<![CDATA[The Weekly Wrap]]>Today on the Dish, Andrew analyzed testosterone as a blessing and a curse (for gay men and straight). We eagerly awaited the Palin emails, the National Review called for an end to the voyeurism, and Palin overpriced her own worth. She also backpedaled her WTF comments, and stole from the lamestream media for her brainwashing videos. We didn't mourn Gingrich's implosion, the pressure was on Rick Perry to declare soon, and Guiliani remained as socially ridiculous as ever.  Readers posited our politics became decadent around the time of Clinton's impeachment, and Frum wondered what it would mean for the Tea Party if Romney wins. Government spending is highly subjective, Reihan examined Singapore's statist healthcare system, and prisons replaced mental hospitals. Bush's tax cuts officially bombed, Pawlenty's moderate conservatism capsized, and God pledged allegiance to the GOP.

The world orgasmed over a small new oil field, a reader defended AIPAC's detractors, and Syria waged its biggest protests yet. PJ Crowley argued for a later transition out of Afghanistan, Twitter helped NATO guide bombs in Libya, and economics trumped Obama's bin Laden bump.

Drum revealed why his depression colors his opinion on assisted suicide, Douthat defended himself, and readers shared their final thoughts. Readers pushed against Andrew's anti-parade stance, scandals bothered women more than dick pics, and Dan Savage slammed the monogomist party line. The telephone entrapped us, college degrees confused us, and video game controllers got a redesign. Andrew broke his pinky finger, cultural intelligence had real value, and real journalism rivaled Onion headlines.

Hathos alert here, cool ad watch here, tweet of the day here, quote for the day here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.

Thursday on the Dish, Andrew dismantled AIPAC's disproportionate popularity in Congress. He also pinpointed the moment our political system became decadent, and poked Limbaugh for thinking anyone in the world thinks Palin is sane and stable. Herman Cain kept chugging along on the crazy train, Bruce Bartlett rejected Pawlenty's economic nonsense, and Gingrich's staffers jumped the sinking ship.

McArdle debated marriage and monogamy, Democrats defriended Weiner, New Yorkers didn't appreciate being represented by him, and readers analyzed our online avatars. Financial scandals mattered more than moral ones, Cynthia Haven was sick of fake apologies, and willpower comes in a finite amount. Obesity spiked our healthcare costs, and Americans failed at efficiency in private healthcare markets.

We hashed out Mubarak's trial, the Syrian regime tortured another boy, and John Yoo gave Bush the same authority. We continued the assisted suicide thread here and here with thoughts on palliative care here. Circumcision removed human choice, TNC pondered race in pop culture movies, prison hurt an employee's prospects, and Gabby Giffords was recovering slowly. The Smurfs didn't stump pop culture, and an Egyptian challenged a lion.

Chart of the day here, hathos alert here, creepy ad watch here, Malkin award here, adorable lecture fail here, metal vegan chef here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.

Face

By Marco Prosch/Getty Images.

Wednesday on the Dish, Andrew marveled at American puritanism about sex, and picked apart what it means to live, both online and off, while we all seek out our authentic selves. Feds broke up nice marriages, and Andrew examined what it could mean for children to never consider closeting themselves and exited the holding pen of gay pride parades.

Andrew praised Huntsman's moderate conservatism, but Nate Silver thought it doomed him. Andrew dismissed Pawlenty's insane tax cuts, McArdle chalked it up to the inflated candidate ego, while the rest of the GOP geared up to out-tea-party him. Bachmann started a brawl with Palin, Palin's team fought back, and Andrew dismantled Palin's answers to "gotcha questions." Andrew drew comparisons about Palin's post-pregnancy look, the real Palinization was backwards enough, headlines battled over polling, and business cred doesn't help a GOP candidate for the most part.

Syria's impending civil war differed from Libya's, we wondered if the Gay Girl In Damascus could be a hoax, the Syrian regime forced young men to become snipers, and Peter Van Buren made the case for shrinking the embassy in Iraq. We debated pain vs depression as to when people request assisted suicides, and readers recommended and spoke highly of hospice care. Incarceration doesn't stop drug addiction, we stressed the importance of keeping DNA evidence for exonerations, and a man hid a cellphone SIM card in his mouth to save his recording of the cops. We experienced walking on a minefield in the first person, snake oil medicines used to fool us pretty easily, and the social cost of smoking totals about $40 a pack. The French deconstructed the Smurfs, and X-men remained a good metaphor for the gay rights movement.

Yglesias award here, cool ad watch here, quotes for the day here, here and here, chart of the day here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.

Tuesday on the Dish, and Andrew backtracked on his original defense of Weiner since the lying complicates things. Savage scoffed at those who characterized Weiner's horniness as an illness to be cured, and unbeknownst to Weiner, Jewish girls do give blowjobs. Thatcher rejected Palin, Henry Blodget appealed for some Trig closure, and America got Palinized. GOP candidates puffed up their radical chests and the shameless battled the clueless. Obama put politics before policy on the debt, but his popularity defied election logic. Healthcare managed to include the worst of both public and private worlds, Reagan and Thatcher never touched their healthcare systems, and when you factor in medical costs our US taxes aren't really that low compared to the rest of the world.

Syria slipped towards civil war, we encouraged readers to help find Amina, and women feared for their rights in Tunisia. Joe Klein predicted a faster withdrawl from Afghanistan, and Israeli settlers lashed out.

Saletan connected assisted suicide to abortion, Dan Savage defended assisted suicide, and Drum wasn't buying Douthat's religious slippery slope. Sexsomnia exists, and reparative therapy for homosexuals still doesn't work. We applied to daughter test to the drug war, 800,000 people are arrested each year for marijuana alone, and consumer protections for banking might actually help the financial sector. Readers debated moving icebergs, and Twitter combined the worlds of text and speech. Babies skated, Smurfs weren't facists, and being bourgeois wasn't all bad.

Dissents of the day here, Moore award here, Yglesias award here, chart of the day here, FOTD here, MHB here, VFYW here, and winner #53 here.

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Chicago, Illinois, 5.35 pm

Monday on the Dish, Andrew demolished the Republican agenda as a fulfillment of Christian ideals. Conservapedia changed history to support Palin's revisionism, doublethink got a new mascot, and Longfellow shuddered. Amanda Marcotte deconstructed Palin's distorted metaphor using Paul Revere for the Tea Party, and her movie tapped into all the brainwash methods a la Clockwork Orange. Romney ignored Sarah Palin and believed in global warming, while Mormonism had built itself into a sanctified multinational corporation, and Beinart got premonitions of four more years for Obama.

The Arab Spring hit economic bumps in the road, Saleh fled Yemen, "ghosts" spied on citizens in Syria, and a gay girl in Damascus was disappeared. The discovery of AIDS turned 30, even great authors had reprehensible views, and Sam Harris clarified the difference between determinism and fatalism. Icebergs could quench the Middle East's thirst, luck distorts success, and price doesn't indicate quality of food.

We were mesmerized by motion in NYC, Hemingway didn't breed six-toed cats, cellphones endangered sperm, and kids came out. The NYT allowed for a hot lesbian exception, Andrew's beard aimed for crazy, and Andrew defended Weiner as "were you fully erect?" echoed across the blogosphere. Cool ad watch here, gaffe of the day here, threat compilation here, quotes for the day here and here, Yglesias award here, Moore award here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.

 –Z.P.

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