Matt Taibbi Beclowns Himself
Tweet
I had begun getting a little weary of Matt Taibbi’s act, this little trainwreck doesn’t help.
32 Responses to “Matt Taibbi Beclowns Himself”
Jennifer Aniston Reportedly Pregnant With Twins
PHOTOS: Tamara Ecclestone At The Langham Hotel
Red Front? “Center For American Freedom” Logo Echoes Communist Style
Romney Calls For Defunding Planned Parenthood, Wife Was A Donor
GOP Fundraising Email Asks Supporters To “Knock Out” Obama
Romney Comes Up Limp In Nevada
Obama Opens Lead On Romney In New Poll
What Time Is Super Bowl 2012 (Super Bowl XLVI)?
Latest Entries
Why Do Liberals Support Drone Strikes?
Weekly Standard Rolls Out The Iraq Argument For Iran
Equal Polarization, My Ass
Some Crazy Stuff That Happened In World War II
Maryland Republican Campaign Funds Used To Defend Voter Suppression
The Obama Jobs Record In One Graph
Martin O’Malley All In For Marriage Equality
Newt Gingrich, Filled With More Excrement Than Your Average Politician
New Year, Powerline Still Stupid
Thanks Again
Meta
Blogroll
Disclaimer
The views on this site are mine and mine alone, and do not reflect the views of my employer, Media Matters for America
© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
Sure he does bub, keep drinking that kool-aid.
What act? I think Taibbi’s article is very believable. At some point you have to question why all these Wall Street execs are winding up on the President’s economic policy team. I never liked the appointment of Robert Rubin in the Clinton Administration; and now here’s all his protégées and colleagues showing up in the Obama Administration, and bailouts to the Wall Street wizards who blew up the economy, and it stinks to high heaven. It reeks of corruption.
Frankly Taibbi’s criticism of Obama is neither here nor there with me. Actions speak louder than words, and on at lot of things Obama has disappointed me, more so than I knew he was going to (I never bought into the liberal Obama ideal some people projected onto him).
Yes, he has a horrendous mess to clean up. He could be on the side of angels 90% of the time and there would still be a laundry list of faults left. But there are too many things where all he had to do was speak out, and he either remained silent or actively defended the status quo. Privacy, gay rights, and now pharmaceuticals to name a few; Obama is fast losing his luster.
I still support Obama, all things considered. He HAS done a lot of good and is a decided improvement over his predecessor (and lord knows he’s ten times better than McCain/Palin ever would have been.) I am only saddened that this is the best the left can do, given the current state of affairs. Until the GOP gets its head out of its ass and stops being the party of extremist nutjobs, the best the Dems are going to be able to muster is a moderate Republican in disguise.
hear, here
Did you read the link? We shouldn’t accept shoddy journalism, even if the writer is on our “side”.
We shouldn’t accept shoddy journalism, even if the writer is on our “side”.
We shouldn’t accept it, especially if the writer is on our “side”.
Yes I read the link. I fail to see how Taibbi’s journalism is “shoddy” in this instance. Or do you agree with Fernholz’s analysis, that Taibbi is just engaging in conspiracy theory despite all the evidence Taibbi presents?
In my opinion, Fernholz’s post is the shoddy one. It’s all a bunch of handwaving and misdirection. The facts speak for themselves.
(I never bought into the liberal Obama ideal some people projected onto him).
I agree with all of the above only to add that I think a lot of what was being projected on to Obama as a “liberal idea” was, in fact, coming from conservatives.
In a lot of ways, I wish Obama was as radically liberal as conservatives painted and still paint him to be.
Agreed. Most of the liberal hype was from the enemy quarter. And it WAS mostly hype, much to my dismay.
Cue Chuck D and Flavor Flav, Don’t Believe the Hype!
All the criticism from the left is understandable, but we do have to keep in mind that this is just only his first year. He’s receiving more criticism from both sides more than some Presidents received during their term(s).
Most of criticism is due to the expectations some people had for him when he came into office, which they(we) only have themselves(ourselves) to blame.
Even though I am not happy about what’s going on with the public option or the increase in troops to Afghanistan I still have faith that by the time President Obama’s first term is over we will be in a better place, and hopefully by his second term he’ll start to accomplish many things we on the left want him to do. The only thing is- are we willing to wait or will his first term be his last term?
i>I agree with all of the above only to add that I think a lot of what was being projected on to Obama as a “liberal idea” was, in fact, coming from conservatives.
This is true.
In a lot of ways, I wish Obama was as radically liberal as conservatives painted and still paint him to be.
This is very true.
Matthew Rothschild of the Progressive does this too
he’s right, so I know that’s hard to swallow.
Actually, the Fernholz piece you link to isn’t even accurate. See Felix Salmon’s takedown of Fernholz: http://bit.ly/kgjTV
I sense some journalistic jealousy on the part of Fernholz towards Taibbi. And I think there are real problems with Obama’s economic team that shouldn’t be ignored by you or others.
