Hello and welcome to the Slate Political Gab Fest for Friday, August 15th, 2008.

I'm here in Slate DC's lavish recording studio with Josh Levine.

Slate's, what are you?

You're our technology and sports editor, right?

I don't even work here, actually.

I just show up. You just showed up. Yeah, I just show up and get paid, but I don't actually have a job here. And then joining us by phone from somewhere in New England is Emily Bazelon. Hi, Emily.

Hello. Today on the Political Gab Fest, we're going to try something a little radical.

We're going to try to go totally freeform, we're going naked here. We don't have set topics, and we may not even do cocktail chatter. We're just going to see what happens if we, just because we're missing John and we're sort of lonely without John, we're going to lose the organizational structure that John has always given to us. So I reserve the right to do my cocktail chatter if it doesn't come up otherwise. That's true. You're a heavy drinker, so I understand that you're need to have a cocktail at the summer of the day. And I'm looking out for all those other summer drinkers. I think there are probably a lot of people who drink. Mostly people seem to run when they're listening to the Gap Fest and not actually drink, but maybe a few of them actually have a drink.

So we're just going to talk completely about alcohol today.

It could be about alcohol if that's what happens.

I don't want to impose that restriction on the Gab Fest that we have to talk about alcohol.

It's free form, so just follow whatever you want.

Yeah, okay.

So your nasty sarcasm, which I thought, like, maybe Josh wouldn't bring his nasty sarcasm to the GabFest. I thought maybe he'd bring his charming self. You're around, and you bring out Josh's nasty sarcasm. Right, that's true. I don't even think it's nasty. That's because you're defending. That's very nice. I'm not sure I've used this to describe somebody else. I probably have already used this to describe somebody else on this late gabvest, but you're the little brother I never wanted. So, so there. I have heard you say that to me before, so I'm not offended. Good. Anyway, let's talk about Barack Obama, who Josh, as the sports center, you may or may not have heard of Barack Obama, but he's running for president. He's a Democrat. He has a really good outside shot. He's a good basketball player. Yeah, I meant I meant not an outside shot at the presidency. I meant like three-pointers. He can make them on the core, yeah. I'll chime in with insights like that. Good. That's good. Well, I think he was in Hawaii, and he probably was doing lots of sports in Hawaii this week. Did you check that?

Did he not make fun of his Hawaii vacation?

Because I just am finding this whole trope of how, you know, the Hawaii vacation proves

Obama's elitism to be just completely ridiculous.

It's from Hawaii.

Emily from her vacation haunts.

My humbler vacation on, let me note.

But I still just think that, like, the notion that Hawaii equals a feat, it's ridiculous.

No, and also the way the Republicans have attacked him for going to see the dark night.

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