The Panoptiblog

Panoptiblog 2.0

2008-10-22T19:51:00.002-05:00

Frustrated as I am with Blogger at the moment, I'm giving WordPress a try. Please follow the link, and let me know what you think...

The New Panoptiblog

Ambinder Responds

2008-10-22T16:45:00.006-05:00

Marc Ambinder has responded to my concern about early voting and exit polls (I'm "a reader," having sent an link to Ambinder and Sullivan). He claims that early voters will be counted, sort of:

Let's take a state like Florida. The exit poll consortium will conduct a telephonic survey on election day in order to determine the skew of the early vote; they'll use numbers compiled by the secretary of state's office to determine the size, and they'll factor those in when crunching the numbers on election night.

While I agree that early votes can therefore be part of the calculus, this seems a much less exact way to come up with exit poll numbers, which is already an inexact science. I stand by my prediction that the exit polls will therefore be further off than is usually the case. But I appreciate Marc's response.

Early Voting = End of Election Day Exit Polls?

2008-10-21T18:07:00.004-05:00

Through Sullivan, I see the Washington Post is reporting that "more than 60 percent of those across the country who have taken advantage of early voting are registered as Democrats." This, despite the fact that registered Democrats make up only a little more than 30% of the electorate, with Republicans a bit below that, with most of the remaining unregistered, Independent, or other party affiliations. [If somebody has better numbers than this on registration, lemme know.]

Set aside whether the 60% number is exactly right for the moment. Suppose that, in early voting, Democrats simply make up a much larger percentage than their share of the electorate overall. This makes sense to me, as those who are excited by the possibility of the first African-American president would want to get out and make sure their votes are counted. Democrats have an advantage in enthusiasm according to just about every poll that has been out there this cycle.

But doesn't this also mean that we're in for a long night on November 5? If Democrats have voted early, they're not around the voting booth on Election Day to be asked by pollsters who they voted for. Therefore, while they would be overrepresented now, when nobody's around to ask them, they'll be underrepresented on 11/5. What might that mean for the kind of election night coverage we've come to expect, when networks "call" the states before the votes have been counted? Remember, when CNN or whoever "calls" a state for one candidate or another, they're not doing it based on counted votes, but on overwhelming exit poll numbers.

A prediction: Just as last cycle saw exit poll numbers favorable enough to John Kerry that websites like Slate showed a smiling Kerry, suggesting that the super-secret-yet-somewhat-leaked poll numbers were putting Kerry ahead of Bush, the exit polls will be way off. All day long, cable news will be teasing that maybe McCain unexpectedly has closed the gap, maybe the Bradley Effect was real, maybe Obama couldn't seal the deal, whatever, because all the exit polls will show McCain's share overrepresented. In the end, we truly won't know until all the actual votes get counted, rather than what will by then be obviously unreliable exit polls.

Bottom line: whether it ends up being close or not, don't expect to know who's president before you go to bed on the night of November 5th (or the morning of the 6th).

Monday Night Thoughts

2008-10-20T22:27:00.003-05:00

The Broncos are just awful tonight.

The Phillies finally have an opponent for the World Series.

Obama has seemingly consistent leads in Colorado, North Carolina, and Virginia. Who would've thought it? And is McCain seriously giving up on Colorado but contesting Pennsylvania?

More support for Obama and his positions, from conservatives, here, here, and here (though Luger's is not an endorsement).

Sarah Palin Stat of the Week
SNL Appearances: 1
Press Conferences: 0

Friday YouTube

2008-10-17T22:27:00.003-05:00

I'm all politics-ed out.

It's Friday. Unplug.

Pre-Debate Thoughts

2008-10-15T18:01:00.006-05:00

Watching these debates has been nerve-racking for me. I can barely stand to actually sit and watch them. But here I'll be, in the computer lab, trying to stream the video (if we don't have customers in the lab). It is, as many have said, McCain's last chance to change the story, but unless he reveals that he has just returned from the mountains of Tora Bora, and personally drags Osama bin Laden onto the stage in handcuffs, I'm not sure what he can do to change perceptions 20 days out.

Obama has to stay calm, having no idea if he's going to be debating the McCain that Palin wants to see, or the McCain that Bloomberg wants to see (though I think I know which one will be more persuasive to undecided voters). Fortunately, he's good at remaining calm.

And I have to say, after reading this, I'm glad I had posted this. Now let's hope it turns out to be a brilliant trap that McCain will walk right into.

I'll try to post about the debate afterwards.

And let's not forget, my Fightin' Phils are one game away from the World Series...

Tina Fey Kills the Last Reason to Vote McCain

2008-10-14T16:24:00.001-05:00

If McCain wins, she won't keep playing Palin.

The Debate That Might Have Been

2008-10-13T13:38:00.002-05:00

Quick Sunday Notes

2008-10-12T20:55:00.003-05:00

The AP describes Denver as "the bumbling Broncos" as they lose to Jacksonville, at home, 24-17. But they were without Royal, Scheffler, and Young, and without Stokely after the first quarter. So I'll hope this is an aberration. Didn't see the game, so I can't comment further...

The Phillies' day was also over as soon as it began. They're currently on the wrong end of 7-1 in the fifth inning. Hopefully I'll have to update this post to say, "Wow, I spoke too soon!" But I doubt it...

Burn After Reading was the perfect title for the Coen Brothers' 2008 offering; not a trace of it is left behind once it's over. A good cast hasn't been wasted this badly since I'm Not There. And if a Coen Brothers cast is going to be wasted, I'd prefer it to be like Lebowski...

Saying It to His Face

2008-10-11T07:46:00.004-05:00

I didn't get to see the first two-thirds of the debate last Tuesday, and what I saw didn't make me worry for Obama's chances. I don't have much new to add several days after the fact, but what's unfolded afterward has me wondering if Obama's playing the Ayers game wrong. People saw that Ayers didn't come up during the debate, and McCain made no attempt to bring it in, despite that everyone was supposedly "taking the gloves off" in this one, and that he'd been up with ads about Ayers suggesting something dark and troubling about Obama's past.

Obama's response to the absence of Ayers in the debate, when asked about it by Charles Gibson, should've been, simply, "He didn't bring it up in the debate, because he knows Americans don't actually care who lived in my neighborhood years ago in Chicago." This would've made it even harder to bring it up next time.

Instead, Obama said this:

"I am surprised that, you know, we've been seeing some pretty over-the-top attacks coming out of the McCain campaign over the last several days, that he wasn't willing to say it to my face. But I guess we've got one last debate. So presumably, if he ends up feeling that he needs to, he will raise it during the debate."

On its face, this is bold. Go at his strength; challenge McCain's masculinity. It's a trap disguised as a challenge: either McCain can bring it up and look like someone hopelessly out of touch and possibly dishonest, or don't bring it up and look like a coward... and still possibly dishonest.

But there's another possibility in this next debate. Bob Schieffer, who'll be moderating, could ask a question that sounds something like, "Senator McCain, you've been running ads questioning Senator Obama's ties to former Weather Underground member William Ayers. Senator Obama noted that you didn't seem anxious to 'say it to his face.' Would you address the relevance of Ayers to the campaign now, given the tough economic times?" This would give McCain the opportunity to make scurrilous suggestions while getting him off the hook for having brought such a frivolous thing up. It would also satisfy the media's need to seem less Obama-friendly, and their need to spice up the debate after the second one was widely panned.

This might be a little paranoid. I'm probably looking for something to worry about, and the electoral map isn't providing it. But it seems a little early to be call the dogs in, and whatever else James Carville said:

Biden-Palin Debate

2008-10-04T17:31:00.003-05:00

Haven't had a chance to blog on this, and now the news is cold so I won't say much. On what we might call a combination of "arguments" and "facts," Biden blew Palin away. But that isn't the game Republicans are playing this year, and so I am supposed to be impressed by this completely incompetent person because she made the editor of the National Review feel all tingly in his pants.

Palin continues to be a national embarrassment, but as she didn't trip and fall down throughout the debate, and stuck to her memorized talking points for about 3/4 of the debate, she gets to continue to go around the country and say absurd things.

Thank God that, after a month from today, we won't have to hear from Palin for a few years, at least until she runs for the presidential nomination herself, as soon as 2012.

Hat tip to Ezra Klein for the chart.

Hilarious Quote of the Day (II)

2008-10-01T18:05:00.003-05:00

Wow. Here's Sarah Palin on the right to privacy and Roe v. Wade:

And I believe that individual states can best handle what the people within the different constituencies in the 50 states would like to see their will ushered in an issue like that.

Parse that sentence. I dare you.

Worse, I dare you to watch the video, which I will post as soon as it's available.

UPDATE: Well, here's part of it. Besides Roe v. Wade, what Supreme Court decisions does Palin disagree with? She'll get back to ya:

Branaugh to Direct "Thor"

2008-10-01T17:53:00.004-05:00

Ross Douthat has been, all year long, expressing frustration that really good directors and actors are spending their time with the genre. And I understand his point. But my inner geek still gets excited with news like this (from Peter Suderman, at the Confabulum):

Kenneth Branagh, Shakespeare’s cinematic translator (or mangler, depending on your standpoint), is making a Thor movie.

Sorry, Ross. That's awesome.

