Comments on FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: Welcome to the Club, Al

fenomas: "Why is this article's reference to a doc...

2009-07-03T16:32:03.456-04:00

fenomas: "Why is this article's reference to a doctored photo still uncorrected?"

Because obviously nobody here is caring about accuracy in this case???

Why is this article's reference to a doctored phot...

2009-07-03T05:39:54.325-04:00

Why is this article's reference to a doctored photo still uncorrected?

Let's do a Silver-esque analysis minus fancy quant...

2009-07-02T14:04:35.301-04:00

Let's do a Silver-esque analysis minus fancy quantitative techniques: From the last 40 years, randomly select one non-celebrity President, two Senators, two House members, and one Governor. Evaluate the performance of that set of randomly selected elected officials to the set discussed in this article, and I'll bet the performance of the randomly selected group of non-celebrities is not significantly different from that of the elected celebrities. My hypothesis, supported by the above but admittedly not proven: Among elected officials in America, celebrity is not a significant determinant or predictor of the quality of their public service.

How do you not mention Bill Bradley. Hall of Fame...

2009-07-02T12:02:17.922-04:00

How do you not mention Bill Bradley. Hall of Fame basketball player and very successful Senator and almost President. I think he would have beat Gore if he won New Hampshire.

Why hasn't there been a correction about the photo...

2009-07-02T01:01:05.197-04:00

Why hasn't there been a correction about the photoshopped Franken picture? http://mediamatters.org/research/200905040004

I expect better from this blog - which in the past has been known for being meticulous in its reporting.

I'm not sure what became of my previous comment bu...

2009-07-01T22:44:17.936-04:00

I'm not sure what became of my previous comment but one more thing.

Nate is discrediting 538 by allowing this "guest" author to come on and spread libelous accusations. The photograph was fake, and putting such a bald political lie on what used to be a source of insightful statistical predictions makes me wonder why I still come here.

I agree with Barking Nonsequitur above. I voted for Franken, and while he wasn't my first choice, he deserves more respect than this.

This was probably the most embarrassingly stupid a...

2009-07-02T01:26:22.625-04:00

This was probably the most embarrassingly stupid article I've ever seen on 538. Sad.

If a general qualifies as a celebrity-politician, ...

2009-07-02T01:27:04.528-04:00

If a general qualifies as a celebrity-politician, which is legit, what about a ceo? Steve Forbes, Ross Perot, Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman, Mitt Romney (I finally thought of someone who won something!)

How about a political spouse? Hilary's (and Benazir Bhutto's husband) the one I can think of right now, but there have been several, and Hilary isn't the only one to make a solid crossover.

Though I agree with everyone that this post ain't great (Reagan's not the lightweight of recent GOP presidents, and that's not a close competition), there's potential for a robust study of all this if we can develop some metrics of success that are unambiguous.

That's just until Paris Hilton announces her candi...

2009-07-02T03:05:52.990-04:00

That's just until Paris Hilton announces her candidacy. (shudder)

You mean a ditzy scion of a wealthy American dynasty?

Not only have you described George W. Bush; you have described the entire Kennedy family (case in point: Caroline) and many other generational politicians. THOSE are the ones we should not be electing.

Actors and comedians turned celebrities do well in politics, in my estimation. The founding fathers intended for regular people to serve a couple of terms in Congress as a form of public service. Career politicians were the unfortunate and inevitable result.

He's not Paul Wellstone, and his methods of lampoo...

2009-07-01T22:31:50.753-04:00

He's not Paul Wellstone, and his methods of lampooning conservatives are lame, but I expect he'll be a much better Senator than Coleman ever was. I found Coleman to be a waffling, opportunistic sleezeball devoid of actual values even before he turned the recount into an excuse to disenfranchise the state.

I don't expect Franken to be my favorite senator of all time, and I would rather have had a Democrat with more experience, but I'd rather have an amateur Democrat who wants to help the state and country over a Republican who opposes everything I believe in and care about.

If Franken was a weak candidate, if Barkley's large following led to a tie, it just proves that we need instant runoff in MN.

@Gearoid Wasn't it Clerks!? Jay looks like he mi...

2009-07-02T09:27:54.321-04:00

@Gearoid

Wasn't it Clerks!?

Jay looks like he might lose his job down there in South Carolina, while Silent Bob is getting credit for his naturally silent state up in Minnesota...

Terry

+1 Amanda in particular (re: Tom ignoring Franken'...

