On the very same day that The Des Moines Register published their much anticipated poll of Iowa voters showing that Herman Cain was leading the Republican field at 23%, Politico published a story reporting that the National Restaurant Association paid two former female employees five-figure separation packages in exchange for non-disclosure agreements relating to their accusations of sexual harassment against him.
If left unrefuted, allegations of past sexual harassment will surely sink Cain’s campaign. Cain’s response to the charges so far has been to deflect, not deny them. Reached for comment by Politico, Cain said he would not comment “until I see some facts or concrete evidence.” Given the name of one of the women involved, Cain said, “I am not commenting on that.” Asked point blank, “Have you ever been accused, sir, in your life of harassment by a woman?” Cain only answered with a question, “Have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?”
Cain’s campaign later issued an official response to the story, but it was a classic non-denial denial. The statement,issued by spokesman J.D. Gordon, calls the Politico story “thinly sourced” but never specifically denies the charges.
The Associated Press followed up with Gordon and pressed him for a firm denial. This is the best they got from him: “These are baseless allegations. To my knowledge, this is not an accurate story.”
Notice the qualifier: “To my knowledge.” Gordon did not say that he had talked to Herman Cain and that Cain denied the story. Just that, to his knowledge, Gordon did not think it was true. This is another insufficient response.
Cain is supposed to visit the American Enterprise Institute to stump for his 9-9-9 tax plan today, and is also scheduled to speak at a luncheon at the National Press Club. Unless Cain wants the rest of his campaign to be about sexual harassment, he must directly answer these charges as soon as possible.
Around the Bigs
The Wall Street Journal, Slow Recovery Feels Like Recession: Economic statistics, including the fact that median income has continued to fall since the recession ended, show that the Obama recovery feels an awful lot like a recession.
The Washington Examiner, House GOP may subpoena White House on Solyndra: A White House announcement of an “independent” investigation into the Energy Department’s loan guarantee program did not dissuade House Republicans from pursuing their own investigation into Solyndra-linked policy. The House Energy and Commerce Committee will meet Thursday to vote on whether or not to subpoena the White House for documents relates to the program.
The Washington Post, The dangerous debate over cutting military spending: In an op-ed, Robert Samuelson says we can’t gut defense to balance the budget: “People who see military cuts as an easy way to reduce budget deficits forget that this has already occurred. From the late 1980s to 2010, the number of America’s armed forces dropped from 2.1 million men and women to about 1.4 million.”
USA Today, Oakland protesters organize citywide strike: Occupy Oakland is urging all Oakland residents, not to go to work Wednesday in honor of a general strike. The occupiers are planning three marches: at 9 AM, noon, and 5 PM. They also plan to shut down the Port of Oakland. Occupy Oakland hopes other groups will organize similar events nationwide.
CNN, Dozens of Occupy protesters arrested in Texas, Oregon: Authorities in Portland, Oregon, and Austin, Texas, arrest more than 50 protesters from the Occupy movement early Sunday morning. Both cities say the occupiers were trespassing and violating city ordinances.
Rigthy Playbook
The Examiner‘s Tim Carney calls Mitt Romney the Mr. Collins of the GOP field: “The Republicans are Charlotte Lucas, and Mitt Romney is their Mr. Collins. Republicans are serial settlers when it comes to the presidency. Almost every time, GOP primary voters pick the “respectable,” connected and seemingly safe pick.”
Glenn Reynolds says Obama’s student loan plan won’t fix the inflated college loan bubble: “At best, it’s a band-aid solution. The real problem is that we’ve been running a higher education bubble, one that — like the real-estate bubble — has been pumped up by cheap government money. Since 1999, student loan debt has increased by 511%, while disposable income has increased by only 73%.”
At Investor’s Business Daily, Jed Graham notes that Rick Perry economic analysis assumes a 50% percent to GDP growth, three times as high as the growth The Heritage Foundation used to analyze Paul Ryan’s Path to Prosperity.
Lefty Playbook
The Center for Economic and Policy Research‘s Dean Baker attacks The Washington Post for reporting that Social Security has had a negative cash flow since 2009: “Under the law, as long as their is money in the trust fund, then Social Security is able to pay full benefits. There is literally no other possible interpretation of the law.”
Matt Yglesias wants to let children vote: “If we extended the vote to more children, my guess is that relatively few of them would exercise it. But those who did would come from an unusually dedicated and informed sub-set of American teenagers.”
At Eschaton, Jay Ackroyd reports that the Longshore Workers Union, will honor Occupy Oakland’s general strike.
Pictuce from Patrick Gavin via Twitter.
