Today on the Dish, Andrew explained why the election is likely to be a nervewracking one, offered Oakeshottian context to Jesse Norman's Commons revolt, and came out as an anti-hoarder. Romney contradicted himself in his Olympic pep talk as Heilemann wondered what the candidate's tax returns might show about his contributions to the LDS Church. The Bain attacks seemed like they were working in Ohio, Tom Edsall detailed the Obama campaign's effort at vote suppression, Businessweek illustrated Congressional gridlock, and the ad war started to heat up again. Topping off a roundup of blogger musings on the likelihood of passing gun control laws after the Aurora shooting, Andrew found it unlikely.
In economic news, the extremely wealthy was shown to have gamed the system while Wilkinson sparked debate about whether the rich pay their fair share. Temps have become a more permanent fixture in our economy, while Jesse Singal pondered whether pot might become a subtitute for booze. Extreme weather offered strong proof of global warming as rising water temperatures caused Maine's lobster prices to bottom out.
In international news, Marc Lynch and Fred Kaplan weighed in on post-Assad Syria, Jane Mayer responded to whether Bush officials should be tried for war crimes, and flooding in Beijing sparked criticisms aboutinfrastructure spending. Londoners are leery of the logistical nightmares created by the Olympics.
Elsewhere on the web, the Pet Shop Boys celebrated a trans rollerderby-er, Buzzfeed answered an age-old question about Pat Sajak, and nearly everything in magazines is retouched. And while Clive David blogged the joy of nukes and the blogosphere debated Paterno's legacy, we recalled the extremes of the late Alexander Cockburn's rhetoric and reacted to Toni Morrison's lament about pop culture. A bear bared his back at a baseball game and death by rabies sucked. PTSD can be second-hand and brains don't really get tired. Five guys played a single piano at once, we saw a lovely view of Montreal, and our Hathos Alert sang the glories of Romney's heroism.
– G.G.