22 September 2008

Taibbi says Palin a symbol of everything wrong with modern US

In the latest (Oct. 2) issue of Rolling Stone, on sale now but not yet available online, writer Matt Taibbi calls out the American electorate in a major new piece called 'The Lies of Sarah Palin.' A snippet:

"Here's the thing about Americans. You can send their kids off by the thousands to get their balls blown off in foreign lands for no reason at all, saddle them with billions in debt year after congressional year while they spend their winters cheerfully watching game shows and football, pull the rug out from under their mortgages, and leave them living off their credit cards and their Wal-Mart salaries while you move their jobs to China and Bangalore.

"And none of it matters, so long as you remember a few months before Election Day to offer them a two-bit caricature culled from some cutting-room-floor episode of Roseanne as part of your presidential ticket. And if she's a good enough likeness of a loudmouthed Middle American archetype, as Sarah Palin is, John Q. Public will drop his giant sized bag of Doritos in gratitude, wipe the sizzlin' picante dust from his lips and rush to the booth to vote for her. Not because it makes sense, or because it has a chance of improving his life or anyone else's, but simply because it appeals to the low-humming narcissism that substitutes for his personality, because that image on TV reminds him of the mean brainless slob he sees in the mirror every morning.

"Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern United States. As a representative of our political system, she's a new low in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl Rove. But more than that, she is a horrifying symbol of how little we ask for in return for the total surrender of our political power. Not only is Sarah Palin a fraud, she's the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV – and this country is going to eat her up, cheering every step of the way. All because most Americans no longer have the energy to do anything but lie back and allow ourselves to be jacked off by the calculating thieves who run this grasping consumer paradise we call a nation."

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Surprisingly harsh (i.e. truthful) words coming from Mr. Taibbi -- next, he might even be reconsidering his stance on those pesky 9/11 conspiracy theories. Good...

Anonymous said...

let us not revel in this sophistry but rather huddle together in prayer that John and Sarah will be able to continue the struggle agaisnt Terror and hope that will be even half as successful as the war on Drugs. And speaking of freedom - we should lock up anyone and everyone who questions 911. These people are kooks and muslims!

Anonymous said...

Hey Matt, they blew the towers up themselves and lied about it to start an illegal war.
'Ultimate cynical masterwork' indeed.
She's your leader, vote for her; unless you're a conspiracy theorist ?

Anonymous said...

Looks as though the author believes that the entrenched regular guard should not dare to enter national politics.

Believe it or not, regular folks, even from Alaska, have a pretty good handle on what is going on with the US government, and they are not pleased with the status quo.

There is not a dimes worth of difference between the Democrats and the Republicans.

Anonymous said...

He forgot to mention she killed Bullwinkle and gutted Bambie. --Would love to see her with Cheney!

Anonymous said...

McCain and his Bible thumping bint are a new low, but Obama and Biden aren't much of a step up.

The choice this year will be between the lesser of two enferiors.

Anonymous said...

George Wallace said it best, "there's not a dime's worth of difference between" Republicans and Democrats. The Democrats willingly went along with the War in Iraq, suspension of Habeas Corpus, Patriot Act, banning books like America Deceived (book) from Amazon, Wikipedia and Facebook, warrant-less wiretapping and opening private mail. They are both guilty of treason.
Clean them all out and save this great nation.

Gronk said...

Until we forced into the streets where our internet porn feeds and playstations won't work, not a god damn thing is going to change.

Take one look at the boomer's spawn, and you'll see a generation doing everything under the sun to stick their heads in the sand deeper than their parents have.

America's done, and sadly the handful of us that are smart enough to see that and still care about it and want to fix it aren't going to be able to hold back the tide.

The machines gotta die on it's own, and do so in a way no-one can ignore, before real change will happen.

When we can spend 80% of the fed's money on infrastructure instead of the military, then maybe there will be hope again. Until then, we're all slaves of one kind or another.

greylox said...

**Get it together you fucking cynics. Taibbi, as always, is right. There are an amazing number of neanderthals who are going to vote for this Alaskan Asswipe. If you can't see that Obama is far and away a better choice than Mumbles McCain, then YOU deserve what you get. But I don't. So I'm fighting.

SuperStarSteve said...

I think I'm in love, and it's not with Palin...

McPain's judgment worries me because of all the qualified Republican female candidates, he reaches up to Alaska so he can change his mantra from 'experience' to 'change'. Mr. Taibbi hits it right on the head with his observation. American's have become lazy slobs when it comes to knowing and digesting what is going on. The rug indeed is being pulled out from underneath us as the roll out of Palin as the "everywoman" is part of that.

What is equally troublesome is Palins reticence (and McCain) to speaking with the press. She is running as VP, not cub scout den mother. She needs to show us she can think on her feet and all she does is duck and cover. I think she recently did a press conference and picked the reporters who could ask her questions. Bad sign.

I find our populace (in general) has for voting purposes two major divisions. One is rural vs. urban. Rich vs. middle class or poor. Rural people seem to have a much more simplistic view of the world because of the less varied challenges and experiences. Sarah Palin is of that ilk. Sarah Palin has also pandered to big oil interests and has no qualms about it. I'm sure they've made it worth her time. $$ The ignorance in the US is nurtured and fertilized by a media which is fueled by ratings as opposed to real news. It seems everyone I speak to who is for the McPain ticket is unaware of the big issues that will effect them. McPain will raise the taxes of working and middle class people and lower the taxes of the very wealthy. And his healthcare policy is a sham. Taxing healthcare benefits will not help your average American. The roll out of Sarah Palin and the distancing from Bush is a way McCain has used the Karl Rove Method to massage the mottled minds of the masses. Indeed.

