The Edwards Slugfest Gabfest
Listen to Slate's review of the week in politics.
Updated Friday, July 25, 2008, at 1:25 PM
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Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz talk politics. This week, it's Barack to Iraq, the state of the presidential race, and John Edwards vs. the National Enquirer.
Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned in the show:
Sen. Barack Obama completes a trip to the Middle East, including Iraq. It was considered a major success. However, he has not done so well in talking about his Senate vote against supporting President Bush's surge strategy. When asked if he would still vote the same way today, he said that he would.
John reminds critics of Obama's trip to Iraq that they should also remember John McCain's visit there in 2007. McCain said Iraq was safe enough that "there are neighborhoods where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today." It was later revealed that during his stroll, McCain wore body armor and was accompanied by U.S. soldiers and that several attack helicopters were flying overhead.
McCain, meanwhile, continues to criticize Obama's trip as well as his position that the troop surge was not the only reason for recent success in Iraq, saying it is "pretty obvious he [Obama] took this position in order to secure the nomination of his party by taking the far-left position and being dictated to by MoveOn.org and others.''
There are conflicting public-opinion polls. According to a poll from Quinnipiac University, McCain is gaining ground in three key states—Colorado, Michigan, and Minnesota—despite the positive coverage of Obama's Middle East swing. Yet polling by the Gallup organization finds Obama's lead growing in a number of key swing states.
The Gabfest goes nuclear over a story in the National Enquirer alleging that John Edwards recently met with a mistress in a Los Angeles hotel.
John chatters about political columnist Robert Novak, who struck a pedestrian while driving on a Washington, D.C., street earlier this week. Novak drove on after hitting the 66-year-old man, only to be stopped a short time later by a witness to the accident. Novak said he was listening to National Public Radio at the time.
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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.