Chris Matthews has been taking a lot of heat over his vitriolic analysis of Hillary Clinton’s political career during MSNBC’s coverage of the NH primary. Is it possible that Hillary might have won her Senate seat without the scandal that Bill was involved in? Of course it is. He actually tries to say that his take was historical fact and not opinion. Huh? Here’s Tweety on The Scar saying that he was taken out of context by the ladies of The View.
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“Those are this historic facts, Barbara and the other woman, those are the historic facts. I know how you play to a crowd, I know how talk radio works, which is the way a lot of programs work, where you find something to argue about,” Matthews said.
And if Barbara Walters wants to debate history and politics and what’s happened in this country in the last 50 years, if she wants to go on Jeopardy! and see what she knows and what I know, I’ll take her on.
If any of the women on that show want to take me on on historic, political information, let’s have a — let’s raise some money for charity; it’d be kind of an interesting way to do it. Let’s talk political history, let’s talk facts — not opinion, facts — and I’ll take them on.
Having a deep historical perspective on the political process is invaluable to an audience except when it’s warped to fit a particular point of view. And bringing up talk radio is not that helpful either. I’ve seen a few arguments by teevee pundits in my time. Later in the segment, Mika Brzezinski finally makes a good point:
Hillary Clinton laid the ground work before she was victimized, before she was humiliated. She worked to put her husband into office. She played a huge roll in her husband’s campaign and her presidency and her experience does play to an extent as to why she won as well….
Media Matters has a CM petition going: “It’s time to play a little “hardball.” Please contact MSNBC and Chris Matthews today and let them know what you think.” Sign up if you have a chance.
I know we’re spending a lot of time on CM, but his behavior is indicative of the many villagers that populate the political discourse in our country. Digby nails it as usual.
One of the things the village idiots like Matthews continuously fail to understand is that voters don’t like the media trying to “take down” politicians on their own, against the will of the people. We inconvenient citizens don’t have much in this system but the right to vote for our representatives — when these elites decide all on their own that we’ve made the wrong choice (or that we’re about to) we tend to get a little bit testy.
Filed Under: Election 2006, Hardball/Chris Matthews
Tags: Chris Matthews, Hillary Clinton
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Tweety is an asshat, plain & simple.
Mika was on Morning Joe w/Scarborough the week before the primaries and they interviewed a 13-year old girl who was interviewing candidates for Scholastic — Matthews could have used the schooling this girl gave Scarborough when he asked “In your opinion, who gave the most interesting interview?” To which the little munchkin replied, “As a journalist, I try to keep my opinions out of the story” — !!! Mika about fell off her chair.
Heh heh take THAT, Tweety!
All of the MSM’s (including Tweety’s) blathering after New Hampshire is a red herring to get people off topic . The vote was hacked . Just one more invisible elephant in the room .
His fifteen minutes are up.
Hillary touched him. He swooned. And then later he jacked to the memory.
Everything else is foreplay to this individual Holy Grail moment of Wankery.
So everyone put out your cigarettes already, and leave that prick alone in his shame.
Talk about an ego! Mathews has painted himself into a corner and refuses to swallow his pride and admit he made a mistake. I guess he acts as juvenile as he looks. Why doesn’t he just take his ball and go home?
No, that would be asking too much.
Per Mathews, we’ll all vote for Hillary out of sympathy for that poor woman who was the victim of a philandering husband. In case no one noticed, there are a few ISSUES out there that need to be addressed. Mathews’ (and the country’s) idea of political discourse makes me feel like I just smoked an entire bowl of seeds before attending a Ted Nugent concert.
John:
You say that “Mika Brzezinski finally makes a good point:
‘Hillary Clinton laid the ground work before she was victimized, before she was humiliated.’”
I don’t think that Hillary Clinton was humiliated. That would be Bill Clinton. He had to provide sperm samples for Christ’s sake.
Hillary Clinton was a model of dignity throughout the whole sordid process.
I do agree with what you said about her election as Senator. She won based on the energy of her campaign in New York which was tireless and intelligent. To attribute her success to her husband’s scandalous behavior is not only sexist and stupid on the part of Chris Matthews, but also ignorant. He doesn’t know what the fuck he is talking about.
Bit NOLA @ 4:
To which I respectfully say, amen brother. (or sister)
The day Olbermann includes Matthews as worst person is the day I’ll include Olbermann with the likes of Murrow and Cronkite.
There are 3 explanations to the voting pattern in NH:
1) Democrats are closet racists
2) Everybody said “Awwww poor Hillary!” and voted for her, all glory to Tweety
3) Diebold Fraud*
*The 3rd explanations is only for nut jobs, crazies and people who hate America. We the media go with #1.
mathews voted for bush twice. enough said.
Watching or listening to CM is always a chore. He is getting as bad as Bill the bloody Kristol. He is almost always wrong, says some of the most ridiculous things and then tries to make excuses for his statements.
I have to agree with John Stewart when he said Matthew is insane. Why can’t MSNBC pick someone else to co-host the primaries with Keith Olbermann?
Tweety and joe have got to go. MSNBC is slowly getting the message that these guys are only in it for the personal egos. America does NOT want their opinions,because they lie,flip flop only for their dropping ratings. The sheep are waking up,enough of the BS.
