Palin Exposé

This Vanity Fair write-up on the surreal political phenomenon that is Sarah Palin is fascinating.  Gives a bit of insight into many of the enigmatic political events of the past 9 months.  Plus, any chance there was for you to take Obama for granted in the foreseeable future will be eliminated.

Iran (cont.)

More analysis by Chatham House showing significant anomalies in Iranian election results.

I think that the evidence is pretty clear, even though no academic or government official seems willing to say definitively that the election was rigged.

At this point it all seems to be moot.  (more…)

More Iranian Election Result Analysis

I’m sure you’ve all read Silver’s latest post on the election results.  If not, it seems to continue the analysis trend that we’ve seen (i.e. 1. No conclusive proof (can there ever be?), 2. Data anomalies that bolster suspicions of election rigging).

The detailed anomalies that people point out are very interesting, but from an outsiders perspective what seems really suspicious to me is that there’s so much uniformity in the 2009 results.   (more…)

“Developing Story” - MSM’s Demise

Andrew Sullivan posts an astute comment from a reader:

Reading your blog over the past 30 something hours makes me realize why the MSM is really finished. I mean, this point has finally hit home.You are blogging real time events, with descriptions, evaluation, analysis, and eye witness accounts. You are gathering information from a myriad of sources and putting it out there for a cohesive message.CNN, NY Times, et al are merely running an article about “thousands” of protesters.

Currently the headlines at a few major news websites are: (more…)

A Rigged Election by the Numbers

The news from Iran has been fascinating to follow this weekend.  It seemed to me that Ahmadinjad was effectively doomed in the run-up to Friday’s voting, so I was surprised that the results seemed to be so blatantly skewed against popular sentiment.  But, how can you ever know for sure when the government seems determined to use violent force and censorship to enforce the results?

Nate Silver seems to have a pretty compelling case (more…)

Prisons and Politics

The whole uproar about bringing Guantanamo prisoners to US prisons really baffled me.  I can understand the crude politics of it, but I guess that I still haven’t come to terms with the conclusion that Americans are as crude and simple-minded as those politics would indicate.

Over at Slate, Dahlia Lithwick has a interesting teaser article that highlights the utter absurdity of Americans getting worked up over the transfer of Guantanamo prisoners, while they seem to be ambivalent about the very real crisis in our domestic penal system.  (more…)

Divide and Conquer

Politico’s lead story today “Stealth War: Barack Obama sabotages Republicans”, reinforces (albeit in a partisanly ominous tone) the point I was making the other day that the Obama WH is executing a strategy to perpetuate the split in the GOP between hardliners (Cheney, Limbaugh, Hannity, etc.) and moderates (Collins, Snowe, Powell, Schmidt).

The article digs into the geographic aspect of that strategy (more…)

Worthy?

Any thoughts about whether or not Richard Wolffe’s new book on Obama, “Renegade” will be a worthwhile investment?  I don’t have cable anymore, but what little I did see last year of Wolffe on MSNBC, didn’t impress me.   Besides, it seems to be a bit early to have sufficient perspective for a historical account of the 2008 election.  Thoughts?

Sonia Sotomayor

In the run up to this morning’s SCOTUS nominee announcement, it seemed that Sotomayor was an early favorite that faded fast.  As of the Sunday talk shows it seemed to me that the Right was still hoping for her, even though she was seeming less likely than other short-listers.

I think that First Read has a good initial take on the pick.  They highlight how politically savvy the Sotomayor pick is. (more…)

Inauguration

I confess that I was hoping someone else would break the ice on the inaugural discussion. I feel wholly unprepared to take the first step because I haven’t really moved on from the long-anticipated moment. For me there was a lot of hope, expectation, hard work, and satisfaction rolled up in the first 30 minutes of President Obama’s first term in office. I’m not sure that I’m ready to move forward. (more…)

Woodward’s Anecdotes

Bob Woodward has a piece on the “10 Take Aways From the Bush Years” in the Washington Post.  It’s well worth a read.  Woodward was (very surprisingly) granted unprecedented access to the Bush Administration over the last 8 years.  (more…)

Surgeon General

I’m confused.  How is it possible that Obama asks Dr Sanjay Gupta to be the next Surgeon General?  (more…)

Decoding Obama

I think that Nate Silver makes a good point generally while discussing the stimulus package Obama and Congress are going to pass in some form or another.

