Happy Birthday to John Linnell, 53.
Getting this out a bit late today, so right to the good stuff:
1. John Sides, king of all media. I knew him when.
2. When it comes to negotiations, it's always very, very difficult to know what's real and what's posturing. Given that, however, this Brian Beutler piece about the Democrats and taxes seems very sensible to me. Just remember: that Democratic leaders "admit" to something doesn't necessary mean anything at all.
3. Paul Waldman's post about The Fix's gaffe column was better than mine. I focused on whether anyone knew about the "fine" gaffe; Waldman, however, zeroed in on the key phrase in the whole thing, which was "score political points." He's absolutely right: "score political points" is about as meaningless as it gets.
4. And a nice Christina Kahrl piece about the outstanding CFs out there this year, but no mention of Angel Pagan, sitting with an improbable 134 OPS+. Not to mention that he's sandwiched between the Melkman at an even more improbable 164 OPS+ and a possessed by aliens Gregor Blanco posting, yup, another 134 OPS+. Granted, Christina is a well-known Giants hater (and, I should mention, a friend), but how about a little recognition?
Re: #1: So Sides now thinks that Obama's situation is most comparable to Carter 1980, not, say, Bush 2004? It seems slightly odd to highlight the Carter comparison, but then say, oh yeah but Carter had significantly lower approval ratings. But perhaps this was the CNN journalist's framing, which Sides then reacted to?
ReplyDeleteRe #3. JB, You're too hard on yourself. I thought what you said in an earlier Plum Line column was applicable. A lot of stuff from the campaigns is trying to win news cycles, and it's way too early for that to matter. You ended with: "It's meaningless." So similar to the words Waldman uses, but your column is better because you focus on voters' responses, and Waldman focuses on the insular world of media.
ReplyDeleteNot being hard about myself -- I liked mine just fine. I liked his better.
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