The best thing about the year in analogy is how diverse the comparisons have been. Almost simultaneously, Obama has been described as 2008's version of 49-state winner Ronald Reagan as well as its incarnation of 49-state loser George McGovern--in fact, he's been compared to every presidential candidate since World War II.

All these, of course, are vastly preferable to analogizing every single foreign policy scenario to Munich/1938.

Really? He's estranged from the organization and will probably be playing for another team at the time, and they're "considering" not going ahead with retiring his number? I just assumed that decision was already made a month ago.

While no election outcome is guaranteed and McCain's prospects could improve over the next three and a half months, virtually all of the evidence that we have reviewed--historical patterns, structural features of this election cycle, and national and state polls conducted over the last several months--point to a comfortable Obama/Democratic party victory in November. Trumpeting this race as a toss-up, almost certain to produce another nail-biter finish, distorts the evidence and does a disservice to readers and viewers who rely upon such punditry.

Reihan Salam points to a great portrait of MoveOn by The Nation editor Chris Hayes on the occasion if its tenth anniversary. (Especially) those who disagree with MoveOn’s political objectives should read it. Being in opposition obviously tends to enable the success of non-government forms of political organization, but why was this specific entity able to capture discontent? I’m sure the personalities of those involved and the many local accidents of circumstance mattered, but MoveOn also has a structure that mattered... Important new technologies tend to create new organizational forms built around them. These new organizational forms tend to appear first in the industries that create the new technologies, and then diffuse into the broader economy. Conservative activists should study this organization closely.

Conservative Bill O'Reilly, of Fox News:

"It is not a stretch to say Moveon is the new Klan."

"I really hate jaywalkers. I despise them. Since I don't run the country, all I can do is yell at 'em. The other option is to run 'em over, but as a compassionate conservative, I would never do that," - Robert Novak, quoted in the Washington Post in 2001.

"I didn’t know I hit him," - Novak, today, after striking a pedestrian with his car.

He had a long, decent career. But of course, I'll remember Gold primarly for being one of the inaugural Eckstein Award honorees. He's an African-American man, but his name makes him sound like the president of a synagogue.

(Also, how strange is it that a guy who's a month younger than me is retiring from anything?)

My favorite part- the Phils' So Taguchi- who hadn't gotten a pinch hit all year, hadn't gotten a hit at all since May, and is on the team mostly as a pinchrunner and defensive replacement, even though he isn't so great at either- hit a two-run pinch double in the ninth to tie it. Until then, So had more Philadelphia Weekly cover stories this year (one) than impact hits (zero).

Gomez is exciting an all, but... he just plain can't get on base, which is sort of a problem when you bat leadoff. Now, all the team needs to do is bring in an infield bat, and call up Liriano. Shouldn't be too hard, right? That Yankees sweep this week, though, wasn't so encouraging.

The two funniest things about this, to me: the fight is almost certainly to get about 1000 percent more media attention than anything else that will happen in the WNBA this year, and that Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn were coaching on one side with Michael Cooper on the other, giving the whole thing a Pistons-Lakers '89 feel.

Best case? It could be like "All the President's Men," or "The Insider," or the recent "Recount." Worst case? Long expository scenes about typewriter fonts, followed by the conclusion that the documents were real.

What about casting? Felicity Huffman as Mary Mapes? Richard Jenkins as Dan Rather? Salma Hayek as "Lucy Ramirez"? Aaron Eckhardt as John Hinderaker?

Jobs is just a man. He's not a demigod sent to lead us down the path to technology enlightenment. He's not a finely crafted design arbitration widget. And he's not merely an "asset," as Blodget himself admits at the end of his latest post on the matter.

Steve Jobs has a family. He has kids. Those kids presumably have Macs in their home that connect to the Internet and allow them to read all this uninformed speculation about what is first and foremost a family matter... This whole affair reminds me far too much of Star or US Weekly speculating about whether an actress is pregnant, or anorexic, or a drug addict, based on a picture.