Tag Archives: 2012 Republican Presidential Field
Let the feeding frenzy begin; Cain faces potential campaign finance, tax law violations
Herman Cain, the Pizza Man who would be king, is getting his political baptism of fire this week; the media sharks are circling, smelling blood in the water surrounding sexual harassment allegations, and now some more chum has been thrown into the mix with another probable scandal concerning corporate donations.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel‘s reporting that writer Daniel Bice has obtained information suggesting alleging a private Wisconsin-based company footed tens of thousands of dollars to Cain’s campaign to help get it off the ground providing financing of private chartered flights, iPads and additional travel and campaign expenses. It appears “Mister Outside” may have violated federal campaign finance and tax laws. Of course when asked about the allegations Cain was unable to address them.
“I’m not aware of this report, so my staff has not had time to go through it,” he said in an interview with Fox News. “I’m not aware of it. They’re not aware of it. We are going to look at the report and see if there is any validity.”
Yeah, you go ahead and do that Pizza Man, look into it and never let us know. No doubt it will be another, “there’s absolutely no truth to these allegations” moment; but welcome to the big leagues Mr. Outsider, this is what it means to run for the presidency.
Coulter Blames Liberals for Herman Cain’s Sexual Harassment?
The Banshee of the uber-conservative talking heads has decided where the truth lies regarding the charges of sexual harassment against Herman Cain; and it isn’t on the Pizza Man’s shoulders. “There’s nothing liberals fear more than a black conservative,” Ann Coulter asserted on Geraldo At Large over the weekend. “This is an outrageous attack on a black conservative who is doing extremely well and I think will be our vice presidential candidate.” Later, in response to fellow conservative Juan Williams challenging her logic, she laughingly claimed, “Right-wingers never bring up personal attacks like this.”
“This is the conservative Republican establishment going after Herman Cain,” Williams retorted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRzk4T_As8U&feature=player_embedded
What was very interesting in all this exchange is while Geraldo required Williams to back up his assertion he apparently never thought to require Coulter to do the same.
Williams said – very logically – that liberals hadn’t yet spun up opposition research operations against Cain. “For the last 10 days, the Republican establishment has been going after Herman Cain,” Williams said, pointing out Cain’s comments on abortion and his tax plan have been attacked by conservatives. “A lot of that has come from people like Grover Norquist who’ve said, ‘This (the 9-9-9 plan) is going to drive up your taxes, don’t fall for it.’ So this is the Republican establishment. Karl Rove, Grover, those guys.”
The Banshee of course had nothing to truly counter Williams evidence, “Number one, right-wingers never bring up personal attacks like this.” After cleaning off my computer screen from my spit takes, I thought, “Really Ms. Coulter, conservatives don’t make personal attacks”? Well, how about Mike Huckabee’s attacks against Mitt Romney’s faith in 2007, and again this past month by Rick Perry? What about allegations against John McCain by the Bush machine in 2000 regarding a “black child” during the lead up to the South Carolina primaries?
Williams pointed out that right now Cain has no liberal opponent. “What he’s running against is Mitt Romney, Rick Perry. Those are the people who are right now fighting, battling Herman Cain and who are being hurt by Herman Cain’s tremendous success… This is a political fight going on for the Republican nomination among Republicans and the split inside there is between Republican establishment and grass roots Tea Party folks – most of whom right now have been going with Herman Cain.”
The Banshee is – as always – off her nut, and completely ignorant to real political facts; Williams however, as a conservative pundit who really pays attention to politics and not just attacking liberals, is spot on with his analysis. Does Coulter really think the Democratic Party is afraid of Herman Cain? He would be a great candidate to run against, and would be torn not just to shreds, but to little tiny shreds by the President in a debate.
Would you like a side order of sexual harassment with that pizza?
If reports are to be believed there’s new meaning to Herman “Pizza Man” Cain’s 999 plan, as in, I’ll sexually harass you 9 times, 9 different ways before 9 a.m. The Republican Tea Party (GOTP) presidential candidate is refusing to directly address a media report alleging he’d been accused of sexually suggestive behavior toward at least two female employees while he was the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.
Still, Cain acknowledged: “I do have a sense of humor and some people have a problem with that.”
Which means he was “sexually aggressive” and later tried to claim it was a joke; that’s a good plan, no one’s ever tried that line before?
“C’mon baby, can’t you take a little joke”?
“I will take all your arrows,” Pizza Man said while talking up his 999 v 3.0 tax plan at the American Enterprise Institute, where the “moderators” refused to allow questions about the allegations.
