One of Herman Cain's top Georgia supporters said Monday that the latest accusations of inappropriate behavior by the Republican presidential hopeful are hogwash.
Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, said that Sharon Bialek, the Chicago woman who said Cain groped her in 1997, has leveled "false allegations." Cain's campaign also said the accusations were untrue.
McKoon said Bialek's attorney, noted celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, "is a Democratic operative" out to sink Cain's campaign. When told, however, that Allred also represented a woman who helped bring down then-U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, a New York Democrat, McKoon likened it to finding a needle in a hay stack.
"Sure, through the law of averages she's going to find somebody who has some kernel of truth," McKoon, an attorney, said. "In this case there's no lawsuit or litigation. There's no reason to hire an attorney other than the fact that Ms. Allred is a mouth-piece for the Democratic Party."
Other Georgia Republicans agreed. Robert Trim of Cherokee County said hiring Allred was a sure sign.
"As serious as it is, [the accusations] are just hard to be serious when you hire the ‘Joker' to be your pimp," Trim said.
Joseph Cook of Douglasville said people continue to "have more faith in Herman Cain than they do in anyone else that can be classified as a ‘politician.'"
Others, however, are not so sure.
Stacie Miller Sikes of Mableton also questions Bialek’s choice of attorney, but said “this many allegations prove that whether he admits it or not, he did something to make these women uncomfortable. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck …”
Baker Owens of Atlanta, who runs the That's Just Peachy news aggregation website, said he has "a hard time believing anyone would put themselves out there like this and lie."
While Owens didn't see Cain as the best general election candidate, he pictured the former Godfather's Pizza CEO landing a vice presidential nomination. Owens also used to listen to Cain's radio talk show.
"I really thought he was an honorable man," Owens said. "Another hero bites the dust in a flurry of hypocrisy."
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