The fact that you consider it an issue at all.... handled or no... Says you need to crawl out from the slime and into the real world..
"The REAL issue here is how Cain handled -- or rather mishandled -- the matter" On Nov 3, 7:24 pm, MJ <[email protected]> wrote: > The REAL issue here is how Cain handled -- or rather mishandled -- the matter. > Regard$, > --MJ > "Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error. " -- > Marcus Tullius CiceroAt 05:51 PM 11/3/2011, you wrote:The fact that voters > would care at all about this issue makes me > sad... and makes them really stupid. If every man (or woman for that > matter) was held to account for their machisto(a) attitudes throughout > their lives there would be no candidates for anything... The fact that > a supposed "Author"/"Journalist would take time to write about this > shit makes it even worse...GROW UP AMERICA!!!!!!!!! > On Nov 3, 2:43 pm, MJ <[email protected]> wrote: > > November 3, 2011 3:00 P.M.Who Dropped the Dime on Cain?It could be someone > > in the Republican family.Fred Thompson > > In a case of an untimely death, the first thing the cops do when they > > arrive at the home of the deceased is to try to determine whether the death > > was the result of a self-inflicted wound and, if it wasn t, whether a > > member of the family did it. Statistics show that these are good places to > > start looking. If the recent events surrounding sexual-harassment > > allegations against Herman Cain sink his campaign, the same postmortem may > > be appropriate. > > First, Cain s self-inflicted wounds. When the allegations became public, he > > started defending himself with an unloaded gun. Even an admirably > > unconventional campaign cannot defy certain principles. One would be never > > to eat at a place with an Eats sign in the window. Another is that when it > > hits the fan, you should get your recollection and your facts as straight > > as you can before you start talking. You can t outwit the media at their > > own game if you don t know the game they re playing. Now it s not just > > about whether he was overly friendly with Miss Molly at the Fourth of July > > picnic it s also about catching him in inconsistencies. > > There s a type of guy well known to every defense lawyer. He s a very > > successful man, usually a businessman, politician, or other public figure, > > who owes his success in large part to being a forceful communicator as well > > as very smart. Often you cannot persuade him that he should not go before > > that grand jury to just answer a few questions. He cannot believe that he > > can t persuade them of his innocence. > > I seriously doubt that Cain did anything that merits the stop the presses > > treatment this story is getting, but that won t matter if he has to spend > > many more days talking about what he knew and when he knew it and the > > difference between an agreement and a settlement. As Herman himself might > > say, the situation is complex, but the solution is simple. He must get some > > advice from somebody who has been to a rodeo before, get it all straight, > > lay it out, and move on. > > Actually, Cain has a good chance of weathering this storm for several > > reasons. People like him, and they want to believe him. More important, > > most primary voters intensely dislike the media, which they see as trying > > to bring him down. I m not sure Herman will appreciate the reference, but > > that is one of the main reasons that Bill Clinton survived. > > To many people, not just Republicans, this is just another instance of > > dirty Washington politics indulging itself, obsessing over trivia while > > Rome burns. Cain, a very intelligent conservative, upsets the liberal > > paradigm of what African Americans are supposed to believe. Many Cain > > supporters involved in the tea-party movement have themselves been called > > racists in the recent past. Now, with the economy in the tank, the nation > > broke, the European Union on the verge of throwing the entire Western world > > into recession if not worse, and former Democratic senator and governor Jon > > Corzine s company having misplaced $200 million of investors money, our > > burning national issue is whether Herman Cain made some improper remarks > > over a decade ago. > > Moreover, people are on to the sexual-harassment scam. In typical fashion, > > Congress took a situation where women had no protection for legitimate > > grievances and created a solution rife with unintended consequences. Now > > businesses are regularly making payouts for the flimsiest of reasons. It s > > obvious that these alleged victims and their lawyers no matter what they > > may say publicly are champing at the bit to come forward for their day in > > the limelight and the inevitable book deal. Who can pass up being the new > > Anita Hill, who to this day periodically receives glowing newspaper > > profiles? > > Yet people today are watching the Cain story unfold, looking at the timing > > of it, and writing checks to the Cain campaign. Who knows what may come out > > before it s over, but it better be some pretty powerful stuff if it s going > > to fit