When asked directly if the allegations cast a shadow over his 9-9-9 tax plan, he responded: “I am going by the ground rules that my hosts have set.” Wink, wink …
As he was leaving the stage, he stopped, turned to the crowd and talked about his sense of humor without providing any context. He said his staff tells him to be himself – or “Let Herman be Herman.”
He added: “Herman is going to stay Herman.”
Which means, “Watch out ladies.”
Pizza Man’s campaign is now engaging in full-scale damage control mode in the wake of a Politico report late Sunday suggesting Cain had been accused of sexual harassment toward at least two female employees. The report said the women signed agreements with the restaurant group that gave them five-figure financial payouts to leave the association and barred them from discussing their departures. Neither woman was identified.
The report was based on anonymous sources and, in one case, what the publication said was a review of documentation that described the allegations and the resolution.
Cain, who claims to be an “outsider” in spite of his years as a DC Lobbyist and having served on the Fed, is of course facing higher scrutiny after a burst of momentum in the race for the GOTP chief clown nomination.
Pizza Man’s “campaign manager” Mark “Cancer Man” Block told MSNBC that “Herman Cain has never sexually harassed anybody. Period. End of story.” Block said he’s spoken to Cain about the Politico report and “he said emphatically the story is not true.”
But of course a payout says differently; you don’t settle with a complainant unless there’s some validity to the allegation.
Cancer Man added, “I am not personally aware of any cash settlement relating to sexual harassment charges to Mr. Cain” and referred questions about whether there were settlements to the National Restaurant Association.
The Associated Press reported Sunday it had received a statement from Pizza Man’s campaign asserting once again Politico’s was bogus.
“Inside-the-Beltway media have begun to launch unsubstantiated personal attacks on Cain,” spokesman J.D. Gordon whined. “Dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from Mr. Cain’s tenure as the Chief Executive Officer at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, political trade press are now casting aspersions on his character and spreading rumors that never stood up to the facts.”
All claims of a payout aside of course.
“These are baseless allegations,” Gordon said in a second interview. “To my knowledge, this is not an accurate story.”
Which means he doesn’t know if it’s true or not.
Politico however is saying Gordon has said Cain himself had indicated to campaign officials he was “vaguely familiar” with the charges and that the restaurant association’s general counsel had resolved the matter.
Politico’s also saying it confronted Cain early Sunday outside of the CBS News Washington bureau, where he had just been interviewed on “Face the Nation.”
“I am not going to comment on that,” he said when asked specifically about one of the woman’s claims.
When asked if he had ever been accused of harassment by a woman, he responded, Politico said, by asking the reporter, “Have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?”
So, Mr Cain, running for the Presidency responds to a reporter’s question by asking the reporter the same question back? How third grade of him; exactly the type of person we need in the White House. Could it be there’s more to the story? Could it be where there’s smoke, there’s going to be fire? Could it be the Pizza Man’s a player? Could it be Cain’s just one more conservative “family values” candidate who has none?
Occupy protests aren’t spontaneous?
Michele “Krazy” Bachmann weighed in on the Occupy Wall Street movement after having gone by one of the protests in Washington D.C. a couple days before. Appearing on CNN, she suggested the demonstrators should be targeting the president, not Wall Street.
“I don’t know how spontaneous these protests were, but it seems to be that their anger should be directed at the White House. Because Barack Obama’s policies have put us in one of the worst tailspins, economically, that we have,” Bachmann said. “And maybe that’s why the protest that I saw was within shouting distance of the White House.”
Well, actually Krazy it’s been the policies of you and your fellow do-nothings in the GOTP House and Senate who’ve blocked basically everything the President’s attempted to do. So, you’re half right – the protestors shouldn’t be directing all of their angst at Wall Street, and good portion of it ought to be directed towards Congress, particularly towards the GOTP side of the aisle.
Speaking later San Francisco, Krazy let it out that she wasn’t happy with the protestors hygiene; “At least the Tea Party picks up their own trash.”
How very insightful Michele – in a 1950s domesticated, subservient, housewivey sort of way.
Fear not 99%, Mitt knows how you feel?
Not to be out done by the Pizza Man, Mittens Romney has also chimed in on the “Occupy” protests, telling a small crowd at a retirement community in Florida, he was unsympathetic of the Occupy Wall Street movement. “I think it’s dangerous, this class warfare,” he said. Romney declined to comment further when asked about the protests by ABC. His response? “I’m just trying to get myself to occupy the White House.”
Yep, that’s it in a nut shell; all Mittens cares about is occupying the White House – god luck with that Mittens; you hold on to that happy thought – that and some fairy dust and one day you’ll fly!
