PunditFight Technical issues

Output on PunditFight has been sporadic at best and will be slow for the foreseeable future. Being abroad in 2011 and focused on other projects in 2012, as it stands PunditFight will stay up largely as an archive of the 'Politics is Wrestling' meme.

Some server issues have meant that a lot of the animations and blog graphics are [at least temporarily] unavailable. So too was the PunditFight.com domain which featured an Artist bio and other assorted illustrations.

Thank You for supporting the blog and kindly enjoy the archives

To readers of PunditFight: Sorry for the lack of updates just when Donald Trump shows up

That's just great! Donald Trump throws his hat into the 2012 Presidential election and the blog is on hiatus. Shamefully as I am traveling Europe for the year, maintenance for the site will be sporadic.

This is unfortunate as news of Trump challenging President Obama is perfect fodder for this blog - The analogy that American Politics is not unlike professional wrestling.

Trump is exactly the type of theatrical media personality that makes American Politics wrestling-like. He is no stranger to wrestling, being a frequent guest on WWE programming and the marquee draw for Wrestlemania 23. This experience has certainly sharpened his ability to cut wrestling promos as evidenced by his high-profile feud between Rosie O'Donnell and his recent tirades on Robert De Niro and China.

VIDEO: Donald Trump signs contract for WWE WrestleMania 23

Glenn Beck vs. Rush Limbaugh: Politico wonders what the rise of Glenn means to Rush's influence

An illuminating article from Politico.com titled Glenn Beck VS Rush Limbaugh addresses and resolves many of the topics speculated on this blog.

Below is an excerpt of said Politico piece with footnotes referencing to previous posts from the blog

1) Is Beck the new Number One Pundit?

Glenn Beck vs. Rush Limbaugh
Beck is on a huge roll...

"Beck is the man of the moment," says the Weekly Standard's Michael Goldfarb. "Everybody in town is watching him, waiting to see what he'll do next, who he'll take down next."

But if Beck is the man of the moment, where does that leave Rush?

We can only speculate how Rush feels about competitors breathing down his neck. We do know he's a good sport about it, making himself available to his closest challengers Sean Hannity and the skyrocketing Glenn beck - Glenn Beck interviews Rush Limbaugh over the phone

2) Whilst Beck threatens to take the No. 1 slot he still defers to Limbaugh - The Time 100 - The World's Most Influential People: Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin

Back in April - when Time put Limbaugh on its annual list of the 100 most influential people of the world - Beck was called on to write the tribute. He wrote that Limbaugh was "on another level" and "attracts more listeners with his voice than the rest of us could ever imagine."

That may still be the case, but Beck's power has grown exponentially since then.

3) Glenn Beck's influence is measured by the amount of people he has been able to mobilise... - Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin instrumental in 9/12 Protest marches

In the days before last weekend's conservative march on Washington, Beck flogged it repeatedly. He became such a part of the story that, as CNN correspondent Lisa Desjardins tried to report live from the event, protesters drowned her out with chants of "Glenn Beck! Glenn Beck!"

Limbaugh's role in promoting the protest? He said it's not his thing.

3a) ... and the ensuing chaos created - Rush the Vote: The Operation Chaos movement

"I don't rally people and haven't since the first year of my radio show,"... the reaction to it from the media was that the response was not genuine... because 'Limbaugh told them to.'"

Limbaugh hasn’t abandoned the call to action entirely; last year, he launched "Operation Chaos," urging his listeners to register as Democrats and vote for Hillary Clinton in Democratic presidential primaries to prolong the nominating process and weaken Obama.

4) Close Limbaugh ally Mark Levin has been openly hostile towards Glenn Beck but sensing Beck's ascendancy concedes a few compliments - Maher, Olbermann, Levin, Maron, Shep Smith: Public Enemy Number one Glenn Beck

Radio host Mark Levin, whose book "Liberty & Tyranny" just surpassed 1 million sales this week, laughed off the suggestion that Beck may be eclipsing Limbaugh as the voice of the right.

