He turns some readers off with his vitriolic attacks. Further, his attacks are is blatant propaganda. Why? Because while Taibbi does mention that the Democrats already crafted legislation more than once - setting timetables for withdrawal and tying those timetables to funding, bills that Bush subsequently vetoed - he uses quotes from unnamed "congressional aides" to solidify his assertion that the Democrats just wanted to "score political points without ever being serious about bringing the troops home."
Taibbi does use evidence that there are anti-war leaders outside of Washington who are discouraged and bitter. But he fails to build a case for his most radical assertion, that the Democrats "hijacked the anti-war movement itself" in order to play to the voters, and that the Democrats filled the "ranks of peace groups with loyal party hacks." This is pure propaganda, and the evidence he provides is very thin. He doesn't name some of the most prominent peace groups against the war, including veterans' groups, student groups, and others. His beat is Washington, D.C., and he fails to address people and issues outside the nation's capitol.
Influences: Moreover, Taibbi is influenced by his anger about the war; it possesses him, he's steaming mad at Bush, so he writes vicious attacks against the Democrats. In another Taibbi article ("Rudy R.I.P.") he claimed that "the best day" in Rudy Giuliani's life was 9/11, as "thousands of Americans were roasted like marshmallows" (in the World Trade Center) and "hundreds more leaped from half a mile up into piles of burning steel." This kind of sick writing is contemptible and unconscionable. He is saying the terrorist attacks made Giuliani something of a media folk hero, and that this incident helped launch Giuliani's presidential campaign.
Perception: His perception...
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