Mark Levin flagged this on Twitter with this observation: “I think it can be said that Karl Rove has jumped the shark. In fact, the shark bit him on the ass. Good-bye Karl.” Maybe Karl Rove should have consulted with his Fox News colleague Greta van Susteren about Allred’s credibility in allegations involving political candidates. It’s hard to imagine that the appearance of Gloria Allred, of all people, will help Sharon Bialek seem more credible:

“Credibility matters here, and Gloria Allred — while she is a Democrat and a liberal Democrat and openly so — nonetheless, has been involved in a number of high-profile cases like Tiger Woods and others, where the charges have been borne out.

So this gives Ms. Bialek’s charges and accusations a little bit of credibility, and that’s what we’re talking about here — credibility.”

Actually, Bialek would have done better to find an attorney who didn’t have a track record of political hit jobs in the middle of elections.  That doesn’t make Bialek’s allegations untrue — the truth of the allegation isn’t really connected to her choice of attorneys — but it certainly doesn’t enhance her credibility, either.  Rove should know better than to assert that it does, especially aimed at the conservatives who will have to determine whether to keep defending Cain or look for a different candidate to back in the upcoming primaries.

This may not be a shark-jump moment, but it’s pretty tone deaf.  Meanwhile, over on MSNBC, Mika Brzezinski goes the other direction regarding Cain’s accusers:

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She prefaced her criticism of Cain’s accusers by making it clear that she has little love for Cain. “I still don’t get why he’s even at the top of the list,” she said.

But she said that Cain was a powerful man at the NRA and slammed his accusers for not coming forward earlier. “Nobody spoke out then, so what does that say about them?” she charged. “‘Cause if someone is a predator, a sexual predator, and they do something to you and you don’t speak out, you’re letting it go.”

She continued, “Clearly this woman and Gloria Allred are very interested in the limelight right now and taking this on and I wonder what their reasons are. Now I’m sure I’ll get killed online for saying that.”

“The whole thing is a pathetic side-show,” she concluded.

Maybe Rove and Brzezinski should trade sound stages ….

Update: On the other hand, it looks like one of the women in the Politico case is ready to step forward and tell her story, too:

Karen Kraushaar, a 55-year-old former journalist and seasoned government spokeswoman who served on the front lines of the Elian Gonzalez custody battle, is a competitive equestrian and lover of golden retrievers. She has been married for more than two decades.

“She wouldn’t be the type to make false allegations,” brother-in-law Ned Kraushaar, a Georgia software consultant, told The Daily. “This happened [more than] 10 years ago. It’s not like she wanted to try and hurt the Republican Party.”

Karen Kraushaar currently serves as a communications director at the Inspector General’s Office of the Treasury Department, a position she has held since last year. She did not return phone messages left by The Daily. …

Since Politico broke the story that two women had received cash settlements after filing sexual harassment claims against Cain, various news outlets have declined to identify the women, citing privacy issues. A third woman’s case was disclosed last week, but The Associated Press did not name her.

Following a request from Bennett, the restaurant association waived the confidentiality terms of its agreement with Kraushaar last Friday so that she would be allowed to speak publicly.

Now, this could be trouble for Cain, and something that could make Bialek more credible.