GayPatriot

The Internet home for American gay conservatives.

The GOP’s fruitless search in 2012 for a real Reagan Republican?

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Where, I asked in January, “is the conservative candidate at this conservative moment?” “In the current contest, . . . no candidate has emerged to take on Reagan’s mantle.”  In their search for a charismatic and principled conservatives who could rally the party faithful, many Republican voters, dissatisfied with the frontrunner and eager to find an alternative, have embraced, at various points during the campaign, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and now Rick Santorum.

Unlike Bachmann, Cain or Gingrich, however, Santorum has never really embraced the libertarian economic policies which defined the Gipper’s domestic policies — and now form the basis for the Tea Party’s agenda.  Moreover, as Ace observes, echoing John Podhoretz, Santorum lacks Reagan’s sunny disposition:

Santorum’s problem, again and again, is that he doesn’t want to make apositive uplifting case for things. He might have given a speech encouraging a newfound, recovered respect for the trades. He might have given a speech about the positive virtue of sweat. And it’s importance in America.

Instead he just brands those who wish their kids to go to college “snobs.”

Taking issue not with Santorum’s tone, but with the content of his recent robocall (faulting Romney for supporting TARP while opposing the auto bailouts), Jay Nordlinger seems dumbfounded, “And this is our guy? Santorum is the conservatives’ guy?”

Many conservatives supported the bank bailout and opposed the auto bailout. You can look up arguments within NR editorials. Conservatives all over the country, in all sorts of forums, made arguments for and against — for and against either bailout. Those arguments continue now, retrospectively.

But is there any thinking or respectable conservative who uses Rick Santorum’s language — the bank bailout was for Mitt Romney’s “Wall Street billionaire buddies” while Michigan workers got their faces slapped? (Santorum opposed the auto bailout, too. Was he slapping workers’ faces?) [Read more…]

As Herman Cain withdraws from ’12 presidential contest

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Unlike Bruce, I never backed Herman Cain‘s presidential bid.  I did appreciate his charisma and his ability to articulate the conservative economic message, particularly while offering his experience creating jobs in the private sector, a leader who helped businesses become financially sound.

And as an outsider in a year when people are becoming increasingly disenchanted with Washington, Herman Cain had, for a moment, a strong appeal.

But, he wasn’t prepared for the hostile media that all surging Republicans face.  Nor could he flesh out his ideas on a great variety of issues, foreign and domestic.  Beyond his 9-9-9 plan, he lacked a bold plan for comprehensive reform — which Washington desperately needs.

His appeal, in short, was his charisma — his ability to articulate the conservative message — and his outsider status.  But, he couldn’t build on that.

As he withdraws, Patricia Murphy of the Daily Beast asks, “Where are Jeb Bush and Chris Christie when their party needs them?”

My question exactly.

Rush: Newt is proudly, confidently articulating conservative ideals

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Last night, as I was preparing for bed, I caught a bit of Greta van Susteren’s On the Record, particularly that segment when she offers us a clip of Rush Limbaugh.  So much did Rush’s point about Newt Gingrich’s surge in the polls resonate that I googled my favorite passage and alighted on his most excellent monologue in which he gets not only the rise of Newt, but also the recent appeal of Herman Cain.

Each man, Cain and Gingrich, do have the ability to articulate conservative principles.  Cain is an outsider, not part of a political class about whom Americans have become increasingly suspicious these last few years.  Newt is a master of policy, but even in coming to master policy, he has not lost sight, at least rhetorically, of those principles which have defined the conservative movement at least since Reagan’s celebrated speech in 1964.

So, let me just leave you with Rush’s monologue of November 18:

First principles are the answer.  First principles, first conservative constitutional principles are the answer.  Articulating that as fact with depth and conviction is what the people of this country want.  We and the rest of the people of this country are sick and tired of careful politicians, business as usual politicians.  We are fed up and exhausted with people who measure their comments. . . . Robust liberty and freedom for the American people is the answer, and then a government willing, after unleashing that, to get out of its way is the answer. [Read more…]

Building on that explanation of media’s Cain obsession

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It’s not just CNN.  Glenn Reynolds sums it up:

THE SOLYNDRA-OBAMA TIES: “While everyone else in the political universe is chasing down rumors about Herman Cain making women uncomfortable, Fox News got down on the real scandal: President Obama giving a half-billion dollars of public money to a major campaign donor.”

