What Exactly Is Sexual Harrassment These Days?

It seems to me the standards for sexual harassment are many and mixed.  We don't even know exactly what it is Herman Cain has done to raise such a hue and cry.  He made someone feel 'uncomfortable'.  What does that mean?

I think back to my younger days and how many guys I dated, or didn't, at whom I could aim such accusations by today's standards.  I guess because none of them ever came into the public eye I didn't bother.  I just avoided them. The thing that is bothersome is not knowing exactly what we're supposed to be so angry about.  Everything is skewed.  Plus it's his word against those who have lawyered themselves up.

I remember when the harassment movement first began.  A woman would walk past a construction site and if she were attractive she'd elicit wolf whistles and catcalls. That became politically incorrect so the guys would stand by silently, undressing her with their eyes.  They couldn't be sued for that.  If one is harassment isn't the other?

Granted we'd like our Presidential candidates to be a cut above but if you look deeply enough I doubt any of them would meet the pureness the media, for us, is demanding.  Why aren't they as tough on House and Senate candidates?  Where were these women when Cain ran for Senate?  Why did they give Kennedy a pass? And Clinton?  At least the women who claimed relations with Clinton came forward.

Considering the sexual mores in the world of athletics and entertainment and lower level politics, we certainly don't have a single standard.

Look at Hugh Grant.  Just yesterday I read he recently became a father for the first time.  You know him, the guy who got picked up in Hollywood a few years back for picking up a prostitute.  It seems a baby wasn't expected since he only had a 'fleeting' affair with the mother, but never-the-less he's delighted.

Then there is 17 year old Justin Bieber who is being accused of parenting a child with a nineteen year old.  He was sixteen at the time.  He claims he never met her.  She wants a paternity test.  If it proves true, she's in big trouble because she had sex with a minor!

I give credit to the people of Iowa who, if the reports are accurate, could care less about the harassment reports.  They feel Cain's 9-9-9 plan will help them.  At least they have their priorities straight.

Is it an issue of character?  Neither John McCain nor Newt Gingrich have treated their previous wives well yet neither have been pilloried about it during campaigns. Those actions are provable.

Is it race?  Or is it just plain dirty politics?

I haven't made up my mind about Mr. Cain.  My worry is whether or not we should place our trust in another rank amateur as President.  We have one in office now.  While I admire Mr. Cain's business accomplishments, his lack of political experience worries me.  The same criteria in reverse applies to many of the other candidates.

Whether I end up supporting him will depend on the balance of experience his experience and proposed policies versue everyone elses.  Not on hearsay and innuendo from invisible accusers hiding behind lawyers, all  looking for their fifteen minutes of fame ~ and a few dollars more.