Friday on the Dish, Andrew went another round on whether he criticizes the President enough (follow-up here) and marvelled at Obama's Kenyan anti-colonial agenda to cut the debt. We flagged an important discussion of debt policy, debated the economic impact of the expiration of the full slate of Bush tax cuts with some readers, listened to puzzled readers try to make sense of the "paranoid right's Obama," heard an encouraging story about politics and multiculturalism, pegged Obama's success to his GOTV campaign, bet Romney's Mormonism might help him, watched his favorables skyrocket, guessed at who Mitt would pander to if he won, gave an explanation as to why voter preferences don't much affect foreign policy, and compared Obama and Nixon on sports. More readers sounded off on the ways homophobia destroyed straight marriages and Maryland made progress. Ad War Update here.
Andrew also requested you ask Eli Lake Anything, issued a last call for Dishterns (by Monday, people!), and demanded the freedom to poop in restaurants. We fretted over Spain, noticed Hollande wasn't the only leader to walk awkwardly with Merkel, and wondered (again) if Bibi could come to terms with the Palestinians. Facebook's price didn't spike after its IPO (a concept which itself may have become anachronistic), autonomous cars decreased our need for parking lots, the health care system badly needed to change the fee-for-service model, and readers shared their own stories about the high price of a healthy pet. The Dictator received mixed reviews from the political commentariat, Donna Summer received glowing reader praise, and female comedians were better received on social media than through traditional channels. People believed in common sense falsehoods, a man opened a beer with a chainsaw, the new DSM seemed like it would classify 40% of college students as alcoholics, coffee wouldn't save your life, and Mexican food became American food. Ask Tyler Cowen Anything here, Chart of the Day here, Quotes for the Day here and here, Hathos Alerts here and here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.
By Vano Shlamov/AFP/Getty Images
Thursday on the Dish, Andrew worried that cultural panic made Romney into the frontrunner (follow-up here and related nastiness here), explained how a terribly sad story from a straight reader brought the need for marriage equality into full relief, got some interesting perspective on his debate with Glenn Greenwald, and wondered what the hell "homosexual behavior" was. We puzzled over evidence that most people thought Obama was going to win, put the odds of a Senate handoff at 50/50, looked over an odd proposal to attack Obama on Jeremiah Wright, poked a gaping hole in the latest Birther nonsense, noticed that Romney's best strategy was to hide, and aired more criticism of Obama's marijuana policy. Obama improved attitudes towards marriage equality, equal marriage rights benefitted straight couples as well, and attitudes towards marriage in Europe surprised. Ad War Update here.
Andrew also relayed a harrowing story about his dog Eddy and the economics of pet ownership, eulogized Mary Kennedy, Donna Summer, and Chuck Brown, and blamed Bibi for Israel's worsening international reputation. An Iran war looked likely to have far-reaching consequences, Turkey supplied a particular sort of Islamist capitalist, Europe looked to be in a position to make it past its current troubles despite Merde's awkward dance, and the dreaded Grexit didn't appear right on the horizon. Jonah Goldberg made hilarious faces and Piers Morgan's ratings scraped bottom. We listened to some pushback against attempting to explain politics with psychology, spotlighted another troubling execution in Texas, wondered if student debt was as much of a problem as we thought, and watched Occupy Wall Street receed. Sperm banks needed to screen donors, scopolomine creeped readers out, eating plants wasn't unethical, running hurt some of us, and there were tricks to catching liars. Newsweek had pretty pictures and Ken Burns told pretty stories. Ask Steven Pinker Anything here, Hewitt Nominee here, Quotes for the Day here and here, and VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.
Wednesday on the Dish, Andrew went deeper into the notions of Obama as first gay president and "learning how to be gay," attacked Romney's credibility on the debt issue, chronicled the Dish's long history of levelling harsh criticism Obama's way, dropped jaw in response to Jennifer Rubin's blase acceptance of campaigning on homophobia, and took a meta-look at DC life. We explained why today's campaign debates seem so silly, aired a strong approach to Mitt's Bain days from a reader, questioned Romney's approach to the press, analyzed his net worth, gave him acting advice, guessed how undead politicians would shake up American politics, penned a eulogy for Americans Elect's grave, and compared the campaigns' respective outreach efforts to different demographic groups. Future gay men might vote Republican, the black community debated about gays, marriage equality rose in popularity for similar reasons to sushi, and marriage wasn't always a sacrament. Ad War Update here.
