lobbyists? no, not really. herschel walker just likes more pe in schools, which is good. that said, one of the nfl ringers last night, ken harvey, was a registered lobbyist in '09 and '08. there's something satisfying about a team of cops beating a team of members of congress. hi, marco rubio, hi congressman ben quayle, along with the former ringers from the nfl. even against that, cops win. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. have a good night. okay. so let me get this straight. herman cain's secrets are being held in the confidentiality agreement files of a washington lobbying group, the national restaurant association? and they're going to decide tonight or some time tomorrow whether they're going to do the right thing and allow the women who were bound by those confidentiality agreements to come out and tell the truth about what they experienced?

it's up to a washington lobbying group to decide that? the national restaurant association is made up of its members, starbucks, mcdonald's, burger king. that's who pays the salaries at the national restaurant association. if they don't do the right thing, do i hear boycott, anyone? >> no, i don't have any of those skeletons in my closet. let herman be herman. i'm trying to -- have you ever been accused of sexual harassment? >> there's nothing to this. >> can you now confirm that these allegations were made. >> i would be delighted to clear the air. i have never sexually harassed anyone. i am unaware of any sort of

settlement. there's nothing else there to dig up. >> was there any behavior on your part that you think might have been inappropriate? >> in my opinion, no. yes, that was some sort of settlement three months' salary. ♪ i'll never know why jesus came to love me so ♪ >> what i can now remember, what i couldn't remember, it's just been difficult trying to recollect many of the pieces that happened 12 years ago. i was aware that an agreement was reached. didn't intend to contradict myself. my campaign was made aware that this story might break ten days ago. there are factions that are trying to destroy me. >> i'm not taking herman's word for it. >> don't even bother asking me all of these other questions. >> erm hadden needs eherman nel out. >> are you concerned about -- >> excuse me.

excuse me. >> got to clean this up fast. >> the point is not exactly who leaked the information. >> mr. anderson as being the source. >> i don't know anything about this. i'm not here to disparage mr. herman. >> sean, this is absolutely fabrication, man. excuse me. excuse me. big surprise, the drip, drip, drip continues, and tonight of course we have new details about the alleged, i did say alleged, didn't i? the alleged incident that led a female employee of republican front-runner herman cain to accuse him of sexual harassment and the national restaurant association to negotiate her exit with a cash settlement. politico reports the woman in question, roughly 30 years old at the time, told one of the

sources cain made a suggestion that she felt was overtly sexual in nature and that she perceived that her job was at risk if she didn't do it. the sources say the woman told them cain invited her to his hotel room at the event and that both the context and the way cain phrased the invitation made her feel extremely uncomfortable, even incensed. here's herman cain's version of that incident on fox news on tuesday. >> one of the few details in that original politico piece was whether you asked one of these women to a hotel room. are you sure that you hadn't done that that -- >> i am sure i hadn't done that. absolutely sure. >> of course there were more than a few details in that original politico story. nbc news has confirmed that the national restaurant association agreed to a settlement with that accuser for one year's pay, between $35,000 and $40,000.

politico has learned that the other woman who accused cain of sexual harassment received a payout of about $45,000, far more than their two or three month salary that cain recalled that woman receiving. that of course comes to a grand total of at least $80,000 of national restaurant association dues, paid by starbucks, burger king, mcdonald's, et cetera, that was bent to keep cain's accusers silent. the association said today they will decide tomorrow whether to grant the second accuser's request, to release her from the confidentiality agreement provision of her settlement so she can tell her side of the story. as reported here last night, the cain campaign said yesterday that an adviser to the 2004 senate campaign leaked this

story. herman cain claims he told anderson about it in 2003. anderson politely called cain a liar in a written statement saying cain never told him anything about it, and today, anderson called cain a liar again, this time on television. >> i didn't know anything about this. and so it's hard to leak something that you don't know anything about, of course. maybe it's a diversary tactic or something. i'm not here to disparage herman. >> herman cain then took to the safety of sean hannity's radio show to kind of almost deny curt anderson's version of the story. hannity asked, did you tell him about this issue when you were running for the senate. >> i am almost certain that i did. see, here we go again, sean. his recollection from 12 years ago he says i didn't say it. my recollection from 12 years ago, i say i didn't say it. you see how this circle keeps on going? >> almost certain.

