(Jeff Danziger’s website)
__
Looks like it’s time to replace my (third or fourth) copy of Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, which I re-read every time things get particularly chaotic, but especially during election season. There’s a new edition for the 40th(!) anniversary, and Eric Sunderman at the Village Voice has an interview with the guy who wrote the new intro:
Matt Taibbi, like many journalists, grew up idolizing Hunter S. Thompson. But Taibbi, unlike many journalists, got Hunter S. Thompson’s job.
The similarities between the two Rolling Stone scribes do not stop there, even though Taibbi himself argues he’s nothing like Thompson…
In the intro, you say Thompson is the most trustworthy American narrator since Mark Twain. What is it about his prose that gives you that feeling? I think many people feel that way, yet everyone always wonders if he’s making some stuff up.
Oh, he’s definitely embellishing. That’s not what you care about. I have no doubt that a lot of the things in that book didn’t happen that way. Writing is all about feeling your audience and maintaining a connection with them, and being able to anticipate what they’re going to respond to, what they’re going to think is funny, what they’re going to find sympathetic, what they’re going to find unsympathetic. Hunter just had this unbelievable innate ability–like a lot of great public speakers do. If you’ve ever seen somebody who’s a great public speaker, they can feel the crowd and they know exactly how to move people this way or that way. And he’s kind of like that. He had this ability to grab his whole audience, drag them through this story, and you never really find yourself stepping back and saying, “Eh, well.” Once you’re in, you’re in the whole way through with him.
If Campaign Trail were published today, would it have the same effect?
Oh, yeah. I tried to say this in the introduction, but I don’t think that was really just a story about 1972 and those people. It’s a very personal, timeless story about a person who is trying to believe, and he’s thrust into this environment where everything is fake and disappointing, and he’s still trying to find that meaning in it. That’s a timeless story. That could’ve existed anywhere. The format would’ve been different now, because nowadays, it’s just so much harder to make that good versus evil story out of a Democrat-versus-Republican timeline. I just think it wouldn’t be believable. But he’d find some way to do it…
It’s a good interview, and Taibbi wrote a good introduction, which you can read at the Amazon link. And if you haven’t yet read Fear & Loathing ’72, or you don’t remember reading it, let me assure you that it’s scary and wildly entertaining and yet somehow reassuring to be reminded that, yes, presidential politics have long been ugly & stupid & terrifying — and still, we survived.
Cacti
The anticipation of the PPACA decision is effing killing me. Pinning my hopes on John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy to not act like partisan hacks on an extremely politically-charged piece of legislation seems like pure folly.
But some part me still wants to hope for the best.
Hunter Gathers
I am well versed in the works of The Good Doctor, but Matt Taibbi isn’t even worthy of holding on to HST’s salt shaker full of coke. When Taibbi destroys the career of a politician in an act of jest (Ed Muskie + ibogaine), then we’ll talk. Until that happens, Taibbi is just another pretender to the throne.
Valdivia
@Cacti:
I am with you. Have no idea if I will be able to sleep.
pragmatism
tonight i am latching onto the theory that fat tony scalia petulantly acts out (like he did in the SB 1070 case) because other decisions aren’t going his way.
PurpleGirl
I still have my copy of it; I haven’t cracked it open in years though. It’s one of the few political books I kept in the apartment when deciding which collections I’d keep open and which went into storage.
ETA: Great cartoon by the way.
the Conster
Overturning the ACA will mean a lot of people get things that they like taken away from them. Republicans aren’t known for their ability to think things through, and I don’t see this ending well for them if they “win” tomorrow.
smintheus
Just out of curiosity, does anybody know whether the Obama campaign has yet produced an ad on Romney/Bain’s Medicare fraud problem through it’s ownership and sale of Damon Corp? It’s a pretty gruesome story with several facets making Romney look like a d*ck. There is no way he can spin it and come out of that looking anything less than dishonest and manipulative. I’m surprised that Obama & Co. didn’t lead with that scandal when they ramped up the Bain attacks.
Punchy
Hope all you 25 y.o.s saw your doctor today, and those with past melanoma scares bought their insurance policy this week.
Valdivia
@the Conster:
I also think that if ACA is overturned, the media will begin actually telling people everything they lost. I am sure they will try and spin it as all Obama’s fault. But the realization that they lost it will be a big deal.
Linda Featheringill
For several weeks, it’s looked like everyone in the world assumed that the ACA would be struck down.
However, the editor of SCOTUSblog predicts that ACA will survive. I don’t know if he’s good at fortunetelling but it’s nice to see some optimism.
http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/06/in-the-end/
Valdivia
@smintheus:
hadn’t heard of this but I am assuming that is fodder for the many Obama ads coming the next 4 months.
@Linda Featheringill: I saw that too. I am trying not to think that he like all the people who observe the Court cannot believe how cynical they could be in bringing it down, and is not just being optimistic.
TooManyJens
@Linda Featheringill: from the link:
NO YOU FUCKING DON’T! Nobody actually has to make predictions about something when they have no idea what will happen!
