Today on the Dish, Andrew sensed a watershed moment as the House GOP played "high stakes poker," the WSJ ridiculed congressional Republicans as the McConnell method prevailed, and Romney naturally refused to take sides. The GOP discounted an electable candidate, Paul's candidacy could ultimately make room for pragmatism in the Republican Party, and Jennifer Rubin faced a hard road. The GOP establishment has morphed into a "Washington consensus," Gingrich got pummeled on TV, and he and his party turned away a whole group of people (follow-up here). Paul surged (and he under-polls), Silver broke down Obama's approval rating bounce, and the Dish reader survey continued. In our AAA video, Andrew addressed Reagan's response to the AIDS crisis and his presidency in general, the presumptive nominee equivocated on Iraq, and he's a big fat liar.
We tracked developments as Assad slaughtered 250 Syrians in two days, Eli Lake checked in on major political squabbling in Iraq, Issandr El Amrani exposed the reality in Egypt, and we thought through the consequences of a North Korean collapse. Andrew discussed North Korea and torture, protesters marshalled the arts, and Hamas signaled a transition to nonviolent resistance.
Hitch's life was ended by addiction, deep local knowledge is overrated, and homophobia is fucked up. Piers Morgan was "extremely hands on" as editor of the Daily Mirror, policymakers must behave as if "there will, in fact, be a future," and Ryan-Wyden forged a consensus around competition in healthcare. James Madison approached the environment with humility, readers weighed in on pubic hair and the lack thereof, and cleaning is a form of conspicuous consumption.
Lamest jokes from the GOP candidates here and here, tweet of the day here, Newt's turn at bad lip-reading here, Kim Jong-il dropping the bass here, Moore award nominee here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.
— M.A.
The Dish 