Comments

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.

 

Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain

Rule 5 Sunday: Brilliant Disguise

Posted on | October 30, 2011 | 6 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


Your moment of “Awwww…” (h/t Fritz)


A View From The Beach kicks off this week’s Rule 5 offerings with the eminently worthy Kiele Sanchez. Randy’s Roundtable brings us Danielle Bux and Bianca Balti, and Fishersville Mike has some NFL cheerleaders celebrating Halloween a little early. The Rio Norte Line is all about the Bond girls this week, specifically Eva Green. Also, Ursula Andress! Eye of Polyphemus, meanwhile, presents the definitive pictorial proof that Charlie Sheen is batshit crazy. Reaganite Republican takes a close look at Natalia Gantimurova, also known as Miss Russia 2011.


El Opinador Compulsivo returns after a week away to bring us an assets review (looks like a well-rounded portfolio, IYKWIMAITYD), Tori Black, a pair of high-resolution beauties, assorted pics from a Rugby World Cup post (funny, none of those girls look even partially black to me), Miss Tahiti, Argentina v. Brazil, and some choice totty from Theo Spark.


Jake Finnegan’s Burkalesque Babe this week is Anna Chapman, and Dustbury pairs Katy Perry with Yuja Wang. Continuing the musical theme, Maggie’s Notebook has Luisana Lopilato, Michael Buble’s wife. Jerseynut wants to know why we don’t have more babes like this throwing out the first pitch at our baseball games? Also, bonus Hoshino Aki!


Soylent Green’s Monday Motivationer this week has the tats. Tuesday’s snooch has trouble with an umbrella, while the next post has something to do with Alice. The Humpday Hawtness gives cause to study one’s ABCs, after which comes an interesting variation on orc women, a partial corset Friday, something about walls having ears, Kirsten Dunst, congratulations to the Cardinals and consolation for the Rangers.


At The Camp Of The Saints, it’s Leryn Franco, the Rule 5 News, and Cher Butler.


Also returning from hiatus is the DaleyGator, with DaleyBabes Gong Li, Karina Flores, Georgia Salpha, a plethora of Asian babes, Ali Larter, Kelly Rowland, and Elisabetta Gregoraci.


Thanks to everyone for their linkagery! To be included in next week’s Rule 5 Sunday, send your links to Rule 5 Wombat by November 5.

Category: Rule 5

The Washington Post Is Not Objective, According to Soros-Funded Group

Posted on | October 30, 2011 | 5 Comments

The top headline at Memeorandum:

Washington Post Discards All Journalistic
Standards In Attack on Social Security

This article is from a shady left-wing group, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, whose funders include George Soros’s Open Society Institute, as well as the Ford and Rockefeller foundations among other tax-free “philanthropies.” The target of the CEPR’s wrath is an article by Lori Montgomery:

The debt fallout: How Social Security
went ‘cash negative’ earlier than expected

Evidently, Montgomery tells a story that contradicts the preferred narrative of the Left, because the CEPR’s attack on her was seconded by Paul Krugman, David Atkins, John Amato, et al., who would have us believe that there is no fiscal or actuarial problem with Social Security.

No, according to the voices of the United Liberalism Tabernacle Choir, it all boils down to a simple slogan: We Need More Taxes on the Evil Rich.

Category: Journalism
« go back — keep looking »

    About

    This is an area on your website where you can add text. This will serve as an informative location on your website, where you can talk about your site.

    Subscribe to our feed

    Search

    Admin