almost. herman cain then told listeners that if they want to know who leaked the story to politico, not that that's really the most important part of this story, but if they really want to know that, all they have to do is connect the dots. >> two weeks ago, this writer who wrote the story started trying to goad us into saying something, and it was also two weeks ago that mr. anderson, who used to work for me, when i ran my senate campaign, went to work for rick perry. connect the dots. all i can do is tell the truth, and that's what i did. and the fact that, you know, you start connecting all of these other dots says that it was an intentional way to try to slow me down and this mr. anderson is frequently quoted in politico. he's got a connection there. and he started working for the perry campaign two weeks ago. these are simply the facts, and i believe a lot of people are connecting the dots for themselves. now, this particular radio host

that we think we know who it is hasn't liked me from the beginning. so connect the dots. >> herman cain tried to explain to hannity the burdens of leadership involved in running a washington lobbying group. >> i don't pay women compliments unless i know them well enough that they're not going to take it the wrong way. i know in this particular case i didn't make those kind of compliments. i didn't say that she looked hot or whatever and this sort of thing. why? because when you're in a leadership position, you run the risk of it being misunderstood. >> run the risk indeed. joining me from politico, senior political writer and chief political columnist roger simon, thank you both for joining me tonight. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> maggie, this whole blame curt anderson thing has gotten pretty shaky pretty quickly. wasn't there today something from the smoking guy, the campaign manager saying that we

accept it? in fact -- let's hear what he said about it today. >> the evidence that we had on what's transpired the last two weeks led up to mr. anderson as being the source. until we get all the facts, you know, i'm just going to say that we accept what mr. anderson had said and we want to move on with the campaign. >> that's a surrender to curt anderson. >> yeah. >> we accept and want to move on. the guy who we just blamed yesterday. >> yeah. this was a little bit different than what they were saying yesterday. and mr. cain also said in one of those interviews they were brought to the connect the dots point by another reporter. so that's what he was listing as evidence in one of these interviews today. i think mark block made it clear. they want to move on. they want to move on to talking about something else. right now you're in a situation where herman cain's wife is no longer doing a fox news interview that she'd been in discussions to do for tomorrow night. he said we're getting an

exclusive interview with her going really soon. i think they're looking to pivot away from this. this is now day seven of talking about this, and they are still struggling to get out from under it. >> roger simon, tonight the national restaurant association is panicking on what to do, they've got a request from one of the women's lawyers saying we would like you to release her from the confidentiality agreement so she is publicly communicate in some way about this. what do you expect to happen tomorrow at the national restaurant association? >> oh, i suspect they will not release her. i really wish these women would speak up. i understand why they do not want to. nobody wants to become anita hill. but, you know, if they did speak out, who's going to sue them? it's the national restaurant association really going to sue them? is herman cain really going to sue them? does herman cain want to be deposed and swear under oath all those things he has said on television and radio?

i doubt that very much. >> roger, that is a very important point. i made that point last night on this show, trying to speak directly to these women, that there is absolutely no chance that a washington lobbying group, which is what this is, it's a political entity, and so every decision is political, there's no way they would make the political decision to sue any of these women in washington, and then try to go up to the hill and lobby. they would be banned from all democratic offices up there. that's for sure. there'd be some republicans that would still allow them in, but it would be such a destructive thing politically for them to do, and there's no washington lobbying group that could possibly do that. >> they wouldn't, and, you know, herman cain is just making this tougher on himself. all he had to do was issue a blanket statement saying there are things in my life that i have done that i am not proud of and i apologize for them, and that is my only statement. and you know, the air would have

