Today on the Dish, Andrew live-blogged the GOP debate where all eyes were on Perry, who proved to be an "extreme, inarticulate, incurious W clone." We rounded up the full reax here, Andrew parsed the semantic implications of where and how Rick Perry and Marcus Bachmann consume corndogs, Silver assessed Bachmann's odds, and the left and right disagreed about what we're polarized about (wealth versus politics). Taibbi gave up on Obama's campaign promises, Andy McCarthy delivered a whopper on Obama's economy, and Erick Erickson was sick of Palin's games. Kevin Williamson continued to see nothing wrong with the death penalty even for the innocent, and Romney's new economic plan sounded quiet on the major problem of US unemployment. We tracked the conservative movement for criminal justice reform, and Joe Romm countered that green jobs aren't a scam.
Andrew recalled how Darwin lends the story of Adam and Eve even more importance and revisited his initial support for the war in Iraq in answer to the dissent of the day. Israel continued to be held up by Christianists Americans, and Andrew encouraged you to ask the next freshman you see in a CCCP t-shirt why he isn't wearing a swastika, ironically. Lawrence Korb tracked how 9/11 decimated our military, and readers shared their picks for the best 9/11 art, music and films, revisiting the 25th Hour rant. Captured Af-Pak militants may be exacting their revenge with the help of US drone attacks, Israeli girls were indoctrinated with the settler mentality, and the 9/11 memorial is organized by meaningful adjacencies. Iraq still can't run itself, and economic mobility could be an economic boon for the world.
We analyzed why land values beat home prices, readers pushed back against Andrew on why iPhones can't be made in the USA, and Andrew considered moral hazard and the bond markets, on the advice of Martin Wolf. Andrew welcomed Eli Lake to the Beast team along with other media news, Rod Dreher remembered that most Americans don't live in the NYC/ DC bubble, and James Murdoch was as screwed as ever. Tina Brown explained why insecure men act out with sexual antics, Alexis imagined charging your iPhone in a sunny part of the park, and Drudge sank to new lows with his image choice for a $300 billion stimulus.
Dan Savage and Joss Whedon enlightened us on how they got through high-school, readers debated dogs vs children in restaurants, and a dad saw the appeal of violent videogames for kids. Erick Schonfeld bowed down before TV on the internet, KJ Dell Antonia disapproved of a sperm donor allowed to have 150 kids, and heteros got their own version of Grindr.
Chart of the day here, VFYW here, FOTD here, MHB here, and WTF video of the day here.
— Z.P.
(Photo: Candidates U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry take the stage before the start of the Ronald Reagan Centennial GOP Presidential Primary Candidates Debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on September 7, 2011 in Simi Valley, California. By David McNew/Getty Images)