Matt Yglesias

27 Responses to “Analogy Mongering”

1. Equal Opportunity Cynic Says:
   August 27th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

   OK, I’ll bite.

   Why is a deeply unpopular Congress similar to the United States’ favorite pro sport?

2. too many steves Says:
   August 27th, 2008 at 2:24 pm

   And local government is like pro boxing. No one cares and everyone thinks it’s fixed, and they’re probably right.

3. pseudonymous in nc Says:
   August 27th, 2008 at 2:25 pm

   Why is a deeply unpopular Congress similar to the United States’ favorite pro sport?

   Because they’re both fucking close to water? Sorry, wrong joke.

4. Adrian Says:
   August 27th, 2008 at 2:30 pm

   So after last night, I guess Brian Schweitzer is the David Beckham of state government, eh?

5. ostap Says:
   August 27th, 2008 at 2:30 pm

   State government ~ MLS?!? You obviously haven’t spent much time mucking around with state government. It’s more like a combination of professional wrestling and extreme fighting, only without so many rules.

6. Jeffrey Davis Says:
   August 27th, 2008 at 2:32 pm

   The SCOTUS are like NBA refs.

7. Robert Jennings Says:
   August 27th, 2008 at 2:45 pm

   So the PAC’s are like… Balco… I love it

8. Matthew Struhar Says:
   August 27th, 2008 at 2:53 pm

   Clearly, international politics is professional wrestling. There’s a lot of grandstanding and shifting alliances based on countries’ and organization’s ideas about themselves. A lot of people think it’s all a stage, with actors and the like, and while that generally seems the case, there are often real and unpredictable consequences.

   Do you smell what Barack is cooking?

9. Petey Says:
   August 27th, 2008 at 2:56 pm

   Shoals’ theory is indeed quite good.

10. Ed Says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 3:49 pm

    Congress as the NFL analogy might work for the House, except that the NFL is actually popular, but the NBA analogy works much better for the Senate, lots of individual star players out for themselves that are hard to get to play for a system.

    A better analogy for Presidential politics might be the Olympics, they take place every four years, the conventions are held in a different city every time, and NBC prefers to tell us details about the player’s personal lives instead of showing the actual competition. Also the analogy to the Kuchinich candidacy would be all those obscure sports and small countries that get their moment in the limelight.

11. Shoals Says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 4:13 pm

    I wish I could take credit for this post; it was Tom Ziller’s work.

12. Bob Oso Says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 4:15 pm

    I think political conventions are like NASCAR. Politicians go round and round but don’t actually get anywhere. I feel dumber after watching them and secretly hope for someone to “crash” while I am drinking my beer.

13. Lloyd Webber Says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 5:13 pm

    If you think that’s bad, you should see Ana Marie Cox and her incredibly shallow line of questioning here:

14. Lloyd Webber Says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 5:14 pm

    I think I messed up the link, but here it is:
    http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/08/reggie_love_interview_what_he.html

15. As Canadian as possible, under the circumstances Says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 5:54 pm

    I’m not sure I’d compare Canadian politics to the NHL (after all, the US teams outnumber the Canadian ones, and Canadians are far more passionate about hockey than politics). However, you might want to know that the US elections aren’t the only major electoral action in North America this fall. North of the border Prime Minister Harper is set to call a snap election next week for which the campaigning will run, start to finish, less than 2 months. None of this permanent campaign malarkey you put up with.

16. Richard Steven Hack Says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 6:02 pm

    Hmmm, the Federal government compared to the Terminator show? Makes about as much sense…

    Department of Justice – FBI: Agent Ellison, obviously – an idiot who lost an entire HRT team trying to take down a Terminator with MP-5 submachine guns…Competence on a par with the anthrax investigations, definitely…

    The Pentagon: Chromartie. Kill everything that gets in your way.

    NASA: Cameron. Glitchy but hot technology that gets people killed.

    Department of Health, Education and Welfare: Charley Dixon, paramedic and clueless.

    Congress: Sarah Connor. Disorganized, inefficient, clueless, but determined to fuck up no matter what.

    US Citizenry: John Connor. Desperate, oppressed, depressed, can’t get laid even with a hot female sex toy living with him.

17. Anthony Damiani Says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 6:53 pm

    … and the rest of the world belongs to FIFA.

18. Aaron S. Says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 10:17 pm

    If I may carry this analogy even further, MLS’ “foreign policy” might resemble that of a state government, but its “domestic policy” more resembles the Chinese National People’s Congress, only occasionally coming out of a slumber to utilize byzantine laws and codicils to ensure pre-determined policy outcomes that only an autocrat could be proud of.

    By the way, the MISL would be Britain’s Official Monster Raving Loony Party, complete with strange-looking creatures, self-destructive internal splits, and complete and total irrelevance.

19. fbi agent killed Says:
    December 15th, 2008 at 9:52 pm

    GLENSHAW — An FBI agent was shot and killed Wednesday while serving a warrant at a home near Pittsburgh. The agent was shot at around 6 a.m. in Indiana Township, about 10 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, said

20. viagra Says:
    March 1st, 2009 at 6:30 am

    viagra
    Excellent site. It was pleasant to me.

21. ufc betting Says:
    March 3rd, 2009 at 3:11 pm

    Interesting article, i have bookmarked your blog for future referrence

22. viagra Says:
    March 11th, 2009 at 5:10 am

    It is the coolest site,keep so!

23. xanax Says:
    March 14th, 2009 at 5:51 am

    Excellent site. It was pleasant to me.
    xanax

24. tramadol Says:
    March 22nd, 2009 at 6:32 am

    tramadol
    Great site. Good info

25. brand viagra Says:
    April 2nd, 2009 at 5:45 am

    If you have to do it, you might as well do it right
    buy cheap viagra

26. viagra brand Says:
    April 3rd, 2009 at 4:27 am

    Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!
    cheap brand pfizer viagra

27. mkcnrx Says:
    April 19th, 2009 at 9:00 am

    934Xzh yyelhwwbrgrn, [url=http://xwoztnboluty.com/]xwoztnboluty[/url], [link=http://wfzpxgmtzncz.com/]wfzpxgmtzncz[/link], http://egtkrwikkudj.com/