15 Responses to “Matt Damon: “Palin Like a Really Bad Matt Damon Movie””

1. Jenn Says:
   September 11th, 2008 at 12:42 am

   Someone put lipstick on that pig.

2. Tony Kondaks Says:
   September 11th, 2008 at 1:45 am

   Matt Damon says if you look up the actuarial tables there is a one in three chance that McCain will die within the next four years.

   Damon then boldly challenges us to “do the actuarial tables”.

   Well, I did…and Damon is off…WAY off.

   The actuarial tables supplied by the U.S. government indicate a one in seven chance, NOT a one in three chance.

   Take a look at http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/STATS/table4c6.html

   If you add up the four years for males from ages 72 to 75 you get 0.151985 which translates to about 1/7th or one in 7.

3. Cranky Says:
   September 11th, 2008 at 7:54 am

   Wow. Just wow.

4. John Carmello Says:
   September 11th, 2008 at 12:56 pm

   How refreshing that Matt is a qualified media critic and analyst! He otta stick to his acting (sorry). Concerning his comments about Sarah Palin being a small-state Governor, does he realize his hero Bill Clinton was also a small-state Governor? He certainly displays his ignorance of the national political scene!

5. shawn Says:
   September 12th, 2008 at 1:17 pm

   In response to comment 2, Tony Kondaks:
   Well, the way that I learned averages, was to add up the numbers, and then divide by however many numbers you added. For example, if you have 1, 2, 3, 4, and wish to find the average, you would add: 1+2+3+4, getting 10. 10, then, divided by 4 (because there were 4 numbers added), gives us 2.5. the average of 1,2,3,4 is 2.5.
   As it turns out, the way I learned averages was the correct way.
   Carrying that knowledge to the actuarial life table then, we would perform the same steps. Looking at the Death Probability column, for males between the ages of 72 and 75, we find the following numbers: 0.032978, 0.036086, 0.039506, 0.043415. Now, I’m not out to define anything about your natural abilities, or your educational background; but I see these numbers, and could never, on my worst day, estimate the average to be more–way more–than the highest number. But hoping to spread the same fairness that I like to receive, I will not only estimate; I will also do the actual work.
   So, adding those numbers, we get .151985. Funny, that’s the same thing you got. Even funnier, the process is not yet complete. We then divide that number by 4, and we get .0379962.

6. shawn Says:
   September 12th, 2008 at 1:44 pm

   In response to comment 4, John Carmello:
   He said that she has been the mayor of a really small town, and has been the governor of alaska for two years. He did not say anything about alaska’s size. Perhaps you’re worried that alaska is too small of a state, and so you took his statement to attack size. if that’s case, i’m not sure what advice to give you.
   but looking back to what was actually said, we see that his complaint is not with alaska’s size, but with the amount of time for which she has been governor. 2 years.
   But, for a second, we can pretend that he was talking about size.
   2,834,797
   683,478
   One is the population of alaska; one is the population of arkansas. No particular order. I’ll give you a hint: Alaska is the much smaller number. In fact, we can get a percentage. 683478/2834797=.241. That’s 24%. Alaska’s population is 24% of the population of arkansas. Neither is huge… but to compare alaska to arkansas?

7. shawn Says:
   September 12th, 2008 at 1:57 pm

   In response to comment 1, Jenn:
   I wouldn’t argue that obama made that statement in reference to the statement palin made. it’s a generic quip that politicians use when they are trying to get across the point that even though someone says something’s new, it’s not. He was calling mccain’s notion of change nothing more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Just after he made the lipstick remark, he spoke of wrapping a fish in a newspaper, but not stopping the stink (wait, was that a reference to mccain’s figurative wrapping of himself in the u.s. flag during his speech?). But since I played the game of imaginary play with John, I suppose I can share with you, too.
   Say obama did say that because of palin… is it worse than what she called herself?
   See, if we’re going to tear apart, and take out of context what is being said, we should do it to her statement. If i remember correctly, she said, “you know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? lipstick.” She is a hockey mom… so we have it that she’s a pit bull with lipstick. female pit bull? did she in fact call herself a bitch? who knows. I’m not going to make the claim, because it’s ridiculous. But it’s there if someone’s looking for it. The problem with so many people, is that they look for it. Everyone treats political speeches as if they’re camus novels.

8. John Carmello Says:
   September 12th, 2008 at 3:51 pm

   Shawn…get a life! You’ve impressed the world with you knowledge of arithmetic. But you obviously don’t have the knowledge of common sense. You wholly missed the point. And it certainly wasn’t arithmetical!
   P.S. And you can READ too! WOW!

9. Preston Taylor Holmes Says:
   September 12th, 2008 at 5:57 pm

   I think we should all wish Shawn well on his job search. Todays comments are evidence that he must not have one, so let’s wish him good luck. With math skills like that, perhaps a scientist’s lab is the place for him. In a cage. With wires attached to him.

10. John Carmello Says:
    September 12th, 2008 at 6:10 pm

    Preston, now be nice. He obviously has no friends and spends his days watching MSNBC and listening to Keith Olberman and Chris Mathews. Besides, if he was hooked up, the current would have no place to go!!

11. shawn Says:
    September 13th, 2008 at 2:51 am

    John, your post was made up of two parts. First, you made a quick comment about matt damon. I can’t say much about whether you feel he is allowed to do things besides acting.
    The second part is your statement that he is ignorant of the u.s. political scene. Your proof for this is flawed. I’ll show you again. You state that damon made a comment about palin being a small-state governor. but he did not. You built on that, stating that because damon supported clinton, he should support palin, since they’re both small-state governors. another logical flaw in itself, but even worse when combined with the fact they’re not on the same level of small. while they are small, one has a population 4 times larger than the other. Think about how much harder it is to organize 16 people, compared to 4.
    Another reason damon might have supported clinton but not palin, is that palin has governed for about 2 years, while clinton governed for about 12 years. so, in other words, he’s not “obviously” ignorant of the u.s. political scene.
    so… i’m confused… which point did I miss? the one about matt damon and acting?
    Oh, and just for the record… iq/education/intellectual abilities, etc, do not affect electricity’s ability to flow through the body.

12. John Carmello Says:
    September 13th, 2008 at 9:27 am

    Shawn… You win. You’ve demonstrated your political prowess and understanding to the public. No need to say more.

13. Brian Says:
    September 13th, 2008 at 9:45 am

    Damon’s ignorance is based on his being a tool of Howard Zinn. He grew up next door to him and his whole worldview is based on Zinn’s “People’s History” of which he is currently producing the movie version of it teeming with his fellow Hollyweird Communists. Damon is a hardcore leftist and that is not up for debate.

    Alaska has about ~180,000 less than Delaware if we need to make a VP comparison. Except that governors usually have a better executive experience than senators – even entrenched Washington insiders like Biden. So if the comparison is that Palin is a small-time governor then Biden is merely a senator with less responsibilities from an equally meaningless state. Admittedly, he’s been doing less a lot longer than Palin so two cheers for longevity.

14. Mike Says:
    September 13th, 2008 at 12:02 pm

    Didn’t Matt share his political insights while out of the country? (Yes, Shawn – Canada really is a foreign land!)

    Guess he didn’t learn anything from the Dixie Chicks!

15. Nigel Says:
    September 13th, 2008 at 4:14 pm

    Holmes, why don’t you just give Shawn a log-in? That way whenever I have difficulty sleeping, I can simply read his posts…