Matt Taibbi Writes Back!

By Matt Taibbi, RollingStone.com. Posted June 26, 2007.

Editor's note: Matt Taibbi responds to two dozen reader questions. Questions were edited for length and/or clarity by Rolling Stone.

_________________

What made you want to become a political reporter? As a child, did you ever imagine yourself in the position that you are in today?

- Name Withheld

As a child I wanted to be a zoologist. Then from about the age of 14 on I wanted to be a novelist. I'm a political reporter because my fiction sucks. You should read it. I mean, it's not just bad, it's like … screamingly bad. Talents such as us end up in political journalism. _______________________________________________

Why are some Republicans (and many media types) so hot and bothered about the prospect of Fred Thompson running for president? I can't recall one piece of notable legislation or accomplishment as senator. (They often point to his role as Howard Baker's counsel during Watergate, but to me that's less of an accomplishment and more a result of being Howard Baker's bag man in Tennessee.)

- Name Withheld

They're hot and bothered about him because he can win. The fact that he has no accomplishments makes him uniquely qualified for the modern presidency. The fact that he has no accomplishments and has been on Law and Order makes him well nigh a freaking political superstar. No record + media skillz + name recognition = electoral success. Personally I always get him confused with Joe Don Baker.

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I'm pretty left leaning in most of my views, but nobody in the Democratic party really does it for me. Everything I see and read about Chuck Hagel makes me like him. What do you know/think of him?

Best,

Will in Colorado

Chuck Hagel is an interesting guy I guess. I talked to him once when, if I remember correctly, he was considering co-sponsoring Charlie Rangel's draft bill in the Senate. The thing about the current state of the Republican party is that Bush's implosion has opened the door for a resurgence of "real" Republicanism, i.e. small-government/isolationist Republicanism. Bush was really not much of a Republican at all -- more like a retarded Christian AA version of Woodrow Wilson. He spent like crazy and he got America involved in these crazy "let's export the wonderfulness of us" adventures. Because America these days has a cultural memory of about four seconds no one remembers that this is not the way Republicans used to act, but once Bush finally blew up, the door opened for some canny people in the party to remind everyone of that fact. Hagel looks like the first guy to try that tack.

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1) Not that there's anything sinister with happening to agree with one party's values more, but do you think that your National Affairs coverage is perhaps a little bit too partisan?

2) What is your favorite YouTube campaign stunt? What is your least?

3) Will the blog or online media make print effectively irrelevant for political updates?

4) If you could ask George W. Bush one question and be actually guaranteed an honest answer, what would you ask him?

- Tyler Bass

1) Re partisanship: if you think my coverage of the Bush administration is unkind, wait until Hillary Clinton becomes president.

2) I don't watch You Tube much, but I do watch X Tube regularly. I keep hoping to catch someone like Lindsey Graham on there.

3) I don't think blogs will replace print media completely. As long as men keep shitting on Sunday mornings, the print newspaper will thrive.

4) As for Bush, the question I always wanted to ask him was if he thought Muslims automatically went to hell after death. I think that would be an interesting question because there's no way for him to answer it without pissing off one or the other group of lunatics. _______________________________________________

Of all of the viable candidates for the Democratic and Republican nominations, who will win on each side? Who will you support once this choice is made?

- Name Withheld

It's going to be Thompson against Hillary or Edwards and I'm going to cast a write-in vote for Joseph Stalin if it comes to that. _______________________________________________

In person, is Hillary Clinton as cold and distant as she seems on television, in magazines, and in books?

- Name Withheld

I've only seen Hillary in person once and I was struck by how big her head is compared to the rest of her body. She looks like a bobblehead. _______________________________________________

For all American politicians in general, how much of their religious faith is real, and how much is for the votes?

- Name Withheld

I think Bush's is real. Gary Bauer's is real, so is Santorum's. The rest are all completely full of shit. I remember Kerry trying to tell reporters on the plane once that he likes to pray quietly to himself at night or something like that. It was so sad. I was afraid the stewardesses were going to burst out laughing.

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Hi Matt, first of all I'd like to say how much I enjoy reading your column. Here's my question: I live in the UK, and I always hear complaints made about the 'liberal american media'. However, there is virtually nothing in American news that even approaches what I would define as 'liberal'. Am I just missing what is in front my nose, or is it a figment of the right's paranoid imagination?

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Matt Taibbi is a writer for Rolling Stone.

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