Today on the Dish, Andrew stayed his ground in the aftermath of Greenwald's barrage and seconded Hitch on the power of the pro-Israel lobby. Conservatives had to come to terms with the war on drugs if they wanted to argue limited government in Obamacare, and Niall Harbison only needed Twitter for his news but Andrew disagreed.
Christine O'Donnell was not a witch unless you are, because she's you, but it was her China conspiracy theories that put Fallows over the edge. Ezra took Friedman to task on third party possibilities, Silver came to Friedman's defense, but was skeptical of Gallup's likely voter model. Obama's poll numbers eerily reflected Reagan's, while Glenn Beck dropped some Mormon code against Obama. Beinart envisioned failure for the Tea Party on slashing spending, while the U.S. was still number one in defense, with more than half the entire world's defense spending. Volokh disassembled the wall between church and state, the rebirth of books happens every six months, and a word to the wise: do not combine Canada with an i-phone.
Mormon Dish readers bucked Packer's homophobic remarks, The Wire had lessons for New Haven, and Schwarzenegger's progress on pot was overshadowed by the lack of progress on other drug issues. Surowiecki mined the philosophy of procrastination, and gay-bashing also threatened straight men. Abstinence only education continued to be funded, and Iran interrupted the lives of its young, but most Americans still weren't anywhere close to supporting a war with Iran. Pet Shop Boys' new single likely kept the band "Together," Andrew feared no beard, and Larry Kudlow didn't like the looks of Obama hugging Rahm. Readers defended their vegetable gardens, creepy ad watch here, Malkin award here, VFYW here, MHB/ VFYR here, FOTD here, and VFYW contest #18 here.
--Z.P.