Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi has turned into a journalistic treasure over the past couple of years. His quote on Hardball about Michele Bachmann not long ago was priceless:
You know it's funny this morning outside of Penn Station I saw a guy huffing glue out of a paper bag, and he was making more sense than Michelle Bachmann was making. I can't believe it. You need to pass a written test to drive a car in this country but I bet this woman can't even write her name in the ground with a stick. I mean it's just unbelievable to me that this person is in the Congress.
Well, he's done it again in the April 30th edition of Rolling Stone Magazine which is on news stands now - more below the fold...
Right out of the starting gate, in the first paragraph, he comes out with both barrels blazing:
Following the Republican Party of late has been a movingly depressing experience, sort of like watching Old Yeller die -- if Old Yeller were a worm-infested feral bitch who spent the past eight years biting children at bus stops and shitting in neighborhood swimming pools
You just know an article by Matt about the Republicans that starts that well is going to be good! It is!
He tears into them about their moronic "budget" - that contained no numbers - and in doing so, rips into House Minority Leader John Boehner. Taibbi's description of Boehner's partner-in-crime, Eric Cantor, is hilarious, pointing out that Cantor didn't make the grade as a VP pick for John McCain's failed presidential bid. But here's the fun part:
Eric Cantor looks like a guy who spends an hour every morning tweezing his eyebrows. There's nothing more revolting than a metrosexual Republican
He even leveled has sites at Michele Bachmann again (as if his performance on Hardball wasn't enough) calling her a "drooling dunce"... and then, there was this:
When the Chinese recently proposed creating a new system for international reserves, Bachmann, who founded a charter school that banned the movie Aladdin for promoting witchcraft - sponsored a bill establishing the dollar as the official U.S. currency for ever and ever, despite the fact that no one anywhere was talking about doing anything to the dollar. It was like calling for an end to aid to Turkey because we eat them on Thanksgiving
But Taibbi's excellent rant ends with a lament; the Republican party has so completely imploded with asshattery that it's not just funny and embarrassing but, well... a shame too. I'm not entirely sure I agree, but apparently Matt thinks they could've been a contender:
The real tragedy is that, at such a desperate moment in our history, true conservatives have a vital role to play. Add together the bank bailouts, the stimulus package and the Obama budget, and what youget is a massive borrowing plan destined to impact the lives of every taxpayer for a generation. What the country needs from the opposition is an intellectually serious attempt to rein in unnecessary waste and spending. But the Republicans pissed away their credibility on fiscal conservatism over the past eight years and then monstrously compounded matters this year by leaning on their shovels and generally half-assing their way through the budget debate, saving the few bullets they had left for a fucking estate-tax exemption. Way to take your jobs seriously, you assholes. And you wonder why you lost the White House?
(Note: Sadly, I cannot provide a link to Taibbi's article because Rolling Stone does not seem to have it published online, yet. I subscribe to the dead tree edition and transcribed the above quotes. It only seems to be mentioned at all, here. )
At any rate, if you pass by a news stand or a Barnes & Noble, etc., check it out for yourself and if so inclined, buy a copy. Matt Taibbi and especially Rolling Stone's Jan Wenner have done much to help out the progressive cause. Thanks for reading!
Update: Thanks to itssimplesimon for a link that I sure couldn't find!