POLITICS -- September 3, 2010 at 8:25 PM EDT

Shields and Brooks Dissect Beck Rally, Brewer Brain Freeze, D.C. Sharks

By: Hari Sreenivasan

In their Friday stop at the Rundown, columnists Mark Shields and David Brooks answered some of your hard-hitting questions submitted via Facebook and Twitter, including ones about President Obama's handling of foreign affairs and the debate over whether to let the Bush tax cuts expire, extend them for everyone or everyone except the wealthiest Americans.

They also shared their experiences in the crowd at last weekend's Glenn Beck rally in Washington and delved into the "Brewer brain freeze" -- the awkward silences and grammatical flub during Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's opening statement of a gubernatorial debate this week.

And cue the "Jaws" theme. Shields heralded news of bull shark encounters near Washington as signs that the Potomac River is getting cleaner, while Brooks remarks that Capitol Hill has always been infested with some sharks.

Follow Hari Sreenivasan on Twitter.
With contributions by Dave Gustafson.

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