The Send Them to the Glue Factory Gabfest
Listen to Slate's show about the State of the Union address, whether some politicians should follow the pope’s lead and retire, and the president’s new emphasis on education reform.
Posted Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, at 3:27 PM
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On this week’s Slate Political Gabfest, John Dickerson, Emily Bazelon, and David Plotz discuss President Obama's State of the Union address, the lessons aging politicians might learn from Pope Benedict’s surprise retirement, and the president’s emphasis on new directions for education reform—including universal(ish) preschool.
Here are some of the links and references mentioned during this week's show:
- John says that the president’s address contained a lot of ideas and one simple message: Republicans are the problem.
- Slate’s Matthew Yglesias curated an exhaustive reading list for several of the president’s new policy proposals.
- David mentions an emerging “Senate first” approach to legislating, explained in further detail by Politico.
- David refers to our Facebook poll, which asked about prioritizing the president’s SOTU proposals.
- Slate’s Explainer answers everything about the Pope’s retirement.
- David cites data on the prevalence of dementia in older populations – he’s referencing “The Age of Reason,” a June 2011 presentation from Harvard University economics professor David Laibson.
- David talks about his brief visit to The White House College Scorecard.
- Emily recommends reading Dana Goldstein for more details on Obama’s remarks about vocational education.
- Matt Yglesias links to Kevin Carey for an intriguing report on the president’s messaging about higher education and accreditation reform.
- Dylan Matthews has an overview of the Perry Preschool Study and other academic research.
John chatters about Hangover Heaven.
Emily chatters about HBO’s Girls – she frowns at a few male bloggers at Slate and gives props to Patrick Wilson’s wife, Dagmara Dominczyk.
David chatters about a photo tour of Google’s “over the top” new media office in Tel Aviv.
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 Mike Vuolo. Links compiled by Jeff Friedrich. Executive produced by Andy Bowers.
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Emily Bazelon is a Slate senior editor and writes about law, family, and kids. She is also the Truman Capote Fellow at Yale Law School and a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine. Her new book is Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Empathy and Character. 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.