Defending Our Nation From Wizened Kung Fu Masters
May 8, 2012 7:45 AM   Subscribe

Gaffe Dodger is a game by the Christian Science Monitor which tests basic political knowledge and reaction time, and will add new stages as the election progresses.
posted by oneironaut (26 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
How are the names of different Florida sports teams "basic political knowledge"?

*grumble*
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:56 AM on May 8, 2012 [3 favorites]


Because all politics is identity politics and people care more about sports than anything else.
posted by mkb at 7:59 AM on May 8, 2012 [5 favorites]


This is satire, right? Because the reduction of campaigning to buzzword bingo is a great example of what's wrong with the current state of US politics.

MetaFilter: the economic uvula of this great nation
posted by teraflop at 8:01 AM on May 8, 2012 [3 favorites]


Ask Martha Coakley if she now knows who Curt Schilling is.
posted by IanMorr at 8:03 AM on May 8, 2012 [3 favorites]


Ha! Love the cynicism of this. "And above all, we want to ensure that America remains strong without requiring any sacrifice from its citizens. God bless you, and God bless America.
posted by Palquito at 8:16 AM on May 8, 2012 [4 favorites]


Which platitudes to tell which audiences is apparently the key to being a successful politician. (yeah, my ignorance of sports totally tanked my score, particularly in FL).
posted by el io at 8:17 AM on May 8, 2012


What's wrong with those damned folk from New Hampshire? I promised to defend them from the British Empire and take the US back to the Jazz Age, but they still booed me! What more do they want, the moon on a stick?
posted by Jehan at 8:22 AM on May 8, 2012 [11 favorites]


Gaffe (n): the rare occurence of a politician telling an audience what he or she actually believes, rather than what he thinks the audience wants to hear. See also "character" (archaic)
posted by 1adam12 at 8:25 AM on May 8, 2012 [2 favorites]


Jacksonville is bigger than Miami? And "Thanks you."?

The sports ones hurt me.

I was hoping for something substantial, but this is just either common sense or true trivia (like a state's motto). Only a few of them are things like foreign leaders' names (I can't believe I missed NK and Syria).

The game would probably be more fun if the point was to choose the worst possible word, and most especially those which are great examples of Kinsley's political definition of gaffe — when a politician accidentally tells the truth. You can't really try to play it that way because all wrong answers are scored equally, even those which are trivially and uninterestingly wrong.

On Preview: 1adam12, hah!
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 8:28 AM on May 8, 2012


Ivan: that's because they were asking for Sudan. Tricky.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:31 AM on May 8, 2012


What we need today more than ever before is the poetry of Charles Baudelaire. As president will do whatever it takes to bring us back to the jazz age.

Well, I thought it was a good speech anyway.
posted by Winnemac at 8:39 AM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


As president will do whatever it takes to bring us back to the jazz age.

A Stutz Bearcat in every garage and a flapper in every pot!
posted by Bromius at 8:53 AM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


A Stutz Bearcat in every garage and a flapper in every pot!

*votes
posted by saturday_morning at 9:13 AM on May 8, 2012 [3 favorites]


"Hey, not bad! You actually looked a bit presidential up there. Of course there's always room for improvement, and a billionaire casino owner just gave you eleventy hojillion dollars to oppress the gays."
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:19 AM on May 8, 2012


A game about giraffes? I can't wait to play!
posted by idiopath at 9:22 AM on May 8, 2012 [2 favorites]


The New Hampshire speechs gets awfully jingoistic.
posted by kafziel at 9:22 AM on May 8, 2012


Jacksonville is bigger than Miami?

Jacksonville is the biggest city in Florida. The Miami metropolitan area (which includes Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, etc) is much bigger than Jacksonville's though.
posted by kmz at 9:44 AM on May 8, 2012


The New Hampshire speechs gets awfully jingoistic.

Yeah, well, so do their license plates.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:14 AM on May 8, 2012


I think it's intended to be specifically aimed at republicans, for the republican primary this year. Which is over, so it's a little out of date.

Anyway, in some cases difficult to read all the words that are floating around even if you know the answer. I read "we need to protect ourselves from [rouge nations] like [______]" looked around for an appropriate answer and grabbed "North Korea" then saw the words "In the Middle East or [______] in the Far East". Other then that, I just missed the capital of NH, and the actual day of the general election this year :P
posted by delmoi at 11:17 AM on May 8, 2012


What more do they want, the moon on a stick?

Moon colonies. By 2020.
posted by Blue Meanie at 11:45 AM on May 8, 2012


"we need to protect ourselves from [rouge nations] like [______]"

1970s Cambodia?
posted by Sys Rq at 11:59 AM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


This is satire, right? Because the reduction of campaigning to buzzword bingo is a great example of what's wrong with the current state of US politics.

I think that's pretty much the point. Why can't we have fun with our cynicism?
posted by mr_roboto at 12:10 PM on May 8, 2012


Putting the context clues after the blanks when it's already scrolling at a speed that makes it difficult to pick the proper word out of a cloud of 5,000 in time to drop it in place is bad design.
posted by owtytrof at 12:32 PM on May 8, 2012


The people of New Hampshire did not welcome my focus on interpretative dance, but I think time will prove me right.

*Jazz hands, exit left*
posted by The River Ivel at 1:07 PM on May 8, 2012


Riding a Stutz Bearcat, Jim. Y'know, those were different times.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:07 PM on May 8, 2012


There's an ad for jeans that make your butt look bigger. That's a joke, too, right?
posted by CCBC at 2:17 PM on May 8, 2012


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