The allegations that GOP Presidential Candidate Herman Cain was involved in some sexual harassment investigation when he was head of the National Restaurant Association in “the 90s” reminds this blogger of the claims all over the blogsphere that Texas Governor Rick Perry is Gay, and how the main stream media handles the rumors – by ignoring them.
And why is it that Donald Trump, who did run for president before withdrawing, never had this issue raised when he was running for President? Nothing against Mr. Trump (well that whole Bither issue did change my view of him), but I’m just asking.
It’s a fair question considering The Donald’s penchant for beautiful women and his ownership of the Miss Universe Pageant. Why has that issue never come up?
And again, why hasn’t the main stream media asked if Rick Perry was Gay?
Is Donald Trump Clean?
While Herman Cain’s sex harassment issue has been the talk of political circles, did Mr. Trump face the same gaze by the media? A Google test reveals few results for “Donald Trump Sex Harassment” until you keep scrolling. That’s when the post by Politicususa.com pops up. Check this:
Baritone Julian Long, a gay man, worked during his student days in Trumpets Restaurant, interior-designed by Trump’s then wife Ivana Trump. Julian reports that Donald Trump as a fixture of the restaurant subjected female employees to frequent sexual harassment, forcing them to endure the lewd and lascivious remarks he made to them. Trump, furthermore, often harassed, demeaned and humiliated his gay employees by referring to them collectively as “the faggots.” Donald Trump, in other words, abused his position of power as an employer to degrade his employees, bullying them on the basis of their gender and/or sexual orientation.
But the problem is such posts amount to nothing more than heresay. Trump, perhaps because he outright owns his own companies, has not had a sex harassment issue come to a point of any investigation. By contrast, Herman Cain was working for someone else.
Mike Stark Started The Perry Updates
When blogger Mike Stark raised the issue, and I picked up on his work and repeated it for my video-blog, it was still ignored by the mainstream media. Rick Perry himself never really answered the question, even as it percolated to the top of Internet search trends associated with Perry when he first announced he was running for President.
Fringe Internet media reporter Alex Jones picked up on the story. But no one who’s part of the standard media cycle did.
Just what did happen between Perry and his former Texas Secretary of State in his office back in 2005? Why hasn’t this been investigated by any other organization outside of the Austin-American Statesman?
What’s interesting about the claims is one thing: the mainstream media picked up on the Herman Cain sexual harassment claims, but not the rumors that Rick Perry may be Gay.
It’s a good question to ask that’s not been asked: why has CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC not followed up on the long-time claims that Rick Perry may be Gay, or at least had a romantic encounter with a man, but they’re all over the Herman Cain rumors.
Herman Cain And The Black Issue
Is it because Cain’s black? Moreover, were the claims against Cain brought by white women and at a time when they may have been hyper-sensitive to anything a black high-level manager would do because he’s black? That has not been explained. (Yet.)
Hey. Just asking.
It’s important to know because if you look deep into such claims of that time (the 90s), you may find a woman who also had a history of dating men at work. Really, for me, so what? Many people meet their significant others at work. (Look at Ed Henry, formerly of CNN and now of Fox News, who met his wife Shirley Lee, a CNN Producer, while he was at CNN.) But when fingers are pointed, as they’re being pushed at Herman Cain, the question should be asked.
It’s important to know because if you look deep into such claims of that time (the 90s), you may find a women who also had a history of dating men at work. Really, for me, so what? Many people meet their significant others at work. (Look at Ed Henry, formerly of CNN and now of Fox News, who met his wife Shirley Lee, a CNN Producer, while he was at CNN.) But when fingers are pointed, as they’re being pushed at Herman Cain, the question should be asked.
But for the present day, Herman Cain’s sexual harassment issue isn’t upon us because he’s black, but because it happened, and someone out there dug it up because Cain’s getting really popular. (And what’s interesting is the “someone” seems to be located in Rick Perry’s camp. More on that later.)
(And the irony is that when Gloria Alred now entering the picture with a supposed 4th sexual harassment victim, the entire episode could actually save his campaign. Gloria, for all of her good work, has become something of a media side show, not to be taken seriously, sorry to say.)
Now that’s not to say it didn’t happen at the time in “the 90s” because Cain was a black man in a powerful position, and possibly being as free and loose with his personality as his white male counterparts were with their own.
And in the 90s, some people, perhaps too many still, couldn’t stand that.
As I’ve blogged about before (but it’s been a while) American society has tried to place different rules of social engagement on black men. Thus, Cain’s small gesture of making some kind of hand-height comparison would have been used against him then.
But for the accuser to want to come forward now, something like almost 15 years later, and in the Internet Age, means that she may be paid to do so. Otherwise, why would a person even want to put their mug (face) in the public spotlight?
And with Twitter and other forms of social media, she would almost certainly risk immediate judgement and possible online ridicule that could wreck not just her story, but her total image.
Why?
Because this is the 21st Century and people, especially younger people, are more prone to question the accuser in any situation, but especially a political one like this is.
This isn’t the 20th Century; ideas travel faster and sexual mores are much looser. If the story’s not clear. If she’s not a sympathetic character. All of this could blow up real fast.
Remember, if this person elects to show up on television, the result could wind up as one of the highest tweet-per-second events this year. Bet on it.
In fact, we’ll find out today, as the new accuser’s set to talk to the media at 1:30 PM EST. (Why do I have the feeling this is all going to blow up in the wrong direction?)
But my question remains: Is Rick Perry Gay?
Ask him – for the record. Just for the record.
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll