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On Friday’s Countdown, guest host Rachel Maddow asked Chris Matthews about his refusal to allow talk show host Kevin James to blindly repeat White House talking points without having any idea what those buzzwords meant. We’re quick to call out Matthews when he does something wrong, I think it’s incumbent upon us to let him know when he’s done well too. And to his credit, Matthews understands how fundamentally detrimental these buzzwords are to a functioning democracy (and before you retort, no one is harder on him than I am, and he rarely allows them unchallenged on his program–he’s far more likely to be swayed by the perceived power–or attractiveness–of the person than the words they speak).
MADDOW: Do you think this is something new? Do you think this is something specific to our current, contemporaneous politics that we have these sort of buzzwords and bumper sticker slogans, whether it’s ‘appeasement,’ or ‘fight over there so we don’t fight them here’ or ‘they hate our freedom,’ any of these terms. Are they designed to be repeated and not to be interrogated?
MATTHEWS: Well, just look at the way people are basically exterminated or tried to be exterminated. Bill Maher makes a comment –which may not have been the right comment–but he was making a point he was trying to make, about stand back weaponry compared to people killing themselves. You can argue about the niceties of that. The Dixie Chicks say something about the war—and they shouldn’t have said it overseas, but they said it. The shutting up of opposition is critical to running a country in an undemocratic way, let’s put it that way. And so you have buzzwords like ‘appeasers’ or ‘cut and run’ and they’re used over and over again by the most mindless people. The trouble with them is they tend to work. The dittoheads can use them. Anyone can use them and they seem to have the same effect. They cause people to run from criticism.
On a related note: Media Bloodhound writes that the day after the ‘appeasement’ remarks, the ghost of Prescott Bush was seen hovering over the White House. Maybe because he grasps history so much better than its current occupant and his minions.
No Trackbacks To “Chris Matthews Explains His Reluctance To Accept Talking Points“
Sweet Jeebus, Chris Matthews did something to admire. The apocalypse must be upon us!
Matthews Quote: “And so you have buzzwords like ‘appeasers’ or ‘cut and run’ and they’re used over and over again by the most mindless people.”
Matthews has described the Bush Administration’s supporters perfectly. I have to give him credit and as the post states, sometimes Matthews gets some things right and this is one of those times. I just wish he would keep it up. Because if he doesn’t, the internet bloggers and other alternative media will have to do the work for him.
If we got rid of sloganeering and mindless talking points, the political dialogue in this country we be limited to liberals only. Hmmmmmm…………
Kudo’s to Chris, Every news person needs to call these idiots out. The chicken hawks are all actors, John Waynes and Ronnie Reagans who never saw military and avoided it every way they could. It’s time we started calling Spades ♠, Spades ♠. They used tactics like this to sink Kerry and Gore who actually enlisted to go to Nam and the chicken hawks puffed up like they were actual hero’s and not the cowards they were.
I think you mean PRESCOTT Bush, but I get your drift.
Matthews got this exactly right.
The language is hijacked by the right wing hoodlums and they run amuck!
You know, this reminds me of the times that I used to go into pet stores when I was a kid and use foul language to see if the parrots and other birds would repeat it over and over again and hopefully piss of the other customers. Now that I am reminded of that, a pet store full of talking parrots is just like a Republican Party convention in many ways. Both repeat exactly what they are told and have no idea what it means.
Joe O. @ 7:
good comparison.
I agree with Chris, but it would be nice if he would practice what he preaches. He has been the master of buzz words over and over again. I guess in Chris’s eyes, whats good for the goose is not good for the gander.
Interesting link to Media Bloodhounds’ satire on Prescott [not Preston] Bush’s ghost, GWB’s grandfather, hovering over the White House. As Media Bloodhounds noted, Prescott Bush was responsible for keeping Hitler’s war machine going and also brought together a group in an attempt to topple FDR’s administration in the 1930s. Fortunately, they did not count on former General Smedley Butler turning them down. This country needs more patriots like Smedley Butler and Lt. Ehren Watada, who have said that they will not participate in the nefarious traitorous and illegal war activities put forth by their country.
