Eric Holder Gets Tough on Voter Laws

Eric Holder is the worst of the worst AGs. The dude should be out on his can over Fast and Furious, and he's long epitomized the administration's culture of corruption. Now he's arguing that to look the other way amid blatant voter fraud is a "moral imperative." Right. Give me a break, you crook.

At New York Times, "Holder Signals Tough Review of New State Laws on Voting." (Via Memeorandum.)

And at Power Line, "OBAMA ADMINISTRATION COORDINATING WITH LEFT-WING GROUPS ON VOTER FRAUD?":

Democrats want felons to vote, because an overwhelming majority of them will vote Democratic. They want illegal aliens to vote for the same reason. And they want loyal Democrats to vote more than once where they are able to do so. Where there is no voter security, these abuses will increase. So, either through legal rulings or through intimidation, the Democrats want to disable the states from protecting the integrity of the ballot box. It appears that Obama’s politicized Department of Justice will be in the forefront of this effort.

Scott Brown Faces Tough Challenge From Elizabeth Warren

At Wall Street Journal, "Scott Brown's Strategy":

This week Senate Republicans blocked President Obama's nomination of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Only two Republicans broke ranks -- Olympia Snowe of Maine and Scott Brown of Massachusetts -- and both senators are up for re-election next year.

Ms. Snowe should win handily if she isn't toppled by a primary challenger. Mr. Brown's re-election prospects, by contrast, are shakier. Two new polls show the GOP freshman trailing Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor who helped establish the CFPB and is expected to be the Democratic nominee. The University of Massachusetts-Amherst gives Ms. Warren a four-point lead and a University of Massachusetts-Lowell/Boston Herald poll has her up by seven points. Three months ago, most polls showed Mr. Brown slightly ahead. The senator's approval rating has also fallen by eight points to 45%, though his favorables are still in positive territory and exceed Ms. Warren's.

While the poll results may be disconcerting for Mr. Brown and Senate Republicans, they're not unexpected. Ms. Warren's campaign has spent $1.5 million on an ad that portrays her as a defender of the middle class. And the League of Conservation Voters has dumped $2 million on spots that tar Mr. Brown as a Washington insider. The real surprise is that Mr. Brown still leads Ms. Warren, 53-37, with independents. Because Republicans constitute less than 15% of the Massachusetts electorate, Mr. Brown will probably have to win more than two-thirds of the independent vote and probably pick up some Democrats as well.

Continue reading.

VIDEO HAT TIP: Los Angeles Times, "Elizabeth Warren blasts 'ridiculous' charge in ad by Karl Rove group."

Lindsay Lohan Playboy Cover Leaked

At Los Angeles Times, "Lindsay Lohan Playboy cover: A desperate bid for relevance?"

Actually, seems like the natural order of things these days. The leaked cover is here: "LINDSAY LOHAN'S PLAYBOY COVER REVEALED!"

UPDATE: At Coed Magazine, "Lindsay Lohan Playboy Pics Leaked Online."

Why Herman Cain Flamed Out

From the editors at Wall Street Journal, "Herman Cain Departs" (via Google):

Herman Cain's departure from the Republican presidential race was inevitable, and the businessman did his family and party a service on Saturday in not prolonging the agony. Mr. Cain might have survived the accusations by assorted women if he had showed he was better prepared to be President.

The former pizza executive became a shooting star of a candidate based on his biography as a political outsider, his talents as a communicator, and his willingness to challenge the heart of Washington darkness that is the tax code. But as he rose in the polls, it became obvious that Mr. Cain was as surprised as anyone by his success. He had no organization and no real campaign plan. More troubling, he clearly hadn't thought hard enough about the challenges a President must confront.

Presidents don't have to be policy wonks, but they should be able to show more than a passing acquaintance with the major issues of the day. Mr. Cain showed that he understands how an economy works, but on foreign policy in particular he seemed almost dismissive of knowing too much, or very much at all. This was especially damaging in a year when GOP voters are looking for a nominee who can go 10 rounds with President Obama...

More at WSJ.

Also, at Legal Insurrection, "Herman Cain did not just fall, he was pushed."

Herman Cain Suspends Presidential Campaign

I knew he was done after his first few words. It seemed like a wake not a rally.

