Free Republic

She didn’t file a complaint, but she considered it. She worked for the National Restaurant Association when he was its head. She told The Associated Press that Cain made sexually suggestive remarks or gestures about the same time that two co-workers had settled separate harassment complaints against him.The employee described situations in which she said Cain told her he had confided to colleagues how attractive she was and invited her to his corporate apartment outside work. She spoke on condition of anonymity, saying she feared retaliation. Remember, Cain explained away the incident with one woman as confusion over a gesture...

With the feeding frenzy that's going on over the Cain sexual harrasment incidents I was wondering what the track record of the various journalists, media outlets, editors, producers, etc. is. It would be really fun to confront them and make them explain it applying the same standard they are using against Cain. It would be really funny if Politico had some. Same with some of the MSNBC hosts. Turn about is fair play. It's time some of the left wing hit squads get hit back I haven't the slightest idea of how to obtain this information.

Politico's recent report revealing allegations that Herman Cain sexually harassed two female employees in the 1990s has taken the Washington Establishment by storm. Pundits can barely mask their relief at what looks like the possible end of the Cain "boomlet," and conservatives have gleefully seized on the opportunity to call the mainstream media racist and accuse women in the workforce of not being able to take a joke. But while the national press corps works itself into a tizzy, one key fact appears to have been overlooked. Republican primary voters — the people who will actually decide Cain's electoral fate...

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — While Herman Cain struggled for a second day in Washington to push back against sexual harassment allegations, the high political drama almost went unmentioned Tuesday in one of the most important courts of public opinion — Iowa. On the campaign trail, on local conservative talk radio and in conversations among activists, Republicans here have so far greeted the story with a shrug. The reactions from Cain’s GOP rivals have been muted: His fellow 2012 candidates continue to tread lightly around the report that the likable front-runner reached settlements with two female employees while he was CEO of...

So far, neither of the two alleged complainants from Herman Cain’s tenure at the National Restaurant Association have come forward publicly, although it appears at least one would like NRA to release her from her confidentiality agreement to do so. However, a pollster who worked for NRA at the time told KTOK in Oklahoma that he witnessed both incidents — and that if the women talk, Cain’s candidacy would be over: Interviewed today on KTOK’s Mullins in the Morning, [Chris] Wilson, of Wilson-Perkins-Allen Opinion Research headquartered in Washington, D.C. explained he was a witness to the incident. “I was the...

She wants to, but … she can’t because of the confidentiality provisions in the settlement agreement. That puts Cain in a tough spot. Even though it’s up to the NRA, not him, to waive those provisions, the media will want to know if he thinks they should. If he says no, it looks like he has something to hide and that he’s afraid of what she might say. If he says yes, the NRA might very well issue the waiver and then this story is suddenly rolling along again. Obviously, if she wants to speak publicly, she thinks she has...

Just as Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain predicted, he has become the most recent victim of the race-baiting left's high-tech lynching of prominent, conservative black men. Days before the Cain sexual harassment smear emerged from the sewers of liberal trash journalism, MSNBC's Martin Bashir hosted contributor Karen Finney who proclaimed that conservatives only liked Cain because, "they think he's a black man who knows his place." As Bashir actually thanked her on-air for making such an offensive and ignorant remark (far from being a submissive position, conservatives are supporting Cain in his effort to ascend to the highest office in...

Herman Cain said he was not comfortable addressing whether he wanted the woman who had accused him of sexual harassment and now wants to speak up, but is barred by a confidentiality agreement, to be allowed to speak to the media. “I can’t answer that now because there are legal implications,” Cain told Fox News regarding the Washington Post article that the woman would like to speak. “If the restaurant association waives that [confidentiality agreement] … I just found out about this today. There are legal implications associated with that that I’m not totally familiar with yet, so I can’t...

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's inconsistent statements in the wake of revelations that he was accused of sexual misconduct in the 1990s are complicating his efforts to move on from the incendiary story - and may prompt voters who would otherwise have discounted the allegations to reconsider. During his initial media interviews on Monday, Cain said that he was unaware if the National Restaurant Association, which he headed during the 1990s, had paid a financial settlement to a female employee or employees who had accused him of sexual misconduct. Politico reported Sunday that at least two women complained about Cain's...

Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) says the sexual harassment accusations made against Herman Cain are unfair because of their anonymity. And he speaks from experience. “In my election, I had an anonymous girl from college — who I still don’t know — make accusations against me,” he tells National Review Online. “I don’t think you should print stuff like that. To libel someone’s character and not put your name on it, I think is inappropriate and shouldn’t be printed.” Paul adds that fear of sexual harassment suits damages workplace relations. “There are people now who hesitate to tell a joke...

