memeorandum: How tea party could drive GOP to disaster (David Frum/CNN)

2:35 PM ET, October 31, 2011

Top Items:

Exclusive: 2 women accused Herman Cain of inappropriate behavior — During Herman Cain's tenure as the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, at least two female employees complained to colleagues and senior association officials about inappropriate behavior by Cain …

Discussion: CNN, Firedoglake, Washington Wire, The Atlantic Online, CBS News, GOP 12, msnbc.com, Ben Smith's Blog, Los Angeles Times, Roger L. Simon, Washington Post, ABCNEWS, Mediaite, The Spectacle Blog, ThinkProgress, The New Republic, Campaign 2012, Boston Globe, Wake up America, Politicons, Associated Press, OpenSecrets.org, The Raw Story, Political Mojo, nation.foxnews.com, NewsBusters.org blogs, Ballot Box, A plain blog about politics, PolitickerNY, Truth Wins Out, Washington Monthly, The Gateway Pundit, The Other McCain, Pat Dollard, Townhall.com, News Hounds, Truthdig, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, The Political Carnival, Hot Air, Big Government, Matt Glassman, Guardian, US Politics, No More Mister Nice Blog, Erick's blog, Wonkette, White House Dossier, Poynter, The PJ Tatler, The Crawdad Hole, Iowa Caucuses, News Desk, The Greenroom, Indecision Forever, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Enterprise Blog, RedState, Scared Monkeys, The Lonely Conservative, Big Journalism, Feministing, Gothamist, The Page, Balloon Juice, Ed Driscoll, The Moderate Voice, National Review, iOwnTheWorld.com, Pundit & Pundette, Weasel Zippers, Sky Dancing, The Right Scoop, The Caucus, Gawker, Towleroad News #gay, Outside the Beltway, Maggie's Notebook, Freedom's Lighthouse, Daily Kos, Joe. My. God., New York Times, pandagon.net, 2012 US Elections and Rick Perry 2012 Campaign …

Ross Ramsey / The Texas Tribune:

Cain Edges Perry in New UT/TT Poll … Keywords: - Texas Republican Party, - Herman Cain, - Michele Bachmann, - Mitt Romney, - Ron Paul, - Texas Governor Rick Perry, - 2012 Presidential Race, - Perry for President, - Rick Perry Politics, - UT/Texas Tribune Poll

Discussion: Rick Perry 2012 Campaign …, The Caucus, The Daily Caller, Swampland, CNN, Outside the Beltway, Business Insider, Don Surber, KXAN-TV, Ballot Box, National Review, GOP 12, Taegan Goddard's … and Freedom's Lighthouse

JSOnline:

State firm's cash to Herman Cain may breach federal campaign, tax laws — Herman Cain's two top campaign aides ran a private Wisconsin-based corporation that helped the GOP presidential candidate get his fledgling campaign off the ground by originally footing the bill for tens of thousands …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, Little Green Footballs, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, Public Religion Research …, Campaign 2012, Political Mojo, Fox News, Daily Kos, msnbc.com, The Maddow Blog, Business Insider and American Spectator

First Read / msnbc.com:

NBC confirms one Cain accuser received cash settlement — By NBC's Chuck Todd, Lisa Myers, and Domenico Montanaro — NBC News has confirmed that one woman received a settlement from the National Restaurant Association after complaining about inappropriate sexual conduct by Herman Cain.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Mediaite, US Politics and Daily Kos

Mark Finkelstein / NewsBusters.org blogs:

Politico's Martin Dodges Question On Cain Details — Herman Cain has been taking heat for his response to questions about Politico's story on alleged sexual harassment. But today on Morning Joe, it was Politico's own Jonathan Martin, lead author of the story, who was being evasive about the details of the allegations against Cain.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Washington Post, The Spectacle Blog, Big Journalism and Freedom's Lighthouse

The Caucus:

Cain Calls Harassment Issue a ‘Witch Hunt’ — Updated Herman Cain called the accusations of sexual harassment against him “a witch hunt” and said he had been falsely accused while the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s. — Declaring at the National Press Club that he …

Discussion: The Politico, Riptide 2.0, The Atlantic Online, ThinkProgress, PolitickerNY and The Daily Dish

Molly Ball / The Atlantic Online:
Cain Says ‘Herman Is Going to Stay Herman’ as Allegations Swirl

Discussion: Little Green Footballs

RealClearPolitics Video Log:
Coulter: Politico's Smear Of Cain Shows Liberal Media “Terrified Of Strong, Conservative, Black Men”

Discussion: New York Magazine, The Politico, The Daily Dish, Business Insider and iOwnTheWorld.com

Alexander Burns / The Politico:
Herman Cain acknowledges harassment accusations

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Daily Kos

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Cain: “I was falsely accused” of sexual harassment at trade group

Discussion: Gawker, The Crawdad Hole and Freedom's Lighthouse

Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:
Former Campaign Aide Says Cain's Behavior ‘Never Even Bordered on Inappropriate in the Slightest’

Discussion: The Politico, Daily Pundit, Maggie's Notebook, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Don Surber, Campaign 2012, Nice Deb, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Online and ABCNEWS

Erick Erickson / Erick's blog:
The Oppo Dump on Herman Cain Begins in Earnest

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Washington Wire, NewsBusters.org blogs, Campaign 2012, The Gateway Pundit, CNN and Whiskey Fire

