Sexual Harassment and GOP Presidential Candidate Herman Cain
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-11-01/sexual-harassment-and-gop-presidential-candidate-herman-cain
GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain faced an onslaught of questions yesterday related to sexual harassment claims made in the late 1990’s. The National Restaurant Association allegedly paid two female employees to settle harassment complaints against Mr. Cain who was, at the time, head of the trade group. He first denied the report and then said he’d been falsely accused: Join us to talk about what the allegations may mean for Herman Cain’s presidential prospects and current perspectives on the issue of sexual harassment.
Guests
Emma Coleman Jordan
professor of law at Georgetown University.
John Harris
editor in chief, politico.com; author of "The Survivor" and co-author of "The Way to Win."
Erica Salmon Bryne
Erica Salmon Byrne
senior vice president, compliance advisory services and assistant general counsel, Corpedia Inc, an ethics, compliance and risk assessment consulting company.
Ruth Marcus
columnist and editorial writer, The Washington Post.
Comments
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Monte,
'According to EEOC, half of all reported sexual harassment complaints "have no reasonable cause."
Is that half of ALL complaints? Half of first complaints? Half of second complaints? Half of third? If your numbers are right, the 'odds' that neither (if there are ONLY two) 'have no reasonable cause' is suddenly 1 in 4, I believe.
I certainly do not wish to 'convict' Mr. Cain before all the fact have come to light (if that's even possible), but given the track record of those we all see in politics, the presumption of innocence has been a losing bet.
Although he is not my first choice, he does bring an interesting voice to the debate.
The very fact of Clarence (Longdong) Thomas on the Supreme Court confirms that this society condones sexual harrassment. The classism and sexism pervading our money-hungry and power-mad hierarchy means that sexual climbing
(substantive prostitution as a lifeway) and eroticized power predation are predominant behaviors in the workplace. Success in the pornography enterprise is only the tip of the phallus. The positivism of business ideology is always suggestive of marketing one's body as a sexual commodity. The underground economy has now resorted to sexual slaves as an alternative currency, with children coming into the mix. Sports figures are not only entertainment prostitutes but for publicity purposes are encouraged to be sexual predators. If an environment becomes sufficiently perverse under economic pressure the population can be driven to accept what were formally defined as crimes and diseases as the status quo. The (now stateless) Oligarchy of the United States and the media it operates has definitely descended to that level, or ascended to that sophistication in marketing, depending upon one's point of view within the income and privilege stream.
Actually if the the statics are examined you will see that the figure of "half of reported cases have no reasonable cause" is an understatement. Since no real evidence is usually obtainable, slanderous accusations can go unchallenged and settled in a different manner. Of course this works both ways but the statistics point in a direction that most of the cases are not justified.
Pancake would have us believe the problem is getting worse, this on it's face is wrong. All of us are living in the p.c. world of over sensitivity, the amount of people claiming victimization of some form another is obviously at an all time high. I wonder how many lives were ruined by fabricated or exaggerated accusations of sexual harassment.
here are the eeoc stats.
http://eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/sexual_harassment.cfm
"The very fact of Clarence (Longdong) Thomas on the Supreme Court confirms that this society condones sexual harrassment."
Nothing of the sort! it confirms despite the lefts best effort to derail this supreme court justice, that the charges were frivolous.
Again, the conundrum of despising the Federal Government but continuing to cite statistics associated with an Executive department agency arises. Almost every person who has had dealings with the EEOC since the Reagan De-evolution understands that it is a formality and a paper tiger when it comes to seeking justice. Only the civil rights division of the Justice Department has proven more counterproductive during the same administrations. Most successful sexual harassment actions do not include any interaction with the EEOC. That would be understood by attorneys as a waste of time, even an invitation to bad precedence.
Responses clinging desperately to the same talking points "magic words" must be understood as reactionary flailing. How can persons admittedly prejudiced as to nationality and ethnicity, and attracted to a paternalist milieu, even pretend to comment on issues of gender roles within a workplace power dynamic? Such persons are "blinded Sampsons" straining to topple the temple of justice. You will not turn social progress around. You may be run over by it like a drunk sleeping on a train track.
Herman Cain is not going to be President, the republican party is just toying with him. The republican party, as well as the tea party do not like black people. Remember the tea party signs they were carrying with all kinds of pictures of President Obama in a negative way, a bone through his nose etc. The republican party is just waiting for an alternative to Romney to pop up. Thank you for your wonderful program.
Barbara
Sexual harassment might be logically understood as a lesser form of rape.
The person being propositioned is coerced with the threat of being denied a basic means of sustenance, position or employment in this case. Male deniers see any repulsed accusation as being totally without merit, and that is probably not true. To cite isolated figures from the EEOC and then to claim sexual harassment as not a problem after half the cases are judged as having merit (half not) tends to reveal the denier as somewhat skewed in his thinking. Such an argument is tantamount to saying police should reject all rape complaints because only half result in convictions. Furthermore it denies the relative power between the propositioner or aggressor, and the propositionee or victim, as well as cultural relationships and history. What a shame to brag publicly about one's ignorance and insensitivity, for political argument's sake. Here is illustrated a primary malady of our current civil discourse, that we let sponsorship by and appeal to the powerful bring the untenable to the podium. They send the downtrodden brainwashed servant because they would not dare debase themselves in such muck.
A new low for Diane Rehm.
Agree.
Hope they get onto how there is little to no substance to what Cain says. What this says about the state of the Republican party. That Bachman, Perry and now Cain have been the front runner.
Why is it that they passed over Huntsman the most viable, experienced candidate? They just brushed Huntsman aside. The brightest light bulb on the Republican stage. But they turned that light bulb off...why?
Wish the Rehm Team would have Huntsman on to discuss this phenomena.