gone out of the balloon. but he has spent the last week pumping up the balloon. and you know, it's just going to explode on him. >> maggie, the great george w. bush line, when i was young and foolish, i was young and foolish. herman was in his, what, 50s when he was at the restaurant association? >> look. he claims he didn't do anything, right? he says, these are allegations and that people make allegations and et cetera. in terms of blaming politico and so forth again, he acknowledged it, we went for ten days trying to get answers about it, asking questions, he referred to it as goading him into saying something. but these are very specific things. as roger says, he has given different answers about what he remembers and what has happened. one of the interesting things about the curt anderson thing, he claimed he was having such a hard time remembering these details earlier this week, but then he does remember that he told someone specific details about this eight years ago.

so that was a bit of a change from earlier. and, of course, curt anderson says that's absolutely not true. so, you know, i think mr. cain's problem has been consistency. it's not just the pumping the air in the baen lo balloon, it'y he's pumping air into the balloon. >> donald trump, senior adviser to the cain campaign, senior legal adviser, has advised them to maybe sue politico for doing what you've done here in this case. >> well, that would reflect on mr. trump's ability to give advice. i'm not going to speak about lawsuits and politico, obviously, but we all know that in america anybody can sue anybody, and anybody who does sue has to expect to go -- undergo a lot of rough discovery and depositions. and most people find it an unpleasant experience, especially if the suit is frivolous. let me just say one thing. since i had nothing to do with the story i can say what a

terrific story politico did, but people should not misunderstand. the purpose of stories -- the purpose of this story was not to derail herman cain or boost another candidate. it was to tell the truth without fear or favor. it is herman cain who is derailing his own campaign, although i would not overestimate the ability of scandal to end a campaign. if everything these women say turns out to be absolutely true, and i have no reason to believe it's not, that would not necessarily end the cain campaign. >> maggie, rush limbaugh is out there saying these women are lying. rush limbaugh who doesn't know who they are, who believed every single word of every female accusation ever sent in the direction of bill clinton, or any democrat for that matter, but especially bill clinton, firmly believes these unnamed

women are lying. this is a real press dilemma, dealing with stories like this, when the women -- not only are not named, but cannot be named because of confidentiality agreements. what have we learned in terms of the press about how to handle one of these stories? >> well, we didn't name them for privacy concerns, and, you know, i think a lot of people have chosen to do that route, other news outlets that have confirmed, nbc and others have decided not to name them and i think generally that is the way people go. you see generally a lot of rallying in the conservative media around herman cain. there has been criticism about the fact that was reported on, a lot of defense of herman cain, a lot of insistence it couldn't be true. some of his loudest support has come from that direction, so --. >> thank you, maggie, roger, and thanks to the whole politico team for great reporting this week. >> thank you. still to come tonight, inside this week's most famous

lobbying operation, the national restaurant association, they are holding herman cain's secrets. they will decide tomorrow whether to release them. if they continue to hide his secrets, are you going to continue to help pay the salaries of the people who are hiding herman cain's secrets? are you going to continue to spend money at mcdonald's and burger king and disney world? and later, details have emerged about what mitt romney actually said in a closed-door meeting about abortion back when he was the prochoice governor of massachusetts. it is the thing now, the biggest thing now standing in his way of getting the republican presidential nomination and that's ahead. ♪

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the big question is, does it do him harm? >> well, it may do him harm, but what i've found fascinating with what you just said was two days ago when we first started talking about it, everybody thought it was the liberal media that was doing it. and it put people like rush out saying, you know, this is a lynching and ann coulter talking about her blacks are better than the -- than our blacks, and i didn't know we were anybody's blacks. i mean, my god, i thought i was free, but i found out again, somebody's got my behind. >> exactly. it sounds like a slave auction.

