Can we trust this man? I don’t think so:
Herman Cain campaign manager Mark Block, in an appearance with Sean Hannity on Fox News just now, insisted that a relative of the second woman to publicly accuse the candidate of sexual harassment in the 1990s works at POLITICO.
[…]
Block appeared to be referring to former POLITICO reporter Josh Kraushaar, who left for another outlet, National Journal, in 2010.
Josh Kraushaar tweeted earlier in the day, apparently after getting questions, that he’s in fact not related to Karen Kraushaar, and simply has the same last name.
Had Herman Cain asked any crisis communications professional for advice, it would have been to come clean. Immediately. Put the story behind him. [Reminder: Exxon Valdez.]
But we all know that this was not his modus operandi then. And his plan is to continue to lie about his accusers?
Look. I don’t want to know if a guy or gal is having an affair (consensual) unless there is tax dollars involved. That’s a matter for the the politician and spouse to work out.
But sexual harassment? That’s a different kettle of fish. And it’s one where a lot of social disdain is heaped upon the accuser. Doubt me? Read this diatribe from Andrea Peyser at the NY Post. Gack.
No idea (or opinion) on whether Sharon Bialek is for real.
But Karen Kraushaa, who received payments from the National Restaurant Association is for real, because “baseless” charges aren’t countered with payoffs.
The man’s 9-9-9 tax proposal is out in left field, and that’s where he should be, too.
Update: more from Irin Carmon at Salon, who shared this from William J. Bennett, the Republican U.S. secretary of education from 1985 to 1988.
Four women are not an insignificant number. One or two anonymous charges, perhaps. Three anonymous charges (where, as I understand the story, Cain knows of at least two of the women) plus one woman who went very public and opened herself up to all manner of investigation are a lot. It is no longer insignificant. Neither is it insignificant that the Cain campaign discounted the charges in the initial stories, saying they were based on anonymous sources, only to make a mockery by blaming other campaigns with less substantiation than the original stories.
If Herman Cain wants to be taken seriously as a public advocate for anything, never mind running for the chief executive and commander in chief of the most powerful and important and blessed country in the world, he needs to give a full press conference dedicated exclusively to this issue and these allegations.
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If Herman Cain cannot stand up to these charges, if he refuses to, then he should step out of the race. A man big enough to run for president should be big enough to have a full and candid press conference on all of this — he wants us to elect him president after all, he’s asking us to trust our lives and the country’s life to him.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles! @kegill, wiredpen.com