Hilarious Quote of the Day

2008-10-01T17:25:00.004-05:00

From Kathryn Jean Lopez, at the far, far right blog The Corner, on Sarah Palin:

She did much better with Hugh Hewitt yesterday than in those Couric interviews.

Um, yes, I bet. Here are a few sample questions from the even-further-right Hewitt:

Have you followed the attacks on you, say, via Drudge or the blogs? Some of them are just made up and out of left field, others are just mocking. Do you follow those?

Do you think the mainstream media and the left understands your religious faith, Governor Palin?

Last question, Governor. Have you and Todd heard from your son? And how is it on your nerves having your son deployed?

Gosh. That is truly hard-hitting journalism. If she can handle that, surely she's ready for the vice presidency.

UPDATE: Then again, I'd have thought she could handle a question like this...

Important Numbers of the Day

2008-10-01T16:59:00.003-05:00

POLLS
Pennsylvania (Quinnipiac): Obama 54, McCain 39
Virginia (CNN/TIME): Obama 53, McCain 44

SCORES
Philadelphia 3, Milwaukee 1

Republican Whiners

2008-09-29T13:37:00.003-05:00

While the Dow is tanking, I'm listening to the House Republican leadership explaining why they couldn't get their membership behind the bailout bill. It comes down to this:

They worked hard on getting the bill together.
It was a bipartisan bill that they could generally support.
They didn't like Pelosi's speech, so they voted against it.

Unbelievable.

Playoff Baseball Blogging

2008-09-28T19:30:00.002-05:00

At the risk of having three consecutive sports-related posts--a first for Panoptiblog, I believe--I should say something about the Phillies winning the NL East. I don't blog much about being a Phillie fan, mostly because I have no reason to believe that anyone who reads this blog cares about baseball. And I'm a casual fan. The Phillies are never on TV around here, so it's hard to become obsessive about it. And in the last few years, I've barely had enough time to keep up with the Broncos and Hawkeyes, about whom I care quite a bit more.

But I have been a Phillies fan since I was a Phillie myself, on little league teams when I was around ten. We won the championship my second year, not at all thanks to my work in what I think was right field. Identity being what it is (which goes double for being a sports fan), I've never thrown the team overboard, even when it was misery to watch them.

And now they've had quite a run of talent in the last few years, with Howard and Rollins and Utley all either winning or competing for MVP trophies. I was happy when they made the playoffs last year, and they seemed happy to be there, leading to a sweep by Colorado. I'm optimistic that the Brewers will prove to be no such challenge this year, and then it's a likely Phillies-Cubs showdown, during which I will be in the distinct minority among the locals.

I might have a prediction about the playoff series in a day or so, but for now, I'm just relieved they seem to actually be playing up to their level of talent.

How To Kill A Drive by Brad Childress

2008-09-28T17:00:00.002-05:00

Hello there,

Minnesota Vikings Coach Brad Childress here. You know, I get lots of letters and emails every week from fans asking just how it is that I manage to keep a team from offensive success in spite of their natural talent. The answer is actually more complicated than you'd think.

First of all, you need to identify the strongest area of the opposition's defensive line. This week, my Vikings played the Titans, so it was easy to see that Albert Haynesworth's ability to stop the run at the line of scrimmage made him the strong point. Once you've spotted this dominant spot, you must play to their strength. Run up the middle. Don't worry if you have somebody as explosive as Adrian Peterson, he'll still consistently be limited to one- or two-yard gains if you aim directly at a behemoth like Haynesworth.

Okay, you've reached second down. So far, so good. You're instincts are going to tell you to run the ball off the edge, as you've found yourself in a second-and-long situation. This is wrong. You see, if you run the ball again you run the risk of gaining a handful of yards, thereby putting your offense in a third-and-manageable situation. No, you want to throw the ball to an underneath receiver. If the pass falls incomplete, you'll be in a great position to kill the drive. If, by some odd coincidence, the pass is caught, let's hope you had the good sense to make that WR run a three-yard button hook.

I'm an optimist, so let's say your overpaid TE dropped the ball (again) on second down to set up third-and-long. This is where training camp comes in handy. Your young, up-and-coming star QB has been practicing with your wideouts all summer long for just this occasion. Luckily, you've already benched that loser for your backup, who has little to no practice time with the starting receivers in this situation. Call whatever you want. Heck, go ahead and call a draw play if you really want to break some hearts.

Alright, you've reached the most important part of the Brad Childress Drive Killing Plan. It is entirely possible that your team defied all odds and picked up that first down. Are you ready for my last secret? Just keep doing the same thing. If you continue to follow the blueprint, your offense will consistently find themselves in third-and-long situations. No team, no matter the talent, can overcome multiple third-and-longs on every drive in every game. Sure, you'll accidentally break a big play once in a while, and points will be scored, but you'll rarely end up putting up more points than your opponent.

So there you have it. You'll find that if you follow these steps you can kill a drive no matter the momentum, talent, or field position.

Good luck and happy punting,
Brad Childress.

Kansas City 33, Denver 19

2008-09-28T16:05:00.005-05:00

Yes, you should always give the winning team credit and all that, but this was more bumbling by Denver than anything else. The defense played well for a while, holding Kansas City primarily to field goals in the first half, the only exception being the Chiefs' two-yard drive after Brandon Marshall's fumble.

So it's hard to get too worked up about this loss. As long as Marshall and Royal don't keep fumbling the ball away, and Cutler doesn't keep locking onto those two, leading to interceptions, the offense will be fine. The defense doesn't even concern me that much this week, because so many points were just handed to Kansas City. It could've been much worse, so my reaction is, "meh." They're still 3-1.

Obama Wins, but No Knockout

2008-09-26T22:13:00.003-05:00

Four quick reasons I think Obama won:

Body language was all Obama. He needed to appear confident, and he did. He looked at McCain consistently, and once it became clear that Lehrer wanted them to address one another (desperately wanted it, it seemed), he figured out how to do that effectively without seeming rude. McCain never even looked at Obama, which felt, as Jim Fallows put it, "distinctly strange."
Obama stayed cool, and effectively got under McCain's skin. After he pointed out that McCain didn't want to talk to Spain--Spain!--McCain looked seriously pissed.
Obama had the easier job. As George Will was saying on ABC afterward, Ronald Reagan made a positive first impression just by presenting himself competently next to the incumbent, in order to settle fears about the lesser-known candidate. Obama, especially in the debate about foreign policy, just needed to show he belonged on the stage next to McCain.
McCain did well enough; he didn't do horribly. This is critical for Obama. In 2000 and 2004, George W. Bush could barely find the podium with two hands during the first debate, and the coverage before debates 2 and 3 was all about how awful Bush was. Then, when Bush at least looked mildly competent in those debates, the bar had been lowered so much that the press scored it as a win for Bush.

McCain needed a big win after the bizarre week his campaign had. He didn't get it. All the other debates are to Obama's favor.

Still Alive

2008-09-25T10:18:00.004-05:00

Some of you may have wondered why I haven't been posting. Well, I decided to suspend the blog until this economic crisis is over, and I invited The Corner to join me. But since they seem to have declined, fine. It's on. But I want you all to know I would've taken one for the team here.

Actually, as I'd been hinting was coming up, with the countdown and all, I took comps over last weekend. Unexpectedly, I took it with pneumonia, which was misdiagnosed and therefore went untreated until my exams were damn near done. Thanks, Student Health!

Anyhow, they went fine. I think. It occurred to me midway through that the trouble with my Jordan-flu-game analogy was that Michael knew at the time whether his shots were going in, or if he should sit down. I will find out on October 29.

So I've been working on getting better. Almost there. In the meantime, here's a funny thing.

The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.

Week Three Power(less) Rankings

2008-09-24T14:48:00.002-05:00

1. Cowboys (3-0) - They put up 27 points against a very good Packers defense. Marion Barber is running people over and Felix Jones is a much more explosive change of pace than Julius Jones was. Romo has too many options in the passing game to keep him from gaining yards. They're showing no signs of weakness.

2. Eagles (2-1) - Where was that defense against the Cowboys? Either defensive coordinator Jim Johnson has gone mad or he's a genius, regardless he was blitz happy this week. Luckily, it worked out for him, as Ben Rothelis... Roethl... Roth... as Big Ben was sacked six time in the second quarter alone. Now they need to hope Correll Buckhalter can produce Westbrook-like numbers for a few weeks.

3. Giants (3-0) - I'm not sure why a team as talented as this needed overtime to take care of the Bengals, but at least they got the win. Eli was impressive when it counted. Ancient kicker John Carney kicked the winning field goal, became confused, forgot where he was, and was heard yelling at the Bengals special teams to get off of his lawn. He's old. I'm clever.

Get the rest of the rankings right here.

Comps Countdown

2008-09-18T08:09:00.000-05:00

I just have to want it really bad.

2008-09-17T20:24:00.000-05:00

As I battle my non-flu virus today, and begin to take my comprehensive exams anyway, I'm taking comfort and inspiration from exactly where you'd expect: a sports analogy.

Whatever You're Into, We've Got It

2008-09-16T20:48:00.003-05:00

If you're interested in getting some substance into this presidential campaign, watch some of this:

If you're interested in better humor, read this.

Hat tips, respectively, to Balloon Juice and Andrew Sullivan.

Two Obits

2008-09-16T10:21:00.004-05:00

The news that David Foster Wallace had died made me practically jump off the couch when I saw it on ABC's This Week.

