November 2011

It was only a matter of time before the anonymity of these women would go away. Here’s one of the accusers from the original Politico story:

Karen Kraushaar, a 55-year-old former journalist and seasoned government spokeswoman who served on the front lines of the Elian Gonzalez custody battle, is a competitive equestrian and lover of golden retrievers. She has been married for more than two decades.

“She wouldn’t be the type to make false allegations,” brother-in-law Ned Kraushaar, a Georgia software consultant, told The Daily. “This happened [more than] 10 years ago. It’s not like she wanted to try and hurt the Republican Party.”

Karen Kraushaar currently serves as a communications director at the Inspector General’s Office of the Treasury Department, a position she has held since last year. She did not return phone messages left by The Daily.

The entire piece is worth a read as it lays out a woman who was seriously disturbed by what happened and in no way is out to make fame or money from the incident. Of course the fact that she works in the federal government will have the right painting this as a huge conspiracy.

I really feel sorry for Karen now. It’s bad enough she had to endure Cain’s sexual harassment, but now she will have to suffer through the monsters on right and their attacks on her. To them the only victim is Herman Cain and this will be someone who was just asking for it.

I just got done watching the press conference of Sharon Bialek, the latest woman to accuse Herman Cain of sexual misconduct. Since there was no actual paper trail of this claim it’s just all allegations right now, but I must say if what she said is true, then Herman Cain is really a sick man.

Bialek said the alleged incident in question occurred down the street from the NRA headquarters. Describing what happened she said, "Instead of going into the offices, he suddenly reached over and put his hand on my leg, up my skirt, and towards my genitals." She recalled that when she protested the advances, Cain said, "You want a job right?"

Bialek alleged that Cain also "grabbed [her] head and brought it towards his crotch." She said that she was "shocked" by the behavior.

The Cain campaign was quick to come out with a statement on the accusations, calling the charges of sexual harassment "false."

This sounds more like a sexual assault than harassment to me, but again, this is all allegations at this point. Still, allegations of this heinous nature deserve to be investigated. This man is running to be the leader of our country and if he has done anything remotely close to this then that should disqualify him right now.

Of course the right is also gunning to the defense. The press conference has only been over for a half hour and already Drudge has dug up the reason she shouldn’t be trusted:

Sure the media has become a gossip factory. A lot of that started because of our Congress in the 90’s that investigated Bill Clinton for everything possible. Yeah everyone knows about Monica, but how about the White House Christmas card list or Clinton getting a haircut? That Congress turned everything Clinton did into a gossip style story.

Oh and that Congress? Well it was lead by Newt Gingrich.

But that was then and this is now. What Gingrich is talking about today is the sexual harassment stories coming out about Herman Cain.

Gingrich tells NBC's "Today" show that news organizations care more about scandal than ordinary citizens struggling to make ends meet.

The former House speaker says voters want a "solution-oriented leader" more than a scandal. He says it's up to Cain to handle in the way he sees fit. But Gingrich says there's a gap between the "gossip" he believes journalists pursue, and more deep-seated problems like economic stagnation.

You know, I do wish the news would pay more attention to people struggling, but I also wish our Congress would too. We are nearly 10 months in since the Republicans have taken over the House and they have produced zero job creating bills. At the same time they have pushed legislation like honoring Ronald Reagan, limiting abortion rights and affirming “in God we trust”. So perhaps Gingrich should talk to the man who holds his old job, John Boehner, about this.

And about the “gossip”. Well it’s a little more than that Newt. The NRA has confirmed what happened, Cain has confirmed what happened and Cain’s piss-poor handling of the story has kept it alive. That’s not “gossip”, but rather fact.

Politico is up with another interesting article about Herman Cain’s time at the National Restaurant Association:

With Cain at the helm as CEO in 1998, the association created a video to explain sexual harassment laws to its members – and created a sample sexual harassment policy for individual restaurants to use, according to a Chicago Tribune story at the time.

The NRA’s Educational Foundation began offering a training program for member restaurants called, “What’s the Big Deal? Sexual Harassment Prevention Program,” in addition to its ServSafe safety and alcohol training materials. Today, according to the ServSafe website, restaurants can purchase employee and manager training brochures, as well as DVDs to explain acceptable practices.

Scher, who observed the NRA’s actions at the time and has read about them since, said the organization’s actions were, at the time, a proactive step.

This in no way absolves Cain of any past wrongdoings. Mark Foley also helped create legislation to protect children from predators while he was a predator. What Cain did was what every CEO in America was doing at the time, addressing sexual harassment. With Clarence Thomas and Bill Clinton, the phrase “sexual harassment” become very common and companies realized they had to take steps to help prevent it.

Of course some on the right insinuate that this maybe Cain’s reprieve. Here’s William Jacobson: