Herman Cain locks up the elite support of sexual harassers!

[B Calm]

What else could it mean when one rises in the polls after being revealed as a sexual harasser?

[RKP5637]

1. The republicans love this type of sh**, just thinking how they cheered and

applauded the outrageous comments during the debates. The more repressive a society is, the more they love it ...

[patrice]

2. Attribution Error is very reliable = "Other people's problems are due to their own intrinsic & perma

nent personal flaws; their fault. What goes on in their lives is caused by themselves. My/our problems are not due to my own traits; not my own fault. What goes wrong in my life is caused by others."

The nearly universal reliability of this dynamic, known as Attribution Error, explains the response to HC's harassing behavior.

[yourout]

3. The other 1 percent.

[hughee99]

4. Don't underestimate the support of sexual harassers,

A certain president managed to keep his numbers very high with their support.

[B Calm]

5. and who would that certain president be?

[spanone]

11. consensual sex is a very different issue

[hughee99]

12. Yes, consensual sex is a different issue

so long as one person's job isn't dependent on the other person. Then it's kind of a gray area. Besides, the president didn't JUST have a series of consensual sexual relationships. There were also a series of sexual harassment allegations.

[Major Nikon]

15. Actually there was only one such allegation

And this came AFTER Clinton was already President. Her own lawyer later called her a fraud, which was accurate. Her biggest mistake was being led down the primrose path by wingnuts like Coulter.

[hughee99]

18. There were many allegations, only one brought to the courts.

As far as I know, none of Cain's charges have been litigated in front of a judge. I know you REALLY want to believe it's not the same, but without further evidence, it basically is.

[Major Nikon]

21. There was only one

If you think there were many, feel free to name them.

Furthermore the case that was brought forth against Clinton was brought forward years after the time limitations on an EEO case were well past and only a short time before the civil case would have been mute. Even then it was only brought forth with the support of the GOP.

That doesn't appear to me the same, but YMMV.

[hughee99]

27. If I'm not mistaken

Kathleen Willey went on 60 minutes and said Clinton had sexually assaulted her. I think Juanita Broderick made her accusations of RAPE on Dateline. Yes, sexual harassment allegations are not the same as sexual assault and rape. I agree on that.

[Jack Rabbit]

6. The GOP drove away its sober conservatives . . .

. . . and all that is left is fascists.

They probably see sexual harassment in the work place as the droit du seigneur of a male boss over his female subordinates. Perhaps they even twist the meaning of some Biblical verse to justify it and claim that neither Congress nor any state legislature has any right to outlaw it.

That is what fascism is about. It recognizes some sort of "natural" hierarchy based on race, gender, religion, social class or some other silly constuct. The boss, a male (males are the "natural" leaders), has the right to inappropriately proposition his subordinate, a female, the subordinate has the right to submit to his advances, and the spouses or significant others of both the boss and the subordinate have the right to meekly agree to the arrangement.

[Kahuna]

7. I am so loving this. I hope those repubs are actually dumb enough to

give him the nomination. That'll show us and the LSM. :rofl:

[customerserviceguy]

9. I'll bet the Rethugs were saying that in 1992

about the Gennifer Flowers allegations, too. Let's face it, the Clinton experience has given our enemies more immunity on this with the independents than most of us would like to admit.

[B Calm]

10. Only one problem compairing this to the Gennifer Flowers allegations,

the word allegiation. Cain settled, thus proving the allegiation was in fact true!

[customerserviceguy]

14. As I recall, Clinton settled, too

for way much more money than we are hearing about being involved with the Cain situtations, but that was with Paula Jones. Her allegations came up before the 1996 election, and there is a treasure trove of Democratic defenses of President Clinton from that time that the Repukes have to drag up.

All a settlement proves is that you gave somebody enough money to go away and shut up. I have the strong suspicion that what will emerge is that Cain made a crude, but not overly sexual gesture. Think of every time you've seen someone talk who moved their finger in and out of a circle between the thumb and forefinger of the other hand, saying, "They're screwing us,", or that masturbatory back and forth motion that people make with an unclenched fist, that implies that someone's "jerking you around," when the conversation is not about sex, but about something else. I can see where that makes people (especially fundie types) uncomfortable, and looks unprofessional, but it isn't traditional sexual harassment.

It's embarrassing if something like that gets made public, and you just pay someone enough to sign an agreement to keep it all under wraps.

