The God Intended This Gabfest To Happen Gabfest
Listen to Slate's show about the campaign’s home stretch, the Republicans' continuing "rape problem," and the Castle Doctrine.
Posted Friday, Oct. 26, 2012, at 3:45 PM ET
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On this week’s Slate Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, David Plotz, and special guest Will Saletan discuss the campaign’s home stretch, Indiana GOP senate candidate Richard Mourdock's controversial comments and the Republicans' continuing "rape problem," and the Castle Doctrine.
Here are some of the links and references mentioned during this week's show:
- John says Romney is peaking at just the right moment.
- John notes that both campaigns are bragging about their ground games; the Atlantic’s Molly Ball takes a closer look.
- John refers to Will’s expert knowledge of Romney’s position changes; check-out Will’s thorough investigation of how, when, and why Romney changed his position on abortion.
- Want more on Romney’s abortion history? Will also prepared a round-up of other reporting on Romney’s views.
- Can Romney actually govern from middle? Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin reviews the political science literature for an answer.
- Will says Mourdock and Akin aren’t outliers; they represent the new Republican mainstream.
- Emily says laws like the Castle Doctrine are encouraging more violence than they prevent.
Emily chatters about what happened to the popular kids from high school, and recommends Katy Waldman’s summary of the research.
John chatters about meeting David Bradley—the inventor of ctrl-alt-delete!
David chatters about Dolores Umbridge’s stunt double: Mitt Romney.
Topic ideas for next week? You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest
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 Michael Vuolo. Links compiled by Jeff Friedrich.
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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.
Will Saletan covers science, technology, and politics for Slate and says a lot of things that get him in trouble.