I like Obama, but in this area he’s made some really bad decisions.
Love the blog, Oliver; and I’m with you on about 95% of what you post. But I gotta disagree with you on this one. From my own admittedly limited understanding of the this issue (hey, wingnut trolls: see what I did here? I fessed up that I’m not sure about something.), it seems to me that Taibbi presented a pretty solid argument. Make no mistake: I’m not completely enamored with some of Taibbi’s work; and I wish he was wrong about this one, but I don’t think so…
The meat of Matt’s argument can be summed up by two sentences (thanks Eli at Firedoglake: http://firedoglake.com/2009/12/11/two-sentences-by-matt-taibbi/)
” The point is that an economic team made up exclusively of callous millionaire-assholes has absolutely zero interest in reforming the gamed system that made them rich in the first place.
(…)
There’s no other way to say it: Barack Obama, a once-in-a-generation political talent whose graceful conquest of America’s racial dragons en route to the White House inspired the entire world, has for some reason allowed his presidency to be hijacked by sniveling, low-rent shitheads.”
I would dispute one small part of that otherwise bang-on observation: these are sniveling, HIGH-rent shitheads we’re dealing with.
Dang it, working link here:
http://firedoglake.com/2009/12/11/two-sentences-by-matt-taibbi/
[...] case. And it’s pretty interesting to me that various corners of the liberal blogosphere like OW are so quick to dismiss him. Some of us are too quick to give the president the benefit of the [...]
Taibbi blows apart the Fernholz piece:
http://digg.com/d11CdBf
I agree with others in the comments, Mr. Willis: you are just wrong about this. Obama screwed up. And now he owns it.
Digby has links to responses to Fernholz. One is from Taibbi.
There is disagreement as to whom has beclowned himself.
I have to agree with Jody. I didn’t delude myself into thinking Obama was some great progressive, but I did expect more from him, whether it be torture, war, or the financial system. I think he had a unique opportunity to seize the moment (aka FDR) and make some real structural changes but he ended up maintaining the status quo. At some point, folks over at the Great Orange Satan are going to have to admit that there is no secret Jedi Obama plan where all that is good is revealed. When people like Oliver continue to defend his every action in the face of what he is or is not actually doing, they (unwittingly) become eerily similar to the Bush dead-enders. This president needs to hear the criticisms from the people that donated time and money to get him elected because it does not seem like those are the folks that have his ear.
Wow, so you drink the KoolAid too huh? I thought you’re an up and coming progressive blogger and started coming to this website recently, but it appears you’re more of an Obama apologist more than anything else. Did you even read the retort to Taibbi’s article? It was pathetic and grasping at straws. Maybe you should let your readers read Taibbi’s more intelligent response:
http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2009/12/12/on-obamas-sellout-bailout-tarp-rubin-goldman-sachs-robert-bob-tim-geithner-hamilton-project-derivatives-financial-reform-citibank/
Hey Oliver –
The next time you decide to make fun of a real journalist for “trainwrecks” and “beclowning”, why don’t you try actually reading the article in question, along with the critics response? You obviously did neither, but chose instead, lazily, to assume that the critic was correct.
Well, guess what? He wasn’t, and now you are the one who looks like a fool.
If you wan’t to be taken as a serious journalist – or even a serious person – then act like one.
So Taibbi has zealots now too? Nice.
I thought you’re an up and coming progressive blogger
I’ve been at this for 10 years now. LOL.
Oliver Willis
5:06pm
So Taibbi has zealots now too? Nice.
Why do you have to make it petty and personal. I think most comments here have been strong and direct. And very reasonable.
It’s not about Taibbi, it’s about what he describes: an Obama administration beholden to the corporate banking industry…because it’s made up of them.
Deal with it.
No, he’s an Obama SUPPORTER. And so am I. Big difference.
I reserve the right to criticize the president and I defend Oliver’s right to defend him.
Agreed.
an Obama administration beholden to the corporate banking industry…because it’s made up of them.
Because I don’t know that much about finance, I have to ask: Isn’t it the nature of the system that you’re going to see a bit of a revolving door? I mean, you want people working on the banking system and in cabinet positions dealing with it to know a great deal about the banking system, right? Cheerfully admitting I could be wrong here, but it seems somewhat like NFL coaching. You see the same faces over and over again because those are the people who are generally considered the top of the field.
Oliver –
Your response underscores your unwillingness to admit that your original post showed poor judgment, and, more importantly, that you are unwilling to admit having made a bad mistake.
The word “beclown” shouldn’t be used, even ironically. That’s a rightblog douchebag word from 2003 for fuck’s sake. Next thing you know, you’ll be referring to yourself as an anti-idiotarian.