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

Comments

[aht772e]

Matt,
I find your writing, both in rolling stone, and in your books (especially smells like dead elephants) to be fabulous. i am a huge fan of the truth, and there seems to be so little of it left, that I want you to know that htere are still many of us who value it, and can recognize it when we read it. Keep up the good work.

As for ms. Jong, in a world where we agree that all humans of both sexes should be treated equally, it is possible for good well meaning people to completely disagree with your positions without it being due to gender! Some of us don't like Ms. Clinton because we don't trust her, because we feel that she has sold out to the corporate world. She lost me for good the day she sponsored the flag burning amendment, as if flag burning was this horrible crime, running rampant destroying american live, when clearly she was just willing to stifle dissent in order to win points with conservatives in a future bid for the presidency. I don't like people willing to trade away my rights for their ambitions, and that doesn't depend on how many x chromosomes that person has. To suggest that Mr. Tabbai, who writes honestly and cleverly about the political world, writes what he does out of your misconceived psychological notions proves the narrowness of your view, and the limits of your objectivity.

[AreYouFibbing]

Matt....you are just plain gross and have turned into a nasty little man these past fews months. I refuse to watch Bill Maher when you are on....your haughtiness is off-putting and there is no good reason to refer to Sen. Clinton's arms as flabby. What the hell does that have to do with her qualifications for the presidency? It is not about what Erica Jong has said, it is about your lack of respect and your acid tongue.

[EngineerBill]

Matt is trying to make the Lenny Bruce point. If there is anybody in this roo that i have not offended, I am sorry. Insult comedy is a way to let people know that you are letting it all hang out there and not holding back. If you don't want to read Matt's stuff that is your choice. I think that it is also his choice to scream "that emporer guy is bare-ass naked!" What he also does is give insight into human behavior. Google the word "Squeeb and Matt Taibbi to find out what I mean.

[EngineerBill]

Sorry, I meant to say "If there is anybody in this room that I have not offended, I am sorry".

[northeast73]

your haughtiness is off-putting
=========

I see him on Maher and thought "smarmy arrogance" was a more apt description....

[presto]

Or snarky malevolence.

[AvgPseudoIntellectual]

I think the biggest difference between old-school and new-school feminism is that we new-schoolers have managed to develop a sense of humor. The gains achieved by the old-schoolers have allowed us that freedom. I refuse to be angry at the expense of reason.

If Jong believes Taibbi is angry at women because of an attraction to his mother, then what is the reason for her anger at men? Did she want to do her father? I don't think she did, but she sort of leaves the idea hanging out there, you must admit.

It is mind-boggling to me as a young feminist woman that so many old-guard feminists are essentially demanding that I support negativity, dishonesty, unethical political practices and dynastic rule in order to get behind HRC.

My very well-informed, feminist, 65-year-old mother, who has met Senator Clinton numerous times and sent money to her campaign some months ago, has become completely disillusioned and is now a gung-ho Obama supporter like me. I am so proud that my daughter has her for a role-model. Hillary Clinton is no longer a role model in my book.

[presto]

pseudo - I don't think the difference is your sense of humor. It's your tender years, your lack of experience, your fuzzy logic, and your willingness to paint an entire generation with the same hue that sets you apart. I expect in another 30 years you will be a bit more able to detect nuances.

[Stefano]

Hey, you might not hate women, you just hate all people, we seem to have that in common. But flabby is the best you could do??? So lame

[aftershock]

Freakin priceless. LOL!!

[jsq]

Erica Jong and other similar Hillary feminists are the complete betrayal of all things feminism. The entire point of the feminist movement was so that women would have equal footing with men and this also means taking a punch. No man alive could complain about being described as having flabby arms without being laughed off the stage. This group of feminists seem to think that if you don't choose Hillary simply because she is a female then you must be anti-woman. This is the thinking that has continued to make feminism a joke in many circles and economic equality all but a dream for the privileged few.

[rachaelisacancer]

You're delusional.

It would be nice if you could group all of the women voting for Hillary into a category of man-hating bitches, but unfortunately your saying it doesn't make it true.

Swing and a miss, strike one.

