Up-front disclaimer: I like Herman Cain as a potential candidate for the Republican ticket. I like the idea of a free-market, business type of guy running the country. Someone who has been in the private sector longer than has been in the public sector.
Yet, I don't think he's the Republican's best ticket against President Obama. I just don't think he could win.
All that aside, the attacks against Cain have been relentless the past week. At first, I saw the "chink in the armor". I figured it was adios, amigo. Who's up to bat next?
But here's what's bothering me. I don't usually listen too much to Ann Coulter. She's pretty far to the extreme right for me...but...for argument's sake, let's just assume the following is "true" and then discuss:
"So it's curious that all the sexual harassment allegations against Cain emanate from Chicago: home of the Daley machine and Obama consigliere David Axelrod.
The Daley-controlled Illinois Restaurant Association works hand-in-glove with the National Restaurant Association. And strangely enough, Cain's short, three-year tenure at the NRA is evidently the only period in his decades-long career during which he's alleged to have been a sexual predator.
And now, after a week of conservative eye-rolling over unspecified, anonymous accusations against Cain, we've suddenly got very specific sexual assault allegations from an all-new accuser out of...Chicago.
Herman Cain has never lived in Chicago. But you know who has? David Axelrod! And guess who lived in Axelrod's very building? Right again: Cain's latest accuser, Sharon Bialek.
The reason all this is relevant is that both Axelrod and Daley have a history of smearing opponents by digging up claims of sexual misconduct against them. John Brooks, Chicago's former fire commissioner, filed a lawsuit against Daley six months ago claiming Daley threatened to smear him with sexual harassment accusations if Brooks didn't resign. He resigned--and the sexual harassment allegations were later found to be completely false...
...one month before the 2004 Democratic primary for the US Senate, Obama was way down in the polls, about to lose to Blair Hull, a multimillionaire securities trader. But then the Chicago Tribune--where Axelrod used to work--began publishing claims that Hull's second ex-wife, Brenda Saxton, had sought an order of protection against him during their 1998 divorce proceedings...Hull's substantial lead just a month before the primary collapsed with the nonstop media attention to his divorce records. Obama...won the primary."
Ok, now that that's out of the way, let's ponder for a moment. Is it a stretch of the imagination that dirty politics are played on the national stage? Is is a wonder that "anything goes" when one is fighting for the top jobs of US government power?
If the answer is "yes, I assume anything goes", then is it a wonder why good people don't run for office? Have you ever wondered why better choices are not given in an election? Have you ever wondered, "gee, not much of a choice here...guess it's the better of two evils"?
There are better people out there. There are exceptionally qualified people who should run. There are better choices.
But, like any good parent and spouse, they choose their family over politics. They know that fairness is NOT a part of our political "game", and that their loved ones could be the true victim in the road to the White House. I don't know the truth of what happened with Herman Cain and the women that are, 15 years later, coming out saying, "oh, he's a bad guy." What I do know is, if a true crime occurred, the evidence to exonerate Cain is long past...and the political operatives know it...and love the fact he can't possibly defend himself. Guilty until proven...well, there is no fair process in the court of public opinion.
How very sad. How very sad for his family. How very sad for our country.
Yet, I don't think he's the Republican's best ticket against President Obama. I just don't think he could win.
All that aside, the attacks against Cain have been relentless the past week. At first, I saw the "chink in the armor". I figured it was adios, amigo. Who's up to bat next?
But here's what's bothering me. I don't usually listen too much to Ann Coulter. She's pretty far to the extreme right for me...but...for argument's sake, let's just assume the following is "true" and then discuss:
"So it's curious that all the sexual harassment allegations against Cain emanate from Chicago: home of the Daley machine and Obama consigliere David Axelrod.
The Daley-controlled Illinois Restaurant Association works hand-in-glove with the National Restaurant Association. And strangely enough, Cain's short, three-year tenure at the NRA is evidently the only period in his decades-long career during which he's alleged to have been a sexual predator.
And now, after a week of conservative eye-rolling over unspecified, anonymous accusations against Cain, we've suddenly got very specific sexual assault allegations from an all-new accuser out of...Chicago.
Herman Cain has never lived in Chicago. But you know who has? David Axelrod! And guess who lived in Axelrod's very building? Right again: Cain's latest accuser, Sharon Bialek.
The reason all this is relevant is that both Axelrod and Daley have a history of smearing opponents by digging up claims of sexual misconduct against them. John Brooks, Chicago's former fire commissioner, filed a lawsuit against Daley six months ago claiming Daley threatened to smear him with sexual harassment accusations if Brooks didn't resign. He resigned--and the sexual harassment allegations were later found to be completely false...
...one month before the 2004 Democratic primary for the US Senate, Obama was way down in the polls, about to lose to Blair Hull, a multimillionaire securities trader. But then the Chicago Tribune--where Axelrod used to work--began publishing claims that Hull's second ex-wife, Brenda Saxton, had sought an order of protection against him during their 1998 divorce proceedings...Hull's substantial lead just a month before the primary collapsed with the nonstop media attention to his divorce records. Obama...won the primary."
Ok, now that that's out of the way, let's ponder for a moment. Is it a stretch of the imagination that dirty politics are played on the national stage? Is is a wonder that "anything goes" when one is fighting for the top jobs of US government power?
If the answer is "yes, I assume anything goes", then is it a wonder why good people don't run for office? Have you ever wondered why better choices are not given in an election? Have you ever wondered, "gee, not much of a choice here...guess it's the better of two evils"?
There are better people out there. There are exceptionally qualified people who should run. There are better choices.
But, like any good parent and spouse, they choose their family over politics. They know that fairness is NOT a part of our political "game", and that their loved ones could be the true victim in the road to the White House. I don't know the truth of what happened with Herman Cain and the women that are, 15 years later, coming out saying, "oh, he's a bad guy." What I do know is, if a true crime occurred, the evidence to exonerate Cain is long past...and the political operatives know it...and love the fact he can't possibly defend himself. Guilty until proven...well, there is no fair process in the court of public opinion.
How very sad. How very sad for his family. How very sad for our country.
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