At yesterday's book launch for Chris Matthews's new JFK biography, the Daily Caller's Michelle Fields asks former Washington Post Editor what he makes of the very murky accusation of sexual harassment directed at Herman Cain, the candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.
In response, Bradlee grinned widely, placed his hand in a semi-avuncular fashion on Ms. Fields's shoulder, leaned in and said, in colloquial editor-speak, "I think he's got it coming to him, doe'n't he?"
Adding historical perspective, he ventured: "You could do that fifty years ago, but you can't do that today."
Really? I wonder if Bradlee just didn't do that (whatever "that" is) today, or, er, yesterday.
Watch the whole thing, including an interview with Bob Woodward, at this link. (See descending claw to shoulder at around 1:50. Bonus: introductory arm-around--the-far-shoulder at the one minute mark.)
More from Michelle Fields here.
UPDATE: Insta-lanche! Thank you, Sir.
3 comments:
Placed his hand on her shoulder and leaned in? I'm not making a joke here--*that* alone can get you the sexual harrassment complaint in the retail world. It's certainly more direct than holding your hand up to show somebody's height.
It happened to me once in the late 90s, while training a new guy on a computer system he had to use. He was kind of slow, so I was thrilled when he finally got figured it out, and I patted him on the back and said "now you're getting it!" happy to be free to get back to my own work. I had just come from the hardware department where there was quite a bit of back-slapping going on, anyway.
Ten minutes later, I was in an office with my boss and my accuser being told that I had made homosexual advances on the employee. People wondering how Cain got caught up in anything like this need to understand that this is incredibly common in businesses like this. There's no way to be a human being and avoid *all* contact with people around us, yet *any* contact--even a "look"--can be used by angry people to turn into accusations.
Hell, the duo of Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn exemplify "sexual harrassment" in the workplace.
Adding historical perspective, he ventured: "You could do that fifty years ago, but you can't do that today."
Wow, how time flies! I didn't realize Bill Clinton's impeachment hearings were fifty years ago already.
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