Andrew was back in fighting form today on the Dish, shredding Paul Ryan's "zombie Reagonomics" and eviscerating Niall Ferguson's fact-lite Obama takedown. Later, Andrew discredited Continetti's claims of Obama partisanship, urged aginst using the word "hate" on discussing FRC and praised Mitt for allowing a reporter to attend a church service with him. In the wake of the Todd Akin "legitimate rape" remark, Andrew excoriated Republicans for their views on women while Frum recalled the popularity of this opinion. Obama hit the gas on the Romney-Ryan anti-woman attack, Blake Zeff called this the most negative campaign ever and Jane Mayer broke down Obama's fundraising problems.
Elsewhere, Cassidy reminded us of Ryan's sabotage on spending cuts, Ezra Klein explained how the Obama team built up Ryan and climate skepticism won few votes. Kilgore argued the pointlessness of conventions, Chye-Ching Huang made the case for keeping capital gains taxes, and Ezra and Yglesias took down Obama's handling of mortgage policies. Meanwhile, McArdle explored our attraction to Ponzi schemes, Kirby Ferguson borrowed creatively, and Iran struggled to censor. While Pussy Riot changed Russia and Jesse Bering made sense of the foreskin, the Polyglot Vegetarian explained why truffle oil was the ketchup of the middle class and Mary Jo Bang worked John Wayne Gacy and Cartman into the Inferno.
In other assorted coverage, processed gravy tricked people into thinking they were eating meat, babies liked baby-talk, and we learned that the treadmill originated in prison. Stay-at-home dads grew more numerous, asteroid insurance didn't make the cut and Carolyn Kormann mused on the sexy side of swimming. A cat lover endorsed keeping them inside, anti-gay fail here, Excel-related MHB here, VFYW here, and FOTD here.
– G.G.
The Dish 