Welllll Mr. Fancy Baseball and Politics Man knows nothing about the Oscars, apparently! He thought that Taraji Henson would win Best Supporting Actress and Mickey Rourke would win Best Actor. Silver’s calculations excluded several important factors, including: 1) Penelope Cruz is very hot and 2) Sean Penn starred in a feel-good Issues Movie that concerns an issue that many people in Hollywood care about. Nate Silver must be publicly shamed, his statistics license revoked, and his $700,000 book advance donated to a math academy of his choice. [New York Magazine, OSCAR.com]

* Rush Limbaugh on Hillary Clinton: “She sounds like a screeching ex-wife.” Heh, he should know. [Media Matters] MORE »

* Brokeback Mountain fans: sore losers? [HuffPo] MORE »

So you didn’t watch the Academy Awards last night. Well, that’s okay; with the help of this handy little guide, you can pretend that you did. MORE »

* Oscar parties are a big deal in L.A. and New York — but we’re too cool for that in Washington. If you insist on watching that overlong spectacle, just stay at home and plan your own party. [Defamer; Gawker; WP] MORE »

This Sunday night brings us Hollywood’s big mutual masturbation festival, better known as the Academy Awards. In advance of Oscar night, conservative pundits are going through the motions of railing against clueless and/or evil Hollywood liberals. Ann Coulter has done it; and now it’s time for Jeff Gannon to say his piece.

After the jump, our fisking — yes, with a “k” — of Gannon’s column.

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Amidst all the buzz yesterday over the State of the Union address and the Alito confirmation, it was easy to forget: the Oscar nominations were announced! And while normally we might leave such a frivolous topic to our less high-minded siblings, this year we actually have a good excuse for mentioning such silliness. MORE »