Wonder how many stories Politico ran on Solyndra or Fast and Furious where the best that can be said for the Attorney General is that he’s incompetent.

Cain Accuser: Serial Frivolous Complaint Filer?

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Remember how Democrats attempted to discredit Paula Jones when she leveled accusations of sexual harassment against the then-sitting President of the United States?  Of course, they based their descriptions of Clinton’s accuser not on the facts of her life, but on prejudices against lower middle class white women.  “Drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park,” Clinton advisor James Carville said, “you never know what you’ll find.”

Well, now that Herman Cain’s first accuser has been identified, we’re finding that she’s not similar to another image from left-wing lore, the hard-working women victimized by the evil Republican boss.  Now, to be sure, some bosses are indeed boorish and to prey on their attractive female employees.  And they should be held to account for their actions.

But, it doesn’t seem Herman Cain is such a man.  Seems the woman who accused the Republican of sexual harassment filed another complaint at her next job.  Ace, who alerted me to the article speculates that she suffers from “Complainey-Face Syndrome“:

Kraushaar’s former supervisor at the INS, who was named in Kraushaar’s complaint, characterized the 2003 complaint to ABC News as “frivolous,” and said Kraushaar may have been offered a few extra sick days as compensation.

The supervisor alleged that Kraushaar had a “poor work ethic.”

The supervisor, a self-described Democrat, decided to speak out about Kraushaar’s complaint because of “doubts about her credibility.”

This is why it is unfair for women accusing of sexual harassment to hide behind their anonymity. When they’re anonymous, we can’t confirm the veracity of their accusations. “She,” Ace adds

. . . tried to get a ridiculous amount of money out of the INS — plus a pricey paid year off and paid tuition at grad school! — over a vague complaint of “unfair treatment.” Because she wasn’t permitted to work from home — how many people are? or were, especially, in 2002 or whenever?

You can bet if the accused were a Democrat, our friends at Politico would have unearthed this information before filing their story.  And if, on that occasion, they even ran the story, the past of the accuser would play a very prominent part, perhaps figuring in its very headline.

He said. She said. I don’t know.

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Sometime yesterday afternoon (Pacific time), after reading a brief summary of the details of Sharon Bialek’s accusation, but before finding out about f the affidavits, I wondered how much due diligence Gloria Allred had done.  Had Bialek named friends or acquaintances who could corroborate her story?  Had Miss Allred obtained affidavits from said individuals?  (Only when I learned she had did I begin to consider that there might be some truth to this tale.)

Had the female publicity hound contacted the hotel in Washington to see if Miss Bialek had rented a room?  Had Mr. Cain called to upgrade it?  Did she ask for flight records, etc.?

Now, to be sure, this happened fourteen years ago and most people don’t keep records that old, but still did she even try to track them down?  Well, seems a conservative blogger is doing the work she has apparently failed to do.  Jim Geraghty reports that he

put in a call to the Washington Hilton; one aspect of Bialek’s story should be fairly easy to verify, presuming the Hilton Corporation holds records from 1997: did Herman Cain rent a suite at the Capital Hilton in Washington D.C.?

As the multiple updates to my post yesterday indicate, I remain skeptical about Bialek’s credibility, neither convinced that she’s lying nor that she’s telling the truth.

If the charges are true, we do know that he behaved better than Bill Clinton had in similar circumstances.  When the woman said, “No,” he acceded to her request.  Mr. Clinton did not show such respect for the wishes of several women.  And yet feminists and women in the media rewarded him with their votes, support and enthusiasm while the media pillory Mr. Cain.  Mercilessly. [Read more…]

A Cain Accuser talks

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Among the many things I am currently reading about Sharon Bialek, the only woman to make public her accusations against Republican presidential contender Herman Cain, this one thing stood out, “Bialek does not intend to go forward with a lawsuit against Cain.”

