memeorandum: The Public-Union Albatross (Philip K. Howard/Wall Street Journal)

2:45 AM ET, November 10, 2011

Top Items:

Alexander Burns / Reuters:

Rick Perry crashes, Cain cheered at GOP debate — ROCHESTER, Mich. - The Rick Perry comeback hit a potentially disastrous snag Wednesday night, as the Texas governor again froze on the debate stage — this time, while attempting to list three federal agencies he'd eliminate as president.

Discussion: The Politico, Michelle Malkin, Washington Post, Pat Dollard, The Page and Althouse

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Video: Perry implodes; Update: Campaign is over, says top fundraiser — Via Business Insider. A few choice quotes. Larry Sabato: … Rich Lowry: … Mona Charen: … He's down to 4.9 percent now on InTrade; before the debate he was at 9.3 percent.

Discussion: Rick Perry 2012 Campaign …, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, JustOneMinute, The Other McCain, The Moderate Voice, Weekly Standard, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, Weasel Zippers, The Page and Taylor Marsh

Zeke Miller / Business Insider:

PERRY DEBATE DISASTER: This Is The Moment That Officially Killed His Campaign — For Good — At today's CNBC debate Texas Gov. Rick Perry was asked a question about his tax and spending plan — but completely blew an otherwise strong answer by looking like a complete fool.

Discussion: blogs.telegraph.co.uk and Gawker

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:

Perry struggles to name third government agency he promised to close — Rick Perry promised during Wednesday's GOP debate to close three government agencies when he became president — but he couldn't name all three. — The Texas governor repeatedly failed to name the third agency after multiple attempts …

Discussion: CNN

ESPN:

Joe Paterno, Graham Spanier out — Both football coach Joe Paterno and president Graham Spanier are out at Penn State in the wake of a disturbing child sex abuse scandal involving a former assistant coach. — Paterno said in a statement Wednesday he would retire after the season …

Discussion: Fox Sports, Mediaite, Balloon Juice and Scared Monkeys

Sports Illustrated:

The Penn State scandal echoes a hockey horror … Every once in a while we hardcore sports fans are reminded of our childish immaturity. — How else can you describe adults who spend a good part of their lives watching, listening, and discussing other adults who play games with sticks and balls, hoops and pucks?

Discussion: Salon.com, Rod Dreher, The Huffington Post and Ed Driscoll

lehighvalleylive.com:

Penn State President Graham Spanier will quit or be fired today in wake of Sandusky charges, source says — Penn State University President Graham Spanier will either resign or be voted out by the end of today, a source close to the board of trustees told The Express-Times.

Discussion: Associated Press, NBC Philadelphia, Firedoglake, Feministing, CBS Chicago and Outside the Beltway

Mark Viera / New York Times:

Penn State Coach Joe Paterno Is Fired — STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Graham B. Spanier, one of the longest-serving and highest-paid university presidents in the nation, who has helped raise the academic profile of Penn State during his tenure, stepped down Wednesday night in the wake …

Discussion: LA Times Sports Blog, Maggie's Notebook, Jezebel and Clayton Cramer's Blog

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Personal Foul at Penn State

Discussion: Mediaite, Don Surber and Althouse

Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:

Bully: Limbaugh Repeatedly Attacks Cain Accuser's 13-Year-Old Son — Using the power of his top-rated, nationally syndicated Clear Channel radio show, Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday repeatedly turned his AM wrath on a schoolboy and portrayed the 13 year-old as a villain in the Herman Cain sexual harassment saga.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Herman Cain PAC:

Herman Cain Accuser Karen Kraushaar works for Obama and she's ugly — Ew, gross! Who the hell does this ugly b1tch think she's fooling? — Just to be clear, Karen Kraushaar is the one on the left. — Via The Daily...

Discussion: Hot Air, Gawker, thump and whip, Outside the Beltway, Indecision Forever, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Because I Can and Mercury Rising

David Neiwert / Crooks and Liars:
UPDATED: Male Persuasion: HOAX Herman Cain Website Calls One of His Accusers an ‘Ugly Bitch’

Discussion: Daily Kos and Booman Tribune

David Weigel / Slate:
Mark Block: Schmuck or Liar?

Discussion: Salon.com and The Daily Dish, more at Mediagazer »

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Attorney: 2 named accusers could hold joint press conference

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Law Blog, Daily Kos and Hot Air

Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:

Debate crowd cheers Cain in face of sexual harassment claims — Onstage at his first presidential debate since sexual harassment allegations against him emerged more than a week ago, Herman Cain dismissed the accusations as a “character assassination” Wednesday — and was enthusiastically backed up by the debate audience.

Discussion: CNN

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Obama up big in Ohio

Discussion: The Political Carnival, The Daily Dish, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, Firedoglake, About.com US Liberal Politics, Daily Kos, American Prospect, Metro, Taylor Marsh, GOP 12, Liberal Values and New York Times

Richard Adams / Guardian:
GOP debate in Michigan - as it happened

Discussion: Maggie's Notebook, Gawker, Wonkette and Liberal Values

Rasmussen Reports:
Florida Primary: Cain 30%, Romney 24%, Gingrich 19%

Discussion: Riptide 2.0 and Hot Air

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Republicans Believe Romney Most Likely to Win Nomination

Discussion: msnbc.com, Firedoglake, PJ Media, The Daily Caller and American Power

Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:
Cain placed Google ads alongside scandal-related search results

Discussion: CNN

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Gingrich Rises in Polls But Has Major Obstacles to Nomination

Discussion: Hot Air, Public Policy Polling and NO QUARTER

Paul Krugman:

This Is The Way The Euro Ends — This is the way the euro ends. — This is the way the euro ends. — Not with a bang but with bunga-bunga. — Seriously, with Italian 10-years now well above 7 percent, we're now in territory where all the vicious circles get into gear …

Discussion: Donklephant, The Atlantic Online, Outside the Beltway, Brad DeLong, New Atlanticist, US Politics and Balloon Juice

Martin Wolf / Financial Times:
Thinking through the unthinkable

Discussion: Finance

John Quiggin / New York Times:
Euro Crisis's Enabler: The Central Bank

Discussion: Firedoglake and Washington Post

Urban Infidel:

Occupy Wall Street: Zucotti Square Day 53 & Counting - The Crazy Has Set In — So much has been said about this movement, it has no discernible point, it smells, it's violent, it has rapes, arson, assault, vandalism, theft and psychotics running the place along with a growing rap sheet, so I wasn't sure what else I could find.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Zombie:
Fresh anti-Semitic videos coming out of Occupy Wall Street

Discussion: Jammie Wearing Fools, Verum Serum, Hot Air, OWS Exposed and Israel Matzav

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:

Obama Administration to Delay New 15-Cent Christmas Tree ‘Fee’ — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is going to delay implementation and revisit a proposed new 15 cent fee on fresh-cut Christmas trees, sources tell ABC News. The fee, requested by the National Christmas Tree Association in 2009 …

Jeremy Holden / Media Matters for America:
Artificial War On Christmas Campaign Launches Fake Obama “Christmas Tree Tax”

Discussion: Mediaite, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Heritage Foundation

Conn Carroll / Campaign 2012:

NLRB lawyer: “We screwed up the U.S. economy” — New documents obtained by Judicial Watch show acting National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Lafe Solomon joking that the NLRB's suit against Boeing would kill jobs in South Carolina. Commenting on a Planet Labor article whose headline …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler and The Lonely Conservative

Kevin Bogardus / The Hill:
Senator threatened labor board before Boeing complaint

Discussion: The Politico

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Dem lawmaker would be fine with supercommittee failure, automatic cuts — A Democratic legislator said it would be fine with him if the supercommittee failed to reach agreement and steep, automatic cuts to domestic and defense spending happened. — “I hope that they cannot reach an agreement …

Discussion: Capital New York, Hot Air, Pat Dollard, Weasel Zippers and Fire Andrea Mitchell!

Craig Whitlockand Greg Jaffe / Washington Post:

Remains of war dead dumped in landfill — The Dover Air Force Base mortuary for years disposed of some dead troops' body parts by burning them and dumping the ashes in a Virginia landfill, a practice that officials have since abandoned in favor of burying the remains at sea.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Pat Dollard and Mediaite

Mike / Rortybomb:

What Can We Say About President Obama's Economic Performance in Early 2010? — There's an argument that we should look less to President Obama for the success or failure of the economy in this Great Recession - especially with the lack of movement on unemployment - and more to Congress …

Discussion: Angry Bear and Washington Post

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
Shrinking the presidency back down to size

Discussion: A plain blog about politics, Business Insider, The League of Ordinary … and American Times

Lee Fang / ThinkProgress:

Koch Brother Front Group Americans For Prosperity Pushes Smear Campaign Against Me — Levi Russell, Americans for Prosperity Director of Public Affairs, contributed to a blog post calling Lee a “liar.” Russell, however, erroneously quoted the conversation and has refused to issue a correction.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Raw Story and Americans for Prosperity

The Sean Hannity Show:

BREAKING NEWS: DEMS WALK AWAY FROM SUPER COMMITTEE — Latest update on the lack of progress for Dems and Republicans to reach a tax deal. Yesterday Democrats of the Super Committee rejected Republicans' offer to “raise federal tax collections by nearly $300 billion over the next decade.”

Discussion: msnbc.com, Los Angeles Times, The Gateway Pundit, Big Government, The PJ Tatler, Business Insider, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, The Lonely Conservative and Hot Air

Chad Pergram / Fox News:

Solyndra Emails Claim Biden Team ‘About Had an Orgasm’ About Energy Loans to Firm — A series of emails provided to the House Energy and Commerce Committee from individuals tied to Solyndra offer striking characterizations about running strategy with the White House to secure assistance for the now-bankrupt solar energy firm.

Discussion: Hit & Run, Campaign 2012 and Don Surber