The Edwards Slugfest Gabfest
Listen to Slate's review of the week in politics.
Updated Friday, July 25, 2008, at 1:25 PM
Emily wonders whether a speech given by Barack Obama earlier this week about patriotism was successful in increasing his stature among voters.
Terence says John McCain, in his response to Gen. Clark's comments, missed an opportunity to better explain how his military experiences relate to his hope of becoming the next president.
John McCain once again shakes up his campaign staff, and David says it's an effort on the part of McCain to change the view that he's a lousy campaigner.
Barack Obama took time off from campaigning this week to watch his daughter's soccer game.
Emily, David and Terence discuss this week's revelations about how American trainers at Guantanamo Bay came to be teaching Chinese Communist interrogation techniques used during the Korean War to obtain false confessions from American soldiers. The three also debate the meaning of SERE.
David's cocktail chatter involves an experiment by a maker of virus protection software. The experiment tried to find out what happens if you respond to all your spam e-mail.
Terence chatters about a recent meeting between Barack Obama and leaders of the Latino community. He says the leaders were not impressed with Obama and wonders if they could become the "Reagan Democrats" of 2008.
Emily talks about a federal appeals court ruling that allows a controversial South Dakota law to be enforced. The law requires doctors to tell women seeking an abortion that the procedure ends a human life and can be related to suicide (which Emily disputes).
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Emily Bazelon is a Slate senior editor and writes about law, family, and kids. Her forthcoming book, Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Empathy and Character. Find her at emilybazelon@gmail.com or on Facebook or Twitter.
John Dickerson is Slate's chief political correspondent and author of On Her Trail. He can be reached at slatepolitics@gmail.com. Read his series on the presidency and his series on risk. Follow him on Twitter.
David Plotz is the Editor of Slate. He's the author of The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank and Good Book. He appears on Slate's Political Gabfest.