Posted on 11/01/2011 9:37:45 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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 the presidential candidate was less than truthful Monday when he denied allegations of sexual harassment.
The Des Moines Register spoke by phone with more than 20 likely Republican caucusgoers who participated in the Oct. 23-26 Iowa Poll, and none said the allegations had moved them to reject Cain as a potential pick. …
Poll respondent Rick Hall, a Des Moines accountant, said, “Unless it rolls into something undeniably very bad at his core, it will have no effect on my feeling about Mr. Cain as far as a viable candidate. It happened far enough ago, I’m not surprised that this thing wouldn’t follow many highly placed corporate officers.”
Iowa conservative leaders, too, were willing Monday to give Cain the benefit of the doubt.
“He has to lay all his cards on the table now and tell all truthfully,” said Steve Scheffler, a West Des Moines Republican and president of the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition. “If there is nothing there, he will be fine with conservatives. If there is more, then there could be some real challenges for him.”
How did people around the nation react to the Politico story? Well, the dollars tell the story:
Yesterday was Herman Cain’s biggest campaign fundraising day, the candidate told Laura Ingraham this morning on her radio show. …
About the fundraising news, Ingraham said: “What does that tell you? Don’t let the media set the message for you. He didn’t cancel anything on his schedule. He’s not a hermit. He’s not hiding behind some wall of privacy.” Clearly, she said, “People want a fighter. They see right through the media haze.”
Iowans are not abandoning Cain, and donors increased their support. If that seems strange after such an explosive allegation, perhaps the assessment of ProPublica — an independent journalistic watchdog — might explain the dynamic:
It is clear from the story that Politico posted Sunday evening that reporters had made extensive efforts to figure out what happened. But much of what appeared came from anonymous sources whose knowledge appeared to be second-hand or unspecific.
Politico described the incidents involved “conversations allegedly filled with innuendo or personal questions of a sexually suggestive nature” that took place at conferences or other restaurant association events. One exchange, an unnamed source said, involved an invitation by Cain to an employee to meet him in his hotel suite at an event. There were also “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.’’
Obviously, this description leaves open a myriad of possibilities, from the boorish to the legally actionable. Certainly, it prompts readers to scratch their heads as they try to remember what in the late 1990s constituted a physical gesture that was not overtly sexual but discomfiting. (I checked. The Macarena came out in the mid-1990s.) Suggestions from a boss to “meet in my suite” are equally ambiguous. Did Cain have a sheaf of strategy papers on the desk or a CD player with a Michael Bolton track cued up?
Therein is the problem with this story. If the facts as published were part of a memo to Politico’s editors, they would amount to a first-rate tip on a story. …
Were the settlements $99,999 each (to borrow some of Cain’s favorite numbers)? Or a buck more than $9,999?
The former would suggest, but not prove, that something seriously untoward had occurred. The latter would sound like what lawyers term nuisance settlements – the money corporations routinely shell out to make frivolous claims go away.
Over at CNBC, count Larry Kudlow as equally unimpressed:
“There were also descriptions of 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.”
What does this mean?
The gestures weren’t overtly sexual, but the women were uncomfortable and believed the gestures were improper in a professional relationship. These are all second-hand testimonies from “close associates” of the female accusers, but I don’t know what standards are being talked about.
I mean, based on this sort of thing, anybody could think anything about almost anything. I’m not blasting the Politico people per se. I just don’t understand the meaning of what they’re reporting.
What appears evident at this point is that Politico might have had a seed of a legitimate story, but only if they were able to get first-hand accounts with the necessary detail to show that Cain was actually guilty of misconduct. They didn’t the first-hand accounts nor the details, not from Cain and not from the women involved. Instead, they ran with the vague, second-hand related accounts from more than a decade gone by. So far, that’s not impressing too many people, not Iowans, not Republicans, and not too many journalists, either.
“The labor secretary, called every one asswociated with the tea party teabaggers, and to me that is sexually offensive..but she is a democrat and it is all right...”
Mmmmm—I wonder if we COULD sue for being sexually harrassed by a government official?
RE: Someone out there needs to have the unmitigated gall to ask the apertures de wazoo at the Politico where they were with all this concern about these issues they are confronting Herman Cain with now when Bill Clinton was given a pass for all his shenanigans.
____________________
Well for one, Politico did not exist then and of course, the internet was not as prevalent.
There may not be anything to give him a pass for. These are allegations by women who may have been doing nothing more than seeing a meal ticket with deep pockets. Give him the benefit of the doubt until there is some actual proof. Companies pay these things off all the time just to get rid of the problem people.
we now have the MSM trying to push the 5th tier candidates to the front.
Huntman and Santorum.
