But Taibbi is no fan of the neocons and their hellspawn, a point he illustrated brilliantly in a recent article, "Giuliani: Worse Than Bush." In the piece, he portrays the former mayor of New York City as a conniving opportunist who got rich off 9-11, hopped into bed with anybody willing to write a check, and is now planning a Swift-Boat-style attack on Hillary Clinton, hiding behind a PAC ominously named "Stop Her Now" and funded by the same shadowy forces who so successfully smeared Kerry's military record.
Aside from his conclusions, however, I particularly enjoyed his ability to turn a phrase and distill an otherwise complex point down to a level that could be understood by anybody with better than a 3rd-grade reading aptitude. For example, here's his analysis of the secret to Bush's two-term existence in the White House, and how Giuliani is the perfect candidate to tap into that success:
"Yes, Rudy is smarter than Bush. But his political strength -- and he knows it -- comes from America's unrelenting passion for never bothering to take that extra step to figure shit out. If you think you know it all already, Rudy agrees with you. And if anyone tries to tell you differently, they're probably traitors, and Rudy, well, he'll keep an eye on 'em for you. Just like Bush, Rudy appeals to the couch-bound bully in all of us, and part of the allure of his campaign is the promise to put the Pentagon and the power of the White House at that bully's disposal."
Obviously, we live in a very superficial world, where style trumps substance at every turn and elections are decided by positing which candidate would be a more affable drinking buddy. That's not to say there are no legitimate reasons for voting for a Republican -- but millions of people who lined up behind Bush did so against their own economic and even social self-interests (hello, Log Cabin dwellers!). To use Taibbi's words, if they'd taken that extra step to figure shit out, they might have decided faux swagger and flag-waving make for good soundbites and 30-second TV ads, but comprehensive health care and a tax policy that doesn't favor the richest 10 percent of the country would actually improve their lives.
Thomas Frank addressed the issue thoroughly in his book, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" But that's the point. It took Frank an entire book to state his case. Taibbi summed it up in a paragraph. That's hitting the nail on the head.
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Here's my favorite Taibbi distillation, from a Rolling Stone piece on shadowing Bernie Sanders and some of his legislation:
"Congress isn't the steady assembly line of consensus policy ideas it's sold as, but a kind of permanent emergency in which a majority of members work day and night to burgle the national treasure and burn the Constitution. A largely castrated minority tries, Alamo-style, to slow them down -- but in the end spends most of its time beating calculated retreats and making loose plans to fight another day.
Taken all together, the whole thing is an ingenious system for inhibiting progress and the popular will. The deck is stacked just enough to make sure that nothing ever changes. But just enough is left to chance to make sure that hope never completely dies out. And who knows, maybe it evolved that way for a reason."
You're no writing slouch yerself.
Oooh, a mystery commenter! Thanks mommybrain -- care to identify yourself or are you a happy lurker?
Loved that snipped from Taibbi, BTW. I wonder if he felt this way when the Democrats were in power pre-'94 and Republicans were the largely castrated minority. I didn't follow politics closely back then, but as I recall, nobody accused Newt and his clones of being unpatriotic or part of the "blame America first" crowd when they resisted, then overthrew, the Dems.
Vegas, I stumbled upon your blog thru a google alert on Matt Taibbi. I'm a big fan of good writing and used to be, in my yout', a fan of sports writing, particularly.
I hang out behind the screen at Firedoglake, mostly, moderating immoderate comments. I remain your humble fan, mommybrain.
Fantastic -- feel free to visit any time. Needless to say, you'll always receive a warm welcome here at WHIH, where today's high temp should hover around 110.
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