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| "You know until I see a picture I don't know if I was a sleazeball to them or not!" |
During Herman Cain’s tenure as the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, at least two female employees complained to colleagues and senior association officials about inappropriate behavior by Cain, ultimately leaving their jobs at the trade group, multiple sources confirm to POLITICO.
The women complained of sexually suggestive behavior by Cain that made them angry and uncomfortable, the sources said, and they signed agreements with the restaurant group that gave them financial payouts to leave the association. The agreements also included language that bars the women from talking about their departures.
In a series of comments over the past 10 days, Cain and his campaign repeatedly declined to respond directly about whether he ever faced allegations of sexual harassment at the restaurant association. They have also declined to address questions about specific reporting confirming that there were financial settlements in two cases in which women leveled complaints.
I would like to give Herb Cain the benefit of the doubt here but apparently even when given the chance to refute the allegations Cain simply cannot do so.
The latest statement came from Cain himself. In a tense sidewalk encounter Sunday morning outside the Washington bureau of CBS News — where the Republican contender had just completed an interview on “Face the Nation” — Cain evaded a series of questions about sexual harassment allegations.
Cain said he has “had thousands of people working for me” at different businesses over the years and could not comment “until I see some facts or some concrete evidence.” His campaign staff was given the name of one woman who complained last week, and it was repeated to Cain on Sunday. He responded, “I am not going to comment on that.
He was then asked, “Have you ever been accused, sir, in your life of harassment by a woman?”
He breathed audibly, glared at the reporter and stayed silent for several seconds. After the question was repeated three times, he responded by asking the reporter, “Have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?”
WTF? Is that his answer?
Let me see if I have this straight.
Herman Cain has had "thousands of people working for" him in the past, so he CANNOT answer whether or not he was sexually inappropriate with any of them until he sees "some facts or concrete evidence?"
Not to put too fine of a point on this, but doesn't that essentially say that in the past he WAS guilty of sexually suggestive behaviors, but is not sure he is guilty of sexually suggestive behaviors in THIS particular circumstance?
Here let me break it down for you. I have worked much of my life in occupations where there were always more women than men. So ask me if I have ever been accused of, or brought up on charges of, sexually suggestive behaviors.
Nope. And I don't even have to know which job, or which fellow employee, you might be talking about.
So in my opinion, considering Cain's refusal to answer with a straight forward denial, he is "Guilty, Guilty, Guilty!"
Let's see how long he holds onto that lead in the polls now!
I can see Mitt Romney's new campaign slogan now: "Hey I don't say sexually suggestive things to women and I don't give drunken speeches. How do you like me now, GOP?"
