Archive for October, 2011

At the National Press Club this afternoon, GOP presidential campaign Herman Cain said this about accusations of inappropriate behavior with two female employees of the National Restaurant Association, which he headed:

”As far as a settlement, I am unaware of any kind of settlement. I hope it wasn’t for much, because I didn’t do anything. But the fact of the matter is, I’m not aware of a settlement that came out of that accusation.”

But in an interview with Greta Van Susteren of Fox News, to be aired at 10 p.m. this evening, Cain will contradict himself. He will admit knowing about a cash settlement – “maybe three months’ salary,” according to Byron York of the Washington Examiner.

Cain will also describe the gesture cited as offensive by the unidentified woman, according to York – who apparently has heard or seen the video. He’s a Fox News contributor.

Updated at 7:50 p.m. Herman Cain said much the same thing in an interview with Judy Woodruff of PBS’ “The News Hour”:

From …

Continue reading Herman Cain admits knowing of cash settlement, describes gesture »

The report that GOP presidential frontrunner Herman Cain was the target of two sexual harassment complaints while he headed the National Restaurant Association has dominated politics on the Internet today.

Talk radio man Rush Limbaugh this afternoon declared the Politico piece to be an “unconscionable, racially stereotypical attack” on Cain. Liberals, he and others in the medium have said, are no doubt responsible – a wholly unlikely scenario, given the stage of the campaign.

Others, even conservatives, have wondered about the holes in explanations pushed forward by the Cain campaign.

The situation is, in fact, one that will require better staff work than the former pizza executive from Georgia had in the past, if he is to survive.

But Cainiacs have done at least one thing right – they’ve come up with a form of crisis advertising we haven’t seen in politics before.

Right now, Twitter is a white-water river of 140-character posts about Herman Cain. But at the top of every …

Continue reading Herman Cain and a new form of crisis advertising »

Below is a quick transcript of GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain’s remarks at the National Press Club in Washington this afternoon, addressing Politico.com accusations that he sexually harassed two female employees of the National Restaurant Association while he headed the organization:

Said Cain:

”I would be delighted to clear the air. No. 1, in all of my over 40 years of business experience, running businesses and corporations, I have never sexually harassed anyone. No. 2, while at the restaurant association, I was accused of sexual harassment. Falsely accused, I might add. I was falsely accused of sexual harassment, and when the charges were brought, as the leader of the organization I recused myself, allowed my general counsel and my human resource officer to deal with the situation.

“And it was concluded after a thorough investigation – that it had no basis. As far as a settlement, I am unaware of any kind of settlement. I hope it wasn’t for much, because I didn’t …

Continue reading Herman Cain verbatim: ‘I hope the settlement wasn’t for much, because I didn’t do anything’ »

Last May, GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain gave an interview to the conservative Washington Examiner newspaper that resulted in these paragraphs:

But wouldn’t liberals and Democrats still find a racially-based way to attack Cain? They certainly found a way to attack Clarence Thomas, the black, conservative Supreme Court justice.

“They’re going to come after me more viciously than they would a white candidate,” Cain responded. “You’re right. Clarence Thomas. And so, to use Clarence Thomas as an example, I’m ready for the same high-tech lynching that he went through — for the good of this country.” Cain smiled broadly. “I’m ready for the same high-tech lynching.”

The prediction by Cain, a Baptist minister married 43 years, may be more accurate than he’s comfortable with.

On Sunday, Politico.com reported that, on two occasions during the 1990s, the National Restaurant Association settled claims by two female employees who alleged inappropriate behavior by Cain, who …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Herman Cain on his own ‘high-tech lynching’ a la Clarence Thomas »

Derrick Younge of Atlanta holds a sign next to Occupy Atlanta leader Tim Franzen, left, during a press conference at Woodruff Park discussing their next move Thursday afternoon in Atlanta. Jason Getz, jgetz@ajc.com.

Fifty years ago, when Shirley Franklin was still a high school teenager, she slipped away from her Philadelphia bed – without telling her mother – for an anti-nuke march on the Pentagon.

The biographical tidbit is necessary to any assessment of last week’s decision by Mayor Kasim Reed, Franklin’s successor, to clear Occupy Atlanta and its tents from a downtown park – and send the bonded-out protesters against corporate greed and economic disparity on a nomadic trek across the city, like some Lost Tribe of Ishmael.

