The Political Gabfest for Feb. 11, 2011.

The Political Gabfest for Feb. 11, 2011.

The Political Gabfest for Feb. 11, 2011.

Slate's weekly political roundtable.
Feb. 11 2011 12:06 PM

The "What Was He Thinking?" Gabfest

Listen to Slate's review of the week in politics.

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On this week's Slate Political Gabfest (recorded before Hosni Mubarak's resignation), Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Mubarak's nonresignation speech, Rep. Christopher Lee's lightning-quick sex scandal, and the Huffington Post-AOL merger.

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Here are some of the links and references mentioned during this week's show:

The Gawker piece that broke the story of married New York Rep. Christopher Lee's Craigslist flirting.

A Politico piece on Rep. Lee's quick decision to resign.

A New York Times piece on turmoil in the ranks of House Republicans.

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A Washington Post piece on AOL's decision to buy the Huffington Post for $315 million.

A Slate piece on the Huffington Post's weak spot: the future of search engine optimization.

David had two chatters this week. First is a rumination on what judgments you can make about someone simply by seeing their email address. Please send your rude, vicious, and unfounded stereotypes to gabfest@slate.com.

David's second chatter is actually more of a promise. In an effort to end his verbal tics, David will make a $1 donation to a "pro-panda charity" every time he says "you know" or "sort of" on the show. Send your ideas for a charity to gabfest@slate.com.

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Emily chatters on a study by Robert Faris from the University of California-Davis that examines the relationship between the number of friends you have in middle and high school and your level of aggression. Apparently the moderately popular kids are the real jerks.

John also has two chatters this week. His first is Newt Gingrich's grandiose entrance at this week's CPAC conference, which included a trek through the crowd as "Eye of the Tiger" blared in the background. His second chatter is on a new exhibit on handmade guitars at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (E-mail may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Posted on Feb. 11 by John Griffith at 12:06 p.m.

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Slate Senior Editor Emily Bazelon, Chief Political Correspondent John Dickerson, and Editor David Plotz host the Gabfest weekly.