I think you mean Prescott Bush, right?
Damn … I have to get off the computer, we’re having a huge electrical storm here. Haven’t seen this much lightning since I lived in Tucson.
Arrivederci gli Americani, rimangono il senso.
I have thought for years that all these “buzzwords” amount to is kindergarten playground name-calling. (”He’s an appeaser!” “He’s a flip-flopper!” “He’s a lolly-gagger!”) That hardly anyone has called these people on it has been one of the more shameful aspects of the last 8 years. Let’s hope that this is not an isolated instance of Tweety going after the “mindless”-ness of the republicans and their surrogates. Next time he’s sharing the couch with Ann Coulter or Dick Morris. Or the next time he interviews the president or VP, perhaps he will show as much courage then. Let’s hope that this is only the beginning of a concerted effort to rid our politics and government of these people and their use of these “labels”.
Left out of the discussion is how this is a Nazi tactic. Bring that up and they will throw the “buzzword” kitchen sink at you.
I’ll give him major credit on this, but let’s see what he says next week. I want to see if the leopard has truly changed his spots.
It’s not just enough to label liberals as appeasers, traitors, fascists, elitists, etc. they have to shout it in their faces. As if saying it louder, meaner and with more conviction makes it more true, spittle and all. Matthews was astute at recognizing this right away when James began his attack. If I had a gallon of gas for every time a Republican started going berserk to make a point…
This is also part of the dumbing down process. Just hand out a buzzword phrase to the masses and they’ll run with it, even without analyzing it or knowing what it means. Tell them that it’s all they need to know and they will accept that it really is all they need to know.
Oh right - when monkeys fly out of my ass. Matthews knows Kevin James is a douche - why did he even have him on the show?
Next week he’ll be biting heads off chickens - wake up guys!
Maybe we need to give dubya some credit. When he talks of Nazism, he really, really knows what he is talking about because he embodies it. Problem is he projects it on anyone he is opposed to. Kind of like when Cheney talks about scum.
Perhaps, unfortunately, it should not be too surprising that our less than intrepid media did not cover this story themselves instead of a foreign news service. Why was 60 Minutes not all over this story? I think, however, that Kitty Kelley’s biography of Bush did go into this. This family may be as evil and as traitorous as they come, perhaps proving that with George W. Bush, the apple does not fall very far from the tree.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/ar.....stcoup.htm
Outstanding. Chris Matthews has always been hard to fathom. He’s all over the place. Every once in a while he knocks it out of the park. I hope more of the talking heads out there find their voices and remember the job of the journalist and the meaning of the words “Freedom of the Press.”
“The Dixie Chicks say something about the war—and they shouldn’t have said it overseas, but they said it”.
Is Mathews refering to a country music-foreign policy protocol of which I’m unaware? That criticism of a sitting president by guitar pickin’ singers ends where international waters begin? The man remains- as ever- a loud mouthed establishment shill. I refuse to applaud the twit simply because he was prompted into uttering a glaringly obvious, simple-simon truth by someone at least ten times brighter than himself. Jeezuz. It’s like complimenting a 50 year old man for not running with a sharp knife and untied shoelaces.
Long Tooth @ 22:
I completely agree. Buzzwords? Talking points? Hahahahaha….without them, there is no media for any of these talking heads including Mathews, Olberman and Maddow. It embodies today’s “news” pundits. buddabuddabu…….I’m lovin’ it.
It should also be noted that when Smedley Butler blew the whistle on the conspirator’s plot to overthrow the U.S. government [as put forth in the link at comment #20], that that House committee, to their everlasting shame, refused to call even one witness that Smedley Butler had said was involved in that fascist plot [one of them which would have included an individual named Prescott Bush], proving, apparently that even Congress back then was just as pusillanimous as they are now, as evidenced by the present Congress’ refusal to defund the occupation of Iraq.
More on how this is a Nazi tactic:
http://www.ushmm.org/research/.....i_language
Every detail of daily life was strictly controlled and regulated under National Socialism. This control by the state extended to the German language, both in the colloquial and the official context. Certain words such as Volk (”the people”) and Fanatismus (”fanaticism”) became synonymous with the official party line of the Third Reich. Other terms were created as euphemisms to hide acts of terror.