[Fabienne]

I consider myself a feminist of Senator Clinton's and Ms. Jong's generation, but I had thought true feminism was about changing the authoritarian partriarchal system to one with more compassion and cooperation. I am disillusioned with "feminists" whose goal is to become one of the "good ole boys" by playing by their rules. It doesn't matter who is in power, male or female, if military might and money are still calling the signals. If being a part of this kind of power structure is what "feminism" is about, it wasn't worth the fight.

[LittleBrother]

I'm just surprised that the term "lookist" hasn't appeared so far! (You can't count this; I'm only meta-using it.)

I don't know if this is somehow a symptom generated by the passing of the Doctor of Gonzo Journalism-- a disturbance in The Force, as it were-- but there seems to be a resurgence of Victorian-era Disapproval in our increasingly infantilized society. From the pious use of juvenile euphemisms (the "N-word" et al) to "we are not amused" responses to supposedly taboo terms running the gamut from sorrowful to scathing, it's impossible to visit comments pages without hearing the creaks of a chorus of fundamental sphincters clenching tight.

It's like being in the hold of a clipper ship during a typhoon.

Taibbi 1, Jong 0. And fuck 'em if they can't take a joke!

[Kundera]

"Jong has apparently never read anything else I've written" oh what a shock, that puts her in the 99.9% category of Americans.

[LittleBrother]

"Jong has apparently never read anything else I've written" oh what a shock, that puts her in the 99.9% category of Americans.
_________________________________

And it's their loss.

[barkingcat]

Very much agreed -- Matt is well worth the read (and his commentary on Real Time with Bill Maher is worth a view).

[Kundera]

You really hurt your own argument as now you show yourself as one more bitter, hateful, ridiculous BHO supporter. p.s. how is your mother?

[Fabienne]

Wow, how bitter and hateful to say Matt Tabbei is worth a read and a view. Barkingcat, why can't you be kind and sweet like Senator Clinton's supporters?

[heywhat]

I don't think you want to "do" your mother, I'm not even sure you are a misogynist. I do know that I pay less attention to political commentators of any stripe who make the appearance - good or bad - of the person about whom they are writing secondary to the facts of the story. For instance, I would have paid more attention to your ideas had you not opened them with phrases like "eight hundred year old"; you had some good points, why couch them in those terms? Were your comments on point or even funny, I might have understood but they were neither.

http://strictlyanecdotal.com

[pfc1369]

Why not learn to look at these politicians?
What you can actually see is every bit as important as what they say. Probably more so. Of course, looks can be deceiving, but so can words, or damn near anything else. Is it possible to take one gander at Tom Delay, for example, and not see a two-bit hustler?

I don't claim any special powers in this regard, but I saw Richard Nixon in the flesh when he ran for president in 1960, and said, this guy is a hay seed phoney from way back. And I was all of 20 years old. It took decades for some to see through him, and many never did.

[BeNice]

She’s an old-school feminist and you’re male.


She is always right and you are always wrong.


What’s so hard to understand?

[ChimpmasterDJ]

Matt, ignore Erica Jong... most people do!

[Morcat]

Well, if that's not it, why did you use the term "flabby arms"? And while we're at it, why did you refer to Jong as "the 800 year old sex novelist"? and "emigre HP contributor"? What do either of those factors have to do with her arguments against focusing on physical characteristics as opposed to discussing the issues? And by the way, did you know that the recent Nobel Laureate for Literature, Doris Lessing is over ninety years of age, and she's still writing? So what's the flabby arms-emigre-sex novelist-age thing about, anyway? Any ideas?

[SkimaskBob]

Here are the answers to each of your questions in order:
1) It's funny! 2) It's funny! 3) It's funny! 4) It doesn't, it's just funny. 5) Yes. 6) It's funny. 7) Not a clue ... please, relax.

[Nezua]

way to blow that accusation to bits.

[jhNY]

It's not sexism or momism, really, after all, at the end of the day. It's the loathing of folks, male or female, much older than himself, the 800-year-olds, with all their bloat and wrinkles and veins and hair in funny places, which after all is perfectly reasonable and within the bounds of acceptable discourse. Glad to see this controversy put to rest.

[Duffy]

Yeah, Matt will have his own ugly, flaccid, hairy body to write about soon enough. Doesn't take long.

[interestedinpolitics]

And, to his credit, he probably will.