The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

In light of yesterday's Associated Press article, which reported that a law enforcement official sent the extended version of the Ray Rice tape to an NFL executive five months ago, commissioner Roger Goodell has decided to hire former FBI director Robert S. Mueller III to conduct an "independent investigation" on the matter. So, why are some people saying that there's something fishy about this investigation? Well, because it's being overseen by NFL owners John Mara (New York Giants) and Dan Rooney (Pittsburgh Steelers), whom are connected to and have been highly supportive of Goodell throughout this whole controversy. As Peter Schmuck of The Baltimore Sun  wrote: "...The decision to put Mara and Rooney in charge of Mueller was another attempt to show that Goodell is going to be out of the loop, but it probably would look better if the NFL simply handed Mueller the keys to the kingdom and told him to perform the investigation without any input from anyo...

Many Republicans are elated of the news that the Gallup tracking poll today has Mitt Romney ahead of Barack Obama by 7 points - 52 to 45. It's over, right? I'm sorry to disappoint some of my Republican friends, but I wouldn't get overly excited about that poll result just yet. It is true that as of today, according to Gallup, Romney leads Obama by 7 points among likely voters - 52% to 45%. However, even in light of this, stats nerd Nate Silver gives the president a 65.7% chance of winning the election, compared to just a 34.3% chance for Romney. He bases these numbers on all the polls, trends, weighting for biases, history, along with other numbers with regard to the economy. Including this Gallup poll, he still gives President Obama close to a two-thirds chance of winning the election in close to three weeks. So, Gallup has Romney in a commanding lead, yet a stats expert only gives the Republican nominee about a one-thirds chance of winning on November 6th. What gives? ...

In what I find to be a wise move by the Obama team, the president tried making a deal with the Republican Presidential Nominee, Mitt Romney, today. His campaign manager, Jim Messina, wrote the following: "Dear Matt: I am writing to ask again that the Governor release multiple years of tax returns, but also to make an offer that should address his concerns about the additional disclosures. Governor Romney apparently fears that the more he offers, the more our campaign will demand he provide. So I am prepared to provide assurances on just that point: if the Governor will release five years of returns, I commit in turn that we will not criticize him for not releasing more -- neither in ads nor in other public communications or commentary for the rest of the campaign. This request for the release of five years, covering the complete returns for 2007-2012, is surely not unreasonable. Other presidential candidates have released more, including the Governor's father who provide...