Herman Cain admits settlement was made oversexual harassment claims

Herman Cain admits settlement was made over sexual harassment claims Ewen MacAskill in Washington Tuesday 1 November 2011 08.08 EDT Herman Cain denies sexual harassment 1. Link to this video Herman Cain, one of the frontrunners in the Republican race for the White House, faces more questions over allegations of sexual harassment after making contradictory comments within the space of just a few hours.

He dismissed allegations of sexual harassment against him as a "witch hunt" but failed to quell the clamour that grew during Monday.

Over the course of two public appearances before the media and a series of television interviews on Monday, Cain went from initially saying he was unaware of any of the women receiving settlements over the claims to later admitting there had been a settlement.

On Sunday night, Politico revealed that two female employees of the National Restaurant Association had received payouts after making harassment claims against Cain while he was the organisation's president.

According to Politico, the women left the association after complaining about inappropriate behaviour by Cain that made them angry and uncomfortable. They reportedly received settlements in return for signing non-disclosure agreements.

In his first comments, Cain confirmed that he had been the subject of sexual harassment complaints involving two female workers in the restaurant industry‚ but said he had been "falsely accused".

In the morning, he had described the claims as "trumped up" and said he was "unaware of any sort of settlement. I hope it wasn't for much, because I didn't do anything".

But in interviews broadcast on Monday night, he admitted there had been "some sort of settlement or termination" and it had been worth maybe two or three months' salary.

Cain initially played down the alleged incidents but in later interviews he began to fill in some of the details. He told PBS: "I referenced this lady's height, and I was standing near her, and I did this saying: 'You're the same height of my wife,' because my wife is five feet tall, and she comes

up to my chin. This lady's five feet tall, and she comes up to my chin. So obviously she thought that that was too close for comfort."

On Monday, Cain refused to answer questions about the claims during an appearance at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

He then gave an interview to Fox News in which he said: "I have never sexually harassed anyone, and, yes, I was falsely accused while I was at the National Restaurant Association. And I say falsely, because it turned out after the investigation to be baseless."

Later, during an appearance at the National Press Club in Washington, Cain repeated his denials, saying: "In all of my over 40 years of experience running businesses and corporations I have never sexually harassed anyone."

Suggesting the story had come out now as a response to his popularity in the Republican leadership contest, Cain added: "This bullseye on my back has gotten bigger. We have no idea of the source of this witch hunt."

During his National Press Club appearance, Cain gave a little more detail about the complaints, saying that as president of the association he had "recused" himself from the investigation, and left it to the lawyers and a human resources official. He said they had "concluded after a thorough investigation that it had no basis".

But soon after Cain's comments, Politico published another story detailing how the association's HR chief at the time, Mary Ose, had told the website last week that she was unaware of any allegations about Cain's behaviour. A reporter spoke to her again on Monday to ask about Cain's insistence that HR officials had run the investigation, to which Ose responded: "You and I have talked and I have nothing more to say." She then put the phone down.

Cain's apparent failure to address the allegations head-on will ensure that journalists keep pushing until they find more details of the accusations, including how much was paid to the women, and who authorised any settlement. That could be even more damaging for Cain.

In his Fox interview, Cain acknowleged that the row was going to do some damage to his campaign, which has seen him take the lead in some polls.

"Obviously, some people will be turned off by this cloud over my campaign, but a lot of people are not going to be turned off," he said.

Cain, 65, a former chief executive of the Godfather's Pizza chain, has been leading the pack in the race for the Republican nomination to take on Barack Obama in November next year. The first electoral test is scheduled for 3 January, when Iowa holds its caucus.

SOURCE http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/01/herman-cain-settlement-sexual-harassment

U.S. National Debt Exceeds Gross Domestic Product 1. The New American reports: A little-noticed event occurred at approximately midnight on Monday, October 31, 2011: The national debt of the United States exceeded, for the first time in history, the country’s gross domestic product. The website USDebtClock.org showed the gross domestic product crossing the $15 trillion mark for the first time on Monday, while earlier in the day the numbers from TreasuryDirect showed the total public debt outstanding at $14.993 trillion and growing by more than seven billion dollars a day.

Presidential candidate Ron Paul’s campaign manager, John Tate, noted the passing of the milestone: We can no longer afford politicians who play games with America’s future. As President, Ron Paul will treat the American people with the respect they deserve by being honest about our nation’s situation and implementing fundamental reforms to return America to prosperity.

A closer look at the USDebtClock.org website reveals the size of the problem facing Paul if he wins the White House: U.S. federal revenues are running at $2.3 trillion while government spending is at $3.6 trillion, leaving a deficit just for the fiscal year 2011 at $1.3 trillion. If those levels hold for the next 12 months, the national debt will be at $16.3 trillion, and counting. But this is far from the entire picture.

Unfunded liabilities facing the government in Social Security alone amount to $15.3 trillion while Medicare and the prescription drug programs’ liabilities exceed $100 trillion…

- The New American The only candidate taking this crisis seriously is obviously, Ron Paul. I say, win or lose, campaigning for Ron Paul is worthwhile if only because it lays the groundwork for solving the grave problems that face our republic. So, are you in? Are you ready to get to work?