Andrew pegged the Palin-Free February to the Beltway's incompetence and naivete, America had to fight its morbid curiosity about her, Pence stepped up to the plate, and Palin would speak to her "fellow" hunters. Steve Clemons fought back against anti-Semitic neocon charges, Megan lobbed a Loughner complaint at Andrew, and Pawlenty's books couldn't sell. Cheney's latest Big Lie amazed Andrew, especially since the dynamic Bush-Cheney duo failed the last decade's employment numbers. DADT cost Americans $200 million over five years, Skip Oliva nerded out on the House Speaker, and more of the Smithsonian's betrayal came to light. Some organizations escaped the ObamaCare's mandates, and Mankiw's ObamaCare math came under attack.

Andrew ceded some ground to John Allen on the church scandal, and Andrew weighed in on Santorum's abortion/ slavery metaphor. Aid helpers can't help doers become autonomous, and Goldman gamed the system. Readers hated on Apple, but Andrew came to its defense, Ann Friedman examined gendered friendships, Hobbes may or may not have had more reason and independence than Tyler from Fight Club, and musical ties don't make for credible debates. Beards enhanced performance, and voting offered pretty good lottery odds.

Dish cloud here, email of the day here, cool ad watch here, VFYW here, Malkin award here, dissent of the day here, Fox poison watch here, Limbaugh poison watch here, chart of the day here, mental health break here, and FOTD here.

Thursday on the Dish, Andrew debated the past and future of marriage with James Poulos, and came down hard on John Paul II for the church's handling of abuse. Bernstein expected more of the same from the GOP on marriage equality in 2012, and Andrew backed Goldberg's outrage at the Smithsonian's betrayal of their curators. Larison and Max Boot assessed the role the US did or didn't play in interferring in Tunisia, and Steven Heydeman compiled a checklist for the Jasmine Revolution. Noah Millman weighed in on the wealth and democracy overlap, and the revolution's pictures are here. We rounded up the debate over a destroyed Afghan village, and the legacy of torture still reverberated around the world.

Andrew served up a nice helping of Palin crack, and Howard Kurtz profiled Palin's id. Josh Marshall defended TPM's Palin coverage, and a word cloud of her labor experience with Trig here. We tracked the fake success of the fake repeal, Frum boiled down the GOP's healthcare dilemma, and the party needed an infusion of new blood. CPAC's conservative freedom featured stopping a mosque, and we trained our eyes on Texas for a debt-minded Tea Party. Libertarianism hit its stride, and Obama's coup could last. Tyler Cowen and Jayme Lemke feared an era of high unemployment, but that didn't mean the US should force its companies to act like China's just for the thrill of it. The antics of Arizona's worst sheriff spotlights the ridiculous politics of the Dupnik recall, and one Supreme Court Chief Justice hid some relevant family ties. Demographers followed the flow of college grads, and aerial spy photos didn't impress Gregg Easterbrook. PZ Myers poked holes in Bering's evolutionary defenses against rape thesis, and Breitbart didn't mind a little PubicCoke, as long as he gets a raise. Fight Club paralleled Calvin & Hobbes, we treasured another classic case of Washington scorn, and air sex is safe but not easy.

VFYW here, Moore award here, Apple accolades here and here, Malkin award here, dissents of the day here, FOTD here, and MHB here.

Wednesday on the Dish, Andrew lambasted Limbaugh's latest poison, and crushed the major myths about the Tea Party. Tea partiers booed freedom in the form of decriminalization, and Andrew solidified Obama's bump by insisting he embrace Bowles-Simpson. Palin's blood libel against Assange mirrored her own, and Andrew wasn't placated by her low favorability ratings. On the conservative media front, Roger Ailes experimented with propaganda, Hugh Hewitt masqueraded as a journalist, and readers delved into the right's rhetoric on past shootings. James Wolcott embalmed Beltway consensus, opposites don't attract, and Michael Lind opted out of Regressive politics.

