From the 'How To Tell There's Something Wrong With Your Country's Election Coverage' File

When 'The View' gets a scoop.

Pennsylvania Let-Down

It always galls me that voters in places like New Hampshire and Iowa seem unable to make up their minds about the election until Candidate A kisses their baby, or Candidate B shows up and eats a chili-dog at their favorite lunch spot. It's enormously frustrating that so many voters wait so long to decide and end up relying on epiphanies in the voting booth. (This sounds like a different critique, I know - but it's based on voters having the same lousy criteria.) The truth is that you do not need to see Candidate A in the flesh to make a judgment about his or her policies, character, and experience. You do not need to see how well Candidate B tips at the local diner. You do not need to wait for your shitty local newspaper to meet with the candidates and issue its endorsement.

It's bad enough for average voters to behave in this fashion. But for the mayor of the third largest city in Pennsylvania to do so? Oy gevolt.

More From the President Gore File

It was really only a matter of time before these numbers were dug up and the 'Dem defectors' panic put into context. Unfortunately the 'discovery' of these stats will have about the same impact as a typical page A18 newspaper correction.

I Agree With Ezra Klein: Rachel Maddow Would Have Been Vastly Superior

Look Who Hates America Now

Profile of Ed Rendell

Some of this stuff, namely the synagogue construction "discount," seems very... what's the word? Illegal?

Jack Shafer on Pharm Parties: Still No

Stuff White People Like

Soon to be a book. To paraphrase Bill Kristol, let's not read it and say we did.

The dollar crisis only heightens Palestinian misery

The falling value of the dollar - another ingenious Bush administration strategy to isolate Hamas?

Tri-State Trifecta

Hades-of-the-Ozarks Dissected

Landmark Day For L.A. Newspapers

Times shows it's #1 at something (greatest loss in circulation), and the Daily Breeze gets the scoop on Ferraro's white ethnic resentment.

Another Reason to Ban Political Autobiographies (as if another was needed)

Grist For the Dawkins/Dennett/Hitchens Mill?

The "First 100 Days" Game & Other Stupid Pet Tricks

More Controversy at Hillel

Of course they should host the exhibit. And yes, of course, they should strive to provide context. Censorship sucks and lack of context sucks. Seems like kind of a no-brainer to me.

$5.19 Per Gallon

Match Made In Heaven: Prince and Princess of Darkness

(But which one's which?)

More Outlandish Rhetoric...

... and not even from a presidential campaign adviser! (Tho' perhaps the good rabbi is just flaunting his 'credentials' for a slot in the Giuliani 2012 campaign?)

Surprise: David Paul Kuhn Thinks White Men are the Key to PA

(Kuhn always thinks white men are the key demographic -- since he just wrote a book about that very subject.)

HRC, Reticent Hawk

Joe Trippi on "The Caucus Advantage"

Cycle of Violence

Some people just don't get it...

A Brief History of Blind Politicos

John Tierney Writing As "J. Marion Tierney"

Hasn't Slept Since February 4th

Good News For Hillary?

Did she have contact with Democratic Party officials down there?

What Will He Do With All That Leftover Cash?

The New Media Climate, or Wrestling the Octopus

The Bill and Warren Show

Gates's 13-year reign ends. Amazing what a little unsolicited bid for Yahoo can do to your net worth.

Clueless in New York

Gail Collins: Wyoming Can F- Itself, Mississippi Not Worth Mentioning

Gail Collins:

For now, it’s all up to Pennsylvania in April, until it’s all up to Indiana and North Carolina in May. (This Saturday is the Wyoming caucus, but it’s not all up to Wyoming.) Finally on June 7, it will all be up to Puerto Rico, until it’s over and we discover that we’re right back where we are now.

Right. I'd forgotten for a minute that according to the logic of Clinton and her minyans, states that are likely to result in Obama wins don't matter, don't count, and don't deserve to be mentioned by NY Times op-ed columnists.