Today on the Dish, Andrew envisioned Obama's path to winning the fall with tax reforms a la Reagan, and burrowed into the theology and strategy of Rick Perry, the Christianist's Christianist. The Palins welcomed a new baby to the family on the heels of another quick marriage, Andrew defended Bachmann's crazy eyes on Newsweek as being a trait of her own, and Ryan Lizza was startled by Bachmann's pro-slavery influences. Pete Wehner asked tea-partiers to shame Judson Phillips, Beinart put America's decline in historical context, and Chait deconstructed Westen's fairy tale using Roosevelt as an example. Nate Silver called out S&P but Andrew saw it as necessary for the Grand Bargain, while Drezner and Michael Cohen followed up on the federal crackup. Drum solicited constructive criticism about how to fix the economy but international economists weren't optimistic. The right responded with calls to impeach Obama but they have already ruined themselves in the polls.
On the London riots, Andrew saw comparisons to DC's looting in 1990 and Egypt's revolutionaries reminded everyone that they didn't get their country back by stealing DVD players. Some looters robbed injured kids, sales of metal baseball bats skyrocketed, some fought back peacefully, and John Derbyshire opted to let London burn. In other international news, Congress used their important vacation time to travel to Israel, and the protesters in Israel forced the government to look to defense cuts there as well. Blake Hounshell didn't think Assad had much time left in Syria while disagreements grew in Tahrir Square at the start of Mubarak's trial. Dahlia Lithwick emphasized that Rumsfeld torture could happen to you, and we were pretty sure Russia has not attacked the US recently. Joshua Foust questioned US deaths in Afghanistan because we shouldn't still be there; meanwhile veterans were happy to be thanked once they've told you how they served.
Andrew defended Bert and Ernie's right to not be gay, the Republican party was close to winning the fight in breaking up longterm families, a poor family could sell their used microwave for three days worth of food, and anonymous identities online remained important for public discourse.
Chart of the day here, beard redux here, FOTD here, MHB here, VFYW here, and VFYW winner #62 here.
–Z.P.
The Dish 