The MSM spent a week replaying that stupid Cain add. Demonstrates where are nation, our attention is. Superficial and so silly. The whole world is watching how lame we are
barbara, that is as offensive as it comes.
So let me get this straight. It's not ok for the Tea Party to criticize BHO for his tax and spend policies, but it's ok for Politico to publish a false story about a conservative black man. Got it.
By the way, if you have a picture of Obama with a "bone through his nose" on a placard at a Tea Party rally show it. I'm not talking about an article that talks about it. I'm talking about a photo. Such a picutre DID circulate on the internet, but I don't believe there is evidence of it at a Tea Party rally to be found.
My question would be this: If there was a non disclosure agreement that the two women are not allowed to speak on the issue, I would imagine that there would also be a similar non-disclosure agreement that directs Mr. Cain's speech.... it is reasonable to assume because this is often the way these agreements are crafted.
You're correct Barbara that this candidacy and funding are a positioning of racist brand as preparation for the general elections. This "doughboy" can do or say extreme and hateful things unthinkable for the "chosen ones." Pillsbury executives may have seen the name "Cain" as a joke and a Biblical put-down. Back in the "good old days" they played some cinamonny games with token employees. The restaurant industry has been notorious for its on the job sadomasochism and debauchery. It is often exempted from the minimum wage, and the workers forced to solicit tips. It is a center of slave labor and illegal immigration. What better opportunity to work powerless people over? Herman Cain's origins are dark and ugly. (His singing sours my guts.) His frontrunner status is a media empowered fraud. He is only a pizza delivery boy for the Oligarchy. I would put a double electrified fence between Cain and my vote.
The 100 pound elephant in the room is the question; Did Mrs. Cain know about this prior to this past weekend? Most husbands tend to hide workplace incidents from their wives.
If Cain is knocked out then Gingrich moves up the ladder. More sexual bad behavior stories etc. Romney stays at 23%.
At least the BBC world service is talking about how many innocent people have been killed by Obama drones in Pakistan and how many innocent people have died in Iraq based on Bush and teams "pack of lies"
Americans swept away in a new sexual scandal. Oy vey
How much were they paid to keep their mouths shut?
Ed in Indianapolis wrote:
"Most husbands tend to hide workplace incidents from their wives."
THERE IS NO "INCIDENT"!!!
It is a MADE UP HATCHET JOB against a black man because he is a black conservative and because DEMOCRATS FEAR HIM against Obama.
ecgberht
Chairman
Racist Tea Partiers for Herman Cain
Okay, mainstream press: Go after this with all the solemnity and restraint you showed when Bill Clinton was the accused.
Herman Cain may be a philanderer, or a sexual deviant, or what not... But making an unsubstantiated claim that by the gag order can not be properly validated, this smells of nothing more then at least sensationalism and at worst an unabashed attack on on a GOP frontrunner.
Mr. Cain's candidacy has been destroyed by these allegations.
Even if the allegations are ultimately proven to have been baseless and akin to extortion, he will suffer extreme penalty. He bears fault only for reacting poorly to a sensitive situation, something that should certainly put his fitness into question.
I hear you now addressing the legal standard to sustain a sexual harassment charge in a public court. I hope the standard established by SCOTUS in Oncale v. Sundowner is articulated.
I dunno kathleen, different people have different prices. My speech, and I think yours too, were bought only by years of observing injustice without the means to overturn it. Some posters here though seem to have considered themselves clearance merchandise. And their consumer sense is also impaired if they buy Cain as real.
The drones are real, and any amateur mechanical engineer can make and fly them in any part of the world. I wish we as a public could tell the tangible things from Halloween boogers. What ever happened to the used car dealer Iran supposedly put up to hire drug gangers to kill the Saudi royals? Maybe he's in the box with the anthrax samples.
(future) Emperor Petraeus is a barrel of laughs. He's a Demo donkey at the head and an elephant at the tail. Great costume. With the right money he could go either way.
While it is important to dig into this issue... I am really concerned about Cains disdain for those out of work "if you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself"
As if every one who is unemployed is proof of indolence or worse.
Blaming the working poor for the huge profits being made by executive executives, jobs moved overseas etc demonstrates how low he can go.
999, that silly add, now this. And Cain is in first place in the Republican race.
Who cares what a loud mouth like Ann Coulter thinks or says. She is a non credible shrill.
Cain is not a credible candidate. He obviously is a personable person, but is not qualified to be president regardless of what he has or has not done. I do not think that being CEO of anyting makes one qualified for president it just means they can meet the requirements of the single bottom line. Governance is not about the signle bottom line which most republican do not understand.
As for the settlement, the woman received only what would have been the normal severance from the Restaurant Association.
bingo. MSM went after lies under oath about blowjobs.
And then have not demanded accountability for the intelligence snow job that resulted in the deaths and injuries of hundreds of thousands.
Lies about blowjobs= impeachment
WMD snow job = hundreds of thousands dead, injured...no accountability.
The whole world is watching
These women make me SICK!
Clinton wasn't involved in a work place incident?! He was getting a bj from an intern in the oval office!
Cain - why not present the WHOLE truth? I heard people who worked with him in the 90s testify (on a radio show yesterday) what a "good, man of integrity" he was, one whom they can't conceive of doing sexual harassment.
Also, since it's "He said, she said" isn't it true that some women may just be launching a claim in order to get money???
Lady you hit the nail on the head.
999, silly add, and this guy is in first place
How would you have handled the complaints against Bill Clinton?
How would you have handled the Jesse Jackson story in which he fathered a child with staffer?
Whoa... wait a minute... President Clinton's indiscretion WERE in the work place. He was accused of indiscretions with an Intern who was in her work place.
Why did it take the National Enquirer to break the John Edwards story?