Matt Taibbi is deliberately misrepresenting Erica Jong's article to give himself a victim's cloak to hide under. Erica Jong never said "You're a Nazi, Matt." She used similes to point out, quite accurately, that Matt is LIKE the Nazis. His goal is to demean the targets of his articles to reduce them in any way possible, with the result being that they are so insulted and ridiculed that no one could possibly listen to their side and attempt to see things their way. He's the master of the cheap shot. Anyone who disagrees with him must be lowered to sub-human status, otherwise they might, as Erica Jong did, use a well-written article without any manufactured pause points and drumrolls to puncture what he's attempting to pass off as an argument.
But it's "edgy" and young and hip. This is journalism these days? I also saw this guy on Real Time and found him to be a complete joke. Not because what he said was funny, but because he thought it was. "Oh man, I'm gonna burn Clinton so bad, and then I'll be a winner and a cool kid and my life will have meaning again!" Whatever he says or does, nothing will change the fact that he's parading opinion as journalism, to the detriment of his readers. The last thing we need is another high-profile Rush Limbaugh wannabe getting a lot of airplay and attention.






Posted April 11, 2008 | 05:21 PM (EST)