But this makes me sadder.

And the McCain Campaign Gets Stranger

2008-09-16T10:15:00.004-05:00

From Jonathan Martin at Politico:

Asked what work John McCain did as Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee that helped him understand the financial markets, the candidate's top economic adviser wielded visual evidence: his BlackBerry.

"He did this," Douglas Holtz-Eakin told reporters this morning, holding up his BlackBerry. "Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce committee so you're looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that's what he did."

Well, there you have it. He might have described himself as computer illiterate, but his advisers say he created the Blackberry.

No doubt, the McCain camp will say, "No, what we meant was that he helped create the conditions so that the Blackberry could be created." Wrong again. McCain was the only Republican to vote against the 1996 Telecommunications Act.

Comps Countdown

2008-09-15T17:47:00.003-05:00

Two days, fourteen hours, and forty-three minutes.

And I have some sort of horrible virus that's put me on the mat.

Grrr.

Denver 39, San Diego 38

2008-09-14T18:42:00.007-05:00

Chris Berman just called Mike Shanahan's decision to go for two with :24 on the clock, instead of kicking it to tie, at home, one of the gutsiest calls he's ever seen. It looked to me like this: if Denver ties it and loses in OT, Cutler's the goat after making two HUGE red-zone mistakes in the last five minutes. Shanahan knew Cutler had screwed up, and he gave his quarterback a chance to redeem himself. And the third-year QB from Vanderbilt came through (not to mention rookie WR Eddie Royal, who made two huge plays in the last thirty seconds).

The game is no doubt tainted by the two horrible calls that cost the Chargers. If I was a San Diego fan, I'd be furious. Unquestionably, the refs bailed out Cutler. But Cutler bailed out a defense that absolutely fell apart in the second half.

Here's what matters in the end, though:

AFC West Standings
Denver 2-0
Oakland 1-1
Kansas City 0-2
San Diego 0-2

"Did we say 23,000? We meant 8,000."

2008-09-13T19:09:00.000-05:00

Another McCain-Palin nose-stretcher.

A Palin We Can Endorse

2008-09-12T20:36:00.006-05:00

No, not that one.

This one.

And it's a Syrah.

Does buying a bottle of Chilean wine because it has nearly the same name as the GOP VP candidate make us more elitist, or less? I fear I know the answer...

It was one of the specials of the month at the Co-op, which I'd think was deliberate except there's no reference to the wine's political near-namesake. I don't know wine nearly well enough to BS my way through a review of it, but here's the co-op's wine dude writing about it:

The wine is all spice and meat, dark plumy, black cherry, and mocha. It's got some mild tannins which provide some grip on the finish, but not so much that you can't take it home and drink it tonight.

Which we did. I recommend it with marinated steak.

I'd say the wine also doesn't know what the Bush Doctrine is, but that'd be bitchy of me, don't you think?

Comps Countdown

2008-09-12T19:24:00.001-05:00

Five days, eleven hours, four minutes...

Unbelievable

2008-09-12T18:06:00.002-05:00

I didn't believe it until I saw it myself. Charles Gibson asks Sarah Palin if she agrees with the Bush Doctrine, and she has no idea what he's talking about.

James Fallows has the open-and-shut take on this, in my opinion. Read the whole thing.

Surely people are going to see what an insanely risky option voting Republican is this time around.

Did I say "Islamic extremism?" I meant, "Drill."

2008-09-11T13:14:00.002-05:00

Is he crazy? Does he just hope we're idiots? Check this out, at about 5:00 left:

Interviewer: What experience does she have in the field of national security?

McCain: Energy. She knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America.

If Obama had made such an absurd claim this summer, the Republicans would have been screaming.

The Royal Treatment

2008-09-10T20:49:00.004-05:00

I've been so busy with comps (7.5 days to go...) that I haven't had a chance to comment on the Denver Broncos' palindromic blowout of the Oakland Raiders on Monday night. There's another Denver fan I talk to at school every now and then, when we get a chance. On the first day of back-to-school meetings, he said to me, "Super Bowl, baby. Believe it."

I'm not saying I believe it yet. I need to see it against a team that isn't a perennial doormat. But boy... They looked good.

I'm looking forward to three things this upcoming Sunday:

Can Eddie Royal be covered? Somebody (can't remember who, prob'ly at the Denver Post) commented that the Raiders "stubbornly refused" to give Hall help on Royal, but with Brandon Marshall back, I don't see how that's even an option for the Chargers. And Royal was making some catches that you don't see out of a rookie in his first game. There was a quick slant that he caught that wasn't making the in-game highlight reels, a bullet that was put in an awkward spot, and he just reeled it in. Quite a performance.
Can the other receivers consistently catch? Despite Cutler's more than respectable numbers, it looked to me like there were a few missed passes that definitely should've been complete, and none of them looked like Cutler's fault.
Can the defense put Rivers on the ground without giving up big holes to Tomlinson? After Rivers demonstrated what a classy guy he was last year, I trust nobody in Denver's locker room has forgotten...

Your Carbon Footprint

2008-09-10T16:24:00.003-05:00

Tired of feeling good about yourself? Then I have the website for you! Head on over here and enter in your vehicle's year, make, and model. You will then be provided with your car's miles-per-gallon (both highway and city), as well as the average annual cost for fueling up said car, and the amount (in tons) of carbon dioxide you're releasing into the atmosphere. You'll be shocked to find that something as tiny as, say, my '92 Ford Festiva is releasing six tons of greenhouse gases in a single year. Add in the fact that I've been delivering food for over a year and I'm pretty sure hurricane Ike is my fault.

On a side note, aren't hurricanes only given female names? Does someone in charge of naming hurricanes know a girl named Ike? Did he check for an Adam's apple?

Please, Apple, Get a New Ad Campaign

2008-09-07T14:26:00.007-05:00

I'm sitting here watching the Brady-less Patriots play the Croyle-less Chiefs, and that's bad enough. But then another one of those Mac vs. PC ads come on, this one with John Hodgman hiding in a pizza box trying to catch college students, because they just loooove those Mac laptops. So I'm shouting this message out into the Internets, hoping they'll hear me:

PLEASE STOP.

I just can't take any more. These ads are not persuasive, and they're not funny. This ad campaign jumped the shark so long ago that it has gone up the beach, through a couple of sand castles, and has been impaled by somebody's beach umbrella. Please, please leave John Hodgman alone, so he can be funny again. Like this:

UPDATE: If you had to watch a preview for that awful-looking movie Eagle Eye in order to see this clip, like I just had to, I sincerely apologize.

Give 'em hell, Joe

2008-09-07T13:13:00.004-05:00

Check out Joe Biden, letting the Republicans have it for their content-free convention:

Jim Fallows has some interesting thoughts on the space Palin has created for Biden in this race.

John McCain Is Familiar With All Football Traditions

2008-09-06T21:22:00.006-05:00

Over at ~~the Official McCain Website~~ The Corner, e-mailers and Jonah Goldberg are discussing which is the best football metaphor to describe the selection of Sarah Palin for McCain's VP pick. Here's one who is so... close... to getting it:

This may seem a bit picky but I think it's pertinent. The Palin choice wasn't a 'Hail Mary', but a 'Long Bomb'. The latter is a much-validated component of many an aggressive offense (Montana, Favre, Brady, ....). The former is a last play, desperation throw (Flutie at BC).

Um, yes. Yes it is.

But here's the one that's likely to have Dr. Z up in arms:

Which is why I've been saying the best football analogy for Sarah Palin is the "West Coast offense." This is something that Bill Walsh is credited with inventing, and he used it to guide the SF 49ers to greatness. The trouble is, nobody ever knew exactly what the West Coast offense was, but they knew it when they saw it. It was a whole different approach to the game, and some of its main features were mixing up the conventional order of passing and running plays and using short passes to open up passing lanes and make the defense more vulnerable to long bombs. Because it was new, teams didn't really know how to defend against it, and they looked weak, tentative and uncertain (and sometimes silly) in attempting to do so.

The initial choice of Palin might look like a long bomb, but it's just one element of a much bigger strategy that the Democrats didn't see coming at all (e.g a new approach for advancing the reform&change themes and appealing to regular guy/gal voters). They now find themselves on the defensive against a new positive appeal for swing voters, and they really don't have a clue on how to respond. I think Sarah - and McCain - are going to keep them confused for the next two months.

I don't even know where to start, here. First of all, Bill Walsh did not invent the West Coast Offense. Paul Zimmerman over at SI.com has made it a personal mission to continue arguing this point, even if the common parlance of the sport has long since passed caring. Walsh invented something else--let's call it the Bill Walsh Offense. Second of all, the Walsh Offense focuses on throwing a lot of underneath stuff, to running backs, fullbacks, tight ends... and when it goes to a receiver it's somebody breaking off short a lot. Hard to see how this is just one more short pass. As for the e-mailer's point, it's pretty hard to see Palin as part of a bigger strategy; you have to really want to read it that way, and all evidence points toward McCain trying to pick Ridge or Lieberman.

But I have a better analogy than any of these: the desperation lateral play. This is the one where you say something crazy, like, I fight corruption in Washington, and, she sold the Governor's jet on eBay for a profit, and, she was against the bridge to nowhere, and, Obama never wrote any legislation. You hope the refs aren't looking close enough (these guys are), should some of your laterals accidentally go forward. And you pray it gets across the goal line, somehow.

