Today on the Dish, a government shutdown clouded the horizon, troops could be cut off from their pay, and both parties wanted to play the victim. Blumenthal thought a shutdown could wake Americans up to the budget story, Andrew agreed the Ryan plan is heavy on tax cuts for the rich, but relished having a real conversation about balancing the budget. Douthat yearned for an Obamacare alternative in Ryan's plan, John Cole couldn't grasp that ending tax breaks wouldn't do it, and Nick Clegg cried regularly to music. Obama tried to be candid about gas prices, and we pondered why deficits get more press than the looming climate crisis. Wasserman Schultz disapproved of her own death trap comment, and Maggie Koerth-Bakerexplained two sides to polygamy in the Muslim world.
We caught up with a rebel rebound, Exum imagined a post-Qaddafi Libya, and Andrew grew dismayed by our continuing humanitarian imperialism. Trump pulled ahead on the virtue of his insane far right rhetoric, we still sucked up to the Saudis despite the Bahrain crackdown, and China prepared for a freedom chill. Rob Tisani argued for gay marriage on the grounds of children come first, Mississippi turned back the clocks on interracial marriage, readers debated suicide depictions on screen, and Christopher Pramuk sought faith after a miscarriage. College replaced religion for our sense of community, our calories climbed, and France feared agricultural extortion. Bristol made pregnancy cool and lucrative, Tarantino made us consider grace in violence, and YouTube sought a piece of the TV programming pie. NPR whooped PBS in coolness, we couldn't resist more airplane window views, and readers advised readers on how to poop with the Dish. Quote for the day here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here and here.
–Z.P.
The Dish 