Third Woman & Two Witnesses Accuse Herman Cain Of Sexual Harassment

By Margaret Hartmann | November 3, 2011 | 2:09am

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Herman Cain pointed out in his interview with Greta Van Susteren that he’s only been accused of sexual harassment twice in his long career, and we were pretty impressed with his superhuman ability to resist the urge to make unwanted sexual advances to the ladies. It’s really a travesty that we’re honoring dudes who just got shot at in some war while Cain is still walking around with no medal around his neck. But now, some people are suggesting that we should call off the ticker-tape parade just because a third woman says she considered filing a complaint against Cain for “agressive and unwanted” behavior while they worked together at the National Restaurant Association. And two men say they saw Cain behaving inappropriately with women. Okay, that does sound a little incriminating, but people seem to be forgetting that Cain already said any future allegations would be totally baseless.

Regardless, let’s hear what the woman has to say. The Associated Press reported today that it has located and interviewed a woman who says that Cain told colleagues at the restaurant association that he found her attractive and invited her to his corporate apartment after hours. She says his actions “were inappropriate, and it made me feel uncomfortable.” The woman, who talked to reporters on the condition of anonymity, says she never filed a formal complaint because she started having fewer interactions with Cain. She also knew of a complaint filed by one of the other two women whose allegations have come out this week, and says she would have felt obligated to make formal charges if the other woman hadn’t.

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Cain’s spokesman, J.D. Gordon, responded, “Mr. Cain has said over the past two days at public events that we could see other baseless allegations made against him as this appalling smear campaign continues.” Amazingly, within hours two men had come forward to say Cain behaved inappropriately with their coworkers. Chris Wilson, a Republican pollster who did work at the restaurant association, says that during a dinner in the late 1990s, he saw Cain make inappropriate comments and gestures to a young female employee. Wilson told Oklahoma City’s KTOK radio station:

“This occurred at a restaurant in Crystal City (Virginia), and everybody was aware of it … It was only a matter of time because so many people were aware of what took place, so many people were aware of her situation, the fact she left – everybody knew with the campaign that this would eventually come up.”

Wilson said he wouldn’t share any details without the woman’s permission, but added that the incident was “very uncomfortable” and other people at the table asked Cain to stop.

The Cain campaign is still confident that Americans will see through this smear campaign. In fact, they’re so confident that today modern-day Marlboro Man Mark Block, Cain’s campaign manager, alluded to another incident of alleged sexual harassment that hadn’t even come out yet. Block said:

“Mr. Cain has never sexually harassed anybody. Period. End of story … As the hours go by, it’s interesting that we even hear from a radio talk show host of Iowa that a receptionist thought that Mr. Cain’s comments were inappropriate.”

Politico investigated and found that Block was referring to an incident with a woman who works on conservative talk radio host Steve Deace’s show. In an email Deace said he took offense to, “awkward/inappropriate things he’s said to two females on my staff, that the fact the guy’s wife is never around…that’s almost always a warning flag to me.” There’s a secret rule that no one involved in this story can give a detailed answer, so when asked about what exactly went down, Deace said:

“Many a man has been done in by the inability to control his urges … I am no different and just as vulnerable as any other man, which is why I put safeguards around me and hold myself accountable to my wife and other men in my life. Especially since I have very talented employees that happen to be women. I go out of my way to treat them like my sisters. For example, I wouldn’t tell them or any other woman I am not married to nor related to how pretty she is.”

Now that this has been upgraded to a Category 4 shitstorm, it’s time to start searching for the guilty and blaming the innocent. Today Cain’s campaign accused Rick Perry’s operation of tipping off Politico about the original charges. Cain says that during a previous election, he told a political consultant about about the settlements he can barely recall. Now the consultant has signed on to Perry’s campaign. Perry’s spokesman made this astute observation:

“For a candidate and campaign that claim to be the victims of unfounded and unproven accusations, they are awfully quick to hurl unfounded accusations themselves.”

… Then suggested that it was totally Mitt Romney’s people. We’d like to point out that it also could’ve been Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, or even Jon Huntsman. We have no reason to believe that’s true, but we don’t want them to feel left out when all the other candidates are at each other’s throats during the next debate.

AP Exclusive: Third Former Worker Says Cain Harassed Her; Campaigns Trade Charges And Denials [AP]
GOP Pollster Makes Herman Cain Accusation [Politico]
Iowa Radio Host Accuses Herman Cain Of ‘Inappropriate’ Remarks [Politico]

Herman Cain’s Accuser Deserves A Chance To Talk
Cain Knows He Didn’t Sexual Harass Anyone, Can’t Recall Much Else