2009-07-01T23:54:13.704-04:00

+1 Amanda in particular (re: Tom ignoring Franken's being a bestselling political satirist), as well as Berkeley Bear in Illinois, ISS Man 71, and Bob from Illinois. This was a pretty useless post, especially by 538 standards (and your QC is slipping, Nate, if you don't grok this).

"And his comedic style certainly qualifies as amateurish; I mean, c'mon, the man once did a bit wearing bunny ears and a diaper!" -- this has to be the dumbest sentence ever on this blog. Even if Franken did this (which he didn't, but he's done similar stuff), it's called slapstick, dude, and that's not exactly the same as "amateur".

Sounds like Villager logic to me. What a bunch of BS.

I think Franken has done a decent job as a candida...

2009-07-01T14:04:06.533-04:00

I think Franken has done a decent job as a candidate in learning the issues and his state. I don't get the feeling he is on some ego trip, as some celeb pols tend to seem.

I would agree that Bill Bradley deserves equal credit with Jack Kemp.

But in the end I think most celeb pols are there to be used by there party, and its not always there fault. I sometimes think the GOP uses celebs in much the same way it uses minorities. Find the odd talented one then push them forward. Don;t really care what they say, who they are and what they look like in a photo call is whats uimportant.

[And I am not suggesting that the Democratic Party doesn't care about photo calls, just that the GOP seems to me to use certain types of people more cynically than the Democratic Party does.]

With Chastity Bono's recent announcement, the chan...

2009-07-01T14:07:18.629-04:00

With Chastity Bono's recent announcement, the chances of a female celebrity politician are rapidly diminishing.

"Don't blame me, I voted for Chastity Bono."

I agree with Bob from Illinois. Posts with this to...

2009-07-01T14:25:32.615-04:00

I agree with Bob from Illinois. Posts with this tone don't belong at 538. The false remark about Senator Franken in a diaper should be corrected.

Watch Assume the Position with Robert Wuhl on HBO ...

2009-07-01T14:25:52.368-04:00

Watch Assume the Position with Robert Wuhl on HBO sometime. He said "star-fucking" is as American as apple pie. We've always had a history of electing the celebrities of the day to political office. In the 1700 and 1800s, the "celebrities" of the day were the war hero generals, which is partly why Washington, Jackson, and Grant won office.

Doesn't serve California to have Arnold as governo...

2009-07-01T12:43:29.827-04:00

Doesn't serve California to have Arnold as governor? As a liberal I think you are way off on this one. Us Libs need to recognize that Arnold is one of us, or atleast closer to one of us than a republican.
His problem is that this state is ungovernable, just as it was for Davis, and then the dire economic situation is dumped ontop of our pre-existing issues.
If you think we would be better off with a democrat, I think you'd be fooling yourself.

@shawnb: I realize it was a valid question. And I...

2009-07-01T12:38:52.670-04:00

@shawnb: I realize it was a valid question. And I gave a valid answer. Don't take things personally.

"And his comedic style certainly qualifies as amat...

2009-07-01T12:34:18.095-04:00

"And his comedic style certainly qualifies as amateurish; I mean, c'mon, the man once did a bit wearing bunny ears and a diaper! "

This where I stopped reading this post. You shouldn't be writing articles when you can't check your facts.

Bill Bradley being a notable exception to the lack...

2009-07-01T13:50:17.442-04:00

Bill Bradley being a notable exception to the lacking substance sort of celebrity politician.

"I watched a movie last night that had two future ...

2009-07-01T15:13:14.462-04:00

"I watched a movie last night that had two future governors of US states in it. Any guesses what it might have been?"

In Running Man, Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger fight to the death... and Ventura wins! (Although he is actually fighting a computer simulacrum.)

@Gearoid: I know this one! Predator! I remember ...

2009-07-01T14:32:19.468-04:00

@Gearoid: I know this one! Predator! I remember watching it a few years back and having the same reaction.

Does that mean that Carl Weathers is next on the celeb-turned-politician list??

It is worth mentioning that Al Fraknen was ultimat...

2009-07-01T15:25:51.113-04:00

It is worth mentioning that Al Fraknen was ultimately awarded the election in part by NFL Hall of Fame Minnesota Supreme Court justice Alan Page.

@Gearoid: The movie also had Landham in it who ra...

2009-07-01T15:41:51.650-04:00

@Gearoid:

The movie also had Landham in it who ran for governor of Kentucky although he ultimately lost.

"when we talk about celebrity politicians we are a...

2009-07-01T14:38:44.663-04:00

"when we talk about celebrity politicians we are almost invariably talking about men"

That's just until Paris Hilton announces her candidacy. (shudder)

And let's not forget Jesse Ventura!