If that’s the case, then why is Democratic attorney Gloria Allred on the case? That said, the publicity hound has “offered sworn affidavits from two friends to whom Bialek spoke shortly after the alleged encounter.”

That fact alone gives this accuser more credibility than the other alleged victims.  Indeed, as Jim Hoft puts it, citing twitter traffic, “she is as believable as Juanita Broderick (sic) was when she accused Bill Clinton of rape.”  And generating far more media attention for conduct far less offensive.

Cain, she alleges, “reached under her skirt in 1997 as she sought help in finding a job“, but did not persist when she rebuffed his advances.  Mr. Clinton persisted when Ms. Broaddrick rebuffed his.  This is not to diminish the allegations, but to wonder at the media circus.  As Andrew Klavan puts it:

Not only is the news coverage of alleged sexual misconduct different according to political affiliation, the consequences ofactual misconduct are often quite different as well. Republican congressman Mark Foley sent suggestive emails to male pages; he resigned under GOP pressure. Democratic congressman Gerry Studds actually had sex with one of the boys, then flung defiance at the House when they censured him; he was re-elected by Democrats until his retirement.

Via Instapundit.

Although I remain suspicious of Miss Allred’s motives, the sworn affidavits do cause me to take this charge more seriously than the others.

UPDATE:  Law professor William A. Jacobson reminds us that since the woman alleged that the sexual advance took place “after her employment terminated with a National Restaurant Association affiliate . . . the allegation is not one of workplace ‘sexual harassment’ but of an alleged attempt at infidelity“, adding that the “political damage will be significant”: [Read more…]

Well, now we know Democrats are behind Cain allegations

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Given her record, we can pretty much guess that this has more to do with politics than sexual harassment:

The AP reports that Democratic activist (though they don’t identify her as such) “Gloria Allred said Monday that another woman is accusing Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain of sexual harassment and will appear at a news conference in New York City later in the day.”

They call this gal a “High-profile discrimination attorney”. High-profile partisan is more like it. Does seem that whenever California Democrats want their dirty work done for them, they call ol’ Gloria.

Now, the lady is going national.

UPDATE: Given the woman who is trotting this accuser forward, we should demand corroboration before taking her seriously.

90 (Politico) stories on Cain kerfuffle and still no specifics*

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In a post today on PJmedia, Alexis Garcia notes how in all the media hullabaloo over the Cain kerfuffle, “we’re losing focus on the narrative.” (Well, maybe that’s the point.)  She lists several issues raising issues related to the administration’s actual record in office that have not received the same scrutiny this “scandal” without specifics has generated

Two of the items on Miss Garcia’s list parallel issues on my list of questions for Politico (to see how much attention they devoted to scandals involving Democrats).  Since posting that piece, I’ve begun to wonder about other issues which the left-leaning journal has all but ignored, say, Joe Biden’s fabrications in the 2008 vice presidential debate.  Did Politico address those (some commentators identified those fabrications)–and inquire into the then-36-year Washington veteran’s pattern of making things up?

Now, today, the lawyer of one of the woman accusing Mr. Cain has come forward to tell us that he won’t tell us anything, leading Stacy McCain to quip that “Lawyer ethics” meanings holding “a press conference to announce that you don’t want to discuss your smear-job against your client’s former boss.”  As Jim Geraghty puts it, the lawyer in refusing to specify the charges, “is arguing, ’I won’t say what he did, but trust me, he’s guilty of wrongdoing.’“

This is one heckuva way to run a witch hunt.

From the National Restaurant Association (NRA), we learn two (very) salient facts:

  1. “Mr. Herman Cain disputed the allegations in the complaint.”
  2. “The Association and Mr. Bennett’s client subsequently entered into an agreement to resolve the matter, without any admission of liability. Mr. Cain was not a party to that agreement.”

So, we’ve got Cain disputing the allegations, the lawyer for the accuser refusing to specify the allegations and confirmation that Mr. Cain was not party to the agreement, suggesting the NRA was more interested in resolving the matter than in disciplining its then-employee.

Even without specifics, Politico has run 90 stories on the kerfuffle. [Read more…]