The Flirt, Friend, and Chat Gabfest
Listen to Slate's show about the Obama campaign’s bad week, Jeb Bush, stranger danger on Skout, and summer reading for Romney and Obama.
Posted Friday, June 15, 2012, at 7:41 PM ET
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On this week’s Slate Political Gabfest, David Plotz, Emily Bazelon, and John Dickerson discuss the recently chaotic Obama campaign, Jeb Bush’s comment that Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush would not fit into today’s GOP, and recommend summer reading for Obama and Romney.
Here are some of the links and references mentioned during this week's show:
The Democracy Corps memo to the Obama campaign.
John’s Slate piece on Obama’s comments that “the private sector is doing just fine.”
Josh Marshall’s TPM piece on the criticism of Obama’s messaging.
John’s Slate piece on Jeb Bush and today’s GOP.
Jeb Bush’s tweets defending his comments.
Emily’s Slate XX Factor post on pedophiles using the Skout app.
A New York Times article on the new “digital divide.”
David recommends the following books for Obama and Romney:
The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant by Ulysses S. Grant
The Age of Austerity by Thomas Edsall
Away by Amy Bloom
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
Emily recommends:
Democracy: An American Novel by Henry Adams
A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Oddly Normal by John Schwartz
John recommends:
American Nations by Colin Woodard
Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis by Graham T. Allison
The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America by Daniel J. Boorstin
John chatters about a new HBO documentary on George H.W. Bush.
Emily chatters about Rafael Nadal’s seventh French Open win, which broke Bjorn Borg’s 1981 record, and wonders how Borg would fare in today’s tennis world.
David chatters about a wrestle-off that took place in Times Square to determine the final Olympic spot on the United States freestyle wrestling team.
The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)
Podcast production by Andrew Bouvé and Dale Willman. Links compiled by Aviva Shen.
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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, will be published in February. 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.