<![CDATA[Spanking the Donkey: Dispatches from the Dumb Season]]>

false <![CDATA[Spanking the Donkey: Dispatches from the Dumb Season]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173593136m/307164.jpg 307164 2 The 2004 Election Was a Circus, and Matt Taibbi enjoyed a Front-Row Seat. As a correspondent for the New York Press, The Nation, and Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi scoured the political landscape for hard-hitting news stories. But the closer he got to the politicians, the more pompous and vapid they appeared. How could he write anything meaningful about these puffed-up martinets, much less vote for them? Nevertheless, Taibbi forged on and continued his responsibilities as a serious campaign reporter—though not without frequent bouts of blind panic, drug use, and donning a gorilla suit. Spanking the Donkey indicts the surreal irrelevance of today’s mainstream politics with barbed wit and caustic intelligence. Follow Taibbi as he covers the primary for the 2004 presidential election, joining him for a spot on John Kerry’s campaign plane, face-to-face encounters with John Edwards’s pancake makeup, enough Howard Dean press conferences to memorize the good doctor's stump speech by heart, and—just to spice things up—a two-month stint working undercover in a Republican campaign office in Orlando, Florida. Brimming with uncensored opinions and total truth, Taibbi captures the real American political mind; as a patron at Flo’s Bar in Manchester, New Hampshire, eloquently puts it: “They all suck . . . who’s running?” “Gonzo journalist Matt Taibbi will do anything . . . to bring political reporting back to life. Spanking the Donkey is all the more necessary in the aftermath of an election that harnessed enough liberal outrage to light the Vegas strip, cost more than a billion dollars, absorbed hundreds of hours we will never get back, and achieved absolutely nothing.” —Salon 298135 2005 Spanking the Donkey: Dispatches from the Dumb Season total:191|5:53|4:94|3:35|2:6|1:3| 191 761 268 30 3 0 false false Tue Sep 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 06:03:08 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 18:47:03 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Oct 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 25 22:16:44 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 25 22:21:12 -0700 2008 1
His campaign journal for 2004 is full of bile, a...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jun 26 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 05 09:29:08 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 26 07:37:18 -0700 2008 Spanking the Donkey is gonzo journalism at its finest. This might as well have been called Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail: 2004, as Matt Taibbi dove deep into the pathetic horror show that is American presidential politics. The bulk of the book has Taibbi following the campaigns of the Demo...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Nov 27 09:01:31 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 02 13:31:38 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Mar 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 16 09:54:28 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 21 20:54:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Mon Jun 23 13:48:57 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 23 13:48:57 -0700 2008 Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 for the 21st century, but Taibbi spends a bit too much time actively trying to emulate Hunter S. Thompson for it to feel accurate -- Thompson's authenticity was what made him such an original, an...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jul 29 20:30:51 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 30 16:08:37 -0700 2007
One hilarious episode occurs when Taibbi goes undercover at a branch of the Florida GOP. Taibbi quickly rises through the ranks, being exposed to the unashamed h...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Mar 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Apr 05 17:16:25 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 05 17:17:42 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Feb 20 04:49:28 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 25 17:25:13 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 true false Tue Aug 21 17:13:35 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 21 17:07:40 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 21 17:10:13 -0700 2007
Although he wears some of his views on his sleeve and is very candid about his support of such far-left candidates as Kucinich, he is neve...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jun 05 10:39:11 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 13 12:13:33 -0700 2007 more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Jul 29 14:29:10 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 23 08:17:56 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Wed Mar 05 16:46:32 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 05 16:48:04 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 21 12:20:34 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 21 12:20:34 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Nov 30 16:23:00 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 30 16:27:20 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 0 true false Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Fri May 04 11:05:39 -0700 2007 Fri May 04 11:12:42 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Sep 14 09:41:56 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 14 09:41:56 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 15 12:08:16 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 21 14:26:05 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Jan 31 09:21:30 -0800 2008 Thu Apr 03 11:44:48 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 04 09:44:40 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 04 09:46:53 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=307164