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TheDC Morning: Politiconfounding

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1.) Cain admits he was falsely accused — There’s a bizarre strain in some of the reactions to the story of Herman Cain being accused of being accused of some unspecified “inappropriate behavior” by two anonymous women: “He admitted it!” And what exactly is it that he admitted? TheDC’s Jeff Poor reports: “During Monday’s broadcast of Fox News Channel’s ‘Happening Now,’ the suddenly embattled former Godfather’s Pizza CEO and Republican presidential front-runner Herman Cain offered a stern denial of allegations, raised in a Sunday Politico story, that he had sexually harassed two women in the late 1990s when he was CEO of the National Restaurant Association. ‘I’ve never sexually harassed anyone, and yes, I was falsely accused while I was at the National Restaurant Association,’ Cain said. ‘And I say falsely because it turned out after the investigation to be baseless. The people mentioned in that article were the ones who would be aware of any misdoings, and they have attested to my integrity and my character. It is totally baseless, and totally false, never have I committed any sort of sexual harassment.'” That’s right: Herman Cain admits… that he’s never sexually harassed anyone. And now, the people who are terrified of a black Republican in the White House will demand that Cain prove a negative. Yet they get offended when you tell them to prove they’re not racists.

2.) Politiconfounding — And how about that vague, unverifiable Politico story? You know, the one with the unnamed accusers making the unspecified accusations. Where did that get started anyway? TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports: “Politico won’t say if a rival campaign fed them the story about sexual harassment allegations made against current Republican presidential front-runner Herman Cain in the 1990s. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Monday pressed reporter Ken Vogel of Politico on whether the publication relied on opposition research from one of Cain’s rivals. ‘Politics are politics as you said, and certainly there are people that are digging up opposition research,’ Vogel said. ‘I’m just not going to do anything that would identify — that would point to the identity of our original source… We don’t think that the original source is as important as the actual information,’ Vogel said.” And the actual information is that… um… somebody once made an accusation, and we don’t get to know who made it or what it was. Anybody else smell a Pulitzer? Anyway, Vogel says the tip to The Story Of The Century didn’t come from any of the other GOP candidates, which means it might just be true.

3.) Holder flees boulder — The Fast and Furious scandal is starting to resemble that scene at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark, except the boulder is made up of calls for Eric Holder’s resignation and the idol he’s clutching is his job. TheDC’s Matthew Boyle reports: “The Obama administration appears to be attempting to defend Attorney General Eric Holder as the Justice Department dumped more than 650 pages worth of Operation Fast and Furious documents on congressional investigators late Monday. There are two reasons why the timing of this release is significant: first, 28 members of Congress are currently calling on Holder to resign immediately. Second, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer is testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday — and this appears to be an attempt to divert pressure for Fast and Furious away from Holder… It’s unclear if the president or his spokespeople will even address the growing army of representatives who have no confidence in the attorney general. In fact, senior Obama communications staffer Eric Schultz, the same spokesman who verbally assaulted CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson for her Fast and Furious coverage, wouldn’t answer any of The Daily Caller’s requests for comment or more information. Schultz wouldn’t say whether Obama plans to ask Holder to resign or even acknowledge that there are 28 elected federal officials who think Holder should step aside.” No matter what happens with the investigation into Fast and Furious, no matter if justice ever serves the people who were murdered by those guns, consider this stunning accomplishment: getting the Obama administration to shut up for a minute.

4.) Obama still above the law, says Obama — Hey, remember the Constitution? Well, get over it. TheDC’s Nicholas Ballasy reports: “White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said President Barack Obama will ‘continue’ to act ‘independently’ without congressional authorization to ‘benefit the American people’ as part of the White House’s ‘We Can’t Wait’ campaign. ‘He [Obama] fully understands that the kinds of things that are contained within the American Jobs Act require congressional action, require laws being passed, and that’s why he’s pressing for Congress to take action legislatively,’ Carney told reporters on Monday at the White House. ‘But he can also act independently or, rather, administratively, and exercise his executive authority to benefit the American people in other ways. And he will continue to do that.'” Rules are rules… until they keep you from getting what you want.

5.) Huntsman finally gets somebody to notice him — Jon Huntsman is running for president, in case you didn’t know. And there’s really no reason you should. America has yet to fall in love with the impeccably coiffed gentleman from Utah — it is Utah, right? — but he did meet one new fan recently. TheDC’s Alexis Levinson reports: “As Jon Huntsman stumped in New Hampshire this weekend, trying to give voters a taste of what a Huntsman presidency would be like, a local goat named Izak quite literally got a taste of the former Utah governor when he nibbled on his knee at an event in Dover. The Union Leader reports that the bite was not vicious — Huntsman was not hurt, nor were his pants… ‘He took a bite out of my kneecap,’ Huntsman said. ‘Is there a better indicator in the state of New Hampshire than how well you do with the goat?'” Ah, there’s that Huntsman wit we’ve all grown to not know or care about. So it’s true: goats really will eat anything.

6.) Today’s words of wisdom from the next Mayor of New York — “‘@qaesar1: @AlecBaldwin if u support the 99%, you won’t be in any future Cap 1 commercials?’ Only 1 where I swipe my card on your teeth”

VIDEO: Drew Carey doesn’t need Michelle Obama to tell him what to eat

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