We also learned a great deal about the move towards marriage equality in Albania, pushed back against fears of Syria bringing down the region, and raised some ethical questions about bioengineered soldiers. Eating plants wasn't ethically unproblematic (on one theory), "staying interested" in life staved off Altzheimer's, car sharing didn't much cut carbon, and Netflix started original programming. Allahpundit's comment section explained why we didn't have comments, red states had a different set of baby names, and fundamentalism fought a decent rear guard battle in the demographic war. Finally, we explored the lawyer surplus, looked into numerology and Auden, and found an unfortunate English lesson. Ask Jim Manzi Anything here, Charts of the Day here, Hewitt Nominee here, Yglesias Nominees here and here, Quotes for the Day here, here, and here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.
Tuesday on the Dish, Andrew debated Glenn Greenwald on "sentiment" versus "detached purism" and Obama's gay rights record (update here), livechatted about his cover story, defended its comparison of Obama's experience with racial identity to the gay experience, praised Evan Wolfson for his role in bringing about marriage equality's triumph, and found yet another instance of the GOP kicking gays out of the fold. We highlighted another marriage equality hero, Jonathan Rauch, analyzed the importance of the Van Lohuizen memo for the Republican approach to gay equality, tracked the many meanings of marriage over time, pointed out another devastating weakness in the anti-equality case, looked at TNC's experience with homophobia, and watched Obama's coming-out video.
Andrew also argued that Romney would be worse than Obama on medical pot, castigated his ridiculous foreign policy, and grudgingly acknowledged the "effective, if crude" nature of Mitt's recent line of attack. We tracked the debate over the Bain issue, marked Ron Paul's departure, wondered if his run had accomplished anything, decoded the Tea Party's goals, explained why Obama's style wasn't going to determine the election, and were impressed by Obama's gains among veterans. Ad War Update here.
Finally, Andrew reupped the call for dishterns – less than a week, people! The Grexit from the Euro inched closer, local Chinese leaders mucked with the economy, and the violence in Syria spilled over into Lebanon. A/B testing took over the web, the Internet's data glut messed with our heads, and texts and emails outpaced phones. Prison violence shocked, scopolamine terrified, college football got defended, and graduates had it rough. Banana improvement was a humanitarian priority, tacos were recent inventions, and veggie burgers weren't helping the environment, Ask Tyler Cowen Anything here (with some commentary on the world's healthiest cuisines), Chart of the Day here, Quote for the Day here, Yglesias Nominee here, VFYW Contest Winner here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.
Monday on the Dish, Andrew made the case for Obama's incrementalism in the marriage equality fight, explained how said case debunked the strongest argument against marriage rights, detailed the reasoning behind the Newsweek cover, dove into the strong polling support suggesting a fundamental shift in America's attitudes toward gays, and pondered the explanation for this sea change. We took on another common anti-equality nonsense argument, looked at an exemplar of an advocate for equality, unconvered a powerful story about an Obamaesque move in Albania, noticed the non-backlash to Obama's new position on marriage, watched Romney flip-flop on gay adoption, and listened to another view of Romney's hair-cutting past. The race remained tight, Obama raised Bain, Romney hit back on Wall Street ties but had a JP Morgan problem, crowd size didn't explain the race, Bush's second term still hurt, and good political humor required a deft touch.
Andrew also qualified his skepticism about an AIDS vaccine, suggested the Euro needed Germany to assert itself (as it weakened), and noted a horrible "I'm back!" column from John Derbyshire. Islamists warmed to capitalism, the web blanched at JP Morgan's $2 billion oops moment, and a lack of housing constrained technological advancement. We discovered cannibalistic medicine, tracked the gentrification in our guts, peeked into the world of microbes living in extreme environments, understood how breats could kill, and bet that schoolkids of the future would be graded by robots. Not every married couple needed kids, becoming an adult meant cutting the parents off, the well-educated went on welfare, and an excellent pan got our attention. Handmade crafts ballooned, bank robbery deflated, news apps failed, and rejected New Yorker covers ruled. Ask Pinker Anything here, Quote for the Day here, Cool Ad here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.
– Z.B.
The Dish 
