60 Minutes ran a devastating report on how lawmakers and their aides “have regular access to powerful political intelligence, and many have
made well-timed stock market trades in the very industries they
regulate. For now, the practice is perfectly legal, but some say it’s
time for the law to change.”
Newsweek Kills Longtime Political Series
Every presidential election season since 1984, Newsweek magazine “detached a small group of reporters from their daily jobs for a year to travel with the presidential candidates and document their every internal triumph and despair — all under the condition that none of it was to be printed until after the election,” the New York Times reports.
“Then two days after Election Day, the sum of their reporters’ work would appear in the magazine. But the ambitious undertaking, known inside the magazine simply as ‘the project,’ is no more. Newsweek, bleeding red ink and searching for a fresh identity under new ownership, has decided the project would not go forward this election season.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I’m thinking he would have to have a split personality to do the things that were said.”
— Gloria Cain, quoted by the Washington Post, in her first interview since her husband, Herman Cain, was accused of sexual harassment by multiple women.
O’Reilly’s Book on Lincoln Riddled with Errors
A reviewer for the official National Park Service bookstore at Ford’s Theatre has recommended that Bill O’Reilly’s bestselling new book about the Lincoln assassination, Killing Lincoln, not be sold at the historic site “because of the lack of documentation and the factual errors within the publication,” according to Salon.
Washington Post: “The sales of Killing Lincoln attest to the fact that TV celebrity and strong storytelling trump accuracy. Since its publication the book has been riding at the top of the bestseller list, and soon after its release O’Reilly signed a contract to write two more books, one of which will be another presidential history.”
Email Said Bachmann Would Get Few Debate Questions
Michele Bachmann accused CBS News of “media bias” after her campaign was included on an email chain that suggested she would get fewer questions than other candidates in last night’s GOP debate, CNN reports.
“In the email chain, a CBS employee notified CBS News political director John Dickerson that Bachmann’s spokeswoman, Alice Stewart, had volunteered the candidate for an interview on Dickerson’s post-debate webcast. The employee copied Stewart on the email and told Dickerson that she had been cc’d.”
Dickerson replied, apparently unaware that Stewart was on the email chain: “Okay let’s keep it loose though since she’s not going to get many questions and she’s nearly off the charts in the hopes that we can get someone else.”
SNL Spoofs Perry’s Brain Freeze
Saturday Night Live replays last week’s Republican presidential debate.
Quote of the Day
“Debates are good, but we’re reaching overload.”
— Political consultant Ed Rollins, in an interview with The Hill, noting that “there are going to be 20-plus debates in this primary process.”
Why the Republican Debates Matter So Much
Michael Shear looks at some of the reasons why the Republican presidential primary debates have mattered so much this cycle.
“Maybe
it’s because Democrats don’t have anything else to do in the evening.
Without Democratic debates to fill their time, curious liberals are
tuning in to get their fill of televised political combat…
the Republican candidates are not the typical collection of middle-aged,
somewhat boring governor or senators. Instead, many of them are genuine
media personalities who know how to use the television camera to their
advantage… The proliferation of political commentary on blogs, news
Web sites and even Twitter has made it possible to experience the
political campaigns entirely through the eyes of other people. But that
may make people even more eager to find out for themselves.”
Top Moments from Last Night’s Debate
Miss last night’s Republican debate? The Daily Beast has video clips of the top seven moments.
However, even if you tried to watch, Politico notes you may have been confused when the televised portion on CBS ended after an hour when viewers were expected to go to the Internet to see the final 30 minutes.
Cain Says God Told Him to Run for President
Herman Cain said that God convinced him to run for president, National Journal reports.
Said Cain: “I prayed and prayed and prayed. I’m a man of faith, I had to do a lot of praying for this one, more praying than I’d ever done before in my life. And when I finally realized that it was God saying that this is what I needed to do, I was like Moses. ‘You’ve got the wrong man, Lord. Are you sure?'”
Berlusconi Resigns
Silvio Berlusconi “has resigned as prime minister of Italy after a historic vote paved the way for a new government in Rome tasked with shoring up the country’s economy and taking it off the frontline in the eurozone crisis,” the Guardian reports.
“With his formal resignation, which was confirmed by the presidential palace on Saturday night, the 75-year-old billionaire brought down the curtain on a government that has played a significant role in taking the European single currency and the global economy to the brink of catastrophe. The dramatic end of Berlusconi’s 17-year domination of Italian politics came as the lower house of parliament approved a package of savage cuts and stimulus measures demanded by the European Union to trim Italy’s massive €1.9 trillion debt.”
Quote of the Day
“I call it flyspecking. Every word I say now is going to be flyspecked by
somebody, and somebody who does not support Herman Cain, they’re going
to try to spin it into a negative.”
— Herman Cain, in an interview with the New York Post.
Cain’s Wife Agrees to Interview
Gloria Cain is preparing to give her first interview of the campaign season to possibly air on Fox News on Monday, the New York Times reports.
“Mrs. Cain has, to date, not appeared on the campaign trail with her husband, and is said to prefer her home life in Atlanta, far away from the national spotlight. But since allegations of sexual harassment began to engulf the Cain campaign almost two weeks ago, it had been rumored that Mrs. Cain would eventually come to her husband’s defense on television.”
Republicans Debate Again Tonight
Eight Republican presidential candidates will debate national defense issues in South Carolina tonight at 8 pm ET, the Columbia State reports.
The debate is “expected to focus on defending the nation against terrorism, the growing nuclear threat posed by Iran and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.”
National Journal has a good overview of what each candidate has said about national security issues.
Cain Leads in Iowa, South Carolina
Two new Insider Advantage polls shows Herman Cain leading the GOP presidential field in Iowa and South Carolina.
In Iowa, Cain leads with 23%, followed by Mitt Romney at 19%, Newt Gingrich at 15%, Ron Paul at 12%, Rick Perry at 9% and Michele Bachmann at 5%.
In South Carolina, Cain leads with 26%, followed by Gingrich at 19%, Romney at 16%, Perry at 6%, Bachmann at 5%, Ron Paul at 3% and Rick Santorum at 1%.
Romney Regains National Lead
The latest Economist/YouGov poll shows Mitt Romney regaining his position atop the GOP presidential field with 24%, followed by Herman Cain at 21% and Newt Gingrich at 16%.
Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul and Rick Perry are all tied for forth at 7%, in front of Jon Huntsman at 5% and Rick Santorum at 2%.
Abramoff Says Lawmakers Took Part in Insider Trading
Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff told CNBC that as many as a dozen members of Congress and their aides “took part in insider trading based on foreknowledge of market moving information on Capitol Hill.”
He said that “many of those members of Congress bragged to him about their stock trading prowess while dining at the exclusive restaurant he owned on Pennsylvania Avenue… Abramoff declined to name the members of Congress.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been through hell. Now, here’s the good news: it didn’t kill me or slow us down one bit.”
— Herman Cain, quoted by NBC News, acknowledging that the allegations of inappropriate behavior toward women have taken a personal toll on him.
