Let me put this another way:
Let’s say that you were once the subject of a sexual-harassment complaint (or two). Let’s not only posit your innocence, but posit your pristine innocence. Let us posit that you never even met the parties in question, that you refused to even consider a settlement, and that, having been refused, the parties in question had a surge of conscience and submitted to you a statement in writing, legally notarized, that the whole thing had been a fraud from day one, and in fact you had been in church at the time of the alleged incident, meditating with two deep divines, from whom you have sworn affidavits. You could not possibly have come out of the situation looking any better.
If you are running for president of the United States and have a sexual-harassment complaint or two in your background — no matter how specious — what possible excuse can you have for not knowing how those complaints were resolved, well before you announce that you are running for president? Especially if the resolution reflected well on you? How can you possibly justify your not being in command of basic facts about your own career — the career that is the centerpiece of your campaign?
Let’s say you’re not even running for president. Let’s say you’re interviewing for a job as CEO of IBM. You go to meet with IBM’s board. IBM’s general counsel says, “You know, we’re really proactive on workplace standards here. Have you ever been the subject of a sexual-harassment complaint? And, if so, how was that handled?” If you could not quite answer that question, how much confidence would you inspire in the board?
Let's say you're a perry supporter trying to masquerade as a non partisan concerned writer.
Let's say you're Kevin D. Williamson.
But I repeat myself.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHow has Perry not been worse than Cain to this point by any objective standard?
At least Cain shows up for debates. Perry has to sit back and let his brain trust crank out ads.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAnd it took perry - what was it - 2 months? to come up with the 'half flat' tax plan?
I started out defending perry, not wanting to believe the detractors on other web sites. But it turns out that they were largely right. He does make GWB look like a genius. The guy turned himself in to a single digit joke, and some perry supporters just can't stand it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNo, let's say "attack the messenger" isn't a valid method of argumentation - no matter who practices it.
Answer Williamson's question, if you can.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWilliamson seems to be assuming that there's no scenario where this wouldn't be an important part of one's career, but from my perspective it's just the opposite. Why bother remembering some trivial accusation levied against you more than ten years ago and that you were innocent of? "basic facts about your own career"? This wasn't even worth putting in a biography.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo what you are saying is that the man who was head of a powerful lobbying group, the National Restaurant Association, has sexual harassment charges levied against him, but he allowed the group, say the legal department, to handle the accusations and he was not even remotely interested in how it worked out?
And I have some ocean front property for you in Arizona, cheap.
Cain had to know this would come back to bite him. And instead of his campaign getting out in front of it ten days ago, when Politico contacted them, they ignored it. Lesson #1, Mr. Cain, this kind of stuff doesn't go away and if you don't deal with immediately, it grows like the leviathan this may turn out to be.
Now it seems that Cain still remembers the details of one of the complaints, but not the resolution. Yeah, I'm buying that story; NOT!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFirst, do you really think someone in Cain's position would consider an accusation of sexual harassment "trivial"?
I can't imagine any male in a supervisory position considering a sexual harassment accusation trivial - especially if he was being wrongly accused.
Second, from what I've read, the Cain campaign knew this story was in the works for at least a few days before it broke. What political operation, with that information in hand, doesn't do its own research and then (assuming there's a good explanation (a) consider presenting the information to the reporter (see if he/she can be dissuaded from publishing) or (b) have its PowerPoint ready to roll to blow it to smithereens the moment it comes out?
Things don't become unimportant, irrelevant & trivial because the candidate says they are.
Anyone running for the Republican nomination - including Herman Cain - has got to know his/her past history will be gleefully examined by the media (and the Democrats) for anything derogatory.
A Republican candidate cannot hope something "never comes up" - remember the Bush 20+ year old "DUI" story that broke weekend before the election?
A Republican who has anything of that nature out there is best advised to get it out there voluntarily early.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf this is truly what we've come to, then I'm ready to vote for whoever ignores and/or defies the sexual harassment enforcers.
