Friday on the Dish, Andrew previewed his Sunday column on Mormonism and the campaign, examined the politics of sex-selective abortion, and marvelled at Europe's reductions in carbon emissions (follow-up praising the US approach here). We surveyed the reax to the terrible jobs numbers, bet that the campaigns would decide the elections given the economic circumstances, hoped the Fed would act to make them better, cautioned against overinterpreting polls, disproved the "Obama wasn't vetted" meme, and gaped at Romney on Solyndra. The right continued to attempt to rehabilitate its record on civil rights, a new account of the Cato-Koch battle emerged, a young reader defended Jonah Goldberg on "milliennials," and Bloomberg played the soda nanny.
Andrew also kept up scrutiny on Archbishop Dolan's lying and the Church's response, endorsed a certain sort of Israeli unilateral withdrawal, and discovered "dog bites man" news from Britain. We surveyed America's options on Syria, counselled inaction with respect to Egypt, worried about Libya's future, bet democracy would survive in Europe, and explained Southern Europe's economic travails. Comics moved the needle on gay equality and there weren't as many gays as most people thought.
Finally, Andrew shared some awesome home news and implored you to Ask Tina Brown Anything. Print journalism faced a real ad problem, robots failed, blockbusters busted, and TV needed an internet "minor league." Men dealt with eating disorders, attachment parenting may hurt women, weddings changed everyone's brain chemistry, and drugs did not create face-eating zombies. Credit cards prefigured the debt problem, living at home pained many, landfills damaged the world, and Happy June! Ask Bruce Bartlett Anything here, Yglesias Award Nominee here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.
By Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images
Thursday on the Dish, Andrew celebrated the ruling against DOMA, reiterated his support for a federalist approach to marriage equality, despaired at the GOP's cynicism on spending, figured the party would control President Romney, and called Mitt out on cronyism. We compiled reax to the Republican judge's pro-equality ruling, linked you to the ruling, and rounded up our thoughts on the matter. We also found another Romney lie, speculated that supporting drug reform might help Democratic candidates, gagged on Bloomberg's nanny-statism, and enjoyed a good rant. Americans consumed American news online, readers sounded off on the Poland contretemps, and Polish Holocaust history fell under the microscope. Ad War Update here.
Andrew also called out Cardinal Dolan for blatanly lying about his role in enabling sexual abuse (follow-ups here and here), challenged the liberal understanding of patriotism, decried "conservative" indifference to the destruction of the environment, endorsed Edwards' acquittal, wanted you to Ask Tina Brown Anything, and qualified his remarks on "internet money." We aired Matt Labash's critique of internet culture, listened to reader pushback, and then let Labash give a response to the readers' critiques. Web surfing felt slower, television cycles came from radio rather than cars, and pop darkened. Libertarianism had an odd explanation of the wrongness of homosexuality, theories of happiness shaped our worldview, wheelchairs seemed like accessories to some, and wedding songs struck a reader the wrong way. Trees fought crime and quicksand didn't kill alone. Ask Eli Lake Anything here, Yglesias Award Nominee here, Cool Ad here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.
Wednesday on the Dish, Andrew continued his examination of Mormonism's role in shaping Romney's worldview (follow-up here), pointed out the confluence of "marriage, marijuana, and millenials," took insights from social psychology to explain partisanship and equality polling, and declared Fox and the RNC to be one. He also jumped all over the "Polish death camps" controversy: first, he was shocked that it was a such a big deal; second, he assessed the blogosphere's reaction; third, he pushed back against Frum's "hyperventilation;" and, he finally issued a call for some perspective on the matter. We explained why Obama wasn't Carter, trumpeted the beginning of the general election in North Carolina, surveyed the arguments for dumping Trump, made room for an anti-Wall Street Romney campaign, celebrated a drug warrior's defeat, used incentives to explain why there weren't more anti-drug war politicians, saw climate change advocates Heartland collapse, flagged a gutsy, honest gambit by Dan Savage, and wondered if the President should decide who lives and who dies. Ad War Update here.
Andrew further fretted over the "neocon' terrorists" MEK and, in keeping with the Poland theme, flagged an instance of disgusting contemporary Polish anti-Semitism. We dove into the politics of the Eurovision contest, checked on another intra-European status contest, and listened to William on Elizabeth. Women stopped getting raises after a certain age and readers debated the male body and objectification. Lobbyists disrupted rational health care, religious rattlesnakes posed health risks, and Skinner made you skinny. Teens didn't fall for absurd drug crazes and humans acted like ants. Angry blogging was epistemically defective, Facebook's value divided tech experts, and Kardashians measured your internet worth. Readers sounded off on Southern Idol winners and we built a whole test city. Ask Bruce Bartlett Anything here, Yglesian Award Nominee here, Quotes for the Day here and here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.
Tuesday on the Dish, Andrew demanded an analysis of Romney's foreign and domestic policies in light of Mormonism's stated doctrines on the topics, wrote a message playbook for the Obama team, put a torture apologia under the microscope, found Mitt willing to say anything to win, and noted an irony in Jonah Goldberg's anti-Millenial rant. We waded into the Chris Hayes heroism controversy, examined Romney's support among veterans, kept up with Paul and the Paulites, watched Mitt sink in Michigan, tracked supporter Trump's birther tendencies, wondered how he could possibly buck the right once in office, compared the challenger to the incumbent on job creation, reframed the spending debate, discovered GOP Keynesianism, and debated Obama's hypocrity on drugs. Ad War Update here.
Andrew also worried about the future of journalism, confessed his no-deoderant rule, and was appalled by the West Bank road system. We memorialized the Syrians killed in the Houla massacre (follow-up here), asked Obama to think about saving the euro, looked to one idea for the Europeans to do it themselves, and saw some signs of doom. Farrakhan bashed equality, young Mormons started to embrace it, a writer championed the wedding complex, a reader sounded off on 50 Shades of Grey's protagonist, American women worked super-hard, a business card invited you to "call me maybe" (sidebar: does anyone not love that song?), and Facebook provoked family infighting. The flag's meaning spawned much discussion, assault weapons slipped through a loophole, schools diminished biking rates, and backpackers carried too much. The South provided American Idol winners, time challenged doctors, cars shaped television, and mold fascinated (follow-up here). Ask Eli Lake Anything here, Quotes for the Day here and here, Creepy Ad here, Yglesias Award Nominee here, Map of the Day here, VFYW Contest Winner here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.
– Z.B.
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