Erica Jong Thinks I Want to Do My Mother: A Response
I feel compelled to respond to an article written in part about me by emigree contributor Erica Jong. According to the eight hundred year-old sex novelist, my offhand description of Hillary Clinton's arms as "flabby" means that I'm a misogynist and a sexist who is guilty of "Momism," which she describes as an "Oedipal obsession with the bad mother -- to counter a boy's attraction to his good mother." The whole of her argument is based upon my use of that one word, "flabby" -- which she argues is evidence of my typically male tendency to fixate on the appearance of female politicians. Like other sexist men, I apparently trained my monomaniacal focus on Hillary's appearance while while ignoring the paunches, liver spots and comb-overs of male politicians.
Jong has apparently never read anything else I've written. Here is a short catalogue of some of the physical descriptions I've used in recent articles about male politicians:
RUDY GIULIANI, former presidential candidate: "Virtually neckless, all shoulders and forehead and overbite, with a hunched-over, Draculoid posture that recalls, oddly enough, George W. Bush, the vestigial stoop of a once-chubby kid who grew up hiding tittie pictures from nuns." Also: "The electoral incarnation of Tommy Lee Jones' acid-bath-surviving Two-Face character." A "bottomless pit of vengeful little-guy ambition."
MARK PENN, former chief strategist for the Clinton campaign: "Penn is the Democratic version of Karl Rove. He even looks like Rove, only he's fatter and more disgusting. Up close in a forum like this, his eyes bulge out of his fat, blood-flushed head; his neck spills out of his too-tight shirt collar; and he generally looks like Jabba the Hutt, his suit bursting at the seams, with only the bowl of snackable live toads suspended at arm's length missing from the picture."
MIKE HUCKABEE, former presidential candidate: "Huckabee, who in recent years has lost 100 pounds, has the roundish, half-deflated physique of an ex-fatty. With his button nose and never-waning smile, he looks slightly unreal, like an oversize Muppet."
TOM DELAY, former House majority leader: "DeLay moves through the aisles like some kind of balding incubus, and as he passes, Republican members instinctively turn their backs on him, not wanting to be caught in the Gorgon's gaze (or, more to the point, be threatened with the loss of a chairmanship or reelection funding)."
JAMES SENSENBRENNER, former House Judiciary Committee Chairman: "An ever-sweating, fat-fingered beast who wields his gavel in a way that makes you think he might have used one before in some other arena, perhaps to beat prostitutes to death." Also: "Your basic Fat Evil Prick, perfectly cast as a dictatorial committee chairman: He has the requisite moist-with-sweat pink neck, the dour expression, the penchant for pointless bile and vengefulness."
MITT ROMNEY, former presidential candidate: An "utter tool...a poll-chasing stuffed suit with a Max Headroom hairdo who will say (or won't say, for that matter) whatever the fuck it takes to get elected." Also: "When it comes to the satanic art of presidential campaigning, this lean, heavily moussed political athlete is a stone prodigy, a natural who glides through campaign events with the aid of some dark supernatural power - a tie-clad, sweat-resistant cross of Roy Hobbs and Rosemary's Baby."
BORIS YELTSIN, former Russian president: "A pig... A human appendage of a rotting, corrupt state, a crook who would emerge even from the hottest bath still stinking of booze, concrete and sausage."
TOM TANCREDO, former presidential candidate: "Vengeful midget."
JOHN McCAIN, Republican nominee: "On the trail, McCain looks equally pathetic -- slow-moving, soft-spoken and physically frail. With his lecturing tone and corny jokes ('Governor Schwarzenegger and I have many similar attributes'), he recalls the moralizing granddad who's not a bad egg overall but who embarrasses the fuck out of you by waiting till your late thirties to give you the birds-and-the-bees speech."
That's just from the last few years. And yet according to Jong, the reason I decided to use the term "flabby" when describing Hillary Clinton is because, deep down inside, I want to fuck my mother. "And love is the problem, of course," Jong-Freud writes. "You cannot fuck your mother so you must revile her."
