Today on the Dish, Andrew called for Perry to withdraw after he accused Ben Bernanke of treason, and Jpod admitted the error. Even Karl Rove agreed presidential candidates don't joke about treason, we recalled that Bush appointed Bernanke, but Perry refused to apologize. We dug into the dirt of Texas' magical economy, but without the oil boom and government jobs the unemployment numbers were pretty bleak. We learned Rick Perry donned jodhpurs and varsity cardigans in college and Erica Grieder argued he's not as dumb or ideological as many have claimed. We examined his shady funders, Rick Perry loved Israel and Jesus, and Conor scoffed at the contradictions between Rick Perry and his federalist book. John Batchelor wondered how Perry would woo the Yankees, a reader distinguished him from Bush, and one accused Doug Neidermeyer of running for president.
Andrew praised Obama's reaction to legitimate complaints from protesters, Paul Ryan was considering a run for President but Bernstein insisted the field was weak because the party is. Despite silence from the press, Ron Paul earned our attention, and Palin went apeshit on an innocent, conservative reporter. Matthew Zeitlin earned an Yglesias award nominee for calling out liberals for harping on Romney's corporation comment, and the Tea Party screwed the private sector instead of the government. Ross and Reihan mourned the fact that Pawlenty never ran on Sam's Club conservatism, Larison made some hefty predictions about Romney's future success and a reader wanted Romney to step up to Perry on healthcare. Matt Duss stuck it to neocons for claiming Bush caused the Arab Spring, and we wondered if Sean Hannity would correct his incorrect claim that Obama inherited a 5.6% unemployment rate. Social security did resemble a Ponzi scheme, and a reader reminded us that parts of our sordid Southern past are not quite past us.
Andrew revisited Christianism and the case for translating religious convictions into secular arguments. Class warfare was alive and well in England, News International was busted, as was the Bible's Book of Jeremiah. China's protests were challenging the government more and more, foreign relations faced up to designer pathogens, Egypt's liberal parties joined forces for a secular voting bloc, and Soner Cagaptay charted the history of Turkish secularism. Bruce Riedel kept tabs on al-Qaeda's new chief, and the end of war could be on the horizon. We examined "post-conflict reconstruction" via Harry Potter, The Catcher in the Rye just didn't do it for Tom Perrotta and sharks suffered for our cheap cans of tuna fish. Angry Birds resembled Tetris more than we thought, and readers delved into the history of homosexuality on Star Trek.
MHB here, FOTD here, VFYW here and winner #63 here.
–Z.P.
The Dish 