Matt Taibbi, Byron York Live Chat About McCain, Economic Crisis

Every day (or close to it) until November 4, a series of writers and thinkers will discuss the election over instant messenger for nymag.com. Today, Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi and National Review's Byron York argue over the headwinds facing McCain, what Phil Gramm had to do with the financial crisis, and the importance of credit default swaps.

M.T.: So how are you feeling about McCain's chances today?

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[BPCentrisAmerican]

In my HS guys like Byron got there heads put down the toilet.

[Hirnlego]

Another one. Taibbi vs David Ray Griffin (who I think makes stronger points):
http://www.alternet.org/story/100688

[OldPete]

This is a great story - I am sending it out to everyone I know. Thanks to Matt for fighting back. The Republican's continually try to spread the notion that the mess we're in is an equally shared mess. It is not. Yes, you can spread blame but it is not a 50/50 proposition. It is great to see Taibbi take it to a right wing apologist such as Byron York. Well done!

[whit4brains]

Matt Taibbi is the man!

[ohiodem250]

While Taibbi certainly owned York here, he is nothing more than a Hunter S. Thompson wannabe who didn't have the guts to do all the drugs that Thompson did and live to tell about it. I would actually like Taibbi a lot more (because he is very, very smart) if he was able to take gonzo to the next level; more building something new on the foundation of Raoul Duke instead of hopelessly imitating him.

[blood1]

What I have discovered after an attempt to figure out "Who is to Blame" is that much of what happened is buried in so much "smoke and mirror" paperwork, that if you look long enough, some one will "prove" that George Washington was the ultimate culprit. Matt got it right about the tipping point.
Regulatory failure - absolutely
Oversight of banking - NONE
Individual irresponsibility - absolutely
Wall Street irresponsibility - absolutely

Now what: In my opinion - Regulations from Washington on Banking / Wall Street will be a good start...but IF and ONLY IF there are sufficient NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES to make them follow the regulation...a slap on the hand (a few million in fines is insufficient). Several years ago, there was a bill passed after Enron...that made CEO's responsible for the failure of the company, but if anyone watched AIG or Lehman testify to Congress....they are not being punished, except to loose their job.

Individuals (all of us) will have more restricted credit, even those who have been fiscally responsible, so PLEASE learn this lesson and pass it on to your children.

We have seen these "crisis" on a 10-15 year cycle...if you really care about the future generations, teach fiscal responsibility at every level of society and teach it often instead of teaching how to "game the system"

[PKSSK]

Matt Taibi is brilliant and a valued voice in our democracy. He really needs his own show, maybe somthing similar to Rachel and Keith's shows.

[mredder4]

I could not disagree with you more. Matt Taibi is a petty, inarticulate ambush-journalist who is part of the devolution of political discussion from talking about issues to insulting people for how they look. I'm disgusted that Bill Maher still allows him on his show. I cringe every time I see him on there. It's karmic justice that his hair is falling out and he's got to wear hats all the time. His arguments against someone inevitably end up dissecting parts of their face, body, wardrobe, etc. If not that, then he grabs one issue and runs it into the ground. In this case, he picked one thing (the CDS) and attempted to beat his conversational partner with it. What was supposed to be a discussion DID end up being a partisan battle, and it's pretty obvious that Taibi was the one responsible for it.

It's entirely possible that this whole mess is the fault of both parties, and that it was a sickening combination of the CDS mess PLUS the drive to put people in houses that could not afford them that brought us to where we're at. Matt Taibi is not someone who's smart enough or big enough to come anywhere near to admitting that, not when he thinks he is always right, which is all the time, apparently.

[Puller58]

York is a Michael Barone type conservative. (Bland, boring, and dull.) Taibbi hates both candidates. I greatly enjoy reading his articles in Rolling Stone. All I can say is that York would give tepid support to McCain while Taibbi ranted about Obama and McCain.

[JDJase]

I cannot stand Matt Taibbi...everytime he's on bill maher he just irritates me

[mamacat]

I disagree. I love hearing someone speak who is knowledgeable and forthright. It is so rare these days. Or any day, for that matter. This is one smart cookie, who will not put up with B.S.

[JustLynn]

Matt Taibbi needs to be somewhere, anywhere, in Obama's White House.....This is one SMART guy....

[mredder4]

How about locked away in the basement? If Obama wants to fix the tone in Washington, the last person he should invite along is Matt Taibi. The man hasn't met someone who disagreed with him that he couldn't find some minor, insignificant thing about them and begin insulting them about it. Obama should remain as far from this toxic "journalist" as possible.

[rw97]

National Review and New Republic are easy to transpose verbally, one of them should be renamed. How about Irrational Review?

[stamper]

re:following comment, Matt, not Mike, sorry

[stamper]

I was just discussing the financial crisis with my economist son and he also tried to attribute some of the blame to carter and the "forced poor people's loans". Mike- you countered that argument brilliantly. I knew it was bulls--t but couldn't articulate it the way you did. Had I read your argument I would have had the talking points, but probably wouldn't have gotten into it with him, too close to thanksgiving!

[nobozos]

LOL...know what you mean about family and holidays.

I told a friend the other day, family gatherings have become much more civil as more of us die off.

[nobozos]

LOL...know what you mean about families and holidays.

I told someone the other day, our family gatherings were becoming more civil as more of die off.