*Getting people off topic* is also the goal of those reacting to Matthews.
From Keith Olbermann to C&L to MoveOn to the Clintons, the whole game is about depoliticizing politics. None of these people want to be forced to take a real position on anything and so they use race, gender, Chris Matthews, or whatever to try and change the subject.
“This is not about politics.* - Barbara Boxer, on explaining her support of Joe Lieberman in the 2006 Connecticut Senate race
Olberman never fails to report the latest fluff about Brittney Spears or Paris Hilton, while feigning disdain.
Digby — didn’t she write that infamous post about Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey? It is interesting that she still has credibility on this site.
What a pompous fuck stick.
I think he’s just projecting.
He’s the one that wants to be “humiliated” and “victimized”.
Preferably by Hillary dressed up as Illsa, She-Wolf of the SS.
She could pee in his mouth and slam her high heels into his “hardballs”
Would you like that Tweety? Would ya?
I bet he’s into poop play as well.
Here’s my little bit of opinion I sent to MSNBC… I actually might pay to watch such a charitable debate between Walters and Matthews… with some limitations, restrictions, etc…
I have been an MSNBC watcher for many years. I usually disagree with most of what Chris Matthews says but lately it’s becoming unbearable to watch. At times he gets a good dose of reality when he has good guests that can get a word in while he blathers on and on with wordy, descriptive questions. His “take” on Hillary Clinton is becoming more than I can watch. His wording is bias to say the least, insulting not only to Clinton, but to many women who have lived with a cheating husband and stood by their commitment to make a marriage work through the problems. He is a black-eye for MSNBC. He’s issued a challenge to Barbara Walters to a Jeapordy game-show for charity competition to prove his descriptive interpretations of Hillary’s “history” has some merit. But there must be ground rules. No adjectives, just facts: dates, exact wording used at the time. Chris must be wired to some tazer lite device that would zap him when we goes into his wordy mode. I would watch that in a heart-beat because Matthews would implode with the talking restrictions alone. I now put Hardball in the same category I have Tucker……… I only watch when there’s absolutely NOTHING else on TV… and just to have “noise”. That’s what I describe their shows…. NOISE….
americangoy @ 9:
Gail Collins in the NY Times attributed Clinton’s victory in New Hampshire to three possibilities:
Her tears.
The sisterhood.
The Clinton “machine”.
To her, and other uncle moms like Maureen Dowd and Arianna Huffington, the possibility that men and women voted for Senator Clinton based on her intelligence or because they think she would be the best President doesn’t even enter the picture.
But if Obama, the Sainted Orator, had won….
Oy! Get the barf bags ready for the overflow of goo.
So, Chris thinks the voters of NY elected HRC Senator because her husband got blowjobs from an intern? (”..the reason she’s a US Senator….is that her husband messed around. That’s how she got to be a Senator from New York.”) Historical fact??Obviously, he doesn’t hold the citizens of NY in very high regard. It’s too easy to dismiss him as insane, jackass pundit. Anytime a Dem is on his program they should bring this up and call him on it. He’s a real lowlife.
He said, she said….
People…get real!…go to blackboxvoting.org and bradblog.com to get an education.
Considering this site has become the Pro-Clinton blog………………………….
And Tweety has been hilarious. He is very entertaining in his obsession over Hillary and Obama.
why would the GOP want clinton instead of obama?
1) the GOP has already invested billions trashing the clintons, most of it on talk radio
2) trashing obama is not as easy. it’s easier for them to hide their misogyny than their racism. the racist blowhards will be biting their tongues to bloody stumps before november next year or all they will have voting for them is a small minority. while many will argue americans are largely racist, only the really serious racists will be able to stay with them
3) obama has a natural confidence that looks like the “royal (irrational) certitude” quality that the right loves in it’s candidates. the GOP “brains” know how important that quality is in selling to the frightened and uncertainty-avoiding masses. with clinton the flip-flopper label will stick better.
I don’t think that “WE THE PEOPLE” are that stupid in these critical times, to vote black or white, female or male. We want a president that will do everything possible to undo the damage done to our country since the corporations have taken control of our election process. I think that person would be John Edwards. The corporations fear him more than any other candidate.
I’m not from New York but I have a feeling that New Yorkers are not the type of people to vote for someone because they feel sorry for them for being cheated on by their spouse.
I’m just sayin….
If there is a debate, the moderator should be a regular person. One who asks thought provoking questions like, “which pundit / douchebag was it who claimed that George W Bush was hte candidate he would most like to have a beer with”, and “whose face should be on Mount Rushmore”?
Here is my letter to MSNBC:
People…get real!…go to blackboxvoting.org and bradblog.com to get an education.
I am real and I don’t need an “education”. What does that have to do with Cris Matthews inane rants?
Oh, and the fix is in. The Repubs want Hillary, would settle for Obama, and are afraid of the rest.
Tweety has to be off his meds again.I think he’s just being contrarian….he likes the attention he gets when he says stupid crap like this……nobody in thier right mind would actually believe this tripe.Although he probably does believe this bs….all the more reseon to think he’s off his meds.
Just STOP watching MSNBC. If they depend on ratings to make $$, the loud-mouth moron will be gone soon.
reason…………damn……
As Sir Walter Scott wrote: “Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive”
This dumb schmuck, this pseudo-journalist on a pseudo-news show has little understanding of the language he trumpets to his cause, such as ’syllogism’ (which is an a priori truth such as, All humans need oxygen: Humans breath air: Therefore air contains oxygen.) or ‘irony’ (an unexpected, often comical, contradiction.)
So according to this pundit boy-wonder Clinton is a senator only because she was two-timed and reacted as a strong woman? That is not a valid syllogism! She didn’t react like a strong woman, who probably would have divorced Clinton. She acted like a politician. That is historic fact, and one could argue that a valid syllogism from the premises of Hillary and American politics is: All politicians want to be president. Politicians campaign for votes. Therefore all politicians will campaign for their own presidency.
It is ironic that people actually listen to this schmuck for direction, and it’s a tragic irony that the corporate media has rushed to the bulwarks against popular opinion and reason to defend this moron. But they shape things for outcomes, and they play the gender card as swiftly as the fear card, or the race card.
Clinton definitely has problems, but their origin is not in her ‘humiliation’ by her philandering husband (oh and that is such an uncommon fate!) Hillary Clintons problems stem from the same influences that pay Matthews and all the other corporate media liars. And that, in perhaps the ultimate irony, is the reason why she has the best chance of being the next president in this so-called democracy.
Figure that syllogism journalist Matthews.
Tweety is right on this one. If H. Clinton had not been associated with a president in the limelight for 8 years, she would not be running for president.
But this story is another ion story. How about the real story of the last eon. Yeah, the treasonous criminality in the CIA, FBI, and through congress and the Whitehouse as described by Sibel Edmonds..
His intent was to diminish a candidate and he lied about that.
It is fact and history that Matthews has contempt for the Clintons and reports on Hillary with the same contempt.
Still, Joe S. thinks he’s “at his best and on fire” right now.
Joe S. comparing himself to Barbara Walter’s interviews with singers; is an irrational lashing out at well deserved criticsm towards Matthews.
David Shuster looked foolish the way he mimicked the women on the View. I’d like to see that clip on C and L. Profoundly disappointing.
Their thin skinned response to the View would be laughable if the whole thing wasn’t so maddening.
Full disclosure: I don’t watch the View and respect both Hillary and Obama
Idea: Quit watching and send a memo weekly letting them know - “I didn’t watch Hardball this week” A few thousand of those memos would relieve them of the idea that this kind of hoopla is good for their ratings.
Oh, and the fix is in. The Repubs want Hillary..
I’m not sure I believe that but I do think that with the right PR, the Clinton campaign (if she’s the nominee) could turn the tables, big time, on them, especially with their horrific track record over the last 7.1 years. And, contrary to their portrayals, Bill Clinton is still a charismatic, highly regarded former President. She’s not my first choice, but I would vote for her if she’s the nominee.
Here is why the corporatist fear Edwards. Also the reason he gets so little coverage by the MSM.
http://www.reuters.com/article.....8020080111
What did the ‘world is flat’ lady on the view think about this?
re: mathews: he’s a POS. The reaction against him is not in whatever analysis of history he makes up to back up a claim that he spews out without any backing at the time. The reaction is that everything that he says is opinion, and he just doesn’t see it. We’re sick of you, Chris. Please quit and let someone else talk for awhile. You don’t have anything further to add to our dialog in this country. Thank you.
If its any consolation, I’m sure you could make a career going on gameshows and answering trivia. I’d love to see you lose.
If everyone just destroyed their TV sets the elites would be clueless as to how to control people.
G @ 21:
What about the black helicopters, the Trilateral Commission and the Jewish Banking Conspiracy?
Attack the Clintons then claim you were taken out of context.
Sorry Tweety, Rush Limbaugh already has that act sewn up.
Tweety is desperate to take her down, because if she wins, she’s never going to give him the time of day.
The only person with any guts to take on Matthews was (sadly) Jon Stewart. He skewered him real good.
suggestion: quit watching the motherfucker. i did. 7 years ago.
Tweety is nothing but consistent…as a tried and true Republican.
Of course that’s his response. Republicans cannot retreat…retreat is weakness.
Don’t change horses midstream…weakness!
Don’t change you’re mind and be a flip-flopper…weakness!
With us or against us…everything else is weakness!
John Wayne would be proud.
If you want a nice view of Chris Matthews’ history of Clinton/Liberal/Woman bashing check out the archives at the Daily Howler. He has been on this soapbox a long time. I remember his nightly flogging of Whitewater very clearly and feel he should have been booted years ago.
Rachel Maddow would be a fantastic replacement.
People…get real!…go to blackboxvoting.org and bradblog.com to get an education.
What about the black helicopters, the Trilateral Commission and the Jewish Banking Conspiracy?
Don’t forget the Priory of Scion, The Elder Scrolls, Nostradamus prophecies, and the 9/11 Conspiracy.
How about we see some real attack on Hillary ? How about “she doesn’