FrontBurner

During a private conversation earlier this month, a well-connected Dallas political observer predicted the Herman Cain sex-harrassment bombshell that was reported over the weekend by Politico. So this morning we asked this clued-in insider–who requested anonymity, and said he/she was “a witness [to], not a participant” in the story–what affect the harrassment charges are likely to have on Cain and his rivals for the GOP presidential nomination.

“I don’t know who it helps or hurts. But it can’t help Cain,” the observer said. “How badly it hurts him has yet to be determined. Is there any substance–or were these disgruntled employees? Are there more charges to come? You can’t predict it yet. But it could be pretty painful to him, if the story gets legs.” Is it fair game for the media to bring up these sorts of older, thinly sourced charges? “When you run for president, everything seems to be fair game as long as it’s truthful,” the source said. “If it’s a lie, it’s not fair–and you should be ashamed for putting it out there.”

Traditional-country-music icon Johnny Bush, who penned the Willie Nelson anthem “Whiskey River,” says today’s Nashville producers have “tied the hands” of C&W songwriters. “You can’t say anything bad about the woman. You can’t talk about drinking anymore,” Bush said. And that’s a problem because true country music has traditionally been about such “real-life situations,” he added.

The Houston-born, longtime resident of San Antonio (pictured) was in Dallas Saturday to play a private fundraising party for Dallas’ Museum of Biblical Art. During the party the art museum unveiled a series of 14 planned, life-sized religious sculptures by artist Gib Singleton. Bush said the backyard bash for 275 guests–held at the spectacular, Desco Drive mansion of charity benefactor Faye Briggs–was “probably the biggest private party I ever worked, of this stature. … This is a pretty high-class soiree.” Read more in the Q&A with Bush that follows.

Over on SideDish, Uncle Nancy has a report of Scott Murray going a little bonkers while emceeing Caesar salad competition over the weekend. Seems Murray let fly with more than a few F-bombs and then walked out of the event. Crazy stuff.

Reminds me of another time Murray had trouble with a mic. I wrote the following open letter to him in the magazine after a curious incident at the Cattle Baron’s Ball in 2004:

Halloween casts a distinct desire to seek out all things scary. This year, instead of paying to enter a haunted house where the ghosts are actors in costume, go somewhere that has had reports of hauntings since the early 1900s. Here are three spots in Dallas reputed for their spookiness.

An alert FrontBurnervian points us to a Fortune story that makes the case that Occupy Dallas is different from its sister protest groups spread across the country, noting:

Occupy Dallas is not only tolerated by the city, it’s hosted by City Hall. While there were arrests during a protest last week, Dallas police have also helped campers on the city property retrieve stolen sleeping bags, and the protesters have marched in solidarity with the police. Dallas, one of the last major cities in the nation to desegregate its schools, seems determined to show its tolerant side.

The story goes on to compare how Dallas has handled the Occupy protestors with how Fort Worth has handled its protestors. Killing them with kindness appears to be working.

(And with that introduction, I invite RAB to fly into an all-caps tirade about these protesters in the comments.)

This is pretty cool. Here’s how The New Yorker‘s Roger Angell scored the game last night. Open the image in a new window to make it bigger.

Thanks to SB Nation for the first and Lone Star Ball for the second.

You may have already seen this Ron Washington jack-o’-lantern. The internet was talking about it yesterday. It took the top spot in the Old Monk’s pumpkin-carving contest. I learned this morning that it was the work of our very own Mary Catherine Burford, online ad coordinator. Solid work.

This is awesome. Fox 4 declared a Rangers victory before the game was over.

Sigh. No really. I have lamentations. And I blame KDFW for the giant sports jinx. Even after this, the damage was done. And yes, I know some of you will go all, “There’s no such thing as a jinx, just poor management and sloppy play.” And  yes, this, too. But mostly? JINX.  But that being said, how awesome was that game? And I could watch Ron Washington do this all the time.

Napoli Is A Stud. Factual statement. Did you see that ankle roll? I’m no doctor, but I”m pretty sure that ankle isn’t supposed to bend that way. Also, Matt Holliday’s pinky bruise took him out of the game, while Nap stayed in the game after that, and Josh Hamilton has been playing with a groin injury and a hernia. Ergo,  Rangers > Cardinals.

Fellow Candidate Disses Perry. Listen, if it was anyone else in the field other than Rick Santorum that mocked Rick Perry for skipping debates, that would’ve said, “Oh, snap!” But it’s Rick Santorum, so I all I picture is some mustache twirling and mincing little gestures.

Yay! Signature Bridges! Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins says a lot of money has been secured for three signature bridges over the Trinity River. They won’t be as fancypants as originally envisioned, but will still be pretty, we’ve been assured.

Whatcha Doing Tonight? If the answer is anything other than, “Watch the Rangers play Game 7 of the World Series,” I don’t even know who you are. Actually, I probably don’t know who you are anyway. But seriously? Are you dead inside? And to the Rangers: Do you really want to disappoint this little face, who just wants you to win “The World Serious?”

Via Deadspin, here is the gist: Short, 76, had been battling various forms of cancer over the past few months, until she finally stopped chemo last week. Her last wish? To live long enough to see her beloved Rangers win the World Series. She died last night.