1.) Caintradicted — It was a disappointing evening for everyone who’s been demanding for a week and a half that Herman Cain prove a negative. During his press conference yesterday evening, all he did was make a sweeping denial of all charges against him, which probably proves he’s lying or something. TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports:
“Republican presidential candidate Herman vowed to stay in the race for the GOP nomination despite allegations of sexual misconduct — that he has denied — from women who worked for the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s. ‘Ain’t gonna happen,’ said Cain, the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza and president of the National Restaurant Association, at a much-hyped press conference in Phoenix on Tuesday afternoon. Standing before five American flags, Cain vigorously denied that he had ever sexually harassed anyone… Cain, who used notes contrary to custom while making his remarks, also said it’s fair to question whether Sharon Bialek, the woman who stepped forward this week to accuse him of groping her in a car and other unwanted sexual advances in 1997, did so because of money problems… ‘The fact is that Ms. Bialek has had a long and troubled history, from the courts to personal finances — which may help explain why she has come forward 14 years after an alleged incident with Mr. Cain, powered by celebrity attorney and long term Democrat donor Gloria Allred,’ campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon said…”
Meanwhile, another woman named Karen Kraushaar — who works in the Obama administration, incidentally — has also stepped forward, which brings the total of named accusers to 50%. We’re still waiting to hear her specific accusation, and for Herman Cain to prove his innocence in the face of another assertion of guilt. That’s the way it works now, right? When somebody accuses you of something, it’s presumed to be true until you can prove otherwise to the satisfaction of your loudest detractors. Is this the Hope part or the Change part?
P.S. Cain surpassed his Iowa fundraising goal last night, with 24 hours to spare. Watch as the media tries to figure out how this could happen “despite” the controversy.
P.P.S. Try to contain your shock: Kraushaar filed a complaint against supervisors in her next job 3 years later.
2.) James Carville acts like a real James Carville — You remember him, right? He’s the guy who once said of Bill Clinton’s accusers, “Drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you’ll find.” He’s snarling a different tune these days, as TheDC’s Jeff Poor reports:
“Today the allegations are against GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, who at a press conference Tuesday alleged the ‘Democratic machine’ was behind the charges. But on CNN’s ‘Situation Room’ shortly after that press conference, Carville dismissed that theory, saying Democrats want Cain to win the Republican nomination. ‘No Democrat doesn’t want Herman Cain to be the Republican nominee,’ Carville said. ‘That doesn’t take any sense to figure out. It also takes no sense to figure out he’s not going to be the Republican nominee. He was not going to be it before that. There was no left-wing conspiracy at all, [it would] be stupid to have one,’ he said.”
Well, of course the left wing wants Cain as the nominee. That explains their complete lack of interest in this story.
3.) What else should Holder be? No apologies — And now, let’s move to a story where there’s actual evidence behind the accusations. TheDC’s Matthew Boyle reports:
“Attorney General Eric Holder flip-flopped his Operation Fast and Furious testimony during a Tuesday Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. During a May 3 House Judiciary Committee hearing, Holder told Congressional investigators at least twice that he had only learned of the controversial Operation Fast and Furious gun-walking program a ‘few weeks’ beforehand. But testifying Tuesday, Holder’s timeline changed. His new testimony amounts to an admission that he misled Congress during that May 3 hearing. House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa and Rep. Jason Chaffetz both asked him during that hearing when he had first learned of ‘Fast and Furious,’ and he answered the same way twice. ‘I did say a “few weeks,”‘ Holder clarified Tuesday, responding to questions from Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. ‘I probably could’ve said “a couple of months.” I didn’t think the term I said, “few weeks,” was inaccurate based on what happened.'”
Did you get all that? Whatever he said was accurate, even if it wasn’t accurate, so quit bugging him about it already. Holder also refused the opportunity to apologize to the family of murdered Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. Hey, if you’re going to flood the border with weapons in an attempt to scare people into accepting tighter gun control, you’re going to lose a few federal agents. And any rat who squeals will be dealt with.
4.) Obama’s shake-up shakedown — Good news for DC residents who are still picking their way through the shattered wreckage of this once-beautiful city, now ravaged by the earthquake last August. Help is on the way, thanks to Emperor Obama! TheDC’s Neil Munro reports:
“Obama declared D.C. a disaster zone Tuesday because of the August 23 earthquake that damaged some pinnacles and a gargoyle on an Episcopal cathedral, frightened some zoo animals, dropped some bricks into an alleyway alongside Ecuador’s embassy, and cracked the stones near the top of the Washington Monument. The epicenter of the earthquake was in the town of Mineral, Va. But the town’s application for disaster aid was rejected by the federal government, even though the nearby high school and elementary school are damaged and unusable, said Bernice Wilson Kube, Mineral’s vice-mayor… Virginia suffered roughly $150 million in uninsured damage from the earthquake, mostly due to damaged buildings. Washington D.C., however, was granted the lucrative status of ‘major disaster,’ according to a White House email sent Tuesday afternoon. ‘The President today declared a major disaster exists in the District of Columbia and ordered Federal aid to supplement the District of Columbia recovery efforts in the area affected by an earthquake during the period of Aug. 23-28, 2011,’ read the message. That declaration ensures the nation’s taxpayers are on the hook for three-quarters of whatever damages the local government can attribute to the earthquake.”
Turns out all the West Coast folks who said DC overreacted to the quake were right. They were just a few months early. You’ve heard of crony capitalism? This is crony tectonics.
5.) Today’s words of wisdom from #1 Obama fan and the next mayor of New York, Alec Baldwin — “To all you right-wingers out there, I stand by my remarks about Ronald Reagan. Kind and decent, but ultimately a front man for the ambitions of his backers. The genial host of a show conceived of, written and produced by others with a clear ideology. Same as W: a frontman. The hood ornament on a vehicle, not the engine. Certainly not the driver.”
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