Author Archives: Nick Werle

electoral emotions

I was glad to go food shopping this morning because it was great to be out in the world (as opposed to on campus) and see the “I Voted” stickers on everybody. There has been a palpable sense of excitement and anticipation among (nearly) everyone i’ve spoken to for the last week, but I think [...]

the new poll tax

It’s rare to see the mainstream media’s pundits really demystify the hidden political motives behind “neutral,” technical, state decisions. Six-hour long voting queues in south Florida, which evoke images of a developing nation’s democracy, are not failures of preparation. They are class- and race-conscious attempts at disenfranchisement. Rachel Maddow, MSNBC’s new post-Matthews counterpart to Kieth [...]

you can keep the vote off the internet, but you can’t keep the internet out of the vote

After the last two presidential election fiascos, it’s hard to imagine what types of voter intimidation are too brazen and what barriers to access are too large for someone to attempt this time around. The electronic voting situation is rightly frightening. The problems with vote-switching are so rampant that Oprah made headlines discussing her electoral [...]

today in media

Roger Ailes must have gotten to Megyn Kelly.
Ok, I can understand why any anchor would defend her station. But it’s still disheartening to see Kelly’s O’Reilly impression.

Meanwhile, the anchor story over at CNN is about Campbell Brown, who is going up against O’Reilly and Olbermann in prime time with “Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull” [...]

endorsement season

After mailing my absentee ballot, some reflection has left me totally confused as to how someone might still be undecided. With such stark differences between the candidates, it’s hard for me to imagine a state of mind that would result in being an undecided voter. Luckily, it doesn’t seem like we need to wait to [...]

how do you say “schlep” in wasp?

Today one of The Times‘ election blogs has an interesting post on viral design for the Obama campaign. Shepard Fairey’s designs have emerged as some of the most recognizable images of the two-year-long campaign, providing the visual style for a small industry of copycat productions. The culture gap between the two campaigns - in both [...]

Baracking out in the Granite State

Since i’ve never lived in a battleground state, American politics really feels like an internet phenomenon followed from afar. Saturday, I got my first taste of democracy in( )action: canvassing for Obama (and Shaheen and Hodes, but I’ll get to those two in a minute) in Nashua NH. Between the too-early wake up (6.45) and [...]

W

After seeing this trailer, I’m looking forward to W, Oliver Stone’s new biopic about Still President Bush. I think it deserves to be shared:

is amazon just lucky or is this a little scary?

Though I’m aware that i’ve leveraged my privacy online in unintentional ways for benefits like internet shopping suggestions, I like to think that at least my information is dispursed. In many ways influenced by the internet classic EPIC 2014, which anticipates a future of the internet (from the position of ~2004) dominated by Googlezon’s “GoogleGrid,” [...]

couric and cafferty

Sarah Palin’s “discussion” with Katie Couric should be shocking for anyone with a brain. The content of the interview itself is of little critical interest - there’s no need for any commentary beyond what’s offered in this week’s New Yorker cover.
What I do find interesting is the way the interview has been handled. CBS News [...]