July 25, 2008

It's so much more effective that way

By: AF Editors

Over at the new, ugly Atlantic Monthly, the usually temperate Megan McCardle unloads on Matt Taibbi, and the results are kind of…awesome. I’m a sucker for those moments when mild-mannered writers finally decide to stick the knife in. It’s like the scene at the end of Last of the Mohicans, when the Russell Means character, who has up til now just been this numinous Native American-type, starts taking people apart. I personally lack the self-control to wait for when it really counts, so I end up blowing my top on a semi-regular basis.

As a side note, it’s always depressing when sharp, witty people like Taibbi, usually so good at cutting through others’ cant (seriously, just Google “Taibbi” and “Thomas Friedman” and you’ll have an hour well spent) suddenly decide they’re obliged to get behind an idea — and it’s not even their idea. Also in this category is this painfully earnest piece by the otherwise great Michael Showalter, one of the minds behind a veritable trifecta of hilarity: The State, Wet Hot American Summer, and Stella. It’s like watching Keith Richards do a “The More You Know” segment for NBC.