A media storm has broken out over allegations made by the inside-the-Beltway publication Politico that two women in the employ of the National Restaurant Association were made to feel angry or uncomfortable by sexually suggestive remarks or gestures made by Herman Cain when he headed that association a dozen years ago. I have no idea whether Herman Cain ever made two of his employees feel uncomfortable, nor do any of the rest of us. I also can’t predict whether voters will conclude that such insensitive behavior, if substantiated, renders Cain unfit to be president, particularly given the comportment of other...

For Herman Cain to win the Republican nomination, he has to win Iowa. A loss there would almost certainly drain his campaign of credibility and donors before he could make it to South Carolina, especially if Mitt Romney ends up the winner in January 3rd’s caucuses. So how are Iowa caucus goers reacting to the Politico story containing vague allegations of misconduct from more than a dozen years ago? The Des Moines Register reports that they’re less than impressed … with Politico: Iowa conservatives appear unready to jump off the Herman Cain train — unless damning evidence emerges that proves...

Herman Cain has often been asked why his wife has not joined him on the campaign trail, and he has consistently replied that the Cains decided that Gloria Cain would maintain the home and family, away from the public spotlight. The reclusive shifts to the exclusive, however, as Cain announced yesterday that Gloria would shortly give an exclusive interview. Is this a coincidence? Gloria Cain has not been seen on the campaign trail with her husband of 43 years since he announced his presidential candidacy to a cheering crowd in Atlanta in May. But that will soon change.“You will meet...

For Herman Cain, forget the treats; just bring on the tricks. Republican presidential contender Herman Cain is the subject of a bombshell accusation on Halloween day that he sexually harassed two women during his tenure at the National Restaurant Association. Cain stoutly denies the charges. The curious thing about the accusations against Cain are their timing. Why now? Why did Politico break the news now, as opposed to weeks before or later, if Cain secured the GOP presidential nomination? Did Politico only obtain the story now, or had it been sitting on the report for a while? Why now? Early...

<p>"There were also descriptions of physical gestures that were not overtly sexual but that made women who experienced or witnessed them uncomfortable."</p> <p>What does that mean? Because, if you’re going to destroy a man’s life over it, it ought to mean something. A “gesture” that is not “sexual” but that makes women “uncomfortable” enough to threaten sexual harrassment?</p>

The question followed hard on the heels of the original Politico story and harder on the heels of Herman Cain’s dismissal of years-old allegations that he behaved inappropriately toward two women: Who leaked the information in the first place?Cain’s campaign manager says he has “no clue,” according to a report by The Daily Caller’s Alex Pappas. “I have no idea,” chief of staff Mark Block told The Daily Caller. “No clue. I would find it hard to believe that anybody from another campaign would do that, but then again this is politics. Isn’t it?” Guy Benson explains why it’s really...

File that under “Headlines I never thought I’d write.”Is this really it? Cain told van Susteren that he remembered one woman who was a writer in the Association’s communications department. “I can’t even remember her name, but I do remember the formal allegation she made in terms of sexual harassment,” Cain said. “I turned it over to my general counsel and one of the ladies that worked for me, the woman in charge of human resources. They did investigate…and it was found to be baseless.”Van Susteren asked Cain how often he saw the woman. “I might see her in the...

In a previous legal life, I worked as a litigator at a large law firm and on occasion worked (as a defense attorney) for various corporate clients in sexual harassment cases. So I read Politico’s story with the jaundiced eye of someone who’s represented more than one corporate executive accused of harassment. From what I read, I found the story profoundly underwhelming. Before I go on, let me first make clear that I don’t know the actual facts in the case. I have no idea what Herman Cain did or did not do, and I have no idea whether the...

I am willing to give Herman Cain the benefit of the doubt and assume that the sexual-harassment allegation(s) against him was entirely baseless. Here is what troubles me. Mr. Cain says: “If the Restaurant Association did a settlement, I wasn’t even aware of it, and I hope it wasn’t for much, because nothing happened. So if there was a settlement, it was handled by some of the other offices that worked for me at the association, so the answer is absolutely not.” Okay, so if I’m reading that quote right, then: 1. Herman Cain, in his role as head of...

Presidential candidate Herman Cain's campaign has been rocked by a Politico report that revealed Cain was accused of sexual harassment by two female employees during his stint at the National Restaurant Association. Cain told Fox News this morning that he has “never sexually harassed anyone” but confirmed that he was accused of doing so in the past, claiming such accusations were "false." Past employees of Cain, including his long-time female executive assistant, have told THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the charges are unbelievable. “It’s just not Herman,” says Sibby Wolfson, who was Cain's executive assistant from 1997 through his first campaign...