A more generous analogy might be: John McCain is a decent coach, Republicans are the Oakland Raiders, and the fringe-right base is owner Al Davis. Guess whose opinion matters.

Speaking of that, here's hoping the Broncos beat the Raiders tomorrow.

(And for those of you who didn't get the reference of this title, read this, and enjoy.)

Paulites for Obama

2008-09-06T15:07:00.001-05:00

Anyone who takes the Constitution seriously has only one choice in this election. This Ron Paul supporter explains why it isn't McCain.

A Night Off from the Topics of this Blog

2008-09-05T16:52:00.003-05:00

I have to confess, I didn't watch McCain's speech last night, or the opening NFL game. Saw about three minutes of the former (enough to be shocked by what looked like a green screen behind him), and forgot about the latter entirely. Also, I saw only a couple minutes of O'Reilly's interview with Obama.

We watched The Wire instead.

Jon Stewart is good at his job

2008-09-05T06:11:00.002-05:00

All I will add before this clip is that I love it when hypocrites are caught on video. Enjoy!

Did I Say "Green"? I Meant "Drill."

2008-09-03T20:11:00.004-05:00

And to think, I totally forgot to mention McCain's retreat on new technologies that might move us toward energy independence. Count on Thomas Friedman to remember.

Why Sarah Palin Should Doom McCain

2008-09-03T17:17:00.008-05:00

Despite how busy I am with comprehensive exam prep, high school having started again, and just generally keeping up with life, I am moved to use this, the one hundredth post on Panoptiblog, to comment on the race as it stands today. Today, because finally the Palin-child stuff has settled down a bit, and she'll make her speech tonight, and it will probably be, as Slate's Timothy Noah writes today, much praised. And then McCain's tomorrow night, and then we'll have three weeks until the debates.

In 2000, had McCain won the Republican nomination, I might have voted for him over Al Gore. I was thinking about it. I bought the line about how much of a maverick he was, got sucked into the storyline, and believed he was a moderate. As likely as not, once he got the nomination, I would've learned at least some of his further-right leanings, and probably voted for Gore. But it's hard to say, and it would've been a much harder choice than Bush v. Gore, or Bush v. Kerry. In neither of those cases did I like the Democratic candidate for president, but I truly could not believe that we were going to elect, then re-elect, such an idiot to our highest office. Apparently, when the alternatives are, respectively, an arrogant jerk and a douchebag, we will.

Barack Obama is not a douchebag. He's not a jerk. And, despite McCain's (and Clinton's) best efforts to portray him otherwise, he doesn't actually seem any more arrogant than anybody else who's ever run for the presidency. Vote for me, I'm no better or worse than anyone else is not a winning campaign slogan. This is why he actually stands a chance to win. And yes, he is the media's darling. Just like John McCain has been for the last eight years, much to the infuriation of many conservatives.

McCain is so used to being the media's favorite candidate, so frustrated by their love for Obama, and equally frustrated by being straightjacketed by his staff, that he's losing his cool. So the Palin pick was, as many others have said, a Hail Mary pass: bring the evangelicals back into the fold, get some press love for having a woman on the ticket, hope to pick off a few still-disgruntled Hillary Clinton voters. We've learned some things since then. For example:

Her husband is a member of a party that believes Alaska should be allowed to vote on seccession. A party whose members say things like, "the fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government." Can you imagine if Michelle Obama belonged to a group who said that?

While Palin claims to be a reformer who hates earmarks and opposed the "Bridge to Nowhere," it turns out she actually hired lobbyists to get earmarks, and she was for the bridge before it became clear it was a loser politically. Can you imagine of Joe Biden was caught in an outright lie within 24 hours of the VP announcement?

Whether or not Palin is qualified by my standards, she is obviously not qualified by McCain's previous standards. This is made most clear through this CNN piece, in which a McCain advisor cannot answer a very simple question:

The press are not even asking hard questions; they're asking inconvenient ones. And now that it's become clear that Palin was vetted at the eleventh hour, and that the press aren't going to pretend this is a choice made for governing, but for cynical reasons alone, they're going to stop answering questions.

Those who were previously for McCain because he was a more "serious" candidate than Obama should be seriously questioning their choice. Those who believed McCain was a better candidate because he was more substantive have had to endure campaign ads with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. They are now faced with McCain's campaign manager telling the Washington Post that this election is "not about issues," but rather "a composite view of what people will take away from these candidates."

McCain is not the serious candidate. He will no doubt try to re-brand again, perhaps several more times between now and November. But by then it will have become clear to everyone, except maybe the 29% who still think Bush is doing a good job as President, that their party made a serious error in putting this man at the top of their ticket.

Obama and the Palins

2008-09-01T21:11:00.003-05:00

Obama's response to the news of Palin's daughter's pregnancy (relevant portion begins at about 1:40 in):

Chad Javon Ocho Cinco

2008-08-30T02:08:00.004-05:00

Just when you thought Chad Johnson couldn't possibly get more obnoxious, he makes sure that now when you refer to him you have to say Chad Ocho Cinco. That's right. The troublesome Bengals receiver has legally changed his name to Chad Ocho Cinco, according to the Associated Press.

This bothers me because the number 85 (Chad's jersey number and the reason for the self-appointed title "Ocho Cinco") is NOT "ocho cinco" in Spanish. "Ocho cinco" translates to "eight, five." That comma is important there. Now, if it were "ochenta y cinco" I wouldn't be quite as annoyed, but alas, Chad Ocho Cinco is a moron who probably didn't go any farther than using an internet translator to come up with his nickname.

This was a stupid decision for more than just the obvious reasons. Chad has been demanding a trade for most of the off-season. A trade is often accompanied by... a new jersey number. This is Marvin Lewis's big chance. Lewis, the Bengals head coach, has not been pleased with his star wide receiver for some time now, and I can see no better way to stick it to the showboating Ocho Cinco than to send him to a team where he cannot wear 85. Just imagine for a moment the image of the name "Ocho Cinco" on the back of, say, a San Diego Chargers jersey with some other number on it. I believe that is the only situation in which (A) Chad would be thoroughly embarrassed by this move, and (B) I would go out of my way to call him Ocho Cinco.

McCain-Palin?

2008-08-29T06:53:00.004-05:00

Someone might be getting ahead of themselves, but Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's Wikipedia page this morning includes this line:

"She is the 2008 presumptive Republican Vice President nominee. "

Seems like that's too badly written to have been put there by someone who knows what
they're talking about...

UPDATE: Well, whattaya know...

The Speech II

2008-08-28T22:14:00.002-05:00

As David Gergen just said on CNN, they're sharing the Kool-Aid tonight, but I agree with the vast majority of the people I'm reading and seeing in response to Obama's acceptance speech: he met expectations. Nothing more to say tonight.

The Speech

2008-08-28T09:43:00.004-05:00

I would be remiss to not mention tonight's convention speech before it happens, given how much I talk about Obama around this site. (Plus, it's at "Mile High Stadium," as Obama called it, providing a strange confluence of my interests.)

John Dickerson has a story up at Slate about Obama's convention keynote speech in 2004, and what he needs to do tonight. Plenty of people have weighed in on this, when so much history will be palpable. Some have already insisted that he can't meet expectations, because they're so high. I have my own hopes for the speech: that he talks back to the foolish "celebrity" charge, partially by being substantive enough to silence critics.

But what it really made me want to do was re-watch the 2004 speech. I am quite sure many others watching were thinking, Why isn't this guy running? Whether you've seen it before or not, enjoy:

Mac the Knife

2008-08-25T21:05:00.002-05:00

I've been a fan of Macs since before they were Macs... The earliest version I remember having was an Apple IIc, back in... oh, who knows, I was probably about nine. I'm part of Apple's die-hard demographic, but I managed to sit through the entire first round of iPhones without going out to get one. I was just positive I was going to get one of these 3Gs that came out in July, and I just about broke down and did it a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't sure whether I had chickened out or had come to my senses.

Well, this new Slate article suggests it was the latter. I'm hoping that Steve Jobs and company figures out that this new customer base they're bringing in with iPods and iPhones aren't going to stick around if they figure out Apple will give them the shaft every chance they get...

Obama on SportsCenter

2008-08-25T20:49:00.005-05:00

I thought the folks at ESPN were going to do this a while back, but for some reason decided not to. Glad they got around to it. How can you not give a few minutes of coverage to a presidential candidate who can shoot the three?

Could've given a more forceful answer on why Bush should've boycotted the Olympics opening ceremony, but couldn't have been more direct when asked who he'd root for in a Chi-town Series. Impressed he didn't dodge that one...

Preseason Thoughts

2008-08-24T13:29:00.003-05:00

1. Matt Leinart is playing like a rookie. The Cardinals front office seemed to take issue with how he spent his offseason (apparently young, attractive, rich people are supposed to study their playbook all night, every night) and now he's spending all his on-field time throwing interceptions and being generally unimpressive. If John Clayton's sources are correct (and come on, he's John Clayton) then it will be Kurt Warner who starts the season for Arizona, which could mean a new uniform for Leinart next year if he doesn't turn things around.