Atlanta may not have realized the implications at the time, but the city crossed a generational divide when Reed was elected two years ago. Born in 1969, he is the first mayor in nearly 40 years who did not spring from a culture of protest.

However …

Continue reading Kasim Reed, Occupy Atlanta, and a fresh wave of history »

One of the rare joys of this pre-election season has been a quirky, watch-it-to-believe-it site called Bad Lip Reading. Barack Obama, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann have already been targets.

This evening, it’s Herman Cain’s turn with “Everybody Needs Toucan Stubs.”

It’s the weekend, Centrist. Don’t take life so seriously:

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

For instant updates, follow me on Twitter, or connect with me on Facebook.

Continue reading The word from Herman Cain: “Everybody needs toucan stubs” »

Three days ago, in the aftermath of the forced eviction of Occupy Atlanta from Woodruff Park, longtime civil rights leader Joe Beasley, the Southern director of Rainbow/PUSH, denounced Mayor Kasim Reed as an “unchristian” throwback who ought to be removed from office.

Beasley has befriended the movement, and was among the 52 arrested early Wednesday for refusing to clear out.

But a message just arrived from Rainbow/Push’s headquarters, putting a great deal of distance between the organization and Beasley’s harsh comments.

“Joe was not speaking on behalf of Rainbow or (founder) Jesse Jackson,” said vice-president Janice Mathis in a quick phone interview. “We love and admire and respect Joe. But the positions he was taking with Occupy Atlanta were not our positions.”

Here’s a healthy dose of the her statement, advising Occupy Atlanta not to pick a fight with the mayor:

The Occupy Movement is less than two months old. Its goals – fairer distribution of income, more meaningful …

Continue reading Rainbow/PUSH to Occupy Atlanta: Stop bickering with mayor over park »

When she was in town last week, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, declared that her party wouldn’t concede any territory in next year’s presidential contest.

But according to a poll released Thursday by InsiderAdvantage and Channel 2 Action News, to declare Georgia in competition would be something of a stretch – at least for now.

While he won 47 percent of the vote in Georgia in 2008, President Barack Obama’s current fan base is 38 percent, according to the survey. And 54 percent of voters said they would vote for any Republican – from Mitt Romney to Michele Bachmann, and anyone in between.

Writes IA’s Matt Towery:

Independent voters support any GOP nominee over Obama by a 49%-to-38% margin. Democrats are at a 79% support level for the president, with Republicans at nearly 90% for any GOP nominee.

***
The 1858 debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas for an Illinois seat in the U.S. Senate are famous for crystallizing the …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Barack Obama down to 38 percent in Georgia »

Shannon McCaffrey of the Associated Press today offers up this look at a certain Republican campaign manager:

Atlanta — He is the man with the mustache who takes a rebellious drag on a cigarette in the Herman Cain Internet ad gone viral.

“We’ve run a campaign like nobody’s ever seen,” he says before taking a puff. “But then America’s never seen a candidate like Herman Cain.”

Meet Mark Block, Cain’s unorthodox campaign manager. Perhaps no one is more responsible for the Georgia businessman’s meteoric rise in the presidential polls than Block, a Republican strategist and tea party leader who’s left a trail of questionable campaign work behind him.

Block has been accused of voter suppression and was banned from running Wisconsin political campaigns for three years to settle accusations he coordinated a judge’s re-election campaign with a special interest group.

Records show Block has faced foreclosure on his home, a tax warrant by the Internal Revenue Service and a lawsuit for an …

Continue reading Herman Cain’s smokin’ hot campaign manager »

So far as we know, Bob Barr hasn’t yet decide whether to challenge U.S. Rep. Tom Graves of Ranger in a Republican primary fight for the 14th Congressional District.

But somebody out there is already trying to help the 2008 Libertarian presidential candidate make up his mind – with a quick bit of opposition research that prophesies that a challenge to Graves would quickly devolve into a brawl over immigration and gay marriage.

We don’t know the author, but you can examine the sheet by clicking here. It accuses Barr, a former Georgia congressman, of registering as a lobbyist for the ACLU, and – in 2008, as a Libertarian – of openly campaigning against GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

Let us just say that, given the way that McCain is viewed by many grassroots Republicans in Georgia, that last point may be somewhat insincere.

Among sheet’s main arguments:

Bob Barr opposed H.B. 87, Georgia’s tough new illegal immigration law

– Barr claims that Georgia’s [tough] new illegal …

Continue reading A warning to Bob Barr: Brawls over illegal immigration and gay marriage loom »