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How to Sound Smarter Than You Are at Thanksgiving

By Heather Horn
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This article is from the archive of our partner .

"How to win a debate with your uncle at the Thanksgiving table," advertises the Foreign Policy headline. The accompanying article by Joshua Keating--ranging from issues in Afghanistan to the British royal family--might actually be the most modest of those on offer this season.

Slate--being Slate--dispatches John Dickerson to tell you how to argue each side of the top topics: TSA pat-downs, Bush tax cuts, START, the deficit, Palin's presidential run, terrorist trials, the Ground Zero mosque, and more.

The Daily Beast cuts to the chase. In "How to Sound Smart on Thanksgiving," Samuel Jacobs provides a numbered list of topics with reading suggestions and actual soundbites. ("Say: Kate Middleton is the new Angelina Jolie.")

Armed with online guides to appearing informed, the reader may presumably go forth and dazzle with confidence. But you might want to evaluate your audience before trying out the line about Oprah Winfrey being key to the economic recovery. And as an alternative to spending your entire dinner refuting theses about Obama's foreign policy: just upend the table.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.