2. Marvin Lewis should be worried about his job. He pulled the franchise out of the gutter a few years back, which rightfully earned him accolades, but the team hasn't seen much progress since that point. In fact, the offensive line appears to have taken a step backward, the defense is still mediocre (though rookie LB Keith Rivers should help), and their "tough stance" on troublemakers includes cutting WR Chris Henry, then re-signing him a few weeks later upon realizing that they don't have another quality slot receiver. If they don't make the playoffs this season, expect a coaching change in Cincinnati.

3. Fear the Panthers. No, seriously! Coach Fox is feeling the pressure to prove last year was a fluke and the team seems to be responding. The defensive line looks fast and strong, and the secondary is flying to the ball. What really caught my eye, though, was the offense. Jonathan Stewart's presence has apparently motivated DeAngelo Williams in a big way, as Williams is running with a power not seen from him last year. Both backs have been very impressive so far, demonstrating the power to gain yards after contact and the speed to finish off big runs. And as if that wasn't enough, Jake Delhomme is back and is elbow looks fine. He's putting some big time zip behind his passes and is displaying zero discomfort. Look for Pro-Bowl numbers from Delhomme and Steve Smith this year as Carolina makes a push deep into the playoffs.

Obama-Biden

2008-08-23T14:57:00.003-05:00

I don't have anything profound to say here, but figured I should weigh in since I blog about the election so often.

In about 2003, I was really wishing Joe Biden would get into the presidential race. He had obvious foreign policy cred, which I thought a Democrat would really need (this was before Wes Clark was in the race, but after I had decided John Kerry was a douchebag).

He didn't then, but did this time around. In January, I would've caucused for him if I thought he'd have a chance to win the thing, and hadn't decided that Obama actually did. I like his regular-guy nature, and he has the sort of straight-talk persona that McCain used to have. (Back in 2000, I thought I would maybe vote for McCain if he'd beaten Bush for the nomination. I don't know if I really would've or not, but I was definitely thinking about it.)

From an electoral standpoint, I don't know what to think. He might help Obama in Florida, and surely takes Pennsylvania off McCain's targets. Unless he was going to go way outside of the box and pick Bloomburg, or Hagel, or Luger (and I'm not sure it would've been a good thing for him to do so), he couldn't have done better.

Bumper sticker thoughts...

2008-08-23T08:58:00.003-05:00

The BBC, quoting from the Rick Warren interview with Obama and McCain, asked the question of tehir answers, "Which would make a better bumper sticker?"

Candidates were asked: "When does life begin?",

Mr McCain immediately said: "At the moment of conception".

Mr Obama first said that answering the question was "above my pay-grade" before adding that he was in favour of legal abortion "not because I'm pro-abortion but because, ultimately, I don't think women make these decisions casually. I think they wrestle with these things in profound ways."

Mike & friends watched this interview; I wish that I would have pulled my head out of unpacking long enough to join them. I can't get over Obama's answer though...I want to go back to that post on the Foucault blog, and consider the effects of "truth-tellers."

Intolerant Ass of the Day

2008-08-19T17:32:00.003-05:00

Right-wing talk show host Mike Gallagher argues that because the CA supreme court said doctors can't refuse to treat lesbians because of their sexual orientation, pedophiles can now argue to adopt children. It would be bizarre, if it weren't completely typical of the fringe right.

When Republicans Attack, Badly

2008-08-15T11:09:00.007-05:00

I'm not sure what the RNC is trying to do here, but they have been keeping tabs on Obama's vacation, and putting out press releases. Via Jonathan Martin at Politico:

Island Snow Hawaii (130 Kailua Road, Kailua, HI): The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports Obama stopped at Island Snow Hawaii yesterday and “asked for a cone with ‘guava orange, Lanikai lime and choo-choo cherry.’ … A crowd of about 50 people gathered behind him, snapping pictures with digital cameras and cell phones and giving him a round of applause as he exited.”

Ward 16 Theatre (1200 Ala Moana Blvd, Honolulu, Hawaii): The Honolulu Star Bulletin reports Barack Obama ate popcorn and watched the 3:40 showing of the Dark Knight in theater 9 yesterday. Obama recently named Batman and Spider-man as his favorite superheroes, citing their “inner turmoil.”

Kua 'Aina Sandwich Shop (1200 Ala Moana Blvd # 665, Honolulu, Hawaii): The Honolulu Advertiser reports “Obama ordered six half-pound cheeseburgers, eight third-pound cheeseburgers, 10 kids' burgers and 20 orders of fries” for a total of “just over $116” at Kua 'Aina yesterday.

I assume the attack line must be: Americans will never elect this hamburger-loving, ice-cream eating, moviegoing elitist.

Spread the Panoptiblog

2008-08-14T23:30:00.003-05:00

Over on the right, you'll now see a "Spread the Panoptiblog" feature. I just stuck it there to see what it'll do. I assume it makes it easier to share posts from here through the services listed... but I honestly have no idea how it works. If any of you readers out there mess around with it and tell me what it'll do, I'll see if it's worth keeping.

I'd do it myself, but for god's sake people, I'm comping in a month. I'm busy.

UPDATE: Are those tags redundant?

Back from Vacation Roundup

2008-08-13T10:32:00.002-05:00

Well, we're back from beautiful State College, PA. I'd never been to Pennsylvania before, but it was terrific weather and very relaxing. If you're ever in that neighborhood, I highly recommend DelGrosso's Amusement Park. Also went to a drive-in movie (the Mummy 3). It was, as our host said, like falling back into the 1950s.

In the meantime, here's what I missed blogging about...

Yglesias started his new blog, and the Atlantic has replaced him with Ta-Nehisi Coates, who I've enjoyed so far.

John Edwards was bad. Mickey Kaus is gloating.

This Phelps guy is good. But MSNBC's web coverage is awful. Have they seriously not posted the video of the race where Phelps came from way behind in the last stretch?

A very cute video.

Obama saw the Dark Knight, which the RNC saw as a sign of elitism, or something.

Hamlet Has Just Added the Revenge Application

2008-08-09T08:31:00.002-05:00

McSweeny's offers us the Facebook Hamlet.

This Is Wrong

2008-08-07T23:24:00.003-05:00

Unbelievable.

Does this mean I have to take this back?

A Longer Hiatus

2008-08-04T08:33:00.001-05:00

I can't find the rest of my summer, and I fear I packed it into one of those boxes that you never think to look in until years after you've moved in. If I'm lucky, I'll find it when I go through my winter clothes in late November.

Or maybe it's just gone.

At any rate, posting will be light until next week, as we get out of here for a few days.

Our Moving Strategy

2008-08-02T09:22:00.001-05:00

1. Throw stuff into boxes.
2. Drop boxes off at new place.
3. Repeat.

But now that we're into the new place, and have a few things unpacked, life feels quite a bit better.

Just For the Record

2008-07-29T21:47:00.002-05:00

I have no idea why my post on Batman came with multiple Barack Obama ads.

UPDATE: Weird. But it's fixed. ~ M.A.

More Batman Talk (very mild spoiler)

2008-07-29T20:47:00.005-05:00

By teasing the public for nearly a year with viral marketing, Christopher Nolan created a fever for Batman that could have lead to riots had "The Dark Knight" not been so fantastic. While the casual fan is no doubt satisfied by his recent Batman fix, the powerful and dramatic ending to the Caped Crusader's most recent big screen adventure has left the fanboys begging for more. So, while Nolan enjoys a period of deserved rest, and Warner Brothers execs sit back and watch their blockbuster break record after record at the box office, the avid fans are left to wonder... what's next?

I was certain that this decision could be made without my input until I started reading the suggestions of people like Christopher Bahn of MSNBC, who suggests that Killer Croc or Clayface would be a better fit for these movies than someone like Penguin. Not that I want to see Penguin, but come on, Clayface? My brother (and fellow fanboy) Michael had it right when he suggested the "magical" villains be left out, but then Catwoman was suggested. You think you know someone, and then they suggest Catwoman for the next Batman movie.

I suppose the Killer Crocs, Clayfaces, and even Catwomen would bring those seeking a lighter side into the theater. David Ansen of Newsweek, for example, doesn't like how grim things have gotten. He writes:

...this is Batman, not "Hamlet." Call me shallow, but I wish it were a little more fun.

Shallow isn't the word I would have chosen, but I'm not one to engage in cyber-bullying. In any case, the vast majority of people I've spoken with agree that the dark nature of Nolan's universe is perfect. So, in lieu of Batman and Man-Bat throwing pies at each other, like Ansen and Bahn would prefer, I have another suggestion.

The Riddler. Not the Jim Carrey Riddler from Joel Schumacher's ridiculous "Batman Forever," but a Riddler worthy of the universe Chris Nolan has created. With a little bit of fine-tuning, the flamboyant, giggly dweeb who would be no match for Batman can become a terrifying, faceless murderer. Think of someone like the Zodiac killer. He's not in it for anything like money, nor is he an agent of chaos like the Joker. No, he's in it for the challenge of outsmarting the hero.

Killing at random and purposely dropping little tidbits that only a master detective could notice, the Riddler would prove a most gripping foe. Sure, the Joker did some riddling of sorts in "The Dark Knight," but Batman was being helped by Commissioner Gordon and the Gotham Police Department. Now the cops want Batman in custody, or worse. In my opinion, an outlaw Batman, the Riddler's mind games, and a brooding, lonesome Bruce Wayne would make for one hell of a third entry into Nolan's Batman trilogy.