Robert Mackey profiled the Tunisian blogger turned government worker, Jennifer Rubin defended herself and Bush, and Beinart discounted American influence, since democracy was better off without it. US unemployment climbed higher than the world average, and language barriers persisted between China and the US.

Larison grimaced at 2012 wild card Kain's hawkishness, Chait guessed what Lieberman was thinking, Scott Stossel eulogized Sargent Shriver and his view of public service, and California's boomers fleeced the state. The US government could fight drugs with its uncoolness, Howard Gleckman patted down the healthcare mandate, Austin Frakt proposed a repeal related to the deficit, and a reader argued PTSD could be a normal response to trauma. Oklahoma City's memorial didn't change our rhetoric, and some wounds from Tuscon won't heal. Robin Handson believed in digital brains, readers joined Andrew in defending the pure style and functionality of Apple, and Starbucks could explode your stomach.

Christianism watch here, Yglesias award here, VFYW here, marriage equality index here, quote for the day here, MHB here, creepy ad watch here, and FOTD here.

By Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images.

Tuesday on the Dish, Andrew urged Obama to call the GOP's bluff on spending, and Pawlenty pandered to the far right to Andrew's dismay. The Big Lie parroted by the right seeped into American opinion, and Andrew saw a secular hope in Apple's vision of the future. Freddie de Boer charged the blogosphere with being anti-leftist, Ryan Avent questioned de Boer's union love, and the GOP needed the middle but still didn't want to take the civil route. Nate Silver showed Douthat the stats on Palin's pull, and Andrew couldn't imagine Frum's Huckabee victory. Journalists fabricated turning points for narratives, and Herman Cain could add a touch of crazy to 2012.

Jennifer Rubin got trounced for giving neocons credit for Tunisia, while Scoblete defended her. Josef Joffe pinned Tunisia's revolution on being rich, Scott Lucas chronicled the new government's concessions, and the immolation trend in Egypt was getting out of control.

Andrew Cohen parsed the rocky road ahead for DOMA, Ezra Klein previewed the real showdown in healthcare revisions, and PTSD spread to civilian professionals. Loughner's ideology didn't fully square up with Nietzsche's, Jim Sleeper compared him to 1993's Colin Ferguson, and Gabrielle Giffords' husband kept grace alive. Sedentary screen time kills us, Gary Sick questioned the Stuxnet worm, the Twittering machine shrieked, and cigarettes got cropped from stamps. The police state lived, the enthusiasm gap evaporated, and Ike's last bested JFK's first speech. Julia Sherman traced the international hair trade, marriage evolved, and America reinvented herself. Irin Carmon defended casual sex, karate slippers used to get you into the club, and LBJ talked about his junk.

Chart of the day here, FOTD here, MHB here, VFYW here, and the VFYW contest winner #33 here.

Tunis, Tunisia, 6 pm

Monday on the Dish, Andrew picked apart Tony Blair's legacy, and revealed his blogging philosophy of "generous anger." Balko raged against the paranoid style of some bloggers on the right, and Chabon happily returned to being a novelist. Andrew rebutted Douthat with some Palin hathos, and rejected Rich Lowry's argument on Loughner's disturbed mind. Tunisia's spark kept smoldering, and Egypt got in line. Koplow focused on the revolution's secular nature, we kept at the Twitter connections, and we looked at implications for the rest of the Arab world, with more analysis here.

The Labor party in Israel split, Brooklyn jumped the shark, and the love hormone oxytocin also caused racism. We honored MLK, and Akim Reinhardt argued the real abolitionists were considered lunatics on the fringe. Maud Newton interviewed Misha Angrist on a Gattaca-lite future, Scott Rosenberg wanted us to figure out Twitter retractions now, and bounty hunters were smart economics. Alan Jacobs saluted Wikipedia, Louis Menand unraveled the Feminine Mystique, and loyalty survived. Andrew revealed his take on Freud and cuddly rabbis, the gay fish lived, and Canada was cold.

VFYW here, MHB here, FOTD here, and chart of the day here.

–Z.P.