What it’s like to be the hometown paper in the middle of the debate debacle

A few weeks ago, former Gallup Poll senior editor David Moore appeared on On The Media to talk about how “polls inaccurately portray a consensus on issues the public often knows little or nothing about.” When asking respondents to choose between two options, pollsters force people to make a snap judgment on subjects they may […]

What to make of Palin’s UN visit

As far as the Chicago Tribune is concerned, Hillary Clinton is still in contention for the presidency. According to this roundup of “Profiles of 2008 presidential candidates,” the gang consists of McCain, Obama, and Hillary. And Clinton’s face, alphabetically I presume, sits above Obama’s. Oops!

$700 billion bailout, widespread tax cuts, *and* a balanced budget?

Chicago Tribune gets mired in the debates

Sorry to disappoint, but this is not about Sarah Palin. In their long ago Spring 2008 issue, The Kenyon Review published a lovely rumination on rejection letters. Many magazines lean on a form letter, a printed note, a card, and I study them happily. The New Yorker, under the gentle and peculiar William Shawn, sent […]