Loser Etiquette
There are still people taking Mitt Romney to task for not showing up at Barack Obama's second inauguration last Monday. Several news reports say it's the first time a losing candidate has skipped the inaugural since Michael Dukakis in 1989. I'm not a Romney fan, but...
Misguided Movie Torture Critics
"Zero Dark Thirty" is a helluva movie, and I was happy to see it do big box office this weekend. But those who expect it to be all about the raid that ended in the death of Osama Bin Laden are going to be as disappointed as those who see "Flight" expecting it to be...
Not The Response You’re Looking For
In September, 2011, the Obama administration created We The People, a website allowing Americans to petition the federal government over issues they're concerned about, and promised an official response for any petition that acquired at least 25,000 signatures...
When Is An Increase A Decrease?
Why is there so much cynicism about politics? Take this example from Grover Norquist, the lobbyist who holds too much power over too many Republican members of Congress because he convinced them to sign a pledge to never raise taxes. On the right, that pledge...
The Congressional Cram Session
Members of the US Congress remind me of myself when I was a student. It didn't matter how far in advance a teacher told me an assignment was due -- two days, two weeks, or two months -- I rarely got around to working on it until the deadline was in my face. I...
Been There, Done That
Much is being made of the expected lower attendance for Obama's second inauguration. While 1.8 million people showed up to see him take the (botched) oath of office in 2009, only 800,000 are expected for his reprise next month. My simple explanation: last time was a...
Who Said This? (The Answer)
Yesterday, I asked who said the following, and who were they talking about? I think his success says much more about something in this culture than it does about him. I think he found a ready-made audience of young, white males who are frustrated and angry and...
Don’t Cheat Off Nate
Nate Silver, the FiveThirtyEight statistician who predicted the outcome of the presidential election correctly in both 2008 and 2012 (he got every state right, as well as the national numbers) did an online Q&A with Deadspin readers. Here are two of my favorites: Q:...