Byron York / Campaign 2012:
Cain responds to sex harassment allegation

Harry Siegel / NY Daily News:

At Occupy Wall Street central, a rift is growing between east and west sides of the plaza — The Wall Street protesters determined to “Occupy Everything” now find themselves, in a sense, occupied — The Wall Street protesters determined to “Occupy Everything” now find themselves, in a sense, occupied.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, ThinkProgress, Hullabaloo, The Volokh Conspiracy, Althouse, Gothamist, The Crawdad Hole and JammieWearingFool

David Frum / CNN:

How tea party could drive GOP to disaster — Editor's note: David Frum, a CNN contributor, was a special assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2002. He is the author of six books, including “Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again,” and is the editor of FrumForum.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Agonist, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Mahablog and iOwnTheWorld.com

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
Mitt Romney Limits National Media Exposure With Frontrunner Strategy

Discussion: Daily Kos, Washington Monthly, Big Journalism, GOP 12, msnbc.com and Don Surber, more at Mediagazer »

Kristina Wong / ABCNEWS:

Occupy Veterans Movement Growing Across U.S. — Since Occupy Wall Street protests have broken out in cities across the U.S. and abroad, support has come from what might seem like an unlikely corner: war veterans. — But two of the highest-profile protesters — each from opposite ends of the country — had served in wars.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Shakesville

Seung Min Kim / The Politico:
Boehner: I get OWS ‘frustrations’

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit and Daily Kos

Pat Garofalo / ThinkProgress:
Cantor Rakes In Wall Street Donations While Calling Occupy Protesters A ‘Mob’

Discussion: Roll Call

Reuters:

Beacon Power bankrupt; had U.S. backing like Solyndra — (Reuters) - Beacon Power Corp filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, just a year after the energy storage company received a $43 million loan guarantee from a controversial Department of Energy program. — The bankruptcy comes about two months …

Discussion: Verum Serum, Don Surber, The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and Business Insider

Ben Geman / The Hill:

Second Energy Dept.-backed company goes bankrupt — A Massachusetts company that received a $43 million Energy Department loan guarantee last year filed for bankruptcy Sunday, a step certain to fuel criticism of federal green energy financing in the wake of the solar company Solyndra's collapse.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Bloomberg, New York Times, Big Government, The PJ Tatler, The Heritage Foundation, Guardian, The Lonely Conservative and The Hill

Reuters:

MF Global files for bankruptcy after deal unravels — (Reuters) - MF Global Holdings Ltd, the futures broker run by former Goldman Sachs chief Jon Corzine, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after a tentative deal with a buyer fell apart. — The firm's meltdown in less than a week following big bets …

Discussion: DealBook, Ben Smith's Blog, www.thetakeaway.org and Gawker

Reuters:
Insight: Did Corzine's risk taking cripple MF Global?

Discussion: DealBook, JammieWearingFool, New York Magazine and The Awl

Tiffany Kary / Bloomberg:
MF Global Files for Bankruptcy Protection

Discussion: Business Insider, Wall Street Journal and Swampland

AnnArbor.com News:

Mass exodus? University of Michigan tries to fight domestic partner benefits ban as employees think of looking elsewhere — Andries Coetzee, left, and his partner Gary Woodall stand outside of their home in Ann Arbor on Friday. Woodall may lose his health care coverage if the bill proposing …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Gay Politics, Balloon Juice and Associated Press

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Bombs, Bridges and Jobs — A few years back Representative Barney Frank coined an apt phrase for many of his colleagues: weaponized Keynesians, defined as those who believe “that the government does not create jobs when it funds the building of bridges or important research or retrains workers …

Discussion: Prairie Weather, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Cafe Hayek and Bark Bark Woof Woof

New York Post:

OWS camp gets really commie-cal — Some 50 Occupy Wall Street protesters saw red yesterday — giving an enthusiastic welcome to a genuine communist. — Alex Callinicos, a professor of European Studies at Kings College in London, announced to his rapt audience, “I am a Marxist.”

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Big Government and JammieWearingFool

Carolyn N. Lerner / New York Times:

A Law Misused for Political Ends — THE federal agency I lead, the United States Office of Special Counsel, enforces a law that is broken and needs to be fixed. — The law, the Hatch Act of 1939, was intended to keep improper politics out of the federal workplace.

Discussion: The Politico

Economist:

Nope, just debt — The next big credit bubble? — NEW YORK | from the print edition — IN LATE 1965, President Lyndon Johnson stood in the modest gymnasium of what had once been the tiny teaching college he attended in Texas and announced a programme to promote education.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and CNN

Bernie Becker / The Hill:

The Hill Poll: Fears about inequality in income grow — Two-thirds of likely voters say the American middle class is shrinking, and 55 percent believe income inequality has become a big problem for the country, according to this week's The Hill Poll. — Only 14 percent of respondents …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Politico, Prairie Weather and The Maddow Blog

Clay Risen / The Atlantic Online:

The Problem With Guides to Beer Drinking: There Just Aren't Enough — For newcomers to wine, it's easy to find a guide to follow, but good luck finding their equivalents when it comes to navigating the world of beer — America is a beer-drinking country — we consume about 10 times …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Andrew Pollack / New York Times:

Concerns Are Raised About Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes — These mosquitoes are genetically engineered to kill — their own children. — Researchers on Sunday reported initial signs of success from the first release into the environment of mosquitoes engineered to pass a lethal gene …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Joe. My. God.