Matt Taibbi

He’s saying only in terms of media credulity, not in terms of consequences

It pains me but i think i agree with taibbi

Setting aside that this screed pivots off a 3 1/2 page partisan brief, I’m still going to hard disagree.

And “consequences aside” is an absurd position.

screed came out prior to Barr's letter. Taibbi just added a line about it.

i feel like at the very least, the moscow tower stuff plus trump's obvious obstruction was *something*

the espionage stuff was a stretch, always

Dear god, it seems as if he blames the media for losing the faith of the FOX NEWS audience, and blames NYT instead of FOX.

Taibbi is so pathetic: https://www.vox.com/2019/3/31/18286902/trump-mueller-report-russia-matt-taibbi

Seems pretty straightforward to me. Taibbi's been warning about over-playing the Russia stuff for a while, now. Not sure how this gets twisted up into "pathetic" in your mind.

In which @mtaibbi, they guy telling everyone who'll listen that journalists fucked up in reporting the Russian story, admits he still doesn't know whether Russia did the hack. https://t.co/W7RSZGzYDv pic.twitter.com/ixENHr8isK

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) April 1, 2019

Those two concepts are not contradictory at all. Journalists fucked up by reporting shit which they didn't know to be true. Is Marcy trying to say that if it turns out the collusion allegations WERE true that the journalists would have all been vindicated? This is where Taibbi has been continuously consistent, imo.

The areas where Mueller said the allegations were true, Taibbi still isn't acknowledging it at all. Meaning it basically doesn't matter what Mueller says.

It is bad when people blatantly disregard fact in favour of their own stubborn views.

But also, this is just nonsense:
During the Iraq War period, what we really saw was virtually the entire press jump on board together to get behind this war effort. What we saw this time around, however, was a total cleaving of the media landscape, where half the media completely denied the Russia story, and the other half completely jumped into it with both feet. And on that half, in the blue state, northeast corridor, no dissent was allowed.

So now, because so much of this story turned out to be false, after thousands and thousands of stories both on TV and in the print media, it’s convinced everybody that the press is basically political. And look, that was already true of Fox News and The Daily Caller, and all those right-wing outlets, but now it’s happened 100 percent on the left. And we’ve completely lost the trust of a huge chunk of the nation.

Is the cost of that higher than the Iraq War? Certainly not in terms of the loss of life — that’s obvious. But in purely journalistic terms, this is an epic disaster.

It's also a fine example of what that lawyergun guy always talks about, that it can always only be liberals who are at fault. The problem is the press was divided, but Taibbi isn't yelling at guys like Hannity who said Seth Rich was behind it?

Everyone knows Hannity is scum.

Those two concepts are not contradictory at all. Journalists fucked up by reporting shit which they didn't know to be true. Is Marcy trying to say that if it turns out the collusion allegations WERE true that the journalists would have all been vindicated? This is where Taibbi has been continuously consistent, imo.

― DJI, Monday, April 1, 2019 3:12 PM (thirty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what marcy is saying is that taibbi doesn't have as complete a command of the facts regarding the various russia investigations that he thinks he does. there are several examples in that thread of generalizations and assertions that taibbi makes that are either misleading or flat-out wrong.

another two concepts that are not contradictory: 1) taibbi is right that cable news/etc. were wrong to focus so much attention on trump/russia conspiracies, 2) it was nowhere near as total and consequential a failure as taibbi makes it out to be, as there was plenty worth reporting on in the russia investigations

that interview was pretty embarrassing to read, particularly taibbi's "well, speaking as someone WHO LIVED IN RUSSIA" routine.

also enjoyed "if you’re putting a gun to my head and asking me two years later to offer an opinion on something I’ve gone out of my way to not talk about."

It's also a fine example of what that lawyergun guy always talks about, that it can always only be liberals who are at fault. The problem is the press was divided, but Taibbi isn't yelling at guys like Hannity who said Seth Rich was behind it?

What Simon said, but said another way (which I think is what Taibbi is trying to say) is just shouldn't we hold ourselves to a higher standard?

I mean, maybe not? I don't know that holding ourselves to a higher standard gets (or has gotten) us anything other than a higher level of self-regard, but I don't really want the entire press turning into a series of reddit threads where the only commonality between the different teams is that they are both sloppy and partisan.

I see you guys fed the Danish Troll after all

what marcy is saying is that taibbi doesn't have as complete a command of the facts regarding the various russia investigations that he thinks he does.

i get the strong sense taibbi is just kind of indifferent to the facts. dunking on those he deems to be "russiagate obsessives" is his priority, and actually understanding the facts of the situation is simply not.

it's an incredible dereliction of his duty to his readers tbh (i can hear certain posters scoffing as i write that, but oh well).

i've spoken to people like this IRL, who are in a ultra-left-wing milieu and parrot the whole "nothingburger" line, but when pressed i realize they have no sense of the scope or import of the "russia stuff" and how it points to a whole network of kleptomaniac, authoritarian forces that seek to do violence of democracy. i forgive your average union organizer this sort of laziness, b/c they've got other stuff to do, but taibbi is a political journalist -- that's his trade.

you got the Mueller Report, GG?

Taibbi’s position is not substantially different from that of Leonid Ragozin, Masha Gessen, Alex Kovalev, Oleg Kashin, etc, etc - and idk if anyone is in a position to accuse them of being indifferent to kleptocracy, authoritarianism or propaganda. His line is that bad reporting emboldens authoritarians.

gummy and nerdy p
https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-1b54868e647890074122d58ebb82fbcd

you got the Mueller Report, GG?

i will be polite and ask why you are asking this question of me.

(that is, since you know the answer, i wonder what you are driving at in asking the question)

kleptomaniac, authoritarian forces that seek to do violence of democracy.

Yes, they're called the Republican Party.

they're called capitalism

They’re called your mom

sorry everyone for the violence my mom has inflicted on democracy

as I know who you are now, GG, we shan't be interacting again

damn what did gleen greenwald do now

Went on Maddow.

sorry everyone for the violence my mom has inflicted on democracy

― mr greta t. gremlin (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, April 2, 2019 10:35 AM (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

long overdue.

sorry everyone for the violence my mom has inflicted on democracy

― mr greta t. gremlin (bizarro gazzara)

you're not responsible for the sins of your parents, it's ok

The top Democrats’ best arguments for office are that they are not each other. Harris is rising in part because she’s not Biden; Warren, because she isn’t Bernie. Bernie’s best argument is the disfavor of the hated Democratic establishment. The Democratic establishment chose Biden because he was the Plan B last time and the party apparently hasn’t come up with anything better since. Nothing says ‘we’re out of ideas’ quite like pulling a pushing-eighty ex-vice president off the bench to lead the most important race in the party’s history.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/iowa-2020-election-democrats-taibbi-858522/

That article is literally unreadable. I cannot read it on my iPhone because the site crashes after a few seconds.

That article is literally unreadable. I cannot read it on my iPhone because the site crashes after a few seconds.

That did the trick. Thanks.

New podcast: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/taibbi-useful-idiots-podcast-873547/

Too bad he has a voice made for print.

They paired him with a comedian, apparently. I will report back!

should've revived the one with Alex P

That shit was straight Morbs catnip!

Who the hell is “straight Morbs”

a happier me

Awww :’-(

I got about 15 minutes in before realizing that the last thing I want to waste my time on is a politics podcast. Anything where I have to hear clips of Trump is not for me. Maybe I’ll go back and skip to the Gabbard interview, but the snarky rundown at the beginning is just a non-stop bummer.

Lol. of course there is a Gabbard interview

the new podcast kinda sucks. Jimmy Dore ffs.