Election 2012: The Gabfest on the U.S. consulate attack in Libya, the Obama bounce, and Chicago teachers vs. Rahm Emanuel.

The Gabfest on the Politics of Arab Unrest

The Gabfest on the Politics of Arab Unrest

Slate's weekly political roundtable.
Sept. 14 2012 3:24 PM

The Teeny Little Bounce Gabfest

Listen to Slate's show about the attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya, whether Obama’s bounce will last, and the Chicago teachers’ strike.

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Live Seattle Gabfest: Oct. 4, 6:30 p.m., at Town Hall—we’re very excited to announce that Dan Savage will join us as a special guest! Bring your friends, enemies, and pandas. For tickets and more info.

Live D.C. Hang Up and Listen Gabfest: Oct. 1, 7 p.m., at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., (tickets here).

The Political Gabfest was nominated for a 2012 Online Journalism Award for commentary!

Now available! DoubleX co-founder Hanna Rosin’s new book, The End of Men: And the Rise of Women.

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On this week’s Slate Political Gabfest, John Dickerson, David Plotz and Emily Bazelon discuss the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya, Obama’s modest bounce, and the Chicago teachers’ strike.  

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

David is jealous of John’s guest appearance on this week’s Slate Culture Gabfest. You can also catch Emily on this week’s Slate Audio Book Club.

Timelines of the events in Egypt and Libya, from Slate’s Dave Weigel and the Washington Post.

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Weigel also says “Romney did not ‘gaffe.’” John says that “in international affairs, what, when, and how you say something is important.”  

Just how important is a good ambassador? That and other Libya answers from Slate’s Brian Palmer.

Gallup’s Sept. 11 post-convention analysis tracked a 3-point bounce for Obama; Nate Silver’s Sept. 11 analysis wondered if that bounce would hold.  

John talks about a Sept. 11 Washington Post-ABC News poll that found a larger bounce for Obama among registered voters than among likely voters.

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David thinks Obama needs to spend heavily on ground efforts to make up for his relatively worse polling among likely voters. Nate Cohn has a similar analysis.

Emily says research on teaching evaluations says they are best at identifying the most and least effective teachers. In March, a group of education researchers sent Mayor Emanuel an open letter raising concern about the evidence that links teacher evaluations with school improvement.     

John mentions “Waiting for Superman” and “Won’t Back Down”— two movies about the current reform movement.

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Emily chatters about a breast-feeding professor.

David chatters about his wife Hanna Rosin’s new book, The End of Men: And the Rise of Women . David and Hanna appeared on The Today Show on Sept. 13.

Topic ideas for next week? You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest

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

Podcast production by Mike Vuolo and Andy Bowers. Links compiled by Jeff Friedrich.