Two Easy Pieces

Illustration by Victor Juhasz/Rolling Stone

Naturally, everybody wants to know what those of us here at Everybody thought of the Nashville debate. Well, my friends, we thought Howard Fineman of Newsweek summed it up best when he called it a confrontation "between a 21st century candidate and a 20th century candidate."

It was the past taking on the future. It was an old and tired man against a young and vigorous leader.

It was no contest.

After the debate I came across a commentator at Wonkette who wondered why the profile of Insane John McCain in the current issue of Rolling Stone wasn't getting more attention.

So, we checked it out and it was, as advertised, excellent. Everybody recommends the story, Make Believe Maverick by Tim Dickinson to everybody.

At the end of that piece, under "related stories" we linked to an article which appeared in the magazine a week ago called Mad Dog Palin and Everybody will tell you it's among the finest writing of the current political year. It's by Matt Taibbi and it's a must-read.

An excerpt ensues:

Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern United States. As a representative of our political system, she's a new low in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl Rove. But more than that, she is a horrifying symbol of how little we ask for in return for the total surrender of our political power. Not only is Sarah Palin a fraud, she's the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV — and this country is going to eat her up, cheering her every step of the way.

Seriously. Great.

I wouldn't steer you wrong on something like this. My friends.