The Gabfest on healthcare.gov Obamacare website glitches, @Natsecwonk Jofi Joseph’s firing, and Doug Gansler’s Maryland Beach Week beer party.

The Flaws of Healthcare.gov. Also, @Natsecwonk and the Maryland Attorney General's Parenting Skills.

The Flaws of Healthcare.gov. Also, @Natsecwonk and the Maryland Attorney General's Parenting Skills.

Slate's weekly political roundtable.
Oct. 25 2013 11:21 AM

The Healthcare.bomb Gabfest

Slate's popular weekly political podcast covers the healthcare.gov debacle, and the outing of @Natsecwonk.

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On this week’s Slate Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss why healthcare.gov has been a disaster, whether Twitter accounts like @Natsecwonk contribute to free speech, and what Maryland gubernatorial candidate Doug Gansler should have done about a house full of drunk teenagers.

  • Here are some of the links and references mentioned during this week's show:
  • Federal officials didn't fully test healthcare.gov until two weeks before it opened.
  • Before the Obamacare website was up and running, John wrote about how much was riding on its functionality.
  • The government's software development model is outdated.
  • Jofi Joseph was fired from his White House job for tweeting as @natsecwonk.
  • Maryland gubernatorial candidate Doug Gansler visited his son at a party where teens were drinking but didn't intervene. He now says he made a mistake.

Emily chatters about the play Arguendo.

John chatters about Gerald Ford's entry to politics as a Republican primary challenger.

David chatters about a man determined to bury his wife in his front yard.

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 Rebecca Cohen.