The Will You Sign My Pledge Gabfest
Listen to Slate's show about the immutable politics of tax pledges, the Israel-Gaza conflict, and Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln.
Posted Friday, Nov. 23, 2012, at 3:25 PM ET
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On this week’s Slate Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson and David Plotz discuss the politics of raising taxes when many Republicans have signed pledges that they never will. They’ll also discuss the Israel-Gaza conflict, and the political lessons of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln.
Here are some of the links and references mentioned during this week's show:
Email your 2012 conundra (or conundrums) to gabfest@slate.com! Examples from our 2010 and 2011 conundra Gabfests.
- The New York Times profiled the test facing Grover Norquist’s no-taxes pledge in the run-up to the fiscal cliff.
- John mentions Ezra Klein’s renaming of the “fiscal cliff” to the “austerity crisis.”
- David recommends Claire Tomalin’s Charles Dickens: A Life.
- David suggests that Israel-Gaza is a proxy fight involving other players; Will Saletan has more on Egypt’s role as a missile supplier.
- Emily mentions Jeffrey Goldberg’s distinction between the short and long term aspects of Israel’s strategy.
- Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick is on book leave in Israel and wrote about her experience of the conflict.
- John gives an overview of the lessons Obama might learn from Lincoln about managing Congress.
Emily chatters about Victor Zapana’s personal history in The New Yorker.
John chatters about Frontline’s new documentary on childhood poverty in America.
David chatters about the remaking of Red Dawn.
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.