Matt Taibbi, writer for Rolling Stone, discusses his new book, The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire, the American press’s priorities on news coverage, Congress’s inner workings on writing legislation, his investigation of Pastor John Hagee, John McCain seeking an endorsement from Hagee, Hagee’s vision of the end of the world, the Reverend Wright controversy and its coverage in the press, Taibbi’s coverage for Rolling Stone of Iraq from Baghdad, his embedded assignment with troops from Camp Liberty and a car bombing, the similar approach to managing Congress between the Republicans and the Democrats, the American people’s disfranchisement and cynicism towards government and politics, the rise of conspiratorial movements in America, the possibility of Barack Obama being any different than other American politicians, and Obama’s potential disappointment among the American people should he become president.

MP3 here. (18:36)

YouTube here.

Matt Taibbi is an American journalist and political writer. He currently works at Rolling Stone where he authors a column called “Road Rage” for the print version, and an additional weekly online-only column called “The Low Post”. He is best known for his coverage of the 2004 US presidential election, and for his former editorial positions at newspapers the eXile, the New York Press, and the Beast. Recently, Taibbi has been a regular contributor to Real Time with Bill Maher. His new book is, The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire.

Russell Mokhiber, editor of the Corporate Crime Reporter, discusses the White House press culture, the questions he posed to Scott McClellan while press secretary, his condemnation of the Washington political culture, the mistake of the Iraq War, Vincent Bugliosi’s new book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, Bush’s ignorance of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq and Iran, Scott McClellan’s lack of courage regarding his allegations against Bush, the repetitive nature of White House press conferences, allegations that the mainstream media went soft on questioning the Iraq War, the possible prosecution of George W. Bush after his term ends, his constitutional powers of pardon, Ari Fleisher’s fortunes after leaving the White House, the comparison of George W. Bush to Charles Manson, Mokhiber’s prediction that Bush will be prosecuted, the American people’s complicity toward Bush’s actions, and his opinion of the Ricardo Sanchez book, Wiser in Battle: A Soldiers’ Story.

MP3 here. (38:02)

YouTube here.

Russell Mokhiber is the editor of the Corporate Crime Reporter.