The Hollywood Liberal

Herman Cain’s accusers agree to hold joint news conference

The women who have accused GOP contender Herman Cain of sexual harassment have agreed to hold a joint news conference to air their stories, one of their attorneys said Wednesday, a move that could fuel a controversy that has dogged the businessman’s campaign for more than a week.

Joel P. Bennett, who represents federal employee Karen Kraushaar, 55, said in an interview that he was planning the news conference with Gloria Allred, who represents Chicago homemaker Sharon Bialek, 50. Details of the joint appearance have not yet been worked out, Bennett said.

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In McPherson Square, Occupy D.C. creates a vibrant brand of urbanism

To passersby, it is a jumble of tents and blue tarps, the iconic symbol of the displaced, the temporary, the makeshift. Set against the orderly but dull architectural backdrop of McPherson Square, the Occupy D.C. encampment is a low-slung and seemingly haphazard arrangement. But it has made this sleepy public space, used mainly by office workers and a few residents of nearby luxury condominiums, one of the busiest public squares in Washington. To use the argot of urbanism, the protesters who installed themselves at McPherson Square on Oct. 1 (and another group that has occupied Freedom Plaza a few blocks away) have done what so many planners, designers and architects strive for but fail to achieve: They have “activated” the urban core.

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Obama spending cuts target federal agencies’ travel, technology and swag

First came a two-year pay freeze for federal workers. Now, the tote bags have to go, too. And the mugs, mouse pads, T-shirts and other items that bear the names of agencies and often are given away to employees and the general public.

The reduction in swag is part of President Obama’s order Wednesday that agencies must make 20 percent spending cuts on government-paid travel, vehicles and technology — and the freebies handed out to help promote an agency’s mission.

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Rick Perry’s Revival Plan
Scott Conroy, RealClearPolitics
Mitt Romney may be the Republican candidate who bills himself as a turnaround artist, but it is Rick Perry who finds himself badly in need of a comeback.After surging to the top of the polls upon entering the race in August, the onetime Republican front-runner has since nose-dived and is now all the way back in fourth place, according to the latest RCP national polling average.In a twist of presidential campaign fate, Perry trails even Newt Gingrich, whose former chief strategists resigned en masse when the campaign was stagnating in May and since then have helmed Perry's…

Why Gingrich Could Win
Dorothy Rabinowitz, Wall Street Journal
Newt Gingrich's rise in the polls—from near zero to the third slot in several polls—should come as no surprise to people who have been watching the Republican debates, now drawing television viewers as never before. The former speaker has stood out at these forums, the debater whose audiences seem to hang on his words and on a flow of thought rich in substance, a world apart from the usual that the political season brings.”Substance” is too cold a word, perhaps, for the intense feeling that candidate Gingrich delivers so coolly in debates. Too cold too, no…

1 Year Later: Voters Strike Down GOP Ideas in Ohio
Kyle Leighton, TPM
Dateline 2010. People are frustrated with two plus years of economic stagnation. Washington is a fractious place that seems to be ensnared in an endless fight with a broken record of the stale talking points. Democrats had made huge strides in the 2006 and 2008 elections, holding both houses of Congress and the presidency, as well as a majority of governor’s mansions. So the voters pushed out the party in power for their inability to immediately turn around the economy and bring down the unemployment rate, giving the House back to Republicans and returning the GOP to power in the…

The Right Wing’s Shellacking in Ohio
E.J. Dionne, Washington Post
WASHINGTON — This week's elections around the country were brought to you by the word “overreach,” specifically conservative overreach. Given an opportunity in 2010 to build a long-term majority, Republicans instead pursued extreme and partisan measures. On Tuesday, they reaped angry voter rebellions.The most important was in Ohio, where voters overwhelmingly defeated Gov. John Kasich's bill to strip public employee unions of essential bargaining rights. A year ago, who would have predicted that standing up for the interests of government workers would galvanize and…

Out of the Closet: Tehran’s Nukes