This week is driving me fucking insane. But Twitter’s always funny when people are losing their shit and/or trying not to lose their shit, so that’s a consolation.
Mnemosyne
@smintheus:
That’s not the kind of story you present in June. You wait until after Labor Day, when you have everyone’s full attention for all of the gruesome details.
the Conster
@Valdivia:
If nothing else, there will be several million 22-26 year olds more motivated to vote if they weren’t before, and those kids have several million parents that will be given motivation to vote for Obama, if they weren’t before.
jl
@smintheus:
I didn’t know about that one:
AFSCME has an ad that went under the knife at Politifact.
Spoiler Alert
“While Romney was a director of the Damon Corporation, the company was defrauding Medicare of millions.”
http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2012/jan/23/afscme/was-mitt-romney-director-company-charged-medicare-/
Mostly true! Booyah!
shortstop
Someone around here mentioned that only one SCOTUS decision in history has been leaked. Anyone know which one it was?
Hill Dweller
@Hunter Gathers:
This. I remember seeing an interview with Johnny Depp talking about living with HST while researching him for the movie version of Fear and Loathing…, and finding boxes full of amazing stories HST couldn’t even remember writing. Thompson’s feces had more talent than Taibbi.
Dee Loralei
I’m praying the ACA is upheld. And I don’t pray. I am going to be at a Michelle Obama campaign event early in the afternoon, so there may be thousands of us crying together. Before her speech, my OFA group is having a sign waving rally in front of the venue. So, I’ll be with my OFA people instead of you guys when it comes down. But I will check in when I get a chance.
I’ll be live tweeting the event @deeloralei and @EShelbyTN4Obama, if anyone wants to follow along.
I’m pretty excited about the M Obama thing though. And terrified about the SCOTUS.
Valdivia
@the Conster:
Hopefully they will be motivated to vote because they still have that benefit from ACA. /keeping fingers crossed
jl
I like Politifac’s duley noted wafflecakes at the end:
” but Romney was never implicated personally with the fraudulent activity at the company, and it was one of many companies with which Bain was involved. It’s also difficult to assess whether Romney knew about the fraud or should have known, and what he did to stop it. So the statement is correct but leaves out context. ”
I do hope that any Obama ad is very fair and civil and leaves the context in. Something like:
‘ Of course, Romney was a big shot exec, so how could we expect him to know what was going on, or whether the did squat to stop if if he did. Mitt is too important to bother with that, just like all the other fatcat execs who earn every penny of their billions ‘
I hope the spot ends with that context, just to make sure everything remains civil.
Edit: edited for multitudes of typos of indescribabble description.
David Koch
@shortstop:
Leaky v. Spill Beans, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
David Koch
Blogosphere reaction:
1) ACA is overturned: Obama failed us by not using the bully pulpit on the most important issue in 50 years.
2) ACA is upheld: Meh. Just words. If Obama really cared he would have passed it on his first day in office. That he waited 14 months to pass it just show how little he thought of the issue.
General Stuck
FRom the right wing clown files
Rep Cummings
Wolverines!!
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
@Hunter Gathers:
with all due respect all the way around, your dichotomy is false.
hst had an advantage of the era, lots of boomers in his target market, as well as orders of magnitude less competition for their media-facing attention.
taibbi is working a nice corridor of an incredibly large castle.
when you can make the case that deregulated banks have defacto power of taxation over the citizens via their ability to manipulate the muni bond markets used to fund everything from high school football stadiums to water plants et al, and all…you are hitting on something deeper than generational zeitgeist, you are explaining why people who claim to love small government, and lower taxes, are being conned into supporting the very people who will assure them of neither.
Shinobi
Off topic, #otherSCOTUSpredictions is the only thing making the wait for tomorrow tolerable.
Spaghetti Lee
For the healthcare bill, I’m personally still cautiously optimistic. My theory (which I’ll readily admit is based on nothing but guesswork-I’m nowhere near educated on this stuff) is that Scalia acting out and bloviating on relatively less high-drama, well-covered decisions like the ones that happened on Monday means he isn’t getting the chance to act out tomorrow, which means Roberts electing to write the decision means that he’s joining Kennedy for a 6-3 pro-PPACA decision.
One thing I thought was kind of interesting is that Richard Mourdock (Teapub running for the Senate in Indiana) had filmed four different post-decision videos and they got leaked beforehand. Now maybe Mourdock is just the hired help and the money boys don’t tell him important things like this-definitely possible. But what it leads me to believe/makes me hope is that whatever the decision is, it wasn’t fixed from the beginning. Conservatives don’t know how it’s going to turn out either, they’re just naturally more blustery than we are.
David Koch
Does anyone still read LakeBatShit?
I’m curious, considering how opposed they were to passage of ACA if they’re being consistent and calling for it’s repeal by the Court or if they chicken-shited out?
Valdivia
@Shinobi:
that was funny. :)
smintheus
@Mnemosyne: That’s one way to play it of course. Depends in part on how eager you are to make Bain toxic for Romney.
Also depends on how convinced you are that the allegations can get enough oxygen if you trot them out late in the campaign.
