The Bill Simmons of electoral projections

"He built an interesting website, give the man his credit. This has gone way too far, though. Much like Jack Donaghy, I think it’s hard to call the man a genius based on this work (Burrito Bracket, however, is another matter altogether). But that’s exactly what’s going on. Everybody treats his website like it’s gospel, or the latest dailysalad post, as though he can do no wrong. Really, he’s the Bill Simmons of electoral projections. Yeah, he’s still cool, but the hype is just too much. And it’s just getting worse. The other day, he projected the Minnesota recount down to the individual vote (Franken by 27). Recently he signed a lucrative two book deal. He was named one of the sexiest men of the year. Just last week Rachel Maddow claimed that Silver was the best prognosticator ever, that he exactly nailed the election results, and that everyone in America should buy him a beer (all 300 million of us). But really? This should be a pretty easy claim to verify."
(Dec. 2, 2008, Yesterday's Salad)