Judgment, character, respect traits needed in a president
Rarely do I disagree with Rehka Basu, America's finest journalist, who masquerades as an opinion writer twice weekly for the Des Moines Register, a treasure of a newspaper, that puts to shame all of the large and well known dailies in the country - i.e., NY Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Miamia Herald, LA Times, Chicago Trib, etc, etc, I agree with judgment, but, we don't really need men of character or respect holging the office of POTUS ... after all, we're talking about POLITICS, and, like sausage, we really don't want to see or know about what goes into making it. So, it's worth it to me to sacrifice character and respect for judgment, because from good judgment a modicum of self-policing: you have to be prepared for people uncovering what you've done, the lies you've told them and, since the truth ALWAYS comes out (at least some fractured version of it) and if you remember the media feeding frenzy against Bill Clinton, and also Richard Nixon - although their crimes can't legitimately be mentioned in the same sentence together -- the one ordered the plumbers to bug the democratic party's campaign offices, paid off guys in the know to not tell, felt that "it's not illegal if the president does it," while the other guy just lied about having sex with a woman who admittedly came on very strongly to him. Not even REMOTELY the same issues were involved. What do we want? Saints for President? Saints know better than to take the job - there is too much compromise of character, fundamental beliefs, etc, etc, to make it worth one's while; AND, in the U.S. as the power structures are currently configured, the President is not really all that powerful; he is merely a face on a system of exploitation that ultimately will eat it's own.
I must allow here, however, that Rehka might not have written the headline to her piece.
On Oct. 22, Herman Cain told the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition forum of his top guiding principle in life: “Do the right thing.”
“One of the things you will always be able to count on from Herman Cain is to do what is right,” the Republican presidential hopeful told conservative Christian voters.
Herman Cain will do what's right for Herman Cain, of this we can be assured.
Since news has surfaced of past sexual harassment accusations against Cain, resulting in five-figure payouts to two women, the former restaurant industry executive has done just about nothing right.
He's trying to save his political career, who knows, even his marriage - if his wife were to divorce him over this - it will cost a GINORMOUS chucnk of change.
He’s given contradictory responses, alternately denying anything happened, saying he was unaware of any settlement, or claiming to be only “vaguely familiar.” He has said he would have to see the specifics, but when given the name of an accuser, said he had thousands of people working for him.
On one day, he told different TV interviewers that if the National Restaurant Association had made a settlement because of him, he wasn’t aware of it; that he was aware of an agreement, but not a settlement; and, that in his opinion, there was no incident of sexual harassment, but maybe there was in the eye of “the person who thinks I crossed the line.”
Twelve years ago may be a long time, as he has asserted, for remembering certain things: Where you spent your birthday, maybe, or what car repairs you had done. But you would have to be either indifferent or lying to forget that two women on your staff were paid off to go away because of sexually inappropriate things they accused you of saying or doing to them.
This is not necessarily true. The staff may have acted independently, in an attempt to maintain the fiction that they "knew nothing of it," just covering to keep the boss from looking bad, and probably knowing, this was NOT the first time and second time he had displayed such boorish behavior.
Cain has since lashed out, first at unnamed factions he claimed were trying to destroy him, who oppose “a candidate trying to put specific bold ideas on the table.” He’s hinted at racism. Now, he’s blaming Rick Perry’s campaign because a former Cain strategist to whom Cain told of one sexual harassment payout in 2003 now works for the Perry campaign. So after claiming not to have thought of these events in 12 years, it turns out he discussed them in 2003 with a Senate campaign adviser.
Oops on you, Cain.
Even before these allegations surfaced, when Cain named Clarence Thomas as one of the leaders he admires most, it seemed an odd choice in light of Anita Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment against the Supreme Court justice. Thomas, at the time, called it a high-tech lynching of “uppity blacks.”
Hardly seems an odd choice at all. Thomas suffered and endured, and became a Supreme Court Justice. HE GOT AWAY WITH IT, although it was personally uncomfortable to him. HE GOT AWAY WITH IT, of course, this would be very attractive at some unconscious level to Cain.
What Thomas REALLY meant was "by uppity black BITCHES," but, a sense of decorum prevented him from making such an honest statement.
Now, Cain seems to be borrowing a page from Thomas’ book in his own responses.
But of course; Thomas is his hero, his role model.
So far, neither the sexual harassment allegations nor Cain’s responses seem to concern Iowa Republicans much.
Which pretty much says it all for Iowa Republicans - IOKIARDI - It's Okay If A Republican Does It. Which, by the way, has a corrollary amongst Democrats: IOKIADDI.