See Midnight Blue, "There Can Be Only One – Cain Suspends his Presidential Campaign," and The Other McCain, "HERMAN CAIN ANNOUNCEMENT - UPDATE: SUSPENDING CAMPAIGN." And at Los Angeles Times, "Cain suspends campaign, vows to keep fighting."

The question now is how everything shakes out. National Journal has something on that, "Cain Reaches Out to Rivals," and The Hill, "Cain suspends campaign, vows to work from outside the race."

Herman Cain Announcement Today

And Weasel Zippers has this, "Report: Herman Cain Will Quit Race…"

But see Los Angeles Times, "Herman Cain prepares announcement on campaign's future":

Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain, already reeling from sexual harassment claims and rocked anew by allegations of adultery, has told supporters he is preparing to make a major announcement Saturday.

That set off widespread speculation Friday that the former chief executive of Godfather's Pizza, who briefly enjoyed front-runner status in the Republican presidential campaign, would drop out of the race.

Cain, whose businessman's approach to issues and lack of elective experience appealed to voters weary of career politicians, refused to tip his hand Friday in South Carolina, where he held a town hall meeting with supporters.

"I am reassessing because of all of this media firestorm stuff," he said. "Why? Because my wife and family comes first." He planned to meet with his family, he said, to "clarify ... what the next steps are."

Steve Grubbs, who is running Cain's campaign in Iowa, said he believed Cain would stay in the race.

"As dark as it seems today, we're not out of this thing. I know it," Grubbs said Friday.

More at the link.

VIDEO: Sean Hannity Interview With Herman Cain — 'I'm Going to Fight 'Em'

Continued developments:

Listen closely. Cain sounds less like he's thinking of quitting than earlier reports stressed. Cain says his wife has "forgiven him" and she's "ready to move on." Despite the admission that quitting is indeed "an option," the overall tone of the interview is combative --- not combative towards Sean Hannity, but combative towards those making the allegations. There's nothing indicating an imminent exit from the race. Cain feels he's got a viable campaign. His wife is "totally supportive." Cain rejects the allegations of an affair and says "I'm going to fight 'em no matter what."

See my previous entry, "Herman Cain Admits Wife Didn't Know of Payments to Alleged Mistress Ginger White."

Herman Cain Admits Wife Didn't Know of Payments to Alleged Mistress Ginger White

At Los Angeles Times, "Herman Cain says wife didn't know about payments to Ginger White." And at Christian Science Monitor, "Herman Cain admits payments to Ginger White, edges toward quitting":

In an interview with New Hampshire's Union Leader newspaper, Herman Cain said his wife didn't know he was giving money to Ginger White, who claims to have had a 13-year affair with him. Cain also said quitting the presidential race 'is an option.'

Goodness, this is another brutally painful interview. Newspaper editorial offices are the new courtrooms of public opinion:

Lots more at Hot Air, "Cain: My wife didn’t know that I was giving money to my accuser," and Memeorandum.

Accused Adulterer or Admitted Adulterer? Herman Cain Backers Look Warily to Newt Gingrich

The media meme du jour.

At Los Angeles Times, "Cain's backers warily consider Gingrich":

Republicans who don't want to vote for Mitt Romney had rallied behind the Atlanta businessman, but his campaign has been rocked by accusations of an affair. And the former House speaker has a marital track record of his own.

Herman Cain's latest presidential campaign implosion has put some of the Republican Party's most active voters in a distinctly uncomfortable position: deciding whether to abandon an accused adulterer to side with an admitted adulterer.

Even before Monday's allegation by an Atlanta businesswoman that she and Cain had a 13-year affair, the GOP contest was moving toward a two-man race between steady front-runner Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the latest candidate to catch the fancy of the anti-Romney forces. That movement now is expected to hasten.

Cain told backers Tuesday that he was "reassessing" his candidacy in light of the newest accusations, which follow allegations that he sexually harassed several women in the 1990s. His campaign offered no clue as to when he might come to a decision about his future.

In Iowa, where voting in the 2012 contest will begin in just over a month, an alternative to Romney has been intensely sought by the potent bloc of evangelical voters, who remain suspicious of his Mormon faith and his past support for abortion rights and gay rights. Many are throwing their support to Gingrich despite his history of extramarital affairs and two divorces.

