Herman Cain's Accuser: The Hand Of David Axelrod?

Sharon Bialek with attorney Gloria Allred

Conservative columnist Ann Coulter pieces together a pretty good theory linking the first woman to go public with claims that Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain sexually harassed her to President Barack Obama's devious Chicago political consultant, David Axelrod. Perhaps it's just a coincidence that Sharon Bialek lives in Chicago, a city where Herman Cain has never worked. Perhaps it's just a coincidence that she lives in the same building on North Lake Shore Drive where Axelrod lives. Perhaps it's just a coincidence that a former chief of staff to Mayor Richard Daley and friend of Axelrod's, Sheila O'Grady, took a job as head of the Illinois Restaurant Association around the same time Cain was running the National Restaurant Association. Coulter also reminds us of Axelrod's critical role in bringing down Obama's Democratic and Republican opponents in his U.S. Senate bid in 2004 by getting unproven sexual misconduct allegations in their sealed divorce records unsealed and aired publicly. And then there's a claim by Daley's former fire commissioner that he was hit with false sexual harassment allegations and ordered to resign or be smeared by the false allegations.

Laying all that aside, there's the credibility problem of Cain's accuser. By all accounts, people who know her describe her as a gold digger with a spotty work history who tries living well beyond her means, has twice filed for bankruptcy and has been a party to a paternity action. Despite the outrageous conduct she accused Cain of engaging in when she supposedly was interviewing for a job working for him at the National Restaurant Association in Washington (he can't recall meeting her), she never filed a formal complaint against him. Hmmm. Bialek is represented by Gloria Allred, a highly-partisan Democratic, media attention-seeking attorney who has a long history of representing women making dubious accusations against prominent Republican politicians at politically convenient times. The Sun-Times' Michael Sneed picks up on some other matters that call Bialek's credibility into question:

• A Sneed source who is familiar with several men Bialek dated claims she registered on a Jewish dating Internet site years ago. But when dates showed up, she’d tell them she wasn’t Jewish — did they mind?
• Bialek tells a Sneed source she not only broke off her engagement last February to Mark Harwood, but she sold the five-figure diamond engagement ring he had given her.
• Maybe one reason Cain claims not to recognize her: Bialek’s looks have changed since 14 years ago. “I’ve probably packed on a few pounds,” she told Jacobson. [She also started dying her hair blonde].

The other woman who has publicly accused Cain, Karen Kraushaar, has a history of making dubious sexual harassment claims in her past jobs and just happened to have been awarded a very nice job by the Obama administration as a spokesperson for the Treasury Department. The woman vouching for Kraushaar's credibility to the media, Maria Cardona, coincidentally is "a seasoned Democratic strategist, public affairs and communications professional with more than 20 years experience in the political, government, public relations, and campaign arenas." Enough said?

Omedia Has No Problem Spreading Unsubstantiated Rumors Against Rick Perry

The double standard in press coverage of presidential candidates will continue in the 2012 presidential cycle. Texas Gov. Rick Perry by simply being mentioned as a potential presidential candidate must confront rumors about his personal life, including totally unsubstantiated rumors that he is a gay. From Politico:

If Texas Gov. Rick Perry decides to run for president, his team is more than prepared for a re-airing of unsubstantiated rumors, circulated on and off for years in the Lone Star State, about his personal life.

The crusted-over rumors were in the ether among some attendees at a dinner hosted last week by the Manhattan County GOP, where Perry gave the keynote speech. The rumors, which have never been proven despite repeated review by media outlets, were addressed by the governor himself in a lengthy 2004 American-Statesman story that is sure to see new life if he runs.

The claims, which had made the rounds for months by the time the story was written, included rumors that Perry and his wife Anita had split, and that the governor was gay.

David Axelrod, who is always successful at getting negative dirt out on any potential Obama opponent whether true or not, scored another hit with a less than subtle hint of Perry's sexual orientation in Michael Sneed's political gossip column in the Sun-Times:

Rev ’em up!

Republican Rah Rah: Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has never lost an election and is eyeing a possible GOP presidential bid, has an interesting resume for stirring up the troops: He was a “yell” leader (a Southern term for cheerleader) at Texas A&M games when he was a student there.

There ya go!

No real man would ever be a cheerleader, right? Still waiting for that first story in the mainstream media reporting on first-hand accounts of Obama having sex with men on the down low in Chicago and Washington before he was elected to the Senate. One man, Larry Sinclair, spoke publicly to the Washington news media of his sexual and drug encounters with Obama only to find himself the subject of an illegal arrest carried out by Joe Biden's son while he was Delaware's Attorney General and buried in lawsuits by the very same law D.C. law firm that has defended Obama's efforts to keep his past records from being released to the public. The other man doing the talking, a choir director at Obama's controversial church, was executed shortly before the Iowa caucus. His murder remains unsolved. The Omedia refuses to interview Donald Young's mother about her son's close relationship with Obama. Hypocrisy in coverage by the Omedia never changes.