"Are you kidding?" Levin said in an e-mail. "Comparing Rush Limbaugh to Glenn Beck is like comparing George Washington to George Jefferson. Beck can be very entertaining and even informative, but he is neither the face nor the voice of the conservative movement. He is one of many."

Update: September 18
New Glenn Beck "9:12" Wallpaper (1280 x 1024), inspired by this 'RattleSnake' like display - Glenn Beck: President Obama why don't you just set us on fire?

"Beck 9:12" wallpaper

The APF is back in business

APF flag in New York

I am back from the States. The blog will return to its regularly scheduled programming

APF - Gone fishing 2009

Hello readers,
Apologies for the lack of updates on the APF blog. I will be away on vacation in the United States for a short while.

I will refer you my previous placeholder post for my last vacation here - APF on vacation: favourite posts of the year compilation

PunditFight.com and American Pundit Fighting on Myspace, Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter

PunditFight.com is momentarily down. We will return to regularly scheduled programming shortly. You can however find a PunditFight mirror site here.

In the meantime check out American Pundit Fighting on these ancillary pages:
- PunditFight on Myspace
- PunditFight on Facebook
- PunditFight on Flickr
- PunditFight on Twitter

Update:
Woohoo, PunditFight.com is back in business.

Introducing American Pundit Fighting's commisioner - Jim Stark

After 2 years behind the broadcasting table authoring the blog and conducting interviews. I, Jim Stark am stepping into the foreground to reveal my new persona.

Follow American Pundit Fighting

The PunditFight blog has added a new button found on the Right Hand column that will allow readers to 'Follow the blog'. It's a handy little device that will allow readers to get updated on new posts as well as proclaiming their support for the APF blog. Also just like "Top Friends" in Myspace and "Following" on Twitter it's a handy way of promoting your own blog. Kindly help in growing the APF community by following the blog and telling your friends.

Learn more about what's involved in following a blog:

What is Following?
Do you have a favorite blog and want to let the author and readers know that you are a fan? Well now you can do that and more with the Blogger Following feature! You can even keep track of the blogs you follow via your Reading List on the Blogger dashboard.

How do I become a Follower of a blog?
There are several ways to become a follower of a blog. One of the easiest ways is to visit a blog that has added the Following widget and click on the "Follow this Blog" link under the "Followers" widget...

Barack Obama Inauguration Watch, Sydney Australia

For people in Sydney who are interested in watching and/or celebrating the Inauguration of Barack Obama with a crowd of fellow observers I would highly recommend the UTS Studies Center in the University of Sydney. It's a free event with plenty of entertainment in store:

The invitation is as follows:

US Election Watch 08 - Inauguration Watch
Election Watch winds up on January 21 with our final event - the Inauguration of President Obama. Join us on this historic day to watch Obama's speech on the big screen, followed by a Q&A session with our pundits and then watch the spectacle and colour of the inaugural parade. The event is free and bookings are not necessary...

Manning Bar, University of Sydney
21 January 2009
12.00pm (screening starts at 1.00pm)

(follow the link to view a map)

- Go to the US Election Watch page
- Visit the University of Sydney's US Studies Centre site

If there are any readers who plan to attend the event kindly leave a comment or drop us a line

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, speaking of Holidays I've returned from my vacation and will resume regular updates of the blog.

I've just returned from a pleasant holiday at a wonderful place which I'd like to recommend. Guided by a close friend who knew the language and the area, I gained an intimate and ground-level experience of the country beyond the "mega malls" and standard tourist attractions.

It's a country deeply religious, values gun rights and the free market, whose people take great pride in their country but are born wary of government (largely due to its corruption, rarely highlighted internationally). A country who's government values security and it's military and has great relations with the US. A country where there is no shortage of hard work, enterprise and creative expression. Though I will caution that what you imagine on paper might be different to what you experience on the ground.

The country is the Philippines.

There are two glaring realities in the Philippines. The first being pollution, the air is visible and uncomfortable due to the chaotic traffic and street litter. The other notable is poverty, whilst their are well-off folks who live in communities not dissimilar to the richest estates in the West. Poverty is inescapable in the country where it's not uncommon to see orphan pre-teens weaving through traffic begging.

Seeing this site is about American punditry, you might be wondering how well represented it is in this part of Asia. It's surprisingly good. I found several books in the many secondhand bookstores; from Ann Coulter to Al Franken, Rush and Hannity, to Joe Scarborough and Hugh Hewitt. Its an interesting exercise imagining the APF pundits transplanted to the Philippines and how they would tailor (if at all) their rhetoric to appeal to circumstances on the ground.

The Philippines is a wonderful place and worth consideration for your next expedition.

APF on vacation: favourite posts of the year compilation

A compilation of APF's favorite posts

Hello readers,
I will be away on vacation so expect sporadic posts till Christmas winds down. In the meanwhile, contributing author Pete Vere will keep the lights on (and feed the cat) in my absence.

I encourage you to peruse the site. The blog is designed and written to be relevant and accessible without foreknowledge of American Politics, the news of the day or Wrestling.

Below is a listing of some of my favourite posts over the past year. Enjoy!
a) Read all posts regarding John McCain and Barack Obama
b) The rise and rise of republican outsider Mike Huckabee
c) Believe it or not, Politics has a lot in common with Pro Wrestling and Hollywood
d) The making of a villain: Jill Greenberg and John McCain
e) Battle of the Vice Presidents: Sarah Palin and Joe Biden
f) Fred Thompson: When hype meets reality
g) The War Hero and the Populist: an appealing template to voters
h) Sarah Palin - Change we can believe in
i) The Republican and Democratic primaries
j) Al Franken: Wrestler, SNL Alum, Radio Talker and Senator?
k) PalinMania causes reality to collapse on itself
l) The Election in Pictures (Wallpaper)
m) Joe Biden Wallpaper
n) No She Didn't! Sarah Palin upstages Hillary
o) The 3rd Presidential Debate: William Ayers and Wall Street
p) The APF's favourite "heel" (Villain) - Ann Coulter
q) King of the West Wing: The road to the Presidency
r) Hillary and Obama: Why the epic duel should be resolved wrestling-style
s) The Election: Tag teams McCain/Palin VS Obama/Biden
t) Sarah Palin Wallpapers
u) Sarah Palin and Joe Biden: Welcoming the VP debate
v) How Tina Fey and Saturday Night Live defined the 2008 election
w) Who is your favourite APF pundit? Is it Bill O'Reilly, Sam Seder, maybe Pete Dominick?
x) What Barack Obama and Sarah Palin have in common
y) What's left and What's right - Existential wallpapers

z) Bonus: Conservative pundit Hugh Hewitt endorses the blog

Introducing APF's newest author - Pete Vere

For all the Pete Vere fans in Canada and around the world, I present to you the APF's newest author in glorious animation.

Like all good authors he is a 'tweener' and an independent. Like all good Canadians his special move is none other than the 'Sharpshooter'.

Play with the new APF animation below. Toggle the button on the corner left to see the "Avengers Assembled":

- Read Pete's bio and featured editorials for Canadian online paper SooToday.
- Find more about 'The Tyranny of Nice', a book Pete co-wrote with Kathy Shaidle featuring a lengthy introduction from APF Pundit Mark Steyn.

Signing up APF's newest author - Pete Vere

Negotiations are taking place to bring in a new commissioner to the APF (read: another Author) - Pete Vere. Pete is a Canadian who writes extensively about local Canadian and American Politics. Like many Canadians he also knows a thing or two about wrestling.

Pete has co-written a book with Kathy Shaidle, The Tyranny of Nice, featuring a lengthy introduction from APF Pundit Mark Steyn. You can find some of his writing at SooToday.com where Pete has featured editorials.

Pete leans conservative (correction: He is more of an Independent). The blog is intentionally designed to be non-partisan so it will be interesting to see how Pete approaches things. Maybe we can bring in a liberal leaning author to counter Pete. Maybe I can be a heel APF Chairman.

If that's the case Pete's contract signing might look like this


Expect a 'Pete Vere' character animation soon once he signs on the dotted line.

Introducing www.PunditFight.com

Hello readers,
For those unaware I would like to introduce my portfolio site at
www.PunditFight.com
It showcases a collection of my artwork and writing from this blog and elsewhere.

I hope you get a chance too look through it. If you're interested in commissioning some art, animations or writing for your website or publication drop me a line at pundit.fight(at)gmail.com
If you'd just like to talk, kindly do the same.

Michael Kinsley on perception and the politics of pain

In the latest edition of Time Magazine, Michael Kinsley writes about the use of character narratives to define a politician rather than the issues and policies they champion.

It's nothing new. I've always said it's largely a personality contest, the reason I use the wrestling analogy.

Everybody Knows the Trouble I've Seen - By MICHAEL KINSLEY

Joe Biden has been a Senator for 36 years. He has vast understanding of constitutional law and foreign affairs, among other topics. But his most important qualification for Vice President is that his wife and daughter were killed and two sons badly injured in a tragic auto accident in 1972. At least that is the impression you get from listening to Barack Obama and other Democrats as they tout Obama's choice for Vice President. By the same standard, Biden's second most important qualification appears to be that in 1988 he suffered two life-threatening brain aneurysms.

The piece also went on to discuss the republican nominee, John McCain

...Most voters couldn't tell you a thing about McCain's Senate record. But everyone knows he endured five years in a North Vietnamese prison...

It also discussed Democratic hopeful John Edwards, and how character issues peripheral to the candidate's policy beliefs - in Edward's case, addressing Poverty - can torpedo a campaign.

We all knew two things about him: he (like Biden) lost a child in an automobile accident, and his wife had inoperable cancer. (Now we know a third thing about Edwards, which illustrates the peril of drawing too many conclusions from a candidate's life story as framed by the candidate and his or her campaign.)

It also touched on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. One presumes that if the piece were written a week later it would have heavily featured the character narrative of the newly announced Republican VP nominee, Sarah Palin.

Michael Kinsley's piece underscores what this blog is about, the peripheral cues we use to judge politicians.

For those who aren't political junkies, who don't read political blogs and watch cable news all day. For those who say "Politics is boring" and worry about more fun things like 'going out' or 'watching movies'. Politics can be summed up simpler- It's a popularity contest!...

Its lamentable that politics is the way it is. But it is necessary to be pragmatic about it and see it for what it is. We need to be savvy about what we watch and believe of our politicians and pundits. We need to be aware of the emotional devices and mind games they use to make their constituents do things, often times against their better interests. We need to be aware of the self-delusion, ours and theirs. Just like wrestling, there might be a tendency to enjoy the fireworks but think its all fake. In fact we must do the opposite. Rather than being cynical and dismissive we should explore further into our politicians and pundits and look through the persona to find the real person behind it.

Read the original post here - Why it is a wrestling match?

Addendum:
On the character of Sarah Palin, she was nationally introduced as the 'Hockey Mom', mother of a son about to serve in Iraq and recently a special needs child. In recent days more has come about Palin's character narrative, which some have described as showing how "remarkably unremarkable" she is. Follow the discussion at HotAir.com - Will Palin get helped by the opposition attacks?

American Pundit Fighting finally has some competition

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Consider me flattered. It looks like there's another Political Wrestling federation on the block, the 'BCEW'. Otherwise known as Buckland County Extreme (Political) Wrestling.