As far as the Joker is concerned, put him in or leave him out. It makes no difference to me. If there is a talented actor out there who's up to the challenge, then great. If not, no need to tarnish the note-perfect performance of Heath Ledger. I trust Nolan's judgment on this one.

The Scientific Case for Vegetarian Sausage

2008-07-29T13:56:00.003-05:00

According to these researchers, what I really need is for someone to sneak into my house and replace my Bob Evans sausage with the soy-based stuff. I'd never know the difference.

Obama's Veep Choices

2008-07-28T18:10:00.005-05:00

Mark Halperin (again, using an absolutely ridiculous title) reports that Politico says that sources are claiming that Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has a great shot at being Obama's Vice-Presidential choice.

I think this would be a mistake, mostly because "Obama-Kaine" sounds like an ointment you put on parts of your body not usually exposed to daylight, while "Obama-Sebelius" would inevitably inspire a campaign song that would sound a lot like this:

"Obama-bama-bama-bama-bama-Sebeeeee-leee-uuuuus..."

Drudge in the Tank

2008-07-28T15:59:00.008-05:00

I was starting to have doubts about whether Matt Drudge, Internet journalist extraordinaire, hadn't actually changed his allegiances from Obama to McCain. Politico had an insightful story a while back about how the generally conservative/libertarian-leaning Drudge seemed to be favoring the Democratic candidate. But over the course of the past week or so, with Obama in Europe, Drudge seemed to be mocking Obama for the love he was getting overseas. Had Drudge come home to McCain?

Um, no.

Not that he couldn't still make that switch, but he hasn't yet. When I clicked on Mark Halperin's blog this afternoon, he was leading with this story, pushing the legitimately surprising Gallup poll that has McCain up four points (and leading it with a typically lame title, as is Halperin's tendency). Surely, Drudge would put this in the lead spot as well, right?

Nope, Drudge leads instead with a story from the Washington Post, about how McCain had some skin removed for biopsy. Now, I do think that that McCain's history with cancer has been underreported, and that it's definitely a relevant campaign issue. It raises questions about how much attention we should give to his perpetually-imminent vice presidential choice, for example. But today, if Drudge were leaning even slightly more in the direction of McCain, he'd have been leading his site with the Gallup poll, with a flashing siren on top of it. Instead, where does he put the story? Here:

That's right, seventh story down on the right column, under two other poll-related stories. And in case you were able to find it there, he even gives us a caveat. "USATODAYGALLUP: MCCAIN UP 4 AMONG LIKELY VOTERS..."

If you're wondering why I'd spend any time worrying about the way one journalist would cover the presidential race, go read the Politico story. It's amazing the way this one guy drives political coverage.

MetaBlogging

2008-07-28T11:54:00.002-05:00

Light posting this week, as Jen and I are moving into a new (bigger, better) place. In the meantime, my brother Zeke is going to do some guest posting about The Dark Knight and whatever else is on his mind.

Heterosexist Advertising

2008-07-23T22:39:00.014-05:00

Not much to say about this. When you see this kind of shit, all you can do is refuse to buy anything by the company, pass the word, and hope the ad agencies get a clue.

I suppose the title of this ad is, "Gays Deserve Abuse because They Are Weird." This message brought to you by Snickers.

Snickers, by the way, is made by Mars, Inc., makers of M&Ms, Twix, and Skittles. Go out and get a Hershey's or Reese's Pieces, won't you?

Thanks to Towleroad and Chris Bodenner.

The Dark Knight is Brilliant, Cont.

2008-07-23T21:21:00.003-05:00

John I. Thomas comments:

No Catwoman, no Penguin, no Riddler, blah. The arc has been creating the Batman (BB) to living with/planning to stop being the Batman (TDK) to...

The realization that there's no turning back. Who's the villain for that? Man-Bat. A villain who literally transforms, who desperately doesn't want to. That puts both men at opposite ends of the transformation meme. Man-Bat is farther along and knows that he's fairly well screwed.

The main reason I think Man-Bat won't work is that we haven't had a character in this series yet who requires magic, the supernatural, or pseudoscientific mutation as an explanation for his existence. I just don't see them going that direction at this point. I think Man-Bat missed his shot at being on film when Tim Burton didn't direct the sequel to Batman Returns.

Speaking of Tim Burton's vision of Batman, among David Denby's complaints about The Dark Knight is that

Warner Bros. has continued to drain the poetry, fantasy, and comedy out of Tim Burton’s original conception for “Batman” (1989), completing the job of coarsening the material into hyperviolent summer action spectacle. Yet “The Dark Knight” is hardly routine—it has a kicky sadism in scene after scene, which keeps you on edge and sends you out onto the street with post-movie stress disorder.

That's all fine. I'm not saying that everyone has to like comics or action movies, and certainly not if you write for the New Yorker. It might even be a liability then. But it's fairy obvious that what Burton was doing and what Nolan is doing are pretty different things. It's worth remembering that in 1989, there was no guarantee anybody would want to see a Batman movie, as the previous foray into superhero films had been what, Superman IV, probably the worst movie Gene Hackman ever agreed to show up for? People in 1989 still thought of Adam West when you said 'Batman.' The genre has matured in twenty years, into something that can at least try to be a serious crime drama. Burton's film was made to appeal to the campy, gothic side of Batman. Nolan's vision in The Dark Knight is three parts Frank Miller, two parts James Bond, one each for CSI and Heat and a little of the Wire sprinkled in.

Nolan's Batman series, for me, appeals in a way that Burton's doesn't, because Burton didn't even seem concerned about whether his stories made sense. It was more about leaving an impression. So we're not supposed to be bothered if the Joker's plan is to beat Batman in a fistfight at the top of a church (which Nolan takes a swipe at during the Joker's final scene), or if we're told that the Joker actually killed Bruce Wayne's parents, or if Alfred just lets Vicki Vale into the Batcave on the spur of the moment. Nolan's films aren't airtight by any means, but they're good at what they're trying to do. Especially this one.

Obama's Berlin Posters

2008-07-23T19:50:00.001-05:00

Some cool design sense, as usual from Team Obama.

And Speaking of Veeps...

2008-07-23T19:43:00.002-05:00

Mark Halperin seems to be telegraphing John Kasich as a possibility for McCain. This would make an awful lot of sense for him. Popular with the base (he subs for Bill O'Reilly, for heaven's sake); former Congressman from Ohio, a swing state; born in Pennsylvania, another swing state; Roman Catholic.

Or, this could just be because McCain's plane had to be diverted from Louisiana because of Dolly.

It's the Hypocrisy, Stupid

2008-07-23T18:50:00.007-05:00

Jack Shafer has a story up on Slate about why the John Edwards "love child story" is being ignored by the "mainstream media." According to Shafer, there's a double-standard operating here.

So why hasn't the press commented on the story yet? Is it because it broke too late yesterday afternoon, and news organizations want to investigate it for themselves before writing about it? Or are they observing a double standard that says homo-hypocrisy is indefensible but that hetero-hypocrisy deserves an automatic bye?

His argument hinges on a comparison to Larry Craig, the Republican Senator from Idaho who was caught soliciting a male undercover police officer for sex in an airport restroom. (He ended up being charged with a misdemeanor.) Shafer notes the rabid press coverage that followed, and diagnoses the media's motives thusly:

The angle taken by most reporters and commentators wasn't that Craig's restroom conduct was particularly shameful. The press doesn't object to same-sex sex at all, nor should it. Craig's true offense, said the press and the clowns, was hypocrisy, which they consider an inexcusable crime. Craig had supported both federal and Idaho bans on same-sex marriage, had opposed hate crime legislation that would extend protections to gays, and had earned a perfect 0 rating (PDF) from the Human Rights Campaign, a gay lobby. And he had denied and denied any and all gayness while trying to recruit some action in a bathroom!

This seems about right to me, but a more cynical explanation might go like this: the media loves a good sex story, but needs an excuse beyond infidelity itself to cover the story to avoid accusations of being salacious. Fortunately for them, Craig had spent a career talking about how gay people shouldn't have the same rights as straight people. Craig's hypocrisy gave them their excuse. Also, not insignificantly, Craig broke the law. When a Senator breaks the law, that's news.

And that's where Shafer's explanation falls apart: he insists that Edwards' alleged affair should receive the same type of coverage, claiming that Edwards is guilty of Craig-like hypocrisy.

As he rejected the Enquirer's charges, Edwards was making his wife and their marriage a central component of his campaign. If Edwards had had no affair, he wasn't a hypocrite, not then and not now.

But if Edwards had an affair and lied about it, shouldn't he suffer scrutiny akin to that of Craig?

Well, um, no. If Edwards said he didn't have an affair, and he did, then he's a liar, but not an especially hypocritical liar. Now, if John Edwards had spent his Senate career talking about how immoral people who had affairs were, and trying to pass laws to make it illegal for people to have children out of wedlock, then we would have an analogy. But this is not about gay or straight. If it were, then presumably we'd have heard less about this. If the National Enquirer is your lone source, and Edwards says it's not his child, and somebody else says it's his, then maybe the MSM has decided to just leave this family alone.

The timing of the Enquirer story is interesting, though. Edwards is supposedly on the lists for Obama's VP-slot, which should be announced pretty soon. On one hand, you'd think it would've been better for the Enquirer to hold off on the story and see if he got the nod. On the other, maybe they're anti-Edwards but pro-Obama, and hoped to get the story out there now to steer Obama in another direction.

