Taibbi Takes Byron York to School
If you love smart, funny, cutting, and utterly unmerciful poltical writing, then you're probably already a fan of Matt Taibbi. He fills the void left by Hunter S. Thompson and then tops it off with whip smarts.
A classic example of why you don't want to tangle with him is the lashing he gives to the National Review's Byron York in this IM debate sponsored by nymag.com. In this debate the two discuss the challenegs McCain faces heading into the last three weeks of the campaign and York ends up getting stomped when he can't match Taibbi on the nuances of our current economic crisis and exactly who is to blame.
Best bit:
B.Y.: When you refer to "Phil Gramm's Commodities Future Modernization Act," are you referring to S.3283, co-sponsored by Gramm, along with Senators Tom Harkin and Tim Johnson?M.T.: In point of fact I'm talking about the 262-page amendment Gramm tacked on to that bill that deregulated the trade of credit default swaps.
Tick tick tick. Hilarious sitting here while you frantically search the Internet to learn about the cause of the financial crisis — in the middle of a live chat interview.
B.Y.: Look, you can keep trying to make this a specifically partisan and specifically Gramm-McCain thing, but it simply isn't. We've gone on for fifteen minutes longer than scheduled, and that's enough. Thanks.
M.T.: Thanks. Note, folks, that the esteemed representative of the New Republic has no idea what the hell a credit default swap is. But he sure knows what a minority homeowner looks like.
B.Y.: It's National Review.
Taibbi is 100% awesome.
Get to Know Taibbi:
Taibbi's Wikipedia entry
Rolling Stone archives
Alternet
Get to know Byron York:
Byron York's Wikipedia entry
National Review archives
Media Matters