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mr. cain has never committed any sexual harassment, period, end of story. i would challenge anybody that has these statements to be made to come forward with the person making the statements. face mr. cain. >> herman cain's breathtakingly incompetent campaign manager issued that challenge, believing that he had the protection of confidentiality agreements that would prevent any woman from actually coming forward. such confidentiality agreements are locked away in this building, which houses this anti-minimum wage lobbying

operation that calls itself the national restaurant association. joel bennett, a lawyer for one of the women who got a year's pay settlement from the national restaurant association as a result of herman cain's alleged conduct is negotiating with the association to release her from her confidentiality agreement and allow her to accept the cain campaign challenge. sue hensley, senior vice president for public affairs communication for the national restaurant association -- do we have a picture of sue? we do? all right. put it up. that's right. put it right up there. i want people to see the people who are currently protecting the secrets of herman cain. sue hensley said today, our outside counsel was contacted by mr. ben net today and was asked to provide a response to a proposed statement by tomorrow

afternoon. we are currently reviewing the document and we plan to respond tomorrow. all eyes that are not on the los angeles courthouse tomorrow where the verdict in the trial of michael jackson's trial will be delivered will be on the national restaurant association headquarters at 1200 17th street northwest, at the intersection of 17th and m streets, nearest metro stop is only five blocks from the occupy d.c. protests. an easy walk for anyone who might feel like occupying the national restaurant association. today may be the day to begin the national restaurant association occupation, to force them to open their secret files. as of now, we have no reason not

to expect don sweeneawn sweeney get a look at her, the woman who now has herman cain's old job, the ceo of the national restaurant association, to do the right thing. do we have a dawn sweeney picture? looks like we don't. we don't have one. all right. well we'll find one. dawn sweeney's picture will be here. maybe not tonight. she and anyone else at the national restaurant association has a standing invitation to come on this program and explain whatever they decide tomorrow. the national restaurant association lives on the funding of its giant corporate sponsors. here is a sample of who used to pay herman cain's salary and who is paying to keep his secrets now. 7-eleven, burger king, the cheesecake factory, chipotle, denny's, domino's pizza, hooters, krispy kreme,

mcdonald's, pf changes, starbucks, wendy's, walt disney world. that is who is paying the salaries of the people who are keeping herman cain's secrets. now, there is some good stuff in that list, but let's face it, most of that stuff is junk. real junk food. it is not hard, and it's good for you to give up most everything on that list. i mean, boycott. anything and everything on that list. and, yes, it is possible to get coffee in america without going to starbucks. if the national restaurant association decides to do the wrong thing tomorrow, if they decide to continue to allow herman cain and his campaign management to say anything they want about the former national restaurant association employees who have complained against mr. cain while the national restaurant association prevents those employees from speaking out in any way, then a firestorm

should be visited upon the 1200 17th street northwest and the members of the national restaurant association. if starbucks wants to avoid a boycott, starbucks can write a letter to dawn sweeney telling her to do the right thing. but that's what members of the national restaurant association should have to do. to retain your business, if dawn sweeney continues to let herman cain hide behind their confidentiality agreements. joining me now is chris frats, lobbying correspondent for the national journal. thanks for joining me tonight. >> good to be back with you. >> chris, is the national restaurant association feeling any heat from this yet? >> well, i think they are being very cautious in how they approach this whole thing. it's been only statements, they're not really having a lot of conversations with the press. they're telling you exactly what

they want you to see in very carefully-worded statements. you read one of those. i think they're trying to figure out what legally they can do. it's an interesting position they're in. these kinds of things are fairly routine, companies and associations all the time pay to settle disputes among employers and their management. this has gotten the spotlight of a presidential campaign which is a little bit unique for this situation. >> just to put some scope on the size of the national restaurant association lobbying organization, just in the third quarter of this year, this year's third quarter only, this he have spent $663,000 lobbying in washington primarily in congress. this is typical for them. that's just one quarter of this year. they are a very big and active lobbying organization. if seems to me that there are political ramifications here for

