Today on the Dish, we took a tour of Palin's new mansion, couldn't deny her advantage in the polls, and Larry Sabato examined Palin's opening. Andrew revisited Palin's belly growth over a five day period, Jonathan Bernstein noted the lack of growth in her base, and Andrew revved up for her bus tour. Newt numbers imploded, Huntsman got attacked for his conservative views, and Steve Kornacki compared Palin to Gary Hart. Andrew bemoaned the state of the War Powers Act today, and Brendan Nyhan predicted a coming Obama scandal, by looking at the trajectory of past presidents' terms.
Andrew seconded Goldberg on the success of Israeli settlers, Bibi got remixed, and Netanyahu's gamble increased his popularity in Israel. The pro-Israel lobby abandoned Obama, but a reader reminded us to take that with a grain of salt, and Andrew guessed at Obama and Cameron's intentions for a Palestinian state in September.
Andrew looked forward to tectonic shifts in the marriage equality landscape, and the war on drugs claimed another victim, a Marine shot in his own home. Greg Ip tracked the spin on the Medicare merry-go-round, Ryan's plan would increase total health spending for the elderly by upwards of 40%, and Will Wilkinson noted the elderly's electoral heft. Jonathan Cohn sized up Medicaid's popularity, and Rebecca Traister signaled the end of the Oprah era. Deportation messed with immigration's legal proceedings, metaphors influence how we punish crime, and FEMA's former chief Michael Brown dissed Obama for playing ping pong. Charles Simic mourned the loss of libraries, writers flourished with the em dash, and Katie Roiphe unpacked the term "love child." Dogs equal cats (in how they drink water), and readers offered baking tips and recipes for Andrew's wheat intolerance.
Cool ad watch here, Moore award here, Hewitt award here, Christianist watch here, quotes for the day here and here, email of the day here, correction of the day here, chart of the day here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.
–Z.P.
The Dish 