Watching the Watchmen, Carefully

2008-07-23T16:33:00.007-05:00

Commenting on my post about the upcoming Watchmen film, reader "Infinite" points me toward this shot-by-panel comparison to ease my fears.

This also a good chance to mention that I forgot the adaptation of an obvious Alan Moore graphic novel in my earlier post: V for Vendetta, which I thought did not suck. Moore himself, however, had a different opinion.

The Dark Knight Is Brilliant [mild spoilers]

2008-07-23T00:09:00.003-05:00

I have not yet figured out what to say about The Dark Knight. I saw it for the second time tonight, and will see it again before long, I'm sure. Here are a few thoughts:

Heath Ledger is, as everyone has said, brilliant in this film. As David Denby wrote in his otherwise point-missing review, "[h]is performance is a heroic, unsettling final act: this young actor looked into the abyss." There can be no hyperbole when discussing Ledger's Joker. After Batman Begins, I wanted Tim Roth, or Edward Norton, or even Crispin Glover. Ledger was absolutely perfect in every frame of film he was in. He should be the front-runner for the Oscar, but because it's a "comic book movie," people will act as though we should be happy if he just gets nominated.
Everyone else is pretty damn good, and much better than in Batman Begins. Bale is better. Gyllenhall is better than Katie Holmes, as she looks like she regularly has thoughts. Aaron Eckhart is excellent as Harvey Dent. Gary Oldman is the perfect Jim Gordon, as far as I'm concerned. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman are characters, not extras.
There are almost zero cringe-worthy moments, which is shocking for a film based on a comic book character.

A couple early thoughts on the conclusion of the trilogy:

If it's limited to a scene, say, in Arkham Asylum, I'm not opposed to seeing the Joker again. I recoiled at the idea when I read it in Harry Knowles' review on AICN, but after seeing the film again, it would be a shame to leave the character here. It's so obvious that Nolan intended, were it not for Ledger's death, to bring the Joker back in part three, that he should probably take the risk and re-cast the part. What actor would dare to go there, I'm not sure.
Christian Bale needs to stay the hell out of prison, at least until he's done with the third Batman film. (That whole story sounds strange, and I hope it's not true, but if it is then he needs to stop being a cretin.)
I am expecting, and very hopeful for, Nolan's vision of Catwoman. I've no idea who should join her as the presumed other villain, but if you've read Batman: Year One, you already know that Nolan can do this vision right.

And if anyone reading this seen the film and loved it, but hasn't read Year One, or The Dark Knight Returns, then get out there and read them. Frank Miller can't write films at all (see Sin City and, I fear, the forthcoming The Spirit), but he used to write pretty good Batman stories. And Alan Moore's Batman: The Killing Joke is similarly great. All of these were obviously influences on the Nolan brothers in envisioning the current trilogy.

Too Perfect for Words

2008-07-20T00:07:00.003-05:00

If Thomas Kinkade really painted this NASCAR-themed piece, I must say that is just...

something.

How Webcomics Can Change the World, or at Least One District in Kansas

2008-07-19T23:59:00.003-05:00

Check this dude out.

Thanks to John Cole for pointing this out.

Because the Dark Knight Is Already So Passé

2008-07-19T15:11:00.006-05:00

Actually, it isn't. I just haven't seen it yet. But I hear it's not bad.

But now I'm thinking about this little project called The Watchmen. And instead of telling you how I'm terrified about this film because it's based on the best graphic novel ever, and because it's directed by Zack Snyder, the guy who made the awful movie 300, I'll direct your toward this Entertainment Weekly interview with Alan Moore, author of The Watchmen. A preview, wherein Mr. Moore talks about Mr. Snyder:

[T]he thing is that he's also the person who made 300. I've not seen any recent comic book films, but I didn't particularly like the book 300. I had a lot of problems with it, and everything I heard or saw about the film tended to increase [those problems] rather than reduce them: [that] it was racist, it was homophobic, and above all it was sublimely stupid. I know that that's not what people going in to see a film like 300 are thinking about but...I wasn't impressed with that.... I talked to [director] Terry Gilliam in the '80s, and he asked me how I would make Watchmen into a film. I said, ''Well actually, Terry, if anybody asked me, I would have said, 'I wouldn't.''' And I think that Terry [who aborted his attempted adaptation of the book] eventually came to agree with me. There are things that we did with Watchmen that could only work in a comic, and were indeed designed to show off things that other media can't.

Love Alan Moore. If he owned the rights to any of his own projects, From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen wouldn't have sucked, either. Anyway, read the whole interview and learn: What does Alan Moore think of The Wire and South Park?

Oh, and here's the preview of Watchmen, which, after all that, gives me hope that it won't be terrible.

UPDATE: Thanks to Brian H. for the heads-up.

Star Wars III.V

2008-07-17T07:30:00.004-05:00

The new Star Wars game coming out in September looks an awful lot like the game I wished existed when I was a kid. If they're smart, there will be a version for the Wii where you plug the controller into a lightsaber-looking contraption so that it actually tracks your movement as you swing the thing around. Take a look:

But apparently they're also trying to make it fit into the "official" Star Wars story:

"There's a couple of big twists and turns in the story," said Blackman. "One revelation in particular really impacts the rest of the saga as a whole. It goes way beyond filling in gaps. We try to make a bridge on every level. The story has a real implications on 'Episode IV.' In some ways, without the apprentice, 'Episode IV' couldn't happen."

I assume this means that the penultimate level will include stealing plans for the Death Star.

HIV Travel Ban Repeal?

2008-07-16T23:18:00.003-05:00

If you're like me, you may not know the US even has a law that prevents travel and immigration for people who are HIV-positive. When I read it on Andrew Sullivan's blog a while back, I was just... astonished. Apparently, it's one of the legacies Jesse Helms left behind. That such a thing could survive nearly a decade into the 21st Century is mind-boggling.

At any rate, it may be repealed quite soon. If you want to read one relieved response, go read Sullivan's. He would've had to leave the United States next year if it weren't for the repeal.

Campaignin'

2008-07-16T22:58:00.005-05:00

For those who remember the 2004 Presidential Campaign cartoon, "This Land Is Your Land," here's the 2008 version...

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Beauty, Character, and Guillermo del Toro

2008-07-15T16:48:00.007-05:00

Check out this video of the New York Times' A. O. Scott talking about Guillermo del Toro's work (they don't do embedding, apparently). I agree that his work is one of the strangest and most interesting filmmakers working today. I loved, loved Pan's Labyrinth. I didn't see Hellboy when it came out, because I didn't know anyone interesting was connected to it (and wouldn't have known del Toro's name at the time, anyway). I saw it last week, in anticipation of seeing Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Jen and I saw the latter film on Friday, and I was a little disappointed.

I'm sure that the connections between Hellboy II and The Lord of the Rings is supposed to be homage, but at some point the two are just too similar. Both films are beautiful in their ways, and Ron Perlman is a great lead. The second Hellboy managed camp better than anything I've seen since Batman Returns. But all the other characters run on a spectrum from boring to obnoxious, none of them at all interesting.

Visually, I can't imagine anyone better for picking up the pair of Hobbit films, but I do hope he gets someone to help him write the screenplays. If he thinks he can rely on the beauty of the films to satisfy Tolkien fans, he's out of his mind.

Tuesday YouTu... Uh, Vimeo

2008-07-15T09:49:00.004-05:00

This one can't wait until Friday. I hadn't heard of "Dancing," but there's a story in the New York Times about it. I see there have been other versions, but this one is brilliant. Watch it in full-screen, if you can.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Thanks to 3QuarksDaily.

The Lack of Violent Video Games Is Ruining Our Daughters' Education

2008-07-09T09:03:00.005-05:00

I was about to buy a Wii system, as it's something everyone--Jen, me, the kids--can enjoy now, much more so than the controllers for XBox or PS3. But this study is making me wonder if what my daughter really needs is a head start on Halo 3:

Shortly after our report, Jing Feng, Ian Spence, and Jay Pratt found that men and women who played action video games for more than four hours per week showed no disparity in one test of visuospatial ability, a Field of Vision task where they had to spot a dot flashing for 1/100 of a second in their peripheral vision. They were significantly better than men or women who didn't play action games. But male non-players were still better than females.

Could video game training erase this gender gap?

That's right, Medal of Honor to the rescue.

While men scored better than women before training, after playing Medal of Honor both women and men improved significantly. The difference between males and females after the training was not significant -- the gap between women and men was almost completely erased. Even more impressively, the researchers retested both groups five months later and found that both groups were still performing as well as they had right after training. The group playing Ballance showed no significant gains.

I haven't read the article itself yet, but Dave Munger's analysis that the gap was "almost completely erased" seems to be overstating the case. It looks to me like the difference between the men and women went from about 16% to 8 or 9%. A significant improvement, to be sure, but still an obvious gap.

The Trouble with Marshall

2008-07-06T12:51:00.011-05:00

Woody Paige, writing in his online "mailbag" for the Denver Post last week, has this to say about Brandon Marshall, the extremely talented, girlfriend-beating (allegedly) wide receiver for the Broncos:

I just hope, sincerely, that he grows up, at last, this year, because I do like him, but he's either got to get a new girlfriend and a person to drive him around, or be a man and stay inbounds.