the mood of the American people these days. People expect > > presidential politics to be rough and tumble, but times are different, and > > so are the circumstances of this campaign. Republicans are looking for > > someone to believe in. They won t all vote for Herman Cain, but right now, > > he symbolizes something they want to protect. Hisfellow > > Republicancandidates try to take him down at their own peril. > > This brings us to another interesting situation. Usually inpresidential > > campaigns, the question of who originally leaked the story is given little > > consideration. The publisher protects his sources, and the rest of the > > media has no interest in drying up their own potential sources by > > publishing identities even if they know who they are. But this time, people > > will want to know. Also, these days, the media is so diverse that it will > > be very difficult to keep the identity of the people who planted the story > > secret. And it may not turn out to be the most likely suspect. > > Initially, Cain lashed out at the liberal media. So did several > > conservative commentators. But I doubt thatPolitico, which published the > > story first, came up with this scoop by investigating Cain s background on > > its own. > > People may think that news organizations have legions of Woodwards and > > Bernsteins fanned out across the country, poring through old courthouse > > records or public business records and talking to anyone they think may > > have some dirt to dish on a candidate. They don t. They don t have the > > money, for one thing. No, the days of Woodward and Bernstein, intrepid > > investigative reporters, are over. Investigative reporters have been > > replaced by people who keep a big basket under the transom to catch the > > dossiers and other materials that the various campaigns drop on opposing > > candidates. > > Campaigns that can afford it often spend lots of money on opposition > > research. The research can be for perfectly legitimate things, such as > > positions candidates have taken on issues. Or it can be for personal dirt, > > substantiated or otherwise. If they pass it to the media, the campaign, of > > course, wants to keep its role secret. In this way, reporters are seldom > > investigators. More often they re facilitators. It s easier work. > > Cain has now gotten off the media angle and targeted Gov. Rick Perry s > > campaign as the source of the story. This is based on the fact that a > > former consultant from Cain s Senate campaign now works for Perry. The > > campaign and the consultant deny it, and instead point the finger at the > > Romney campaign, because Cain s successor at the > > NationalRestaurantAssociation, where the alleged harassment took place, is > > a Romney supporter and contributor. Further, the names of Democratic > > operatives and a Democratic officeholder have been mentioned to me off the > > record. > > I have no idea who originated the story. But I d say that looking inside > > the Republican family is probably a good bet. I speak from personal > > experience. > > Days after I got into the presidential race in 2007, I was greeted with a > > website, PhoneyFred.org, described in the media at the time as an anti Fred > > Thompson smear site. You couldn t really tell who was behind it, but we > > learned of it from theDemocratic National Committee, which made ample use > > of it. We assumed that they had created it. However, a reporter at > > theWashington Post(of all people) decided to find out who was behind the > > site. After a lot of effort, she traced it to an executive of TTS > > Strategies, a South Carolina consulting firm run by J. Warren Tompkins, one > > of the most notorious hardball political operatives in the country. > > Politicians of opposing campaigns were known to get what was called the > > Warren Treatment. He ran George W. Bush s 2000 campaign, in which anonymous > > flyers and telephone calls accused John McCain of fathering an illegitimate > > child with a black woman. > > In 2007, he was running Mitt Romney s campaign in South Carolina, where > > Mitt was behind the rest of us in the polls. Of course, when confronted, > > both Tompkins and Mitt were shocked to learn that a rogue employee (who ran > > Tompkins s office) was running such a website (out of the office), and the > > site was taken down immediately. One of the more benign and amusing things > > the site accused me of was being a flip flopper. I kid you not. > > This doesn t mean that Mitt is behind the Herman Cain hit piece. I d like > > to think that he and his extensive staff, many of them with training in the > > political dark arts has learned that when you hire the meanest dog in the > > junkyard, it s a little difficult to claim that you are surprised when he > > bites. > > Most of us have long since given up on adherence toReagan s Eleventh > > Commandment, but Republican candidates do enough damage to each other out > > in the open these days. They shouldn t get away with peddling stuff they re > > ashamed to be associated with, and that can be used... > > read more » -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