'PCW Political Championship Wrestling' banner

Technically American Pundit Fighting focuses on the Punditocracy. Using wrestling as an analogy to deconstruct the psychology and presentation of modern punditry. Though I can only speculate, BCEW looks a bit more like 'Fantasy wrestling' not unlike 'fan fiction' for non wrestling fans. I'll let The BCEW's 'About' section speak for itself:

BCEW combines political satire and professional wrestling. Written in the style of Paul Heyman and the old ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling), BCEW is Political, Hardcore, Extreme, Wrestling or PHEW- which coincidentally is also an accurate description of the current state of American politics...

BCEW is set up similar to your typical pro wrestling show except that instead of the good guys vs. bad guys (or 'face' vs. 'heels') it's the left vs. right.

I must say I've been waiting for some competition. It'll allow me to set up a feud and become an authentic Wrestling Commissioner by being obnoxious and combative. For a site like mine that focuses on Politics with a Wrestling analogy you'd think it would be more satirical and irreverent, instead it's been all too earnest and more like media studies. This is not altogether bad, but this new competition might just be the catalyst to bringing a more 'humorist' approach to the site.

Expect some changes in the future, particularly the inclusion of me - Jim Stark as an animated character. I plan to write more personal pieces for the APF. In wrestling terms it will be like when Vince McMahon emerged from behind the commentators desk, morphing from his role as an impartial observer to becoming a prominent in-ring persona, the villainous Chairman of the WWE.

Like McMahon, expect 'Commissioner Stark' to have an epic feud with the denizens of BCEW. Wrestling fans will know what happened to WCW and ECW, the upstart rival federation of the WWE. The competition in the marketplace elevated the quality of all the brands, captivating the mainstream and enjoying immense popularity. Whilst the competition initially threatened the WWE's dominance both competitors were ultimately crushed then bought out. Expect the same of BCEW. Though there was eventually a downturn in popularity with the lack of competition I can worry about crossing that bridge later. There federation doesn't even have animated characters and art like we do.

Game on!

Go visit the competition, BCEW or Political Championship Wrestling
Go to the Wiki page on Fantasy Wrestling

Pundit of the year 2007 Wallpaper

Here a nice treat for all you APF fans. A wallpaper to commemorate the Pundit of the Year awards.

Currently it's available in two sizes:
800w x 600h wallpaper
1024w x 768h wallpaper

'American Pundit Fighting' Wallpaper

You can still get your nominations and votes in for Pundit of the Year, Simply follow the link here or the graphic on the far right column.

Congratulations RedSox and welcome Dean Barnett

Truth be told i'm not the greatest baseball fan but congratulations to the Redsox for winning the World Series once again. Speaking of Bostonians and teams who love to be hated I'm proud to introduce the latest APF pundit - Dean Barnett.

Dean Barnett

This characterisation still needs a bit of work. I'll beef Dean up considerably as some of the latest video I've seen of him has Dean hulked up. I don't think i've got the jawline down yet either and the cap... lets just say its still a work in progress. I had a few suggestions for the special move which included the 'Boston Strangler', 'Boston Crab' and 'Beantown Blast'

APF readers will be aware that Dean actually featured this humble blog on his show when he was filling in for Hugh Hewitt.
The old post can be found here.
I have edited the original 35 minute audio archive into a shorter 7min snippet containing just the Wrestling/Politics discussion between Dean and Jonathan V Last.
Find the snippet here

Read the Original dean Barnett Post
Read Dean Barnett featuring the APF on his blog
Listen to Dean talk about the APF - Long version (35min+)
Listen to Dean talk about the APF - edited version (7min+)

Your APF commissioner is back

After an extended vacation traveling and being away from political media and all things punditry I have returned. It might take me a while to get back into the swing of things, so please bear with me.
In the meanwhile you can trawl through the archives or find any of my old art in the the resources tab. Also I encourage you to email me or comment below on your nominations for 2007 Pundit of the Year.

Help promote the APF Pundit of the Year awards

Kindly help promote the APF by hosting our banners on your own site and blog. I will be away for a while, but when I return there will be new art and new postings galore. Take care.