Posted on 10/31/2011 7:00:42 PM PDT by Bigtigermike
Not the only maybe-interesting-maybe-not hedge from tonight’s PBS interview. Business Insider highlights this exchange as evidence that the scandal’s still alive:
JUDY WOODRUFF: And there was some mention of a hotel room at a convention or at a meeting. Did any one of these women, were they ever asked to meet you, or….
HERMAN CAIN: That I absolutely do not recall. You know, I have no recollection of that.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Was there any behavior on your part that you think might have been inappropriate?
HERMAN CAIN: In my opinion, no. But as you would imagine, it’s in the eye of the person who thinks that maybe I crossed the line.
One of the difficulties of this story is trying to gauge whether an unpolished, inexperienced non-pol like Cain is capable of slick deceitful parsing or whether, as usual, he’s simply winging it and stumbling into inartful phrasing that raises doubts inadvertently. Remember, this is a guy who’s had to explain his position on abortion five or six times over the last few weeks because he couldn’t get through an unmuddled answer. Maybe he really doesn’t recall what happened back then and doesn’t want to get caught in a “lie” if it turns out he had a business meeting with one of the accusers in his hotel room. Maybe he’s being precise about his “opinion” because his lawyers warned him that there’s some sort of nondisparagement clause in the settlements that discourages him from asserting that his accusers are liars. Or maybe he’s much craftier than we all think and really is engaged in a bit of Clintonian hedging here. It’s hard enough determining the truth when we have so few facts, but when the candidate himself is a question mark, it’s impossible.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
Au contraire.
the libs are in full panic mode to deflect news off the many scandals popping up daily - ANYthing to get them off the headlines.
I think even the OWS riots were planned for next year - but they had to pull it out early to deflect from Fast & Furious, Solyndra, Al Q taking over Libya, all the other outfits that got stimulus money going belly up (smells like a lot of money laundering>) etc.
They're in full cover up mode.
?????????
Not familiar with this. Got a link?
Anyone saying, ahead of time, that they’ve got a ‘bomb’ that can take people down are living dangerous...as others who didn’t live ‘til detonation day found out.
They aught to keep quiet until they drop it.
I like Cain, but he needs to quit giving interviews on this story. Saw him tonight on Gretta VanSustren and he changed his story about 10 times while talking to her. From starting off the interview by saying he knew nothing about a settlement to ending the interview by doing a complete 360, saying there was a settlement/severance package? He’s not comfortable talking about it. It’s a non-story, even if he gal was paid money. But Herman can’t keep jumping all over the map on his version of events. Does not look good. I hope it goes away fast. If he is forced to call it quits, RINO Romney clinches the nomination. Then, Obama is reelected.
Intriging!
How about Romney’s grandpa having a half dozen wives and blacks not being able to be ordained in the his church till about 35 years ago? Why did Willard stay in a racist church?
I am frustrated and disappointed in what this may mean...
His comment makes me think he hit on one or more of the people talking, but so what?
Really? Mitt for brains’ grandfather was a polygamist? Wow, that is something. The MSM is waiting to go after the Mormon angle until Mitt gets the nomination.
Cain used the term “In my opinion” appropriately. Whether one is offended by the words or actions of another is wholly arbitrary and subjective.
Anyone can claim to be offended by anything and they can file a complaint as these two women did. However it is my guess they were looking for a pay day and had Cain been a white main or had he not been “the boss” but simply a co worker nothing would have been said by them.
Who can’t remember if he asked a woman to his room 13 years ago? Plenty of people. Why would that stand out so clearly after that amt of time?
Can’t wait!!!!
To help Herman send him something http://www.hermancain.com/
but also “like” him at facebook.com.
Facebook likes are a new way to count “buzz.” Starting from way back, Herman has increased his “likes” by 8% in just the last week. Mitts has a huge lead in “likes” but he has been running for a long time.
The only thing Cain did wrong was handle this issue as badly as he has. The constant changes in his story has not helped his cause.
The dog that isn't barking right now is the National Restaurant Association. I've never had any dealings with those folks that I can recall and don't have any sense of the personalities or the institutional culture. Big trade associations, however, are highly risk averse. They would of course want to keep any dirty laundry private, but they would also not tolerate a CEO who was seriously out of bounds. If Cain had done something egregious, he would have been gone. This would not necessarily entail a public firing, but more likely a quiet resignation three to six months down the road as the Board developed consensus about the need to clear the decks and move on.
First question: what is the timeline on the Cain allegations? How much longer did he stay with the association?
Secondly, a formal HR investigation would be well documented. If a non-disclosure agreement was signed, it would cut both ways. But if the complainants have broken their end of the deal, the association needs to release its records, and Cain should be the one demanding this.
That said, "serious" is in the eye of the beholder, and Cain faces the very real problem of media bias. There is a lot of room in the big messy gray area for actions that may be been shabby or clumsy but that are not hanging offenses in the eyes of any rational observer. But the MSM is not a rational observer when it has a chance to destroy a Republican. A minor faux pas will fanned into whatever fairy tale the media can concoct. Heck, Dan Rather is probably typing up fake-but-accurate incriminating documents right now. Cain, however, is still better off getting this out and over now, rather than letting it drag out. If he were a Democrat, it would likely go away. But he is a Republican; it will never go away.
It’s perfectly reasonable to say he doesn’t remember. It was a long time ago and if it happened at all it was probably so insignificant and innocent that he truly does not remember.
If he said he did, but with some sort of disclaimer, and it turns out that the allegations do not include an invitation to a hotel room, they will scream LIAR! LIAR!
I’d rather have someone tell the truth that they don’t remember than to make something up to try to deflect further criticism.
There are some reasons why an invitation to a hotel room would be extended none of which include nefarious activity. Perhaps there were papers or documents they needed. And if you’re in a hotel and need to get some work done, there aren’t too many private places to do it.
The 90’s were rife with “sexual harassment” charges thanks to the Clintooon. These women probably had dollar signs in their eyes and they fact that they allegedly received “five figure” settlement tells me there was nothing to it, they were paid off to make a nuisance go away.
Many years ago at a national convention we were recruiting new doctors for our large practice. We had a suite for meeting and snacks in the evening to get to know the better candidates. We invited a dozen or so good candidates to the get-together with several of us.
One of the invitees went bananas and accused us of inappropriately inviting her to our “hotel room”. Thank goodness she acted out like she did because it became apparent that we made a mistake in even considering her for one of the positions. Thank goodness that she didn’t sue our group.
You never know. There are unstable putzs at all levels.
“Hospitality Suites” are definitely the norm. And I can’t count how many times we’ve had a working lunch or other meeting in someone’s room at conferences and conventions. Sometimes in a male colleague’s room and sometimes a female colleague’s room.
You sounded like you dodged a bullet. All this PC “feelings” crap is what is killing us, among other things. The main problem is that it’s so subjective.
Unless someone out and out says “have sex with me or you won’t get the raise, job, promotion, etc...” it shouldn’t be considered sexual harassment!
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