“Iowa yawns at Cain allegations,” Politico reported on Wednesday, echoing similar findings by The Des Moines Register.
Well, never let it be said that this country had much respect for or placed much value on its women, or the contributions they have made to its growth and development. However, we, as a nation, have even LESS respect or compassion for our children.
Politico quoted Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad saying, “Just because somebody makes an accusation — anybody that’s in a high-profile position has the potential to have people make these kinds of accusations …”
Yeah, right. Slander, libel, character assassination - there are LAWS on the books to punish severely those who go bearing false witness.
But they were more than just accusations. There were payouts, and these were before Cain was running for president.
Note here the greatness of Rehka Basu, reporter. She does NOT let us forget these fairly damning facts.
The state coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, Gregg Cummings, said it wasn’t a big issue because “the urgency of making sure that we get a conservative candidate to win the primaries is of greater concern to most of the tea party folks right now.”
Good Lord in Heaven. I consider my party alignment to be Tea Party, at least for what it did in my part of the world in bringing to light voting irregularities that exist in the state of Illinois, AND IN PARTICULAR for saying, flat out, "ILLEGAL ALIENS DO NOT VOTE; THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING TO DRAW ATTENTION TO THEMSELVES." Which is more truth on that particular issue than any of the major dailies can seem to find time to report.
I called Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition (formerly the Iowa Christian Alliance) to see if he, too, would give Cain a pass. He said that most Iowans want to give Cain the benefit of the doubt but that the issue won’t be laid to rest until Cain speaks candidly about what did or didn’t happen. If the allegations are unfounded, he said, that shouldn’t hurt him. I agree.
Innocent 'til proven guilty? In a court of what? Public opinion?
Where I disagree is that Scheffler draws no distinction between sexual harassment and adultery in egregiousness.
The only aspect of human sexuality that the so-called "Christian Right" cares about is the enforcement of women to bear full responsibility for the sexual encounters, EVEN IF THEY HAVE BEEN RAPED, and bring all the little fetuses to birth. At which point in time, the so-called "Christian Right" can rail about how people of certain politicallyi ncorrect to name minorities can be chastised for popping out babies to get U.S. Federal Government money for not having to work. There is a stench of hypocrisy so rank and fetid that it turns my stomach.
“I would see sexual harassment or somebody breaking their marriage vows as both equally wrong,” he said. “As a Bible-believing Christian, I don’t believe the Bible says there is a greater or lesser sin.”
Weasel words. In other words, Adolph Hitler for his extermination of 6,000,000 Jews and 600,000 gypsies and Bill Clinton for accepting Monica Lewinsky's advances are equally sinful. The rank hypocrisy of the so-called Christian right DISGUSTS ME TO THE CORE OF MY BEING.
Scheffler likened Cain to Newt Gingrich, whom he said Iowans are willing to forgive for his adulterous past because he had met with pastors, admitted to making mistakes and taken responsibility.
So, then, had Adolph Hitler merely met with pastors, admitted to making mistakes, and taken responsibility, he too would be an acceptable candidate for the office of POTUS, if only he had been born an American citizen?
But sexual harassment is illegal and has victims.
Watch and read very carefully at what Rehka does from here on out. You are going to get CONTEXT, no moral equivalence. You are going to get FACTS that are RELEVANT to this story; VERY RELEVANT. This is the reporter's art and craft, their gift to us. They don't give us their opinions, they give us the FACTS, just the facts!
Last year, nearly 12,000 sexual harassment complaints were filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, of which half were deemed to have reasonable cause. Eleven percent resulted in settlements.
It’s possible that Cain’s behavior in both cases was relatively inoffensive and the restaurant association just wanted to make the accusers go away. It’s also possible that Cain repeatedly engaged in egregious conduct.
We can't know the answer to this. But, both are possible. We probably never will know the answer (unless the Limo driver comes forward to affirm the allegators allegations). THIS is what fair and balanced is about.
The issue here isn’t cheap tricks by political opponents or accusers dredging up old news, or gotcha journalism or conservative black men. It’s about the judgment, character, common sense, respect and lawfulness necessary to be president. Even Cain’s most ardent supporters should demand he come clean about what happened.
I disagree. Assuming, as I do, that he did everything he was accused of, unless he was so drunk that he blacked out and didn't know and cannot remember what he was doing -- yes, we want presidents of THAT kind -- his best course of action is to RESIGN NOW from the race, issue some pro forma statement decrying the ugliness of politics and the scandalous nature of people seeking fame and fortune (thereby leaving doubt in some minds), and maintain that he was railroaded all the long. That way, PERHAPS, he and his family can tell their story, as victims, and, maybe even, for a few tiny moments a day, to believe it.
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