Of course later Romney had to walk back his comments. “I worry about the 99 percent in America,” he said, later adding, “I understand how those people feel.”
Please Mitt, you don’t have a fricken blue clue how these people feel; the only time you went hungry was when the maid was off and you had no one to fix lunch for yourself, and couldn’t work the microwave – that was a hard day now wasn’t it?
Birthers and the GOTP Candidates
Not since Donald “the Hair” Trump dropped his run for the Republican Tea Party (GOTP) presidential nomination has the issue of President Barack Obama’s citizenship been raised, but now it seems the Reverend Ricky Perry is attempting to rekindle the birther conspiracy anew.
Apparently Reverend Ricky met with “the Hair” last month in New York City, and later told Parade Magazine he has no “definitive” answer on whether the president was born in the United States. “It’s a good issue to keep alive. It’s fun to poke at him,” he told John Harwood in a follow-up interview.
“It’s a good issue to keep alive”?
“It’s fun to poke at him”?
These are the types of comments that have catapulted Perry to bottom dwelling mud sucking stature in recent polling; we haven’t seen this type of ignorance in a GOTP candidate since another Texan vacated the White House recently.
But wait, what have other GOTP contenders said about the President’s illegitimacy?
Well, way back in March, just before she started her ill-fated run for the White House, Michele “Krazy” Bachmann said if she were to run the very first thing she’d do is offer up her birth certificate.
And of course like any good candidate courting the fringe uber-conservative Tea Party vote, Bachmann has hinted at cynicism of where exactly the President was born, but when asked on ABC’s Good Morning America, she said that it wasn’t for her to say, and that Americans should take the president at his word.
The very next month found Krazy still being quite lucid, and she said it was time to move on from the birther debate when ABC’s George Stephanopoulos showed her an official copy of the president’s birth certificate. “Well, that should settle it,” she said. “Yeah, there you go; because that is not the main issue facing the United States right now.”
However, all you have to do to make a conservative turn “Krazy” is ask them a question on FOX PAC and BAAAAM! In a recent interview with FOX, Krazy was critical of the president for not immediately addressing the question of his citizenship:
“It’s an interesting issue that has gone on for so long, and it’s one that the president could have solved very early on. All he had to do was just answer some questions and show his document, and then people do an attestation that this in fact is a legal document, and it’s over, it’s done. And I think the president has neglected to focus on answering that question for people, and that’s why a lot of people still have it lingering on their minds.”
When he was first asked about the subject during an interview with the Atlantic back in February, Herman Cain replied, “I have no idea (if he was born here) … because I have not reviewed all the various ‘proof’ one way or another.” He went on, “That’s not a yes or a no. I don’t know. I don’t have a dog in that fight.”
By this summer however Cain was singing a different tune, suggesting in an interview that the President wasn’t a citizen, but had been “raised in Kenya.” The assertion came in Cain’s explanation for why he doesn’t consider himself an African American, but rather an “American. Black. Conservative.” Obama, on the other hand, is “more of an international,” he said.
Perry and Bachmann’s opinions are meaningless – just like their respective candidacies – but Cain’s in the big leagues now and can ill afford to be placed amongst the lunatics of the GOTP travelling circus; the fact he’s not capable of dismissing this argument shows just how desperate he is to court the crazy fringe element of the FOX watching, talk radio kool-aid drinking Tea Party rallying uber-conservatives – the same ones who will not vote for a black man when it actually becomes time to pull the lever.
GOTP Getting Too ‘Extreme’ To Win Election
According to the Huffington Post, televangelist Pat Robertson said on his show “The 700 Club,” that the Republican Tea Party (GOTP) has become a bit too extreme.
Robertson reportedly quoted Lyndon Johnson when he found himself being pushed from the moderate center, “Don’t these people realize that if they push me over to an extreme position, I’ll lose the election?”
Robertson said if candidates venture into heavily radical territory, it could cost Republicans the general election.
“Those people in the Republican primary have got to lay off of this stuff,” he exclaimed. “If they want to lose, this is the game for losers.”
This should be a clarion wake up call to the GOTP contenders; you know you’ve gone too far into weeds when Pat Robertson says you’ve become too extreme to win.
Latest 2012 Presidential Polls – 25 Oct 11 Edition
A new CBS News poll conducted 19 – 24 Oct 11 has been released concerning the Republican Tea Party (GOTP) nominating circus; the current poll results are:
Herman “Pizza Man” Cain 25; Mittens Romney 21; Newter Gingrich 10; Ronny Paul 8; Reverend Rick Perry 6; Michele “Krazy” Bachmann 2; Jon “I can’t believe it’s not butter” Huntsman and Ricky “The Ric” Santorum 1
The GOTP Comedy of Errors continues and the Pizza Man continues to lead in the polls, having bounced back to the top, which has got to be driving Mittens absolutely crazy – but this is what happens when you get in a hissy slap fest with Perry. Speaking of Reverend Ricky, he’s plummeted into the realm of bottom dwelling mud suckers flying past Paul, while Newter is apparently enjoying some buoyancy from acting like the only adult in the room during the last GOTP debate; Krazy’s hanging in there in her rubber room of political purgatory only one point higher in the polls than Huntsman and Santorum.
In Iowa, a new Univ. of Iowa poll conducted 12 – 19 Oct 11: Cain 37; Romney 27; Paul 12; Gingrich 9; Bachmann 8; Perry 7; Santorum 4 and Huntsman 2 …
In New Hampshire, the Insider Advantage poll conducted 16 Oct 11 shows Mittens’ lead being cut into a little by Cain; poll results: Mittens 39; Cain 24; Paul 11; Gingrich, Huntsman and Bachmann 5; Perry 2 and Santorum and Huntsman 0 …
In South Carolina, the Insider Advantage poll conducted 16 Oct 11 shows the “Pizza Man” jumping way out ahead of Mittens: Cain 32; Romney 16; Perry 12; Gingrich 8; Paul 7; Bachmann 6; Huntsman 1 and Santorum 0 …
In Florida, the Insider Advantage poll shows Mittens holding on: Romney 33; Cain 30; Gingrich 12; Perry and Paul 3; Bachmann 2; Huntsman and Santorum 0 …
In Nevada, the PPP (D) poll conducted from 20 – 23 Oct 11 shows Mittens barely leading: Romney 29; Cain 28; Gingrich 15; Paul 7; Perry 6; Bachmann 3; Huntsman and Santorum 2 …
In the five states with the lead off primaries or caucuses Romney leads Cain 3-2 – but barely; last week I thought Cain couldn’t maintain his top ranking (Latest 2012 Presidential Polls 20 Oct 11 Edition); if he can maintain his momentum it will begin to become harder and harder for Romney to pull off the nomination – I still think it’s highly doubtful Cain can stay on top, except for the Mormon factor amongst Evangelical Christians. Gingrich is the surprise right now having floated upwards into the middle of the polling; Newter’s biggest problems are his infidelity and his tendency to come across as a snotty Little Lord Fauntleroy.
According to the new Associated Press/GfK poll conducted 13 – 17 Oct 11, if the general election were held today:
President Obama 48/Romney 45
President Obama 49/Cain 43
President Obama 51/Perry 42
In a Rasmussen Reports poll from 13 Oct 11:
President Obama 49/Gingrich 34
And no one else matters because none of the remaining candidates has a snow ball’s chance of ever winning the GOTP nomination but at least they’re providing entertainment …
If the GOTP clown car had finally stopped spinning, and the general election was held today, the Pizza Man would once again be the GOTP candidate, and once again he would have lost to President Obama.
Bachmann’s entire paid staff in New Hampshire runs away
The Associated Press (AP) is reporting that Republican Tea Party (GOTP) presidential candidate Michele “Krazy” Bachmann is losing her entire New Hampshire staff – all five of them.
Bachmann spokeswoman Alice Stewart disputed reports of a staff shakeup, saying: “We have a great team in New Hampshire. We haven’t been notified that anyone’s left the campaign.”
Still, Stewart reportedly said she hadn’t been able to reach the top New Hampshire staff to confirm they were still on board. She said she had reached some junior staffers who didn’t say they were leaving.
Meanwhile sources close to the White Star Line are denying there’s anything wrong on board the RMS Titanic, and no one should assume that just because they can’t contact the ship that anything’s gone wrong.
Campaign finance reports show that Krazy, who has fallen in polls and struggled to raise money, had (what a coincidence) five paid staff in New Hampshire as recently as late September.
The once GOTP presidential headliner has largely ignored the first-in-the-nation primary state in recent months. She has been focused on Iowa and South Carolina, where her social conservative message has more appeal.
Krazy hasn’t visited New Hampshire very often since launching her presidential campaign in June, and since mistaking it for Massachusetts (that whole darned “shot heard round the world” mistake) and Stewart acknowledged a greater focus on Iowa, where Bachmann was born and where she won the GOP’s presidential straw poll in August.
According to Bachmann aides, her Iowa staff consists of 11 paid members, including her national political director who relocated to Iowa this fall. The staff is among the larger teams in the leadoff caucus state; a state where she’s polling in fourth place behind Cain, Romney and Gingrich. Someone please stick her with a fork.
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