> He never claimed to be a leftist that I know of at least in the Western
> sense of the term. I mean, he's a friend and admirer of Limonov.
>
>
He actually did - sort of:
http://exiledonline.com/elite-versus-elitny/ * The Left is an elite. Let’s admit it. From bourgeois liberals like Ehrenreich to Hard Leftists like the anti-globalization activists or even us at the eXile (though I’m never really sure how deep our Leftism runs.) *
Incidentally, I like them both, but Ames is a better writer than Taibbi - I mean, objectively speaking. Compare these two sentences which I pulled at random:
Ames:
*That’s what made the whole period-costume fetish party so surreal: the sight of all these people re-enacting the Founding Fathers revolutionary fight for democracy, while at the same time cheering on a plan that overthrows American democracy and restricts power to a vanguard elite — which presumably includes the kinds of draft-dodging rednecks and bipolar government-parasites like Tancredo.*
Taibbi:
*Seriously, can we get over ourselves about the Miracle on Ice? It was great and all, but you hear about it every five minutes in this country. I lived in Russia for 10 years and didn’t even once hear about a bunch of Soviets with hideous mustaches whipping the asses of David Robinson,*
Taibbi often suffers from jock-itis - Ames doesn't, his writing has far more substance, for more drama. Taibbi could write for South Park - Ames could write for, I dunno, a better show than South Park.