Everyone was wondering: Now that we’ve entered the PC (post-Couric) era of Campaign 2008, who was going to be the next person to score an interview with Sarah Palin–the woman who’s quickly becoming the J.D. Salinger of presidential politics? Well, today, we have our answer: The next tete-a-tete with the reclusive elusive vice presidential candidate […]

Okay, so we’ve all done the Sarah Palin/Tina Fey double-take. But, you know, in passing. And, upon scrutiny, we’ve realized the mistake. Since the ladies look similar, after all, not identical. But our francophone neighbors to the north may be a little less discerning in their differentiation (it’s not their potential Heartbeat Away, after all). […]

So the financial bailout bill–“larded up,” the Boston Globe‘s Jay Fitzgerald noted, “with legislative sweeteners, such as tax breaks for bicycle commuters, toy arrows and Caribbean rum makers”–has been passed by the House. Proof of, among other things, the fact that Captain Morgan always wins.

In light of last night’s colossally-cliché-but-apparently-somehow-instructive Focus Groups Featuring Undecided Voters (on CNN, Soledad O’Brien chatted with elusive undecideds in Ohio; on Fox, Frank Luntz did the same in St. Louis), I couldn’t help but recall Samantha Bee’s Daily Show send-up of the cloying tradition…from the 2004 campaign. As are most of the show’s archival […]

As I type this, Annie Leibovitz, the brilliant/hackneyed/overexposed/racy/dull celebrity photographer, is hovering over the Manhattan skyline, in a helicopter, capturing images of the still-brand-new New York Times Building. The photos, if past experience is any indication, will likely be racist or vaguely suggestive of incest or otherwise somehow scandalous. So, while we’re not quite sure […]

Per the television transcript database TVEyes, here are the number of times the phrase “talking points” has been used in TV news and commentary over the past six days: Sunday: 20Monday: 83Tuesday: 58Wednesday: 20Thursday: 183 Friday, as of 10:30 a.m.: 124 Update: Friday, as of 4:30 p.m.: 147 times

Political pundits–and columnists, in particular–are torn, in some ways, between the past and future. They make their judgments, on the one hand, based on history–prior experience, both individual and collective–but also based on their assessments of what tomorrow will bring. The two concerns are connected, to be sure. But at a certain point, and particularly […]

Stephen Colbert takes on the McCain campaign’s recent attempt to “pre-report” last week’s presidential debate–“He was getting his version of the story out before the press could mangle it with what happened“–and suggests that other public figures may want to follow suit:

On yesterday’s pre-debate episode of Hardball, Chris Matthews and his favorite Damsel Duo, Salon’s Joan Walsh and IWF president Michelle Bernard–he brings them on to talk about women’s issues-related stuff; the former skews liberal, and the latter, conservative–discussed the precarious gender dynamic that was to be a part of last night’s debate. Matthews, taking advantage […]

Palin to Biden: “You were for [the war] before you were against it.” In other words: You. Are. John. Kerry. Nice. Pat Buchanan told David Gregory in MSNBC’s pre-game, “I think the important thing for her to do, realizing, just like Reagan didn’t have as much information as Carter, she has to come off with, […]