A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
posted on Oct 7, 2008 - View this thread

Ah, the town-hall debate. Where Joe Sixpack and Jane Chardonnay can have their chance to ask a presidential candidate just about anything. Of course, such an open format can sometimes lead to uncomfortable moments for a candidate (although tonight might not have such fireworks).
posted on Oct 7, 2008 - View this thread

If you missed the VP debate last night, you might enjoy this video of VP debate highlights in song and dance by Michael Gregory. (Also available: Running From Your Shadow, presidential debate highlights in song and dance.) DLYT
posted on Oct 3, 2008 - View this thread

If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, what are the most important people in the political spectrum eating for breakfast then? Obama eats eggs, McCain eats cereal, Pelosi eats... ice cream? Politicians and reporters divulge their breakfasts inside the beltway.
posted on Oct 1, 2008 - View this thread

"You know, we spent $3 million to study the DNA of bears in Montana. I don't know if that was a criminal issue or a paternal issue..." (previously) The infamous bear study bought up by McCain in the first debate is one of his favourite pork barrel examples, but little actual information is given about the study. Here is the website giving details about the project, with more info, a quick fact sheet and a podcast. This is one of the rare times when a candidate will air an opinion on science in a popular setting....
posted on Sep 29, 2008 - View this thread

Now that the presidential debate is back on, it's time to prepare by selecting the most appropriate drinking game for tonight's debate.
posted on Sep 26, 2008 - View this thread

Both Barack Obama and John McCain have made public their views on immigration, but it's helpful to understand how the system actually works. To that end, Reason presents this flowchart which illustrates exactly how rough it is to immigrate to America.
posted on Sep 24, 2008 - View this thread

Nate Silver, the proprietor of the fantastic electoral projection site FiveThirtyEight.com, notices that the presidential betting market on Intrade is behaving very oddly: "[S]ome individual trader or some small group of traders are shorting all the Obama contacts in bulk and resetting the entire market. The markets then organically climb back upward until the rogue trader strikes again six or eight hours later."
posted on Sep 24, 2008 - View this thread

McCain calls time! John McCain has asked that the first presidential debate be postponed and he will suspend his campaign so he can focus on the economy. No response from Obama yet. But it may be due to his approval rating, The latest FOX News/Opinion Dynamics poll shows Obama has taken a 45-39 percent lead.
posted on Sep 24, 2008 - View this thread

Rusty Shackleford over at right-wing anti-Muslim jihad blog The Jawa Report has posted that the Obama campaign, in an effort to portray Sarah Palin a member of the secessionist Alaska Independence Party, is engaged in a smear campaign through the use of viral video and astroturf techniques on You Tube.
posted on Sep 24, 2008 - View this thread

This is Your Nation on White Privilege is an excellent essay by anti-racism activist Tim Wise about how white privilege is shaping current American politics. " ^{^} previously
posted on Sep 15, 2008 - View this thread

Have the wheels come off the straight talk express? At least one sleeping giant woke up today: the NYT finally gives Sarah Palin a thorough vetting and the results aren't pretty. The McCain campaign's aggressive - and many say dishonest - tactics in promoting Palin may have sparked the beginnings of a media backlash. Camp McCain's reaction: We don't care and intend to stay on offense. And about that offense, they will soon have some help: Group With Swift Boat Alumni Readies Ads Attacking Obama. How low will things go? At this week's Values Voters Summit, 'Obama Waffles' with racial stereotypes were all the rage.
posted on Sep 14, 2008 - View this thread

Don't Think of a Maverick! George Lakoff offers some tips on framing to the Obama campaign.
posted on Sep 12, 2008 - View this thread

Craig Mod, who you may remember was the developer of geographic news attention index buzztracker.org, has developed a new interface to the 2008 election: Everymoment Now.
posted on Sep 10, 2008 - View this thread

The military surge in Iraq is failing. Sure, violence in the country is down significantly, but that's as much due to the Sunni Awakening, which began significantly before the surge got going in 2007. Unfortunately, everyone, particularly the McCain campaign, seems to have forgotten that the goal of the surge was to provide political stability, and it totally hasn't.
posted on Sep 10, 2008 - View this thread

Despite his carefully cultivated “maverick” image, McCain is playing it traditional and conservative by using HTML 4.01, the W3C spec from 1999.
posted on Sep 9, 2008 - View this thread

"Political content aside, the discussion provided a lovely example of how a term from literary theory has established itself in American political discourse." via Language Log

"We may expect the following. Language will be carefully crafted. Advertisements will focus on personal narratives. The campaign will employ “attack” advertisements that emotionally sway voters. Policy will be sketchy with vague descriptions that emotionally satisfy Americans while offering scant details. The emphasis will be on creating narratives that resonate with the values, beliefs, and identities of prospective voters."
– Literary Gulag, on Lakoff, Nunberg, Westen, and the narrative of the 2008 presidential election.
posted on Sep 9, 2008 - View this thread

"On the weekends, he favors two-hour bicycle rides at a Secret Service training facility outside Washington, where he sometimes asks companions and agents to ride behind him so that he can have the illusion of riding alone." With all the focus on the upcoming election, what of George W. Bush?
posted on Aug 31, 2008 - View this thread

Fear and Loathing in Denver, Colorado - August 24-28, 2008.
posted on Aug 29, 2008 - View this thread

At the risk of heresy, let it be said that setting up the two presidential candidates for religious interrogation by an evangelical minister -- no matter how beloved -- is supremely wrong.
posted on Aug 20, 2008 - View this thread

It's Time For Some Campaignin'! [Flash; "e-cards"; et al] via JibJab]
posted on Jul 16, 2008 - View this thread

Everybody Dance Now
posted on Jun 13, 2008 - View this thread

It's official. Obama has won the Democratic Party nomination for the US Presidency. In response, McCain has launched a "verbal sortie" against him and the media has already begun disecting Hillary's campaign.
posted on Jun 3, 2008 - View this thread

"People are talking, but no one is really listening. For all the fun and fantasy that can be had following this election on the internet, the overriding impression it gives after a while is of tuning into thousands of people as they sit in their cars and complain about the traffic." David Runciman on "The Cattle-Prod Election."
posted on May 30, 2008 - View this thread

State by state electoral college analysis and predictions for the main 2008 presidential candidates, based on polling data and updated daily.
posted on May 29, 2008 - View this thread

Everything you think you know about inequality is wrong. This guy disagrees. But it's not that bad, honest. And free trade with China is a good thing for poor Americans. But are these guys the next Yugo?
posted on May 19, 2008 - View this thread

Cartoonist Steve Brodner sketches the American candidates for president as Odd Couples in a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Best. McCain. Evah.
posted on Feb 7, 2008 - View this thread