If that's what IBM's board is vetting CEO candidates on, then Hello, New York? Sell! Sell!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOr perhaps he is just a man of principle and integrity who thinks a political contest is about policy and how to make your country a better place.
Thought of that at all?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf that were true, he'd have more developed thoughts on policy.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLike Romney's 59 Platitudes, you mean?
Do you ever lose track of your double standards?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAnd not for nothing, but Perry's clearly the least-prepared candidate in the field. Whom you support.
Make that "triple standards".
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSure, but then what happened to the principles and integrity of journalism, to take one example. Or to take his own, what is IBM more concerned about, making computers or workplace "sensitivity"?
Sometimes you cannot have both.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYes, by not commenting on, or erroneously commenting on the fallacious sexual harassment allegations, Herman Cain is a regular Thomas More.
Here's a tip, if you want to absolutely guarantee that a nascent political crisis grows - quickly - into a full-blown beltway scandal, dismiss that story as "'TOTALLY BASELESS, TOTALLY FALSE' and then add a "end of story", just for good measure. That should put it to bed.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt appears the comments on your last post are getting to you, aren't they? You needed to do a follow-up to defend your thoughts?
Truth is, I would not expect him to know how it was handled. He shouldn't know. It's between the association and the accuser. What part of that are you not getting. He actually can't be invovled in that process. Especially as CEO, it would be worse if he were invovled in any such investigation or negotiations. How are folks missing that?
If I were on the baord of a new copany interviewing him for CEO, and if I did ask "have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?" If he was in fact accused, I would want to hear him say "I was, the claims were baseless and false. I handed the matter over to general counsel, it was investigated according to company policy and I am not sure how it was ultimately resolved."
Oh wait a minute....that's exactly how Cain handled it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseActually, a CEO would be even more removed than that. Typically, these kinds of settlements also involve a third-party insurer and their legal counsel. That would remove the decision and any settlement even further from the C-suite.
Unfortunately, too many people have a lack of any understanding of the demands, decisions and daily schedules of a C-level exec. If they (Kevin) did, perhaps they would understand the inanity of this accusation, why it might not have even come to mind, and how little it matters without any corroboration.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseStop using logic, Kevin; you're making the Cainiacs cry!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm not a "Cainiac" and Kevin is still making me cry. And he is not being "logical", he's merely stating a somewhat reasonable opinion.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhen williamson and National Review finally part ways (you know it has to be coming - the ego is too big for the room) will he follow the lead of David Frum and set up 'williamsonforum.com' so he can bash conservatives, praise tax increases, and show everyone just how smart he is?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou nailed it! HOW could Cain NOT know this issue was going to come up? This leaves three options to consider:
1) He knew it would come up, but believed he could charm and finesse his way out of it - "Oh that's just Herman being Herman." - People want a "feel good"/happy warrior after the past 3 years.
2) If/when the issue comes up, blame the MSM not your lack of candor. Of course the MSM says/does anything to smear conservatives - especially black conservatives. Sympathy can be generated from Tea Party conservatives who are tired of being labeled racist. People are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because they want to believe him because they like him and hate the media.
3) He is a turn-around specialist because he is a good motivator, but leaves the "daily grind details" to the underlings. He's a big picture guy who doesn't get down in the weeds over the details.
Sorry - but this isn't his first rodeo. He's been around corporate boards and politics long enough to know how the game is played. The "make-it-up-as-we-go" style is a little unsettling when it comes to governing the lives of 300+million people.
Although he's not my first choice, I would enthusiastically jump on the Cain-Train if he's the most conservative candidate left standing. His charm and his ability to take it all in stride are very appealing and will probably allow him to come out of this relatively untouched. But, for me, a bigger issue remains - I'm not sold that his business skills will be all that transferrable to the political world. I'm just not ready to blindly jump on board the Cain-Train because he's been targeted by the media. We're living through the nightmare of an thoroughly unvetted candidate and his on the job training. Fool me once shame on you - fool me twice shame on me!
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