Matt Taibbi Quotes

The American political system is so porous, it's so open, it's so frustrating for those who are trying to make policy.

The 2012 presidential campaign's turn away from the classic, straight-up, American election - where the candidate who gets the most votes nationwide wins - is another sad reminder of the extreme political polarization distorting today's politics. No one talks about a 50-state strategy for winning the presidency these days.

We do not expect much from a pre-election [American] government. It is hostage to the election process.

One of the reasons why voters are turned off is the process [of modern presidential campaigns].

American politics shows again and again that the best explanation is an accusation.

Every presidential election I've ever been involved with has been characterized as the dirtiest campaign in history.

The closely divided presidential election of 2000 - in which George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by the slimmest of margins in Florida - forever implanted the divide between red states and blue states in our political consciousness.

After Trump, how can we credibly say that our process for choosing a national leader yields the best possible result, or even someone capable of uniting the country, let alone running it?

Democrats didn't just lose the 2016 presidential election, they lost seats across the country at every level of government under Obama's tenure in the White House.

Every four years in the presidential election, some new precedent is broken.

I doubt if there will ever be another Republican president in my lifetime.

I think one of the biggest curses in the U.S. is that we have only two political parties.

The thing about American politics, as I've learned, is there is no choice.

It is the ultimate conceit of conservatives: that more than half of American voters don't make up more than half of our country.

I never saw anything funnier than Texas politics.

I think there's a lot of reasons for having an extended primary. I think super PACs play a role.

You know, we - if, for example, Jerry Brown can withstand, you know, what will probably end up being $200 million of spending by his opponent and get elected governor of California, that will be a big victory in the nation's largest state.

Something very significant appears to be happening in America. There is a dramatic shift in voter affinity toward the GOP, and it may prove to be the mountain-too-high for Barack Obama's campaign.

I know that campaigns can seem small, and even silly. Trivial things become big distractions. Serious issues become sound bites. And the truth gets buried under an avalanche of money and advertising. If you're sick of hearing me approve this message, believe me - so am I.

There are a number of Americans who shouldn't vote. The number is 57 percent, to judge by the combined total of Clinton and Perot ballots in the 1996 presidential election.

Few developments in campaigning have been as vilified and misunderstood as independent expenditure PACs, or, as they are colloquially known, super PACs.

In addition to being extremely expensive, and we have to put up with the stupidities that the candidates repeat, it's really being decided elsewhere who will sit in the presidential seat.

The degree to which campaigns have become dominated by marketing is breaking the spirit of democracy, and we're all just so sick of it, across party lines.

With the end of the nominating process, American politics leaves logic behind.

Negative advertising is the only way voters can find out that a candidate may be unfit for public office.