The “Would You Like a Ride in My Ferrari?” Gabfest
Listen to Slate’s show about Obama’s New Yorker interview, Netflix’s Romney documentary, and Bob McDonnell’s indictment.
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On this week’s Slate Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss whether Obama is as tired as he sounded in a recent New Yorker interview, what the Netflix documentary Mitt reveals about the Romneys, and how former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell wound up in a corruption scandal.
Here are some of the links and references mentioned during this week’s show:
- David Remnick interviewed Obama at length for The New Yorker. John writes that in the profile, the president “wears the limitations of his office like a shawl.”
- Bill Clinton reviewed Robert Caro’s most recent volume of his LBJ biography, and the review reads like a letter to Obama.
- Obama talks to Americans like they’re children, Isaac Chotiner writes in the New Republic.
- When Michael Lewis interviewed Obama for Vanity Fair in 2012, the president sounded buoyant.
- The Netflix documentary Mitt captures Mitt Romney’s 2008 and 2012 presidential bids.
- Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife were indicted on corruption charges just days after he left office. Authorities accused the couple of illegally accepting gifts of designer clothes, luxury vacations, and large loans from a wealthy donor.
- Dahlia Lithwick writes about the lessons of the McDonnell scandal in Slate.
John chatters about what the American Studies classic People of Plenty says about the history of income inequality, and about the racism of another American Studies classic, The Epic of America.
Emily chatters about a Supreme Court case involving how child pornography victims should receive restitution.
David chatters about a revolution in maple syrup harvesting.
This week’s credits are in the style of an angry basketball coach.
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.