The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Sullivan dishes. Includes Andrew's Daily Dish, interviews, recent articles about the war, homosexuality, culture, politics, faith, and people.
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A Computer Smarter Than A Cat
The IBM achievement poses some complications:In a nutshell, when a simulation of a complex phenomenon (brains, weather systems) reaches a certain level of fidelity, it becomes just as difficult to figure out what's actually going on in the model—how it's organized, or how it will respond to a set of …
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The Rot In American Journalism
Jim Fallows is deeply depressed by the moronic horse-race coverage of Obamas recent trip to Asia. He is not the only person staggered that the cable-news 24-hour spin-cycle is now the main prism through which to analyze complex long-term diplomacy. Money quote:Were all familiar with one "crisis …
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The Palin Message
As told to Bill OReilly, whose interview was a class above anyone else on Fox: I believe that I am [qualified to be president] because I have common sense, and I have, I believe, the values that are reflective of so many other American values. And I believe that what Americans are seeking is not the …
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Michelle Goldberg Gets It
The lies of Sarah Palin are different from any other politicians'. They are different because they assert things that are demonstrably, empirically untrue; and they are different because once they have been deonstrated to the entire world that they are untrue, Palin keeps repeating them as if they s …
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The Wages Of Endless War
Andrew Sprung sums up the findings of a new poll:An Oxfam poll of 704 randomly selected Afghans reveals untold suffering-- 1 in 5 say theyve been tortured, three quarters have been forced to leave their homes at some point in the endless civil war, 43% have had property destroyed. The survey also ha …
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Palin's Brain Speaks, Ctd
Larison counters Kristol:Were [Palin] to side openly with McCain in a primary against Hayworth, whose views match up a lot more closely with her supporters’ views, she would be seen as imitating McCain’s worst habits. She would be considered a worse sell-out than McCain. She would be doing exactly t …
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Out Of Touch, Ctd
John Sides throws a few handfuls of salt at that PPP poll. Sager tries to understand what the poll means:Both 2000 and 2004 were close enough to justify some amount of paranoia. Now, perhaps, the Republicans are paying back the Democratic conspiracy mongering of the last decade with their own childi …
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Is Crist Toast?
A new poll shows a 43 percent swing against him in ten months. Why? Among other things, he believes Obama is a legitimate president. Moulitsas suggests:If Im Charlie Crist, I realize that Im toast in the Republican primary. I note that a three-way race is a coin flip at best. But as a Democrat... sw …
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Subsidizing Debt
Surowiecki wants to reform the tax system:A debt-ridden economy is inherently more fragile and more volatile. This doesn’t mean that the tax system caused the financial crisis; after all, the tax breaks have been around for a long time, and the crisis is new. But, as a recent I.M.F. study found, tax …
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The Price Of Trying KSM
David Feige worries about the consequences:In an idealized view, our judicial system is insulated from the ribald passions of politics. In reality, those passions suffuse the criminal justice system, and no matter how compelling the case for suppressing evidence that would actually effect the trial …
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Cal Thomas On Palin
A judicious take from a position of support.
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How Quickly They Turn
Thats the trouble with populism: the populace can get mad if they dont get all their books signed. My favorite insult yelled at Palin in Indiana: "Quitting on the job right there!":
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The Fundamentalist Era, Ctd
A reader writes:The day Palins book came out I wrote the original review on Amazon that you quoted from buzzfeed("So what if Sarah Palin didnt write this book? Even God used early scribes to write the Bible,"), although someone named "Moe Lang" later came along and quoted me. The …
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If Roe Were Overturned, Ctd
A reader writes:Yes, I have heard the whole "laboratories of democracy" spiel, butcan you please explain why you and (other?) conservatives in this country are so enamoured with states rights? Why is the "state" the political subdivision you think should be able to decide such th …
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Denying Her The Spotlight
Friedersdorf counters Linker and wishes the Dish hadnt gone silent for a day:Ms. Palin’s political critics can no more deny her the spotlight than they can stop her appearances on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show, or demand that Oprah’s producers ignore her, or remove the book displays at Barnes and Noble …
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Pray For Obama
The coded Christianist messages on various bumper stickers and t-shirts call for Obamas wife to be a widow.
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Talking About Healthcare, Forevermore
Suderman worries:Reform wont just mess up our health care system, it will infect our political system; the more our politics and our health care are tied together, the more our political debates will become indistinguishable from our health care debates. Theyll become permanently intertwined, going …
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Fox News' Internal Names For Obama Jpegs
The fair and balanced outfit gets busted yet again: has its innards exposed Megan thinks scrutinizing them is a good good thing. UPDATE: There is, it turns out, a much more innocent explanation for this, as a reader explains: I am a former intern in Fox News' web department, and I can tell yo …
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Go Big Or Pull Out?
Tom Ricks reviews David Kilcullens speech from earlier in the week:[Kilcullens] bottom line is that there are two real options in Afghanistan: Either tell the Kabul government we are pulling out, or put in enough troops to actually break the cycle of corruption, which he said would be a minimum of a …
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Nelson Will Vote Yes
On the vote to get the health insurance bill on the floor of the Senate.
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan
