Thursday, October 8, 2009

Matt Latimer: From Flint to the White House

What happens when a Flintoid joins the Bush White House? Matt Latimer tells all in his new book Speech-Less: Tales of a White House Survivor.

The Economist evaluates the book in its Lexington blog:
Mr Latimer grew up in Flint, Michigan, a town so depressed he was once arrested because the police thought a well-dressed white boy could only be there to buy drugs. He started loving Ronald Reagan around the time he started shaving. He came to Washington young and idealistic, and worked for a congressman, three senators and Donald Rumsfeld. He still admires Mr Rumsfeld and two of the senators, but despairs of nearly everyone else. He joined the White House for Mr Bush’s last couple of years, but soon found that the president was not the conservative hero of his dreams. Instead of pushing for the overthrow of tyranny everywhere, as he had once promised, he was now reluctant to demand the release of an Egyptian political prisoner in case he upset President Hosni Mubarak. He was making overtures to Iran, though he had previously said this was like talking to terrorists. And when the financial crisis struck, neither Mr Bush nor anyone around him seemed to have a clue what to do. They ended up spending lots of money.



18 comments:

  1. How many more embarassments can Flint take? I mean, really ...

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  2. Cooley's Dictum

    When I read that as a youngster "he started loving Ronald Reagan" I was a bit put off but could attribute it to the difference in our ages and our different, respective interpretations of the poltics of that day.

    Once I reached "he still admires Mr Rumsfeld" I was through reading.

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  3. Yeah, the Rumsfeld part threw me. I'd assume that regardless of whether your view is pro or con, it's a blanket opinion that covers Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld. In other words, it's hard to imagine a lot of people out there saying "I just love Cheney but I can't stand Bush." Or, in Latimer's case, "I'm disillusioned with Bush but still respect Rumsfeld." It seems like it would have to be a package deal.

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  4. That boy doesn't live in the real world. He needs to get out more often. Like, maybe a hunting trip with Cheney...unclebuck

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  5. Perhaps by seeing Rumsfeld much closer than we have, he can respect his work. You can still respect someone even if you don't like them.

    At least that's the only rationalization I can add to what appears to be an irrational statement.

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  6. I saw this cat on The Colbert Report last week, and had no idea that he was from here. Unfortunately, he wasn't as entertaining as most of the guests are.

    http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/250605/september-29-2009/matt-latimer

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  7. Lay off. The dude grew up on Welch and Mason in the 70s and 80s. THat stuff'll twist ya but good.

    I witnessed his dad Maurice save a kid by performing the heimlich maneuver on 'em when he was choking on a milk dud.

    They harbored various Flint crazies including Pedro Garcia!

    Don't hate the playa hate the game.

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  8. One thing is for sure. If you had any common sense and lived in the city of Flint like I did, you turned into a conserative and moved out.

    PS. Not everone from Flint is a Lib like most of you on this blog. Sorry to say that includes you geewhy. It's ashame you can't leave the politics out of this site. We all love Flint but we don't all think the same.

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  9. Come on, man, I've been pretty good about keeping my political views out. Sometimes you can read between the lines, I guess. If it makes the conservatives out there feel better, I'm probably considered a conservative in San Francisco.


    But I'm with you that I don't think this is really the venue for political battles, given that there are so many other places to find that. But this post is a good example of how politics has to have some place in the blog. I mean a guy from Central High — I think — becomes a speech writer for Bush and then writes a tell all book. I have to post something on that.

    Anyway, I hope there's enough stuff for folks of all political views to find something they like, such as posts about Coney's. Everybody likes that, right?

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  10. Anonymous has a point... the previous 4 posts before my first were slanted against this guy... which is why I searched to write something positive... although even that didn't come out too well.

    People have their opinions... I think Anonymous is thinking too many here are of the same ilk. That can be annoying... even to me, which is why I sometimes play devil's advocate (uh, no offense on that devil analogy, k?).

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  11. Hey Gordon -- didn't you know that coneys are political. I read somewhere where a really good coney with mustard and onions and a side of fries with gravy is another part of Obama's plan to keep us passive and believing that he can solve all of our problems. Got a headache because you can't pay your mortgage or you can't afford the premiums on your health insurance -- all you have to do is eat two coneys and you'll feel better. Believe me -- It's all part of Obama's big plan!

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  12. Rich, you're not helping me remain politically neutral here!

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  13. Just about every blog topic on here can have someone put a political spin on it. Regardless of which side of the fence they stand, I really enjoy reading the comments because the majority put a smile on my face due to the humor built into most of the commentary. An officials black and white striped jersey is what Gordie should slip on each day. Kind of like a "line" judge. I hope it doesn't cause him to bite his whistle in half. unclebuck

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  14. I've been hesitant to reveal it, but in all honesty, I'm a burger guy. Or maybe bratwurst.

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  15. First rule of blogging: ignore anonymous users.

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  16. Who made that rule Shawn? What's the the second rule,and third, fourth etc? I'm new with computer blogging, but willing to learn. I do know that I agree with about 99% of JWilly's comments, but can't express em near as well as he does. I respect the right of all "annonymouses" to give an opinion within the acceptable bounds of this forum....unclebuck

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  17. I don't think that Gordie was trying to make a political statement by posting about Matt. I think it was more of a "Hey, this guy made it from Walker, to NHS, to U of M Law school, to the Columbia School of Journalism, to the West Wing! How many people accomplish that?" You have to give Matt credit for all his work and maybe even give some to Flint and the education system that it once provided. Some good things did come out of Flint.

    Kathy W.

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Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.