Matt Taibbi…

Filed in National by on November 10, 2008

I’m doing some catching up on my reading assignments from Dorian Gray and Not Brian and Von Cracker too…

I am currently reading Matt Taibbi’s piece on Sarah Palin from back in Sep 07.  This guy is one hell of a writer that is for sure.


But watching Palin’s speech, I had no doubt
that I was witnessing a historic, iconic performance. The candidate sauntered to the lectern with the assurance of a sleepwalker – and immediately launched into a symphony of snorting and sneering remarks, taking time out in between the superior invective to present herself as just a humble gal with a beefcake husband and a brood of healthy, combat-ready spawn who just happened to be the innocent targets of a communist and probably also homosexual media conspiracy. It was a virtuoso performance. She appeared to be completely without shame and utterly full of shit, awing a room full of hardened reporters with her sickly sweet line about the high-school-flame-turned-hubby who, “five children later” is “still my guy.” It was like watching Gidget address the Reichstag.

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  1. edisonkitty says:

    Was Taibbi injured in an ice-hockey game as a child, leaving him able to divine the future by limited contact with the mortals of today?

  2. Dominique says:

    The guy who thinks alot is aword thinks Matt Taibbi’s a good writer. That’s rich.

  3. Unstable Isotope says:

    Who knew Palin could inspire such divine writing?

    BTW, did you know that Palin is now a word in the Urban Dictionary?

    http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=palin

    1. Palin
    1. An applicant lacking even basic job skills
    2. Someone supremely un-self-aware or lacking any relative sense of what he/she does or doesn’t know.
    HR sent me another Palin for the marketing manager job.

    2. palin

    (v) to abandon one’s principles for short term gain
    Tom, a devout vegan, palined when he consumed a happy meal solely to obtain the collectible toy it contained.

    3. Palin
    n.1. Pejorative term that refers to an incompetent, impractical, irrelevant or incapable person who has been appointed to a position of great importance.

    2. A person who holds authority disproportionate to his or her requisite ethics and qualifications. Derived from John McCain’s controversial 2008 Vice Presidential pick, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

    John was recently made principal, but everybody thinks he’s a Palin who can’t do the job.

    My new boss is such a Palin – he took my deserved place because the CEO is his personal friend.

  4. pandora says:

    On Sept. 30, 2008, Jason said:

    Palin (v) to bluff poorly, esp. with regard to some basic knowledge.

    eg. When the cop pulled be over and asked if I knew why, I palined.

    eg. I’m going to have to palin my presentation tomorrow if I have another drink.

  5. Andy Lippstone says:

    The line you quoted — “Like Gidget addressing the Reichstag” — is probably the greatest, most evocative campaign insult of this long season.

    If you like Taibbi, I recommend the book he wrote with Mark Ames about his years editing an alt-weekly in Moscow. Also, check out his annual “Most Loathsome People” lists in the NY Press.

  6. Miscreant says:

    Along with the likes of Bill Maher, and most of the commenters on DL, he’s merely the latest pivot man in the daisy chain of Socialist/Communist wannabes. He shares their (ahem) literary style, which can be likened to behaving like a spoiled child who is screaming for attention in the muddle of a crowded room.

    One of his more impressive works was entitled “The 52 Funniest Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope.”

    Next question.

  7. Dominique says:

    In all fairness, UI, Urban Dictionary has a definition for virtually everything. Look up Obama. I would post a few of them, but there are just too many.

  8. Not Brian says:

    Miscreant – I guess it is only cute when tinged with racism and xenophobia from the likes of Rush Limaugh…

    Say what you will, I would rather read The 52 Funniest Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope” than anything PJ O’Rourke has written since the 80’s…

  9. jason330 says:

    I love that Dominique’s new cause is defending Sarah Palin.

    I just do.

  10. jason330 says:

    Hey Pandora, thanks for the props.

  11. Miscreant says:

    “Look up Obama. I would post a few of them, but there are just too many.”

    Here’s one:

    Obama

    To speak highly of ones ability, ones intelligence, and ones leadership without ever being tested; to be very arrogant; to have an exaggerated sense of ones ability or importance; egotistical

    – Jason thought Pandora was being very obama when speaking to the class about her travels.

  12. pandora says:

    No problem, J. I remembered your comment when UI pointed out the Urban Dictionary.

  13. Miscreant says:

    “I guess it is only cute when tinged with racism and xenophobia from the likes of Rush Limaugh…”

    You’ll have to edify me, Sparky. I don’t listen to that pompous ass.

  14. jason330 says:

    Obama (v) – to kick John McCain’s geriatric ass and make conservatives cry.

  15. Andy,

    Thanks, I will put that on my list now that I have a 45 minute train ride each way to work starting monday.

  16. jason330 says:

    I loved having a 40 minute train commute. I read my ass off that year.

  17. won’t
    make comment
    about
    his
    ass coming
    back

  18. Dominique says:

    Jason –

    I’m not defending Palin as much as I’m defending strong women who seem to consistently be put in their place – frequently by other women. Meek, weak, vapid women (a la Laura Bush and Claire McCaskill), on the other hand, are put on a pedestal. Women are fine as long as we behave, act demure and don’t expect to get too far. It’s disgusting.

  19. cassandra_m says:

    And that wasn’t even a good bullshit response, Dom.

  20. Dominique says:

    Wow, coming from you that really means a lot.

  21. kavips says:

    Dominique, were you accidentally speaking tongue in cheek when you defended Sarah Palin with this remark?

    I’m not defending Palin as much as I’m defending strong women who seem to be consistently put in their place

    Put her in her place?… that she was emphatically on November 4th by two thirds of America. That she was…. again at the concession speech by her good friends, the McCain staff…. Now that she is back in “her place” I think she’s feels alot more comfortable living on a lower level….

    I want so bad to make a joke about another local blogger’s enthusiastic support for someone who doesn’t know where Africa is….

    Oh yeah, she’s the greatest!….

    but I will refrain out of respect..even though it is making me laugh hysterically while typing this….

  22. by strong I guess you mean willing to lie over and over and over again and not give a shit.

    got it. your standards are embarrassing for women

  23. delawaredem says:

    We have a new syndrome, Ladies and Gentlemen. The Right over the last eight years diagnosed all our anger and opposition to Bush as resulting from the Bush Derangement Syndrome.

    Well, now we have Obama Derangement Syndrome. This mental illness has two strains. The first affects women of a certain generation and experience who were supporters of Hillary Clinton’s presidential run in 2008. The Syndrome makes them reject their principles and ideals and embrace right wing idiots as paragons of virtue and strength. The second strain affects all right wingers into believing contradictions at the same time: that Obama is a Muslim Terrorist and a Radical Black Christian, that he is a Marxist and a Conservative in a Center Right Country, etc. etc. etc.