I mean, wow. And I thought I was a hack.
Sincerely,
Matt Taibbi
Related:
Erica Jong Responds: Eight-Hundred-Year-Old Jong Responds to Callow Youth Taibbi
Matt Taibbi: Erica Jong Rolls Out Every Liberal Cliche in Existence
Previously:
Erica Jong: Misogyny, Momism and Militarism
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
My mother in law's ruining my marriage. She wife came home and found me in bed with her. She's an older woman but very firm. (Lenny Bruce)
dont worry Matt u are a hack
Dear Matt,
Today everything is a psychological problem
And I don't hold with that when people use these terms,
sometimes a cigar is just a cigar [smile].
But, the men I am related to and grew up with,
family friends etc. do not, do not talk like this.
The reason is that it is childish and very petty.
Your long list of men whose appearances you
ridiculed is proof of this lack of maturity. So I don't think
you have a Mother complex-but you do need to grow up a bit.[smile
He actually reminds me of a French crime novel writer whose description of people never fails to crack me up: Frederic Dard (San Antonio)
Man,. that was f@#$ing hilarious.
I am shocked Matt. I would expect this sort of talk out of Camille Paglia and not Erica Jong. This is just so upsetting.
Brilliant post.
Thanks.
Brilliant? Get a life. He's a jerk.
OK let's see you write something that funny. Go ahead. ...... I thought so.
I have a life and I think he's funny.
The 'genderism' that favors Hillary is apparently more acceptable than the 'racism' surrounding Obama. Sophie Masloff of PA is endorsing Hillary today because "she's a woman". Is that how we want this to go? That's just embarrassing and creepy.
I am not half African American or a woman so I will choose based on merit.
And Matt is funny.
Romanrose, Monique--
You're BOTH right.
I love this guy, I really do.
Point taken. Whether Erica Jong legitimately believed that remark to be symptomatic of "momism" or simply hoped to slander you on account of "doing HIllary no favors" in terms of offering derogatory physical descriptions to a series of less than likable politicians, the end result of prevalent usage of the "mysogynist" card by Hillary Clinton supporters reveals the actual motivation of attempting to intimidate others from criticizing her, legitimately or otherwise. I suppose that if Barack Obama greatly exaggerated his own record, made idiotic and catastrophic poltiical mistakes for which he refused to own up to, and furthermore gravitated to a loud and obnoxious stage presence, than his supporters would probably feel equally inclined to resort to the race card, as the only means of alleviating accountability for a politician with no redeeming features.
hammi - you don't get extra points for tedious overuse of the English language.
An article should be written about this guy's obsession with the word fuck.
He was quoting her.
F!#$k, F!#$k, F!#$k, F!#$k, HA HA HA HA
Well, Mr. Taibbi, congratulations. I guess that you proved that you're not a sexist, with deep Freudian issues. However, you have also proved that your political "arguments" include logically fallacious attacks on a politician's APPEARANCE.
Aren't Giuliani, Romney, Penn, etc. contemptible enough for what they actually SAY and BELIEVE? I like to think that one of the things which elevates the liberal side of the political spectrum above the conservative side is the liberals' greater willingness to focus on issues -- as opposed to petty character assassination, based on looks.
Progressives do not need a Rush Limbaugh, thank you very much.
What Taibbi provided here were very brief excerpts from quite lengthy essays that described exactly why Giuliana et al. are contemptible for their actions and beliefs. These excerpts were provided because the support the specific point he wanted to address.
You might want to check him out in Rolling Stone magazine. You'll find all of the non-appear
NOTE TO MATT: I think you're a brilliant political writer. But you do use the F-word to a distracting degree. ;-)
Don't listen Matt....ke
Actually, I think Matt's pointed comments about the look of the candidates is extremely funny. Call it juvenile if you want, but you make it sound as if every piece he's written consists of nothing but the mockery of political figures looks. In fact, he does bring up very good points in his articles and uses common language (which is sometimes vulgar and off color) to better relate to the readers. While you may not appreciate his writing style, the people who read Rolling Stone do, and that really is the point isn't it?