"Newt's got the best shot of heading Romney off at the pass," said Steve Scheffler, head of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition and the state's Republican national committeeman.

Cain appears to be plowing ahead, actually. But the press has left the "Cain train" at the station. At USA Today, "News media gives up on Cain campaign."

See the full report at The Other McCain, "CRISIS LOOMS FOR HERMAN CAIN CAMPAIGN IN NEW HAMPSHIRE UPDATE: Cain Tells CNN He’ll Make Decision ‘Within the Next Several Days’."

Herman Cain Hangs On

At New York Times, "Amid Questions, Cain Stays Defiant":

COLUMBUS, Ohio — As leading Republicans began openly questioning how Herman Cain has handled the allegations against him, he remained defiant Wednesday with a message that he had repeated over and again: “Don’t give up!”

The line seemed doubly resonant. It was clearly a motivational message for the several hundred young adults at an afternoon rally for Mr. Cain at Ohio State University here. But it was also a statement about Mr. Cain himself as pressure mounted for a second day for him to withdraw from the presidential race amid an escalating scandal about his sexual conduct.

On Monday, an Atlanta woman came forward to say that she and Mr. Cain had had a 13-year extramarital affair that ended this year, just as he was getting ready to run for the Republican nomination. Already, Mr. Cain had spent most of November defending himself against revelations of sexual harassment allegations stemming from his time as president of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.

But nothing in Mr. Cain’s actions on Wednesday suggested that he would halt his campaign as he engaged in a whirlwind day of campaigning around Ohio and in New Hampshire.

“They want you to believe that we can’t do this,” he told a few hundred supporters gathered in a hotel ballroom in Dayton on Wednesday morning. “They want you to believe that with enough character assassination on me, I will drop out!”

The audience shouted, “No!” and “Don’t go!

And at The Other McCain, "New Cain Campaign Video: ‘Put an Executive in the Executive Office’." And from Jeff Goldstein, "It's NOT Time For Herman Cain to Go."

Herman Cain Accused of Having 13-year Affair

At Pundette's, "Oh dear. A new allegation against Herman Cain." And Legal Insurrection, "Obligatory Cain Affair Allegations."

Also, the accuser's video at Los Angeles Times, "Herman Cain accuser Ginger White: 'I'm not proud' of alleged affair." More at Memorandum.

British Press Inquiry Turns the Tables on Tabloids

At New York Times, "Inquiry Into Press Tactics Turns the Tables on Tabloids."

LONDON — It is a story made to order for the sensation-hungry tabloid newspapers that have millions of avid readers in Britain: a roll call of A-list celebrities and crime victims pouring out — day by day, live on the Internet — the personal miseries they say they have endured in seeking to protect the everyday normality of their private lives.

But this time, for the tabloids, it is a story with a bitter twist. For what is happening in a courtroom at the Royal Courts of Justice has amounted to a turning of the tables, through the medium of a government-appointed inquiry into the “culture, ethics and practices” of British newspapers, that has turned into a legal soap opera in which the villains have emerged as the tabloids themselves.

The high court judge leading the inquiry, Sir Brian Leveson, has called the sessions that began this week, relayed live on the inquiry’s Web site, a “right of reply” for victims of tabloid excesses. He has refused requests by the newspapers’ lawyers for the right to cross-examine the witnesses, and issued a formal warning to the mass-circulation papers not to strike back against those testifying with new articles that invade their privacy or damage their reputations.

One of those taking advantage of the platform was Sienna Miller, 29, a New York-born actress who lives much of the year in London and found herself a target of intense tabloid scrutiny when she was dating the actor Jude Law. One of the inquiry’s most arresting moments came on Thursday when she described her experiences with London’s “relentless” paparazzi, and described being spat at, verbally abused and subjected to dangerous car chases while trying to elude them.

“I felt like I was living in some sort of video game,” Ms. Miller said. “For a number of years, I was relentlessly pursued by 10 to 15 men, almost daily.”

“I would often find myself — I was 21 — at midnight running down a dark street, alone, with 10 big men chasing me, and the fact that they had cameras in their hands meant that was legal,” she added. “But if you take away the cameras, what have you got? You’ve got a pack of men chasing a woman, and obviously that’s very intimidating.”