October 1st, 2008
According to the latest meme going around Right Blogistan, if Palin does poorly in the debate Thursday night, it won’t be because she doesn’t know what the fuck she’s talking about, but because moderator Gwen Ifill is unfarily biased against her. (Note: As of this writing, the link is dead thanks to an Instalanche. As a result, I have to break protocol and link to Malkin [temporary Malkin link removed once main link went live].)
On this issue, I agree with Nate at 538.com:
It’s not that the right’s critique isn’t utterly transparent, but media backlash was one of the principal dynamics in motivating the Palin bounce in the first place.
But there’s another factor here too. In preparing for a debate, you are often preparing nearly as much for the “judge” or moderator as for the opponent. Both campaigns probably have a pretty good idea of what types of questions she is likely to ask, how he is likely to ask them. Palin and Biden have undoubtedly watched videotapes of Ifill moderating the 2004 debate between John Edwards and Dick Cheney.
By changing the moderator, you’re throwing everyone a curveball, and catering to the candidate who is better able to adapt on the fly. Which, most likely, is not going to be Sarah Palin.
Categories: Bloggin, News & Current Events, Politics |
4 Comments
October 1st, 2008
Jim Geraghty, run-of-the-mill idiot at National Review Online, has an angry column in which he claims the Boston Globe is guilty of “libel” in criticizing Palin for presiding over her local police’s plan to charge rape victims for medical examinations to gather evidence in criminal cases against their assailants, and for noting that that is of a piece with her generally punitive stance on women and sexuality overall.
His claim is that, because the plan was the work of her police chief and not Palin directly, and, apparently, she’s not expected to be responsible for, or even know about, the policies of her hand-picked underlings (this from a mayor who not only fired every single city department head and replaced them with individually chosen stooges to ensure “loyalty”, but also involved herself at the level of harassing a single police officer for personal reasons, and attempting to ban individual library books), it’s conceivable she might not have been aware of the policy or at least you can’t prove otherwise when she claims so. Therefore, “the editors of the Globe must print a retraction.” (emphasis, high dudgeon, and credulous grandstanding original)
The piece runs directly opposite an ad that consists entirely of a picture of Al Gore and the words “He Invented the Internet”. (It’s a rotating ad spot; it may not always be there.)
Geraghty is so bent out of shape at those who would dare make factual statements which are reasonable but which he doesn’t like about Sarah Palin that he not only demands their retraction, but helpfully prints the main and editorial e-mail addresses and phone numbers for the Globe in his column. I’m sure Geraghty has an equal concern for lies about Al Gore involving claims he never made, using words he never said. I’m sure Geraghty is equally eager to have his own editors badgered with phone calls examining their policy of carrying ads with factual propositions are that both flatly false and in fact made up (in part, by themselves). The NRO’s advertising URL is http://www.nationalreview.com/mediakit/. Their letters-to-the-editor address is letters@nationalreview.com?subject=letter. Their main phone line is (212) 679-7330. They’re waiting to hear what they must do.
Categories: Bloggin, Culture, General, Health, Legal Issues, Media, News & Current Events, Politics |
2 Comments
October 1st, 2008
On the one hand, I’m thrilled that the Brewers have qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1982. On the other hand, I don’t think I’m going to get to enjoy it for very long.
For starters, the Brewers pitching, after Sabathia, is pretty bad. There’s no clear #2 starter, especially with Ben Sheets injured (again). Even with the traditional three-pitcher rotations of the playoffs, you’ve got no clear #2 or #3 — there are serious downsides to Bush and Suppan, both of whom are being considered. Gallardo (who gets the game one start this afternoon) looks like a good pitcher, but he’s coming off an injury, and making just his fifth start, and his second since April. (He looked good in his latest start, but that was against Pittsburgh, and he only threw four innings.)
Secondly, as questionable as the starting pitching is, the bullpen is even worse. Two weeks ago, the closer blew a four-run lead with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth. (You may remember my calm, rational response to that.) So even assuming the starting pitching performs well, any time they have to go to the pen it will be a cover-your-eyes moment for Brewers fans like me.
And then there’s the lineup. Despite boasting Fielder, Braun, and Hart (two of them all-stars), it hasn’t been good. The Brewers are something like 28th in the league with runners in scoring position. How they got to the playoffs with a stat like that is frankly beyond me. They live and die by the home run, and in the playoffs, when the opposing pitching is consistently better, they’re more likely to die that way.
Finally, there’s the opponent: the Phillies owned the Brewers this year, winning five of six games, including a four-game sweep in Philadelphia in September. They’re hot, their lineup is dynamite, and they’ve got two excellent starting pitchers. Not to mention a perfect-for-the-season closer. All this seems to spell certain doom for Milwaukee.
Of course, anything can happen. The Brewers are a streaky team, and if their lineup gets hot at the right time, it may cover over a lot of pitching warts. I just wouldn’t count on it, especially since they had to win 6 of 7 just to get to the playoffs. The trend would seem to be that the hot streak is ending, and they’re ready for a cold streak. As such, I’ll be pleasantly surprised if the Brewers make it to a fourth game. Maybe that’s a quarter century of ingrained defeatism talking, but somehow I doubt it…
Categories: MLB/MiLB, Sports |
4 Comments