[B Calm]

16. Gennifer Flowers was consensual, I'm glad you changed

your your original post.

Poor dear little modest Paula Jones was part of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy to bring down a Democratic President.

[customerserviceguy]

17. So, you're buying the Jim Carville line

about dragging hundred dollar bills through trailer parks? No wonder none of Cain's accusers wants to come forward.

Thank you, you've made my point as to why this means nothing to Republicons, our side has been saying this when it's one of our own caught with a hand in the cookie jar for quite some time now. The public is inured to it.

[Major Nikon]

19. There are quite a few differences

There's no question that Clinton was a philanderer, but there's a big difference between a philanderer and a sexual harasser. The evidence that Clinton sexually harassed anyone is pretty slim. The only serious allegations came from Jones, who was called a fraud by her own lawyer for good reason.

I believe there's a lot more to the allegations against Cain. I've worked in HR for many years processing sexual harassment claims. Many people seem to think that there's an abundance of people out there who will file bogus claims of sexual harassment and that most claims result in a benefit for the claimant. That's just not reality. For two people to file AND receive settlements against Cain is very telling. Most instances of sexual harassment never result in a claim. Fewer still receive anything as a result of filing. You already have at least two witnesses who have validated Cain's behavior. I think there will be more, but even the evidence brought forward so far very much fits the pattern of a serial harasser.

The fact that Republicans hounded Clinton for a decade (spending over a hundred million tax dollars in the process), does Cain no favors. The GOP is the one who made this type of thing a campaign issue. It will be kind of hard for them to say it doesn't matter today and not be hypocritical.

[customerserviceguy]

20. Did you forget the details of the Paula Jones case?

She alleged that he had a state trooper get her into a hotel room with him, and that he whipped it out right there in front of him. Do you think anyone's going to say anything even remotely like that about Herman Cain? Being as the incidents happened right as the Jones case was unfolding, I doubt any lawyer would have let a harassment victim sign off for less than six figures.

Was Jones a fraud? Well, we have numerous other incidents involving other women's allegations, and of course, there's the whole Lewinsky thing, clearly the Big Dog thought he'd always be able to get away with whatever he did.

You're right about a lot of people thinking that these cases are fraudulent. I'd venture to guess that most of them vote Repuke whenever possible. That's the pool of voters that Herman Cain has to deal with right now. We've had numerous Democratic operatives go on and on for years about how sexually-related allegations are a popular smear tactic in elections, why wouldn't we expect Rethugs to use that against us?

Hypocrisy is what Republicons do best, why wouldn't they resort to it now?

[Major Nikon]

23. Do you actually believe everything Jones said?

Very little of Jones account was believable, even knowing what we all know about Clinton.

If you doubt "any lawyer would have let a harassment victim sign off for less than six figures", you most likely have very little experience in such matters. Six figure settlements are extremely rare, and when they do happen, often are the result of class action claims or involve people making six figure incomes. Most claims that are settled, involve much lower figures.

[customerserviceguy]

25. And that's the line you can expect to see Repukes use

if any accusers' names come out of this. I'll admit, I don't have any experience with sexual harassment claims, but neither does the average voter, especially on their side.

[Major Nikon]

26. How independant voters see the issue is really what matters

Those firmly entrenched on either side of the political spectrum are going to believe whatever they want to believe, but it won't make much difference in how they vote anyway.

[customerserviceguy]

28. Very true, it's the independents that count

And this issue will have had quite a bit of time to work it's way out, if Cain is the eventual nominee. My suspicion is that most of them are going to say. "Well, they all do it," and this won't be a factor, especially if it's something really minor, like a clumsy gesture.

[B2G]

24. Jones received a $850K settlement n/t

[moondust]

8. Repug Rule #1: Never back down.

Always double down. Never admit you were wrong about anything no matter what you did. Never question what you do. You are superior! You are always right!

That MO alone will get lots of Repug votes.

[femrap]

13. Our culture has

nothing but disrepect for women. In fact, this patriarchy seems to really dislike women...we're just here to fuck. The message to women: Better find a dude who will 'protect' you so put on those 4" heels, get silicon implants, show a lot of skin, and stay thin. And then after you do that, you are just asking to be harassed, you slut!

[WCGreen]

22. Exactly!

the objectification of women in this country continues...