The fouth tier is kook-paul only because he ran before but he is going nowhere.
Third tier is bachman and anyone already imploded.
Second tier is anyone not romney.
Romney is a tissue thin first tier the way a decathalete is just “good enough” in various events.
Mark Steyn put it correctly...
Politico said that these women alleged harrassment because:
There were also descriptions of physical gestures that were not overtly sexual but that made women who experienced or witnessed them uncomfortable.
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?
What ought to make America “uncomfortable” is that it’s broke and it’s heading for collapse. But, judging from the preoccupations of our media, very few Americans are discomforted by that. On the other hand, even if we were solvent, I very much doubt that a society made up of social arbiters with Brokaw and Schieffer’s tender sensitivities and with millions of its citizens ever more ready to be discomforted by an ever wider of ever more inappropriate if entirely non-sexual gestures would be likely to survive. Or even remain capable of basic social interaction.
Let’s hear what these gestures were. Then we can mandate sensitivity training to eliminate them. Which will stimulate the vital sensitivity-training sector of the economy.
these are nusance suits.
some lawyer took 1/3 of whatever money was paid out in order to settle the case.
Tort reform just moved to the top of the list. Trial lawyers better tell the MSM lap dogs to drop this.
Ditto! I voted for Herman Cain once and can't wait to do it two more times.
I think that is what "did it" yesterday. It wasn't 100% polished and you can't fake that sincerity. People identify with that and are pissed at the smear.
The people saw someone being real.
A fellow Cain supporter had a page where people posted their picture then had a paragraph or two about why they support Cain. Nearly every testimonial was about trust. They just trust him. He is real, earthy, rough around the edges, but not inept.
He reminds me a lot of my father-in-law, roughly the same age, a mechanical engineer. He is brilliant, endearing, giant-hearted, connects well with people, but not exactly polished.
I think some people cannot get past the idea that a candidate has to have a quality of elite, actor-like perfection. They are not looking for someone who is not afraid to roll up his sleeves, get down to the nitty-gritty problem solver. Cain is a proven problem solver.
I think, too, that if Perry drops out, the only place his votes are liable to go is to Cain, or at least a majority of them.
The secretary should resign.
This Politico story will land with a barely discernible thud.
Despite the hype from the media, the hand-wringing by some of his supporters, and the wishful thinking of some detractors, Herman Cain will not be seriously damaged by this insignificant story. If anything, the story will backfire on its publishers.
Most voters who matter will greet this with a deep yawn.
The labor secretary, called every one asswociated with the tea party teabaggers, and to me that is sexually offensive..but she is a democrat and it is all right...
Great point! She basically called my elderly mom and little boy fellators! I am still offended!
Perry and Paul wont drop out till it’s over.
I am talking about Santorum, Gingrich, Bachmann, Huntsman
I can only see Romney picking up votes from Huntsman voters.
NOTE: Politico seems to have another so called ace up its sleeve which many believe they will publish at the opportune time.
Remember, people, if we want to pick our own candidate, whatever they sling at Cain, our response must not be a shriek of shock and hsndwringing!
Our response, no matter what they say and what their proof is, should be
“SO?”
Keep responding this way and they lose all power!!
“Herman Cain mutilated a kitten!”
“SO?”
“Herman Cain robbed a bank!”
“SO?”
“Herman Cain had three dead boys in his bed!”
“SO?”
It’s insecticide against the media in one little word!
I should know this, But who the Hell is Politico.??
And why should we care what they say or think.
I think that is actually quite right; it did occur to me that his “lack of preparedness” actually is also a plus.
RE: I should know this, But who the Hell is Politico.??
_______________________
From Wikipedia:
The Politico is an American political journalism organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio. Its coverage of Washington, D.C., includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, media and the Presidency. It was a sponsor of the 2008 Republican Presidential candidates debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on May 3, 2007, the 2008 Democratic Presidential candidates debate at the Kodak Theater on January 31, 2008, and the 2012 Republican Presidential candidates debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on September 7, 2011.
John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei left The Washington Post to become Politico’s editor-in-chief and executive editor, respectively, launching the newspaper on January 23, 2007. Frederick J. Ryan Jr., former Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, is president and CEO.
The newspaper has a circulation of approximately 32,000, distributed for free on Capitol Hill and elsewhere in Washington, D.C
No, he doesn't. Iowa is a pissant state with an even more inflated self-importance than New Hampshire.
The GOP primary will be decided in Florida as it has been for the last half century.
That being said, I'm glad that Politico's BS story has barely moved the needle and I think Cain has a decent chance to win in Iowa. But win or loose, it is still one pissant state and hardly a game changer.
See my post #79.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.