Politics: The White House Field Guide to Scandal

	Now playing: Slate V, a video-only site from the world's leading online magazine. Visit Slate V at www.slatev.com. Politics The White House Field Guide to Scandal How the trio of Obama scandals could save immigration reform and the welfare state. By David Weigel Posted Tuesday, May 14, 2013, at 11:26 PM ET If you find yourself panicking about the thick cloud of scandal snaking around the Obama administration, don't. Sen. John McCain has good news for you. "When Iran–Contra was going on, President Reagan was still able to work with Congress," said McCain to Capitol Hill reporters today. "Legislation was passed, et cetera." That scandal captivated Washington and the world, and "everyone thought that it would damage President Reagan, but it didn't." There, isn't that soothing? Three stories, doing varying amounts of damage, may only add up to the same Richter scale score as the story that nearly destroyed the Reagan presidency. The invincible Republican investigation of Benghazi, the IRS's early admission that it hassled Tea Party groups, two U.S. attorneys' snooping into Associated Press phone records—it's all being rolled together into a grand narrative of presidential crisis. In his weekly chat with reporters, Democratic House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer confused the IRS story and the AP story, answering one with his talking points for the other. He apologized. Then he did it again. That, obviously, is not the way to handle this. Yes, the overall impression of crisis is affecting the mood of Congress. Many pundits are resurrecting the musty meme of the "Second Term Curse," but that's a little easy—any government in power gets weaker as it gets older. A better term is "Omnishambles," a situation that looks "shambolic from every possible angle," because the individual angles actually matter here ... To continue reading, click here. Also In Slate Will Arresting People Who Aren't Very Drunk Reduce Drunk-Driving Fatalities? How to Beat GeoGuessr, the Insanely Addictive Google Maps Guessing Game Escape Plans Manage your newsletters subscription: Unsubscribe | Forward to a Friend | Advertising Information Ideas on how to make something better? Send an e-mail to slatenewsletter@nl.slate.com. Copyright 2013 The Slate Group | Privacy Policy The Slate Group | c/o E-mail Customer Care | 1350 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 410 | Washington, D.C. 20036

Arts: When Hitchcock Pushed for Gun Control

	Now playing: Slate V, a video-only site from the world's leading online magazine. Visit Slate V at www.slatev.com. Brow Beat When Hitchcock Pushed for Gun Control By James Hughes Posted Wednesday, May 15, 2013, at 08:54 PM ET Each news cycle is replete with Twilight Zone comparisons. With incessant surveillance, melting planets, and robot warfare consuming headlines, there's no shortage of potential comparisons. But following the recent wave of accidental shootings at the hands of children—culminating in the heart-wrenching story of a sibling fatality in south-central Kentucky from a gun marketed for children as "My First Rifle"—there's another classic TV show that applies to a chilling degree: Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The episode "Bang! Your Dead," which originally aired in 1961 and can be viewed in full online, tracks an afternoon of agonizing roulette. A young boy replaces the toy gun in his holster with the real revolver he finds in his uncle's suitcase, which he partially loads with live rounds. For a pulse-pounding afternoon, the boy waltzes around town, slipping through each townsperson's grip as he plays cowboy. "Stick 'em up!" he orders. Friends and neighbors all bashfully obey, teasing out the boy's joke—and the audience's horror. The episode, the last Hitchcock directed himself, opens with the trigger-happy boy ogling over the birthday present of a neighborhood trendsetter—a strikingly realistic six-shooter, complete with a "whole boxful" of bullets, which the boys loads into the revolving chamber with tongue-curl concentration. He then sizes up the chintzy hardware on the half-pint's hip. "What a cheesy gun," he sneers, crushing his admirer's hopes and prompting a search for a more convincing sidearm. I confess a certain familiarity with that ... To continue reading, click here. Also In Slate Will Arresting People Who Aren't Very Drunk Reduce Drunk-Driving Fatalities? How to Beat GeoGuessr, the Insanely Addictive Google Maps Guessing Game Escape Plans Manage your newsletters subscription: Unsubscribe | Forward to a Friend | Advertising Information Ideas on how to make something better? Send an e-mail to slatenewsletter@nl.slate.com. Copyright 2013 The Slate Group | Privacy Policy The Slate Group | c/o E-mail Customer Care | 1350 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 410 | Washington, D.C. 20036