To call Marshall "troubled," or to call Paige's comments "clueless," is to dramatically understate either case.

Here's the Post's Lindsay H. Jones on Marshall's behavior:

Marshall was arrested in March this year on a battery charge in a domestic violence incident. Reports obtained by The Denver Post on Friday detail accusations that Marshall previously punched his girlfriend, cut her leg with a knife and threw a rock at a car in which she was a passenger.

Marshall's problem is not that he needs to "grow up," and it certainly isn't that he needs to "get a new girlfriend." It is that he's a miscreant. Cutting your girlfriend with a knife is not a sign of immaturity, or that you and your significant other just aren't getting along like you used to. It's a sign that you aren't fit to live among civil society.

Paige's careless writing could be chalked up to characteristic douchebaggery, especially for those of us used to reading him. But it really is also a symptom of a fan base that treats domestic violence by an NFL player as a secondary or tertiary concern, somewhat lower on the list than his touchdowns per year, whether he's taking steroids, and what his cap number is. Denver fans like myself would like to take solace in the fact that the team has been weeding out some of the bad characters on the team, and that "character" has suddenly become a concern on draft day, but the true test of whether you mean it is when one of your best players is an obvious scumbag. They probably can't cut him if charges are pending, but I'd like to see the team step up and demonstrate that this sort of thing won't be tolerated.

Facebook Rules

2008-07-06T11:45:00.004-05:00

At first glance I thought that Slate's Reihan Salam had just written a little cute piece about social networking, but it turns out there's some really useful stuff in there. Like this little tidbit:

Say you've been too generous with your friending policy, and a gaggle of strangers is now hogging your News Feed. You too can launch a Great Facebook Purge. The beauty of this is that no headline or notification pops up in your ex-friend's inbox announcing, "You've suffered a humiliating rejection at the hands of _________." It's all very stealthy, thus making it the perfect way to deal with promiscuous frienders.

It's from last year, but the whole thing is worth reading, and should help protect you from this:

Obama's Southern Polling

2008-07-05T23:48:00.004-05:00

Nate over at the excellent and detail-oriented 538 expresses some skepticism about today's poll out of Georgia that shows Obama within two of McCain:

The 50-state Strategy, as well as the nation's changing demographics and the problems in Iraq and with the economy, are slowly beginning to neutralize these issues even in the Deep South, which is why Obama might lose Georgia by 6 or 8 or 10 points rather than John Kerry's 16. Even so, Southern religious conservatives remain the voters that Republicans are most used to reaching out to -- including McCain's chief strategist, who used to do work with the Jesse Helms campaign. Change is inevitable, but it's going to hit Virginia before it hits the Carolinas, and the Carolinas before it hits Georgia.

I'm willing to agree with that, but I'd also say Nate's missing the forest for this particular tree here. If the last sentence of that post is true, and polls are consistently showing Obama within 8-10 points in Georgia, and occasionally showing him within one or two, then doesn't that suggest that Virginia and the Carolinas look more and more winnable for Obama?

Friday YouTube, A Day Late

2008-07-05T21:50:00.004-05:00

It's been a scatterbrained holiday weekend for me, so please excuse the late YouTube this week. Jen and I were at Coralville City Park with the kids on July 3rd, and happened to catch part of a free concert that included these guys, Homemade Headtrip, a kind of local group. I enjoyed their set quite a bit; the lead singer's voice reminded me a bit of Paul Simon.

This video's from late last summer at RIBCO, but it doesn't have quite the same feel as the stuff I was hearing the other night. Still good, but not the same. If they get some video of it up on their site, I'll link it up later on...

Overheard in IC

2008-07-05T19:18:00.006-05:00

The scene: Out on a front lawn, on a pleasant afternoon, at a friend's birthday party. A young boy attempts to engage my young daughter in a game.

Boy: Hey, do you want to play "Follow the Leader"?

My daughter, without missing a beat: I don't know, how do you become the leader?

Travers Reviews "The Dark Knight"

2008-06-27T12:10:00.007-05:00

I can't bring myself to read it (I'm still determined to have a spoiler-free next few weeks), but I did read the first 'graph:

Heads up: a thunderbolt is about to rip into the blanket of bland we call summer movies. The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan's absolute stunner of a follow-up to 2005's Batman Begins, is a potent provocation decked out as a comic-book movie.

And the talk begins: an Oscar for Heath?

Friday YouTube

2008-06-27T12:02:00.002-05:00

It's Friday; relax.

And don't get talked into going on any adventures like this one...

Let Me Get This Straight

2008-06-25T16:04:00.003-05:00

As a person of Catholicious upbringing, it's important for me to keep up with these things.

According to the Catholic Church in 2008:

it is not acceptable to pray for anything that mentions "gay connotations";
it is acceptable to believe in aliens.

It may take me a while to absorb this.

Obama "obviously" would be a Jedi

2008-06-25T15:05:00.008-05:00

At least, according to George Lucas. I assume this is because of the longstanding Jedi support for universal health care.

Refuses to identify who Bush would be, though. I have a suggestion.

UPDATE: I'm reminded that Obama already had the midichlorean vote sewn up.

A Vision of Our Blog's Own Death

2008-06-25T07:59:00.003-05:00

Scary. I certainly hope our recent lack of posting doesn't portend something awful. But wait... does this count as a post about the blog itself?

Bananaless Republic

2008-06-22T16:03:00.002-05:00

Well, now I'm finally convinced we need to do something about the oil crisis. It's going to deprive us of bananas. Quick! Somebody start drilling!

Back from Hiatus

2008-06-18T13:42:00.003-05:00

The Panoptiblog has been on a little break. Partially because of the end of school, partially because of the floods, and partially because we've been lazy. Here's what happened when we were away, that we might otherwise have commented upon:

A candidate was (finally) chosen.

A whole bunch of us Iowans got wet. (We were okay, overall.)

A longtime couple (and many others) got married.

A student of mine got made.

More rumors about Obama got started.

Hopefully, we'll be back to some more regular posting...

Lies, Damn Lies, and the Popular Vote Count

2008-06-01T23:15:00.009-05:00

I'm starting to feel disenfranchised.

If I understand this right, when Hillary Clinton's people talk about her being ahead in the popular vote count, they're counting Florida and Michigan (whose voters were told their votes wouldn't be counted and didn't hear from the candidates up close) and Puerto Rico (whose citizens cannot vote in the general election); they're not counting Iowa, Nevada, Minnesota, and other swing states who held caucuses, stuck to the DNC rules about when to hold their contests, who got to see and hear the candidates, and who all, by the way, get to vote in November. This is because some (all?) caucus states do not keep proper tallies of individual votes, and therefore can't be counted in the popular vote. Not coincidentally, most of the caucus states went for Obama.

This is the measure she's going to use when arguing her case to superdelegates? Michigan, whose vote wasn't going to count for anything counts, Puerto Rico counts, but Iowa and Minnesota don't?

But wait... Is this Clinton's own Terry McAuliffe saying it's about... delegates?

What is going on here?

UPDATE: Kos Diarist Rena RF does the new new math.

UPDATE II: RealClearPolitics does more reliable new new math. Fewer states left out, Obama wins unless you give him zero votes in Michigan.

An Interesting Anti-Smear Strategy

2008-05-23T22:18:00.004-05:00

If Yglesias is right, this just might work.

Follow the link to find out whether, as some insist on continuing to ask: is Barack Obama a Muslim? This strategy would be even more effective if we had readers in Appalachia, but I've no reason to believe that we do.

Seems like the site might also have included, however, not that there's anything wrong with that.

Friday YouTube

2008-05-23T17:28:00.003-05:00

It's Friday; smile.

National Standards and Local Control

2008-05-21T18:55:00.008-05:00

In defending NCLB as a good, if not a great idea, Matt Yglesias reiterates his support for national standards. As a teacher and teacher-educator, my response comes down to the usual three concerns:

1. After NCLB, I have little faith that educators will have more of a voice than textbook publishers and testing companies when writing federal legislation. I hear few voices in Washington arguing for multiple measures by which we can judge student performance, not all of them standardized and supposedly objective, and when I hear them they are met by accusations that teachers don't want to be held accountable. This doesn't change the fact that standardized tests, while a valuable measure for telling us a fraction of the story, still only tell us a fraction of the story. For most people outside of education, I fear, and for too many in it, this is counterintuitive.

2. While it's certainly true that some states have used the flexibility that NCLB gives them for defining success (not that NCLB could've passed without it), other states, like Iowa, have had what we felt were more rigorous standards shot down by the Dept. of Ed because they didn't match precisely what somebody in Washington wanted to see. Jen can talk about this better than I, so I'll move on to...

3. Even if we could agree on meaningful, testable standards, I can find no reason to believe that if we truly move to national standards, we won't move toward a national curriculum. It's the next logical step, and all the same questions can be asked: if kids in Oakland should be learning the same things as kids in Iowa City or Boise or Raleigh or Brooklyn, then why shouldn't they be taught in the same way? It's the same logical mistake, assuming first that there's a "right" body of knowledge that everyone should know, and second that there's a "right" way to teach it.

This also leaves less and less room for "research and development," which Matt Miller and others have pined for. But I'll blog about that another time.

Photo taken by Flickr user conspirator, used under a creative commons license.