Today on the Dish, Andrew credited the Mormon church for their shift on homosexuality. The mayor of London excoriated Bush on torture, and because he tortured detainees, we can't convict them. But that doesn't mean we should send them to a military commission. Poorer countries were catching up with their richer counterparts, and Mexican journalists couldn't afford to report on cartel violence for fear of their lives. Hani Mansourian made the case against sanctions in Iran, and Joel Wing examined the state of doing business in Iraq.
Andrew joined Michael Goldfarb in riding the GOP to attack the deficit like the Tories have. Lee Drutman undressed the politics of earmarks, Chait fell for the other deficit plan in town, and Jim Cooper didn't have a happy ending to offer Americans. The GOP's solution to the deficit was to cut NPR's funding, and after that, to go after Historic Whaling. We monitored the horserace with Nate Silver on favorability rankings, and James Rydberg's survey illuminated what we think of politicians' character. Alex Massie was pumped to have Limbaugh moderate a GOP debate. Bryan Fischer argued that Jesus kicked ass on the cross and that we should award our soldiers for killing the enemy, not saving lives. Bullying continued as far up as the Catholic church, and rich people could one day do prison time out in the real world.
Palin lashed out at intellectuals (i.e. the Fed), but we remembered how nonsensical she was on the bailout. Palin's "self-sufficient" bears loved to scavenge other people's trash, and Palin still believed she was a victim despite her fame and fortune. The real DWTS fans were outraged about Bristol, and Andrew wasn't ready to give Willow a free pass on "faggot," even while some readers defended her. And even Tripp Palin's aunt wondered why Palin wouldn't put the Trig rumors to rest.
The web was destroying cable, tweets were worth more than you think, women were greener than men, and readers loved to support the bloggers they love. Sullum saluted Four Loko and bemoaned the nanny state that killed it, and Aaron Carroll warned that we're all expecting too much from the healthcare reforms. Michele Leonhart disappointed, premature ejaculation was evidence of natural selection, and Andrew wanted scanners to find explosives in someone's taint. Chart of the day here, all the secret words here, VFYW here, Malkin award here, quote for the day here, FOTD here, MHB here, and dissents of the day here.
--Z.P.