Ash Can
@smintheus:
@Mnemosyne:
I agree with Mnemosyne. If it really does give him a black eye, it’ll be used much closer to the election. Campaigns wait until the fall to roll out their biggest guns (or, at least, they should).
PurpleGirl
OT (Via Susie Madrak)
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2012/05/31/1024371/the-price-of-french-patriotism-a-70-pay-cut/
Spare a thought for the heads of French public companies who are having to dig deep and find their inner patriot after the new Socialist government issued guidelines limiting CEO pay to 20 times that of the lowest paid worker.
Anne Laurie
@Hunter Gathers: Would it make you feel better to know that Taibbi agrees with you?
I’m so fortunate, I get to like both Hunter S. Thompson and Matt Taibbi. Heck, I love both Jane Austen and Mark Twain, even though Mr. Clemens (claimed he) loathed every word Austen wrote. With any luck, the Author Police will never show up on my doorstep to demand that I stop equivocating and choose sides.
Face
What time will the SC release their decision?
smintheus
@jl: That’s pathetically incompetent even by the low standards of Politifact.
When Romney was running for governor, he was asked about the Medicare fraud. He told the Boston Globe that he personally put a stop to the fraud as a director of Damon Corp. The Globe story pointed out that court filings by the government proved that Romney’s statement was false; the Medicare fraud continued until after Romney/Bain sold Damon, when the next owner stopped the fraudulent billing practices. But in any case, according to Romney himself, he knew about the fraud while he was a director of the company.
A side note: The Globe also pointed out that the SEC filings when Romney/Bain sold their shares in Damon made no mention of the fact that Damon might well be assessed a substantial fine for Medicare fraud. Withholding that pertinent info at time of sale was evidently a second kind of fraud; SEC filings have to indicate all likely liabilities a company has.
Valdivia
@Face:
ScotusBlog begins blogging at 8:45 but the court starts session at 10, probably 10:15
Chris
@PurpleGirl:
Vive la France. Vive la république. Vive la liberté, l’égalité et la fraternité.
Spaghetti Lee
@PurpleGirl:
Weep, weep for your oppressed French job creators! We shall overcooooome….
TooManyJens
@Valdivia: I’m setting my alarm to make sure I’m up by the time SCOTUSBlog starts liveblogging. I really need to re-evaluate my life choices.
smintheus
@Ash Can: Normally they do. But this year Obama is going full bore trying to destroy Romney’s business reputation before the summer campaign gets underway.
smintheus
@Anne Laurie: And what do you think of Fennimore Cooper?
The prophet Nostradumbass
@smintheus: I don’t know about Anne, but he committed many literary crimes.
Valdivia
@TooManyJens:
I know! Because I have had a bit of insomnia since I got sick with this effing summer flu the last couple of days I am wide awake from 4-7 and then collapse. I am in between thinking I want to wake up after the fact or simply try to stay awake and then sleep once I am too angry or happy to do anything else. Either way, right now I am wide awake!
/sorry for the tmi–lack of sleep
slag
@Anne Laurie:
I feel this pain.
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne: OT: Mnem, have you heard about this yet? They just restored it and the kid who plays the lead character is AMAZING in how expressive he is.
lol
If you have money to play with (and can get it there), there’s probably a good deal of money to be made over at Intrade on the ACA. You can probably double or triple your money if you’re willing to bet on ACA being upheld tomorrow.
Forum Transmitted Disease
I’m betting Antonin seriously loses his shit tomorrow. Should be fun.
Forum Transmitted Disease
I’m betting Antonin seriously loses his shit tomorrow. Should be fun.
scav
@PurpleGirl: That might make for some really good additional lines in La Marseillaise, along with the blood running in sillons, etc. Aux Armes!
The prophet Nostradumbass
@lol: I don’t see how placing bets on Intrade is legal in the US.
GregB
It seems that Antonin Scalia is only weeks away from writing dissents in his own feces on the walls of the court.
trollhattan
@Anne Laurie:
This. HST was wonderful and now is…okay, not dirt farming since he was blasted into the sky but certainly pining for the fjords.
Taibbi is who we have today, among a few others. He’s not afraid to speak his mind and he’s bloody well not going to be bought off by Murdoch or the Kochs. I suspect reporting from Russia for several years has given him a steel spine WRT the American oligarchy.
Nobody’s perfect but I’ll take him for who he is–someone on our side. We also have Charlie Pierce, and Wolcott, and ….
Anne Laurie
@smintheus: Oh, I totally agree with Mr. Clemens that “The Deerslayer” is one of the worst novels ever inflicted on an English lit class — and mine may have been the last generation to actually be forced into reading it under those circumstances!
Ellyn
@Anne Laurie:
I do, too.
AA+ Bonds
Probably his best, easily his most relevant work
I think asking whether Taibbi is the next Thompson is a simultaneous insult to both Taibbi and Thompson’s memory
AND indicates a severe lack of classic eXile in the life of the person making the comparison
Independent of either of them, the proper model for a journalist in a democratic country should be a cynical, crude misanthrope