what decisions they make in this case. >> well, certainly, and i think that's part of the calculation for them. they do business here, they are a top -- not only a top lobbying shop that spends $2 million to $3 million a year trying to influence legislation for their members, but they also spend close to $1 million a year in campaign contributions, and that is about 75% to republicans and about 25% to democrats. that's interesting, because for most associations in town, you generally see that their political action committees give 60%/40% to the congressional candidates to the party in power. so 60% to republicans in the house, 40% to democrats in the house, in this example. so they are tilted a little bit more republican in their giving anyway, which would suggest that perhaps there won't be as much democratic heat that they can take. >> we're going to put up a picture of dawn sweeney, we found one, the head of the national restaurant association.

she is running a group that is of course tilted toward republicans, because one of its primary lobbying issues, almost the number one issue, is they oppose any increase in the minimum wage, which goes of course to restaurant workers, dishwashers and so forth, and they oppose any increase in tax rates, pretty much across the board, especially top tax rates. so that is where their lobbying is centered, but in this congress, chris, you can't pass anything without democrats. >> oh, absolutely, and in the senate, that's very true. and what's interesting about the national restaurant association is that herman cain really put them on the map. they were a pretty sleepy organization by all accounts, when i talk to folks who were there prior to herman. he came in, he staffed up on lobbyists, he staffed up on spokes people and communicators, he went and got involved entangled in some pretty controversial issues, they were

against lowering the drunk driving limit from .10 to .08, they were against smoking bans, this was something that he really helped bring this institution into more prominent role in d.c., and it will be very interesting to see how they handle this now that they're mature and have a really political pickle in their hands. >> it's going to be interesting to see what those big corporate members have to say about this. chris frates, thanks so much for joining us tonight. >> always a pleasure. take care. the late night comedy treatment later, and speaker john boehner insults his real boss, grover norquist. ♪ whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

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we have a new report top from inside the room when mitt romney was governor of massachusetts discussing his pro-choice position with the national abortion rights action league. and later, the late night comedians get another week's worth of material on herman cain. that's coming up. ♪ [ male announcer ] when a moment suddenly turns romantic, men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready

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a new article in today's "washington post" reveals details of a 45-minute meeting between then-massachusetts gubernatorial candidate mitt romney and a pro-choice lobbying group in 2002. according to detailed notes taken by an officer of the pro-choice massachusetts in that meeting, romney said he would be a good voice in the party for

their cause and his moderation on the issue would be widely written about. another woman who was in that meeting says romney became emphatic that the republican party was not doing themselves a service by being so vehemently anti-choice. romney said this during a gubernatorial campaign debate. >> i will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose and am devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard. i want voters to know exactly where i'm going to stand as governor and that is i am not going to change our pro-choice laws in massachusetts in any way. i will preserve them, i will protect them, i will enforce them. and therefore i'm not going to make any changes which would make it more difficult for a woman to make that choice herself. >> and this is the same man a few weeks ago with mike huckabee. >> would you have supported the constitutional amendment that would have established the definition of life at conception? >> absolutely.

>> joining me now, nancy keenan, president of naral pro-choice america. >> great to be with you, lawrence. >> has there ever been a flip-flop of this size on this issue in our politics? i can't think of another case where you can put that kind of tape beside each other. >> well, there is no question that mitt romney is anti-choice. in fact, when he was governor in massachusetts he actually vetoed a bill that would have provided emergency contraception to rape survivors. let's be clear. mitt romney has flip-flopped on this issue and if he were elected to the white house he would attack a woman's right to choose. >> yeah, i agree with you. i have a feeling that republicans don't have to worry about him on this issue because he's just one of those politicians where what matters is what he says today. what he says to get elected is basically where he's going to be