"Call it juvenile if you want, but you make it sound as if every piece he's written consists of nothing but the mockery of political figures looks."
Not so, I wrote:
"However, you have also proved that your political 'arguments' INCLUDE logically fallacious attacks on a politician's APPEARANCE
Not "consist of nothing but" -- rather, "include."
As for the people who read Rolling Stone "appreciating his style," what does that say about them?
Really, we liberals are supposed to transcend the schoolyard taunting.
"Progressives do not need a Rush Limbaugh, thank you very much."
We've already got them. One was just fired (or quit) over calling Hillary a fu**ing w**re.
Yes, we had Randi Rhodes. And the moment that she crossed the line, she got fired. I approve. I'd love to see it happen to Rush, too.
There's no way that Ms. Rhodes couldn't have made her point, that Senator Clinton shamelessly claims to be all thing to everyone in her campaign speeches, without stooping to sexual character assassination.
You were lame and superficial to mention senator Clinton's upper arm muscle tone and or girth.
That is not what our political situation is about. If you think you were being incisive about public perception and it's effect in the election, it's already been done ad nauseum squared.
You are a hack. Like 99% of all "jounalists" and pundits we are subjected to in our quest for information.
That kind of writing is part of what is turning our national discourse into a babel of mean-spirited, mindless gutter yammering, the only point of which is scoring points, not conveying information.
I don't necessarily think you want to do your mom, just that you could be more thoughtful and grown up.
But here is the real question. Would you do Erica jong's mom?
I would, if it would get me a position in McCain's cabinet.
It isn't about their family members, their religion, their childhoods, what kind of house they live in, how much money they make, the way they dress, or a lot of other superfical stuff either. You gonna object to anything that tries to paint a word picture of the candidates beyond that which is expressly political? ZZZZZZZZZZZ . . . . .
Non-political is not the problem - it's just cheesy.
She's right, y'know. Demeaning a person by mention of their less than perfect physical attributes is cheap journalism. Calling someone 800 years old sounds like what a 3rd Grader would do.
Imus, apparently, raves regularly about Matt Taibbi. Need we know more?
That was HARDLY Jongs point. She was saying he had some deep seated psychological desire to fuck his mom because he "dissed" Hillary's appearance, while she failed to note that he routinely does the same to men. It's like saying South Park is sexist because of the Britney Spears episode, despite their shows bashing numerous males. Matt's an equal opportunity insulter. That may or may not be right, which could be debated. However, the implication from Jong was basically that he was a sexist.... oh and that he wants to fuck his mom. That is patently false as one can see from Taibbi's rants on men as well as Hillary
I am a 61-year-old woman who is a fan of Matt Taibbi. Yes, he is iconoclastic and his descriptions of politicians can be brutal, but they need to be taken with a grain of salt. He is one of the few political writers who is courageous enough to point up that the entire system is corrupt to the core.
Who cares? If the above is an indication of his output, and he's said as much, than he's a bad writer, period, which would make him an equal opportunity hack.
Jong was being Jong, just the way Freud was Freud, a sexual connection to everything.
I personally think sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, but whether Hillary has fleshy arms should not be the point of anything unless she's competing for Mrs. America.
So he's an equal opportunity insulter? If that's why you read and treasure someone's insights, so be it. But don't pretend that he brings anything useful or profound to the table and has any informative place on a political blog.
I kind of feel that way about Howard Stern.
Matt you’re so dam insensitive! "Here is a short catalogue.
Matt, I can't believe you actually read that Erica Jong piece. Erica needs a brain like a fish needs a bicycle.
That's clever.
Fish needing a bicycle an original?
No wonder Erica fled to Europe.
I agree - she's plenty smart - no new brain needed.
The "beat prostitutes to death" part was especially tasteful!
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