Anonymous said...

"There is not a dimes worth of difference between the Democrats and the Republicans."

I'm so sick of hearing this bald-faced lie cynically meant to keep people from voting Democratic so as to once again let the Repugs have another 4 or 8 or more years. Everyone knows that rabid Repugs ALWAYS vote, but freer thinking people won't if they feel the choices are unacceptable. That's what this little ditty is meant to accomplish. And has.

Anonymous said...

the only difference between palin and cheney is that if she shot you in the face, no one would believe it was an accident, and you wouldn't survive.
my friends and i recently donated to planned parenthood in her honor, she will be receiving "thank you"s from them.. a palin rape kit program would be appropriate. feel free to join.

Anonymous said...

Taibbi is just playing tough-guy...because if he believes the official conspiracy theory about 19 Arabs with boxcutters, he knows he is the personification of what's wrong with this fearful country of wusses!!

Anonymous said...

"enferiors."

hmm, ok moron.

Anonymous said...

how creative, correcting spelling!!

It is slightly encouraging, however, to see an editorial stating what I have since I graduated high school. I think Mike Judge said it best when he produced Idiocracy. The collective intelligence of Americans is embarasingly low, and the fact that this race is even close is evidence of exactly that. Americans should be one step from taking to the streets in sheer outrage over what is being done to them, yet they are far too busy guessing who is going to win American Idol to even care. If everything over the last eight years isn't ALREADY bad enough, the fact that we are QUICKLY becoming a fascist state should frighten, and even humiliate, people into action. Unfortunately, you would be hard pressed to even find a single American that even knows what a fascist is. You are likely to get some half-witted answer like "terrorist" or "fanatic" if you asked, although you would have to translate a series to grunts and guffaws to figure it out.

(ok, I admit, that was overly snarky)

All the same, what this country has become in the name of Christianity, of all things, is just tragic. This is what happens when a swaggering frat-boy is electe-- appointed as leader over a bunch of ignorant hicks and cowboys.

Anonymous said...

I think if you liked this piece you also will like a similar piece I wrote for topplebush.com at http://www.topplebush.com/oped5314.shtml. It's called "Anti-intellectualism and discredited religious fundamentalist beliefs might work for moose hunting or fishing..but not running the United States. I attack Palin as the hillbilly white trash she and her family really are. What we all should fully understand that if Obama's family resembled the Palins, Barack would have never gotten on a national stage...not in a million years.

Anonymous said...

Abandon your posts! Flee!! Flee for your lives!!!

Anonymous said...

seriously, I'll help you all pack your bags and move OUT OF THE USA!!!!!!!!! This country belongs to the people who LOVE it and RESPECT it - not to the likes of you!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Either you're with Mc Cain and Palin, or you're with the terrorists. A nation able to swallow the Jessica Lynch's story is ready for any kind of fairy tale available.

Unknown said...

Hey Android 21z9, I'd love to pack my crap and leave, but as much as I am disgusted with this country and how the people en mass follow in a lemming line towards the precipice, I am far more afraid of what it could potentially become if people like me all jumped off the caboose. None of us OWN this country... we stole it in the first place and it's very likely that we are getting whats been coming to us since our ancestors had their hay-day genocide on the Native Americans. Anyone who honestly thinks that McPlain is a good combo for this country and humanity needs reprogramming. It will be scary for you and your types at first, but you were programmed once before at an early age, and I have faith in you that your neurons can successfully be rewired so that you once again resemble something somewhat human rather then the reptilian husks you've become. (and breeaaaath)
I'm by no means a Democrat, but Dem's fighting words!

Anonymous said...

I hope Taibbi doesn't reconsider his comments re: the 9-11 folks.

Many of the "Truthers" are down right embarrassing.

Anonymous said...

Not a dime's bit of difference between Dems and Republicans? Yeah right. And what are you? God's gift to libertarians an a fine-anshul genius I'll bet. But I'm imagining you in a dirty truckers hat, frayed overalls and a piece of hay between your tooth. Am I right? You undecideds (idiots) and independents (pussies) are the ones who got us 8 years of Bush. I'm glad there are those of you out there who can think out of the box, the cardboard box you live in (I'll bet you even considered voting McCain! Idiot), but for the next four weeks, please, shut the fuck up.

Anonymous said...

Palin's nomination on the vice-presidential ticket is not just an insult to women, but to all Americans!!! The message is: we're not smart. We don't have to be smart. We just have to like it. But what is IT?

Unknown said...

On the contrary, my friend who I'd love to meet in a dark alley. I live in Boston and work among the poli-ticks on Beacon Hill. Your remarks have proven your worth, and it's because of your blindness and faith in god, as I'm sure you have, this place is now sh*t. You probably think the bailout is a good move too. McBama indeed.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

"enferiors."

hmm, ok moron.

A typo doesn't negate the message .!..

Anonymous said...

Oh my God! What a SICK author! Sarah Palin happens to be every normal family woman out there so get a clue you moron!