News Nuggets 799

The Allagash Wilderness Waterway in Maine.  From National Geographic.

Myths of the Bin Laden Raid (Richard Miniter) from the Daily Beast
"There was no running gunfight. And the SEALs did not have a kill order. Richard Miniter on the new book detailing the night al Qaeda’s chief died—and the headaches it could cause Obama."

Obama Health Care Reform Ruling: Appeals Court Upholds Law from the Associated Press via Huffington Post
"A conservative-leaning appeals court panel on Tuesday upheld the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's health care law, as the Supreme Court prepares to consider this week whether to resolve conflicting rulings over the law's requirement that all Americans buy health care insurance."

Key Obama Aide Relinquishes Some Duties from the Wall Street Journal
"Daley's Role Yet to Be Fully Defined, but Will Focus on Relations With Outsiders; 'It's Been a Tough Slog,' a Friend Says."
Good news.

Daley’s Demotion: How Washington Elites Got Obama Wrong (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine
"All accounts suggest Daley performed the mechanics of his job in a catastrophically bad way. But the interesting legacy of Daley’s tenure is not his mechanical performance. It’s that he conducted an experiment based on the Washington elite view of the Obama presidency."

President Obama and the Old College Try (Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake) from the Washington Post
"...for President Obama to win a second term next year, he must convince voters that he is doing everything he can to turn things around — whether or not his actions are working. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll suggests that the incumbent is narrowly getting the benefit of the doubt — at least, at the moment."

Poll: Black Americans More Optimistic, Enthused About 2012 from the Grio
"Nearly half of African-Americans remain optimistic, despite a stubbornly high black unemployment rate. And African-Americans are more enthusiastic about voting in 2012 than in previous elections."

Herman Cain and the Parked Car (Kathleen Parker) from the Washington Post
"Whereas the other women have remained anonymous, Bialek is quite real. She has a name. She has a record of employment. She has a son. Most important, she has Allred, whose entrance into any arena does not usually bode well for a man accused. Women, too, may wonder what they would do."

Conservatives Divided on Sharon Bialek Accusations from the Washington Post
"Conservatives are not rushing to defend businessman Herman Cain in the wake of a press conference in which Sharon Bialek — with celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred at her side — claimed that the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO made an unwanted, physical sexual advance on her in 1997."

Foes Count on Cain to Self-Destruct from Politico
"Here’s the tell-tale sign: With less than two months to go before the Iowa caucuses and the insurgent presidential candidate polling near the top of the GOP field, none of his foes in either party has taken a hard whack at him — despite the fact that he is engulfed in controversy, battling reports of sexual harassment dating to his time at the National Restaurant Association."

Beyond the Fringe: Herman Cain and the Republicans (John Cassidy) from the New Yorker
"In the Hanna-Barbera and Warner Brothers cartoons I grew up on, there was a stock scene where one of the characters rushes off a cliff and, unaware of his predicament, levitates for a few seconds before plunging to his doom. Today, Herman Cain is that character."

Mitt Romney as the Nominee: Conservatism Dies and Barack Obama Wins (Erik Erikson) from Redstate
"Mitt Romney is not the George W. Bush of 2012 — he is the Harriet Miers of 2012, only conservative because a few conservative grand pooh-bahs tell us Mitt Romney is conservative and for no other reason. That is precisely why Mitt Romney will not win in 2012."

Sharon Bialek, Meet the Right-Wing Hit Machine (Irwin Carmon) from Salon
"Rush Limbaugh and Dick Morris begin sliming Herman Cain's accuser, but not every prominent conservative follows."

Mitch McConnell: Obama Jobs Bill was Designed to Make Republicans Look Bad for Rejecting It from Daily Kos
"There really isn't any reason for Republicans to say no to President Obama's jobs bill other than politics. It consists entirely of broadly popular proposals, many supported by more than two-thirds of the public. Check out CNN's polling on each of the key provisions:"