“In the Tea Party narrative, victory at the polls means a new American revolution, one that will "take our country back" from everyone they disapprove of. But what they dont realize is, there's a catch: This is America, and we have an entrenched oligarchical system in place that insulates us all from any meaningful political change.” MeanCountryAmericaPoliticalRealizingPartyRevolutionVictoryMeaningfulOur CountryTeaNarrativePollsTea PartyAmerican RevolutionPolitical Change Author:Matt Taibbi
“John Boehner is the ultimate Beltway hack, a man whose unmatched and self-serving skill at political survival has made him, after two decades in Washington, the hairy blue mold on the American congressional sandwich.” MenMadeTwoSelfPoliticalSkillsSurvivalUltimateBlueDecadesServingSandwichesMoldHacksSelf Serving Author:Matt Taibbi
“By creating an urgent crisis that can only be solved by those fluent in a language too complex for ordinary people to understand, the Wall Street crowd has turned the vast majority of Americans into non-participants in their own political future.” PeoplePoliticalLanguageStreetsWallCreatingOrdinaryCrisisMajorityComplexesCrowdsOrdinary PeopleUrgentParticipantsFluent Author:Matt Taibbi
“For the broadcast business to be successful, viewers need to be not merely interested in our political melodramas, they have to be in an absolute state about them - emotionally invested in the outcome and frightened not to watch what happens next.” NeedsStatesHappensPoliticalNextWatchesSuccessfulAbsolutesOutcomesBeing SuccessfulFrightenedViewersMelodrama Author:Matt Taibbi
“Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern United States. As a representative of our political system, she's a new low in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl Rove.” StatesPoliticalUnitedUnited StatesModernLowsUltimateSymbolsCynicalRepresentativesPolitical SystemsPalinVillainyPuppeteer Author:Matt Taibbi
“Most people, when they imagine New England, think about old colonial homes, white houses with black shutters, whales, and sexually morbid WASPs with sensible vehicles and polite political opinions. This is incorrect. If you want to get New England right, just imagine a giant mullet in paint-stained pants and a Red Sox hat being pushed into the back of a cruiser after a bar fight.” PeopleIfsThinkingWantHomePoliticalFightingHouseBlackWhiteOpinionImagineRedEnglandPaintBarsGiantsHatsWhite HouseSensiblePantsVehiclePoliteSexuallyWhalesMorbidNew EnglandShuttersWaspsPolitical OpinionsMullets Author:Matt Taibbi
“This story is the ultimate example of American’s biggest political problem. We no longer have the attention span to deal with any twenty-first century crisis. We live in an economy that is immensely complex and we are completely at the mercy of the small group of people who understand it – who incidentally often happen to be the same people who built these wildly complex economic systems. We have to trust these people to do the right thing, but we can’t, because, well, they’re scum. Which is kind of a big problem, when you think about it.” PeopleThinkingFirstsWellsKindStoriesProblemBigsHappensPoliticalDealsAttentionEconomyGroupsEconomicCenturyExampleBuiltMercyUltimateTwentiesCrisisComplexesRight ThingBig ProblemsEconomic SystemsSmall GroupsAttention SpanScum Author:Matt Taibbi
