Sandy Rios, the former president of Concerned Women for America turned conservative columnist and Fox News contributor, doesn’t buy Sharon Bialek’s claim that Herman Cain made an unwanted physical advance to her during a meeting with him in 1997. Rios, now the vice president of Family PAC, says that if Bialek was planning an “over night visit” with someone she only knew “slightly,” then, “What was Herman Cain to think about a single woman making an unnecessary arrangement like that—agreeing to drinks and dinner on the basis of nothing more, according to her, than a few conversations at public dinners and receptions?” In her Townhall column today, Rios argues that “if he did what she said he did and she in turn flirted inappropriately, it is NOT sexual harassment, it is what happens every day in our sex-obsessed, morally bankrupt culture”:
Why do I discount Bialek’s story? I’ll answer with a few questions of my own.
What was Bialek doing meeting Herman Cain in Washington, DC? What did she hope to achieve by a face-to-face meeting? If she were staying in New Jersey, why didn’t she make it a daytime meeting, not an over night visit? Why do that with someone you know so slightly?
What was Herman Cain to think about a single woman making an unnecessary arrangement like that—agreeing to drinks and dinner on the basis of nothing more, according to her, than a few conversations at public dinners and receptions?
If Bialek were so traumatized and embarrassed, why did she eagerly seek him out at a recent Tea Party event in Chicago? Amy Jacobson, co-host of Morning Drive on WIND Chicago, was witness to that encounter with Cain and described her as “hell bent” on getting back stage to see him. Jacobson said Bialek “cornered him” and that her approach to Cain was “flirtatious.”
If you are embarrassed by a sexual encounter, you don’t eagerly seek out the perpetrator to reconnect for a chat. Unless you think the harasser might someday be president and you are imagining the connections that might come from that.
Why did she so carefully include the buzzwords of a harassment lawsuit? Herman Cain was “powerful,” she said, “in a position of authority over me.” Bialek was “shocked” that he would use his “power” in this way. Does a sincerely abused person so carefully script her account? Were there certain words she wanted to use? This was not a court of law, but her statement was worded like a deposition. She even described the clothing they wore—strange and unnecessary.
…
Am I excusing Herman Cain? No. But if he did what she said he did and she in turn flirted inappropriately, it is NOT sexual harassment, it is what happens every day in our sex-obsessed, morally bankrupt culture.
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