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Rand Paul Blasts Politico Story: ‘I Don’t Think You Should Print Stuff Like That’
National Review ^ | 11/01/2011 | Betsy Woodruff

Posted on 11/01/2011 1:56:59 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

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 to a woman in the workplace, any kind of joke, because it could be interpreted incorrectly,” he says. “I don’t. I’m very cautious.”

UPDATE: Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah) tells National Review Online that the Cain controversy may encourage Republicans to rally to the candidate’s side.

“With members of Congress and with voters generally, if this turns out to be another racially-motivated attack on an African American conservative that is unfounded, unfair, uncorroborated, and in this instance, based on anonymous sources, I think that’s going to rally people around him, in Congress and elsewhere,” Lee says.

Lee, a former Supreme Court clerk, adds that similarities between Cain’s situation and Anita Hill’s accusations towards Clarence Thomas are relevant.

“There are some parallels here, and to the extent that they played a role in this, it’s very, very offensive, and it’s going to backfire severely,” he predicts.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cainsexualharrass; hermancain; politico; randpaul; sexualharrassment

1 posted on 11/01/2011 1:57:04 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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2 posted on 11/01/2011 1:59:56 PM PDT by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
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To: SeekAndFind

This was very smart of Paul, and the others better jump on this soon too while they still can, anyone who tries to take advantage of this will be destroyed by it, mark my words.


3 posted on 11/01/2011 2:00:44 PM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (Cain 2012!)
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To: SeekAndFind

If Politico is so high and mighty, then let’s peek at what sexual harassment charges have been filed against Politico! Somebody on FR must know how to reach their HR people.


4 posted on 11/01/2011 2:01:10 PM PDT by Graewoulf ( obama"care" violates the 1890 Sherman Anti-Trust Law, AND is illegal by the U.S. Constitution.)
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To: musicman

Rand Paul’s good sense must come from his mama’s side of the family.


5 posted on 11/01/2011 2:06:10 PM PDT by MNGal
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To: TexasFreeper2009

And I guess he is speaking for his Dad, too. Both —if I read them right—are men of integrity.


6 posted on 11/01/2011 2:06:26 PM PDT by RobbyS (Viva Christus Rex.)
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To: TexasFreeper2009
Well, you probably know Slick Santorum has already taken a shot at it. Mr. 2% and falling.
7 posted on 11/01/2011 2:13:13 PM PDT by gov_bean_ counter ( The Prudential Governor... Have you bought your piece of the Rick)
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To: MNGal

8 posted on 11/01/2011 2:16:41 PM PDT by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
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To: MNGal

“Rand Paul’s good sense must come from his mama’s side of the family”

LOL! I like him in spite of a few quirks. Can’t wait ‘til Rand becomes of age. His good sense will be legendary.


9 posted on 11/01/2011 2:19:12 PM PDT by FryingPan101 (Perry/Palin)
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To: SeekAndFind

Well, OK, except she isn’t really “anonymous” because Cain knows exactly who she is, and has specifically spoken about incidents with her.

And the fact that there was a complaint, and that it was settled, and that money changed hands, are not conjecture, or sourced anonymously anymore, as Cain himself has stated.

Cain could have, at ANY time in his presidential run, put out a press release noting that during his time as head of the NRA, he was once formally accused of sexual harassment, that it was investigated, that it was baseless, and that there was an agreement reached with a small settlement.

Cain says this is the ONLY time he was ever accused of sexual harrassment, so it’s not like he had to worry about doing this again and again. And he clearly wasn’t covered by an NDA, since this is what he said on Monday. HE clearly didn’t need Politico to run the piece in order for him to give out information he already knew.

And if he didn’t want to put this out on his own, he could have at least had a press release ready to go if it did leak out. But if I was clearly innocent, but had this hanging over my head, I’d want to get out in front of it, not bumble through it like his campaign did.

No, this isn’t an anonymous hit piece — it’s a story about an actual event, acknowledged by Cain himself, and he knew exactly what the story was, and didn’t think it was important to tell until Politico found it.

And I don’t care who the candidate is — if a reporter discovers a settlement of a harassment complaint, it IS NEWS. They researched it, verified that the settlement was real, and asked Cain for his story.

Cain’s team decided the best thing to do what to not cooperate, and were happy that three people were quoted in the article saying he was a great guy. But then they had to deny everything, and that denial could have been part of the story, if they had simply offered it.

But apparently, they were worried that they did NOT know everything about what Politico was reporting. Their statement suggests that they didn’t want to admit to this one case Cain new about, in case the story was about a different case.


10 posted on 11/01/2011 2:25:54 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: SeekAndFind

Why do I feel like this was a whimpy statement by Paul? As I read it and imagined his voice speaking those less-than-forceful words, I could almost see him twisting his lace-trimmed hankie around his fingers as he spoke.


11 posted on 11/01/2011 2:26:28 PM PDT by Tucker39
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To: FryingPan101

Rand Paul will be President one day.


12 posted on 11/01/2011 2:27:53 PM PDT by Minus_The_Bear
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To: RobbyS

Then, why hasn’t Ron said anything yet? Or has he?


13 posted on 11/01/2011 2:44:39 PM PDT by chilepup
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To: CharlesWayneCT

Apparently, you don’t know the meaning of baseless. And it’s pretty obvious they knew THAT too but printed the BASELESS accusation anyway. So that people like YOU could say what you just said.
And APPARENTLY, the\ Cain campaign did NOT know what politico was capable of because they did print a supposed accusation from someone else who DIDN’t bring a formal complaint OR receive compensation, and they could have added several more if they wanted to and who would have been the wiser?


14 posted on 11/01/2011 2:44:46 PM PDT by MestaMachine (obama kills)
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To: chilepup

Well, I hope he will. He and Cain seem to get along.


15 posted on 11/01/2011 2:48:14 PM PDT by RobbyS (Viva Christus Rex.)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

Santorum’s lackey tried it already but I am proud of Rand Paul for making the statement. Good on him.


16 posted on 11/01/2011 2:49:31 PM PDT by MestaMachine (obama kills)
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To: Minus_The_Bear

More prudent than his Dad.


17 posted on 11/01/2011 2:49:38 PM PDT by RobbyS (Viva Christus Rex.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Good for Rand Paul. A real gentleman. Perhaps Santorum should have behaved the same.


18 posted on 11/01/2011 3:29:54 PM PDT by cubreporter (Rush Limbaugh... where would our country be without this brilliant man?)
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To: cubreporter

RE: Perhaps Santorum should have behaved the same.

I must have missed it, exactly what did Santorum say regarding this matter?


19 posted on 11/01/2011 4:28:06 PM PDT by SeekAndFind (u)
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