He talks about all of the ideological hoopla going around these days concerning the stimulus.  He warns us to be careful about over estimating the relative levels of ideology, politics, and pragmatism that go into the construction of the stimulus.  He also gives us a tip on how to assess just how progressive the stimulus is when he states: (more…)

Impacts of gerrymandering and the many questions that follow.

Nate Silver asks and answers the question: “Why are there no black senators?”.  As usual, it’s an interesting post, but the most interesting answer to come out of his post is the idea that gross gerrymandering over the last two decades has created “ghettoized” districts where the liberal, black representatives aren’t forced to expand their appeal, and thus, these potential stepping stones to larger statewide, or national office are actually political dead-ends for most of our Black representatives. (more…)

Nate of all trades

Is there anything that Nate Silver can’t delve into eruditely, all the while managing to make a clear, valid point to the “masses”?  In his latest entry he tackles the housing crisis - explaining why it is so much more significant to the broader economic state of the country than other bursting bubbles in our past, and also indicates the types of non-ideological solutions that might actually help in the current economic crisis.  Very interesting stuff.

Nate Silver has really become a significant media figure in 2008, and I for one am glad to have him around.

Roland Burris

Looks like Blagojevich is going to play this out to the end - he’s nominating Roland Burris - former Attorney General of Illinois.  Anyone know anything about him?  Is this just political theater, or is there a chance he actually serves?

Year-in-review Off

Tis the season for top ten and top ten-ish lists.  Here are a few, if you’re not already exasperated by all of the year-end wrap ups that are going around.   Here are some that I found, in no particular order.

- Top ten political scoops. (more…)

Geographically Deconstructing the Cabinet

I just pulled together a back-of-the-envelope list of Obama’s nominees/appointments, and took a look at where they come from.  I’m sure the list isn’t comprehensive, but with what I could come up with, it looks like we have a geographical breakdown along these lines:  (more…)

Wingnut Ruling?

Regarding the absurd case against Obama’s citizenship that we discussed the other day…apparently the SCOTUS is going to decide today on whether or not to hear the case.  In a strange bit of drama, it’s also reported that Justice Thomas referred the case to the SC!

Has anyone found any actual legal scholars discussing this anywhere?

Gregory!

David Gregory it is.  Based on our discussion from the other day, it looks like we’re unanimous for once in our disappointment. UGH!

New MTP Moderator

Looks like we’ll get a decision on Dec. 7. Per the LA Times:

“short list of candidates that include NBC chief White House correspondent David Gregory, PBS anchor Gwen Ifill, NBC chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell and NBC political director Chuck Todd. Dark horses include CBS anchor Katie Couric…” and “Veteran ABC anchor Ted Koppel has also been mentioned as a contender.” (more…)

Clinton Plans to Accept!

WOW!  Reported by the Guardian.  I was totally wrong on this one…but, I still stick by my contention that this is a smart move by Obama & a limiting move by Clinton (politically).  I don’t see how this helps her potential run for president in 2016, (more…)

Cotton Pickin’ President Obama

This overlay of the 2008 presidential map v. 1860 cotton production is fascinating.  I don’t really have any relevant analysis to add, but the overlay is stunning.  Intriguing to contemplate, if nothing else.

A glimpse behind the curtain.

If anyone hasn’t read Ryan Lizza’s piece in the New Yorker titled, “Battle Plans - How Obama Won”, I would highly recommend that you do.  (more…)

Where Obama Can Be Bold

Michael Gerson has a great piece in the Washington Post today that specifically speaks to the discussion we’ve been having over the past few days concerning how bold/moderate, bipartisan/partisan Obama should be over the next 4 years.  (more…)