Today on the Dish, Andrew unpacked Romney’s role in Bain Capital, homing in on the need for Romney’s tax returns to clear up the confusion. The core question raised by the Boston Globe scoop is why Romney received $100,000 a year to run the fund when he had already transitioned to the Olympics. Romney’s financial past got even muddier, as Mother Jones reported Bain’s investment in a Chinese manufacturing company that depended on outsourcing during Romney’s tenure. Plus, a Romney remark about blind trusts from 1994 came back to bite him, and his campaign upped the ante in the ad war with "No Evidence."
Andrew defended his labeling of Mormonism as a cult, owning the "cultish aspects" of Catholicism and arguing that digging into Mormon doctrine is necessary to clarify Romney’s values. And responding to a Bloomberg’s Businessweek article on the LDS Church’s investment culture, Andrew explored how Mormonism is a "religion of business."
More on the campaign front: Romney congratulated himself for not pandering to the NAACP, while reax from blogs and readers proposed a range of ulterior motives in giving the speech at all. Meanwhile, Obama has fallen to new lows in support from blue-collar white men, and data on independents’ views on Romney’s staggering wealth may reflect worsening inequality. Finally, the polls continue to show the candidates' gridlock, prompting Douthat to bemoan Romney’s lack of "breathing room."
In healthcare news, the blogosphere debated the price tag on Medicaid expansion. And in broader politics, George Bush III may run for office, Americans appear to have accepted the inevitability of lying to gain political office, and Maine Governor Paul LePage (R) likened the IRS to the Nazis. Polling showed a birther-ism resurgence, and shopping while of Iranian extraction is a no-no in both the US and Canada.
In assorted commentary, horse-riding probably broke men of their skirt habits, a reader’s sleuthing gave a history lesson on the Israel's shifting borders, and James Poniewozik argued that TV-bingeing is not so very different from reading the Iliad instead of hearing it. And, tragically, dementia has robbed Gabriel Garcia Marquez of his ability to write.
Math geeks brought Batman crashing down to earth and explained why you should guess on the SAT. Meanwhile, science geeks shared the truth behind getting, ahem, blown out of an airlock, an MIT research group developed a car-share concept that could help address shortcomings in mass transit, and basic science made a strong case for global warming. Readers reached out to the young black gay man in Alabama, held Andrew’s feet to the fire on the scooping debate, and praised Andrew’s "Real Housewives of New Jersey" criticism. "Ask Andrew" featured his musings on the wealthy, the Correction of the Day befuddled, and our FOTD commemorated the Srebrenica massacre. An "I’m Batman" MHB here and a VFYW here. Lastly, a diligent reader pointed out that the NRO in fact has twice as many Facebook likes as the Dish. Ladies and gentleman, start your "liking."
– G.G.
The Dish 