on this. >> well, look, lawrence. the majority of americans are pro-choice, and i think they value both consistency and authenticity in their candidate. and mitt romney fails both of those tests. he has not been consistent, he is not authentic about it, and again, when we value freedom and privacy in this country, especially when it comes to a private decision like a woman's right to choose, he is advocating for politicians to insert themselves in that most private, personal medical position. and i think he's out of touch with middle america. >> you know, we've just learned on this front from mississippi that governor haley barbour he has voted yes by absentee ballot today for the personhood amendment there which reads the term person or persons shall include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof. haley barbour just as recently

as yesterday saying he wasn't sure how he was going to vote. >> there's a little inconsistcy there as well. but let me say that that mississippi constitutional amendment would ban abortion and could ban birth control and in vitro fertilization. so again, it is so out of touch with americans' values, when we don't want politicians involved in these very personal, private decisions. and that's what mitt romney is advocating for, that's what we're seeing in the other republican nominees for the presidential, and it makes a difference who sits in the oval office. president obama, supports a woman's right to choose, and all of the candidates on the republican side of the ticket right now do not. and we have to make -- >> nancy, i just want you to double underline that for our viewers, because as the discussion's gone on during the obama presidency the last couple years, people get, who voted for him, get disappointed for various things, they get disillusioned in various ways. but to try to suggest there isn't a set of extremely

important reasons to cast a presidential vote, this is one of those examples. >> again, and this, for women in this country particularly, lawrence, this is a place where president obama time and time again has stepped up and defended a woman's right to choose. and we consistently hear not only do these republican candidates for president want to outlaw abortion and overturn roe versus wade, they want to outlaw birth control in this country. that's how extreme they are. so it's very clear in november of 2012, we will do everything possible to make sure that president obama is re-elected. >> the supreme court matters, who chooses those justices matters, it always will. nancy keenan, thank you very much for your time tonight. >> thank you, lawrence. great to be with you. bad news for grover norquist is of course good news for america. now, if you're at all interested in things like, you know, the governing of the united states of america, this really is the big news of the day. and it's going to be next in the

rewrite. and this week, the late night comedians are of course once again deeply, deeply indebted to herman cain and his campaign manager. ♪ ♪ ♪ walk, little walk ♪ small talk, big thoughts ♪ gonna tell them all just what i want ♪ ♪ i said don't stop, don't stop ♪ ♪ don't stop talking to me [ male announcer ] the most legroom per dollar of any car in america. the all-new nissan versa sedan. from $10,990. innovation upsized. innovation for all. ♪ the day starts with arthritis pain... a load of new listings... and two pills. after a morning of walk-ups, it's back to more pain,

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okay. we don't normally save the biggest news of the day for the rewrite for this late in the show, but tonight is a first. we're doing that tonight because in tonight's rewrite, profiles in courage, republican style. now regular viewers of this program know very well that most republicans cower in fear of this man. who has forced them to sign a pledge that they will never vote to raise taxes in any way, including by closing loopholes. the evil genius of grover norquist's pledge is that his control of republican thinking on tax policy gives him a complete stranglehold on the american government, including

not just tax policy but all spending policy, which is of course dependent on tax policy. now, no one person is more responsible for gridlock in washington than grover norquist, which is why i've called him the most powerful republican in america. something the most powerful republican in america, according to the constitution, really doesn't like to hear. today, the republican speaker of the house, second in the line of succession to the presidency, was asked if the real most powerful republican in america was a good influence on republican members of the house of representatives who are supposed to be led by john boehner instead of grover norquist. boehner could not bring himself to speak norquist's name in his reply. >> our focus here is on jobs. we're doing everything we can to get the -- to get our economy moving again and get people back to work.

it's not often i'm asked about some random person in america on what i think. >> is he a random person, though? is grover norquist a random person? >> our focus is on creating jobs, not talking about somebody's personalty. >> but when -- is that a positive -- >> what he stands for? >> no tax hikes under any circumstance, is that positive for your conference? >> listen, our conference is opposed to tax hikes because we believe tax hikes will hurt our economy and put americans out of work. >> way to go, luke russert. boehner obviously had nothing good he could bring himself to say about grover norquist but he still is afraid to tell the truth about grover norquist. he's still afraid to admit grover norquist has a terrible destructive influence on republicans, on our government and on our country. but this week, a group of brave republicans -- remember, the

threshold for bravery in the republican party could not be lower, so bear with me on this. this is brave. a group of brave republicans joined arms and took a stand against grover norquist. 40 house republicans, 37 of whom have signed grover norquist's anti-tax pledge, signed a letter to the deficit reduction supercommittee saying that all options for deficit reduction must be considered, including tax increases. politically, this is, by far the biggest thing that's happened in the house of representatives this year. it is a devastating setback for grover norquist. grover norquist didn't get to be the most powerful republican in america without knowing how to handle setbacks. he issued this threat to those house republicans who signed that letter, saying they would consider tax increases. consider anything.

just don't vote for a tax increase. team norquist then turned to washington's traditional tactic of fighting a letter with a letter. norquist's errand boy in the united states senate, south carolina's jim demint, got his republican colleagues to sign a letter to the supercommittee using the boilerplate norquist language against tax increases. jim demint is one of the senate's slowest students. he missed the class where they teach you, if you're circulating a letter in the senate you must count the number of signatures you get before you release it. or maybe demint just missed the class on how to count. his letter is missing a few senate republican signatures. it doesn't have mitch mcconnell, doesn't have jon kyl, but the top members of the leadership never signed those kinds of letters, so that's okay. we're not going to count them. the trouble is demint's letter is missing 11 more signatures.

demint did not get scott brown, susan collins, and olympia snowe, which isn't the end of the world because it isn't always easy to get the maine people but not getting a mississippi republican like thad cochran or either of the tennessee republicans, alexander and corker, both of whom have signed the grover norquist pledge, that is a very bad day for grover norquist and jim demint who, with only 33 republican senators on their letter to the supercommittee, have now publicly demonstrated that grover norquist and jim demint do not now have the votes in the senate to filibuster a supercommittee bill that contains tax increases. the demint letter is a

profoundly stupid sign of weakness for which we should all be grateful. and so tonight's profiles in republican courage, are the 11 republican senators who did not sign the demint/norquist letter. seven of whom have previously signed the grover norquist pledge. the profiles in republican courage also include all 40 of the house republicans who signed the anti-norquist letter to the supercommittee saying tax increases should be on the table. 40 republican house members. and 11 republican senators is more than enough for democrats in congress to work with to get things done. if some members of the republican party eventually find their way back to participation in responsible governance, history will show this week was when they took their first step.

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the late-night comedy writers have written so many jokes about them, they should now be writing thank you notes to mr. herman cain. they're sure going to miss him when he drops out of the race, and then, look out rick perry. here's the best of the week in late night. >> it turns out that presidential candidate herman cain was accused of sexually harassing two women in the '90s. which explains his new campaign slogan, did somebody order a pizza with extra sausage? >> but cain says no, he was just

trying to explain to the women his 69-9-9 program. >> if he's telling the truth he's just a nice church-going guy and everything he does now is tainted by these allegations. even his simple love of ice cream. >> black walnut because it tastes good all the time. >> it just sounds really dirty now. and that clip of herman cain smiling at the end of his political ads? oh, that just -- it's just dirty. that commercial is just always going to play with different music in people's heads now. ♪ >> these ladies are the real harassers, hiding behind their anonymity just because they were paid a settlement to leave their

jobs in exchange for their silence. and if you don't talk, clearly you're lying. but cain is allowed to speak, therefore he's telling the truth. it's a classic case of he said/she's legally prohibited from saying. still not convinced? then herman cain has a question for you. >> i'm trying to -- have you ever been accused of sexual harassment? >> open and shut. who hasn't been accused of sexual harassment? okay? show of hands. show of hands. ladies, raise both hands. now shake it up. >> they're going to miss him. the comedians get tonight's last word. you can have the last word online at our blog and follow my tweets. "the ed show" is up next.