Does “water boarding” ring a bell? This torture method has been known as the water torture since the Spanish Inquisition, but Quasidubya saw fit to redub it.
Comments like this help me understand why I cannot bring myself to totally dislike Chris Matthews.
This game is not over yet.
Matthews must have checked the polls & realized that he needs to flip on his previous flops. I stopped watching him after he gushed praise for Bush the day of the “Mission Accomplished” aircraft carrier landing. That day he actually said, “Can you see any of the Democrats making that work?” None of his guests said, “I should hope they’d never do a stunt like that!”
Erroll @ 24:
I think it all boils down to the fact that yesterday, and today’s, politicians, are all part of the exact same club of representatives of the rich and business, and NOT of the people. But it is amusing how we humans keep electing the same people over and over expecting somehow to have different results.
In I9080 Iraq attacked Iran and in 2003 Bush delivered to Iran a Saddam-free Iraq. Could that not be construed as appeasement or was it payment for Iranian assistance in deposing the taliban? Or after all was it because Saddam had threatened papa bush?
This invigorating exchange blew my mind Friday night — such a level of intelligent discourse, rather than the usual dreck’n'pap punditry!
pissed off patricia @ 17:
Obama is a Muslim! Run for your lives!
“who are you and what did you do with the real chris matthews?”
ConcernedCanuck @ 28:
Great observation. My wife said basically the same thing to me about two minutes ago. The irony is that the committee that was supposed to investigate this was called The House Committee of un-American activities and yet their refusal to investigate the overthrow of the U.S. government should have been branded as being a very un-American activity. Meanwhile, a true hero like Smedley Butler remains largely forgotten while the Bush family legacy rolls on, as resolute members of Congress like Nancy Pelosi continue to insist that impeachment should remain off the table.
PresCOTT Bush. Not Preston
The two most mindless slogans the GOP use to stop debate and desperately hug as their core beliefs are….”lower taxes….. less government”. Without context these slogans are meaningless. Huge deficits are OK as long as taxes are low????….bail-outs of failed Bankers with tax payers money is OK but regulation is bad????. The GOP is a policy free zone and will remain so until they rediscover actual policies not just slogans.
GF @ 27:
I agree, this was a PR stunt to improve bad ratings.
Thank you for posting this
I was in a hospital ER (the second time in two days) and missed all of this.
Monty @ 35:
I tend to agree but then I only see Matthews here and another blog. I don’t watch tv at all.
But as much as I don’t like bandwagoneers, if he jumps on the right bandwagon it can’t hurt.
Kudos to Tweety… but even bigger Kudos to you Nicole!
A big part of the problem that we face in what passes for political discourse these days is the tendency to dismiss everything that an opponent says on the basis of the what ever political “pigeon hole” that we have assigned to them, without really considering the merit of what they have said.
Like you, I find much of what Matthews has to say objectionable, but the truth is the truth no matter who says it and in acknowledging Chris’s moment of truth… you’ve also established your self as a “fair arbiter”… a fair and credible judge. So good on ya!
It is easy to spew vitriol… it is more difficult to find the truth and state it and that in these times is a real accomplishment.
if i’m not mistaken, please correct me if i’m not accurate on this but isn’t “Homeland” a Nazi buzz word created to help drive up support from the pubic for Hitlers agenda?
Sunshine @ 18:
Matthews already said that James was a great guy and he was going to invite him back on his show.
Kudos to Matthews and all, but I do find it interesting how he found his desire to talk about this issue the week after Democrats won Congressional seats in heavily Republican counties. The writing is on the wall, and anyone interested in their career would surely have read it after last week.
Could it be the NYT magazine piece led Matthews to some introspection? Between that and (its revelation of) his desire to be a Democratic senator, maybe he’s woken up. But firmly esconced public figures rarely change course drastically.
I can’t bear to watch Mathews. But it is nice to read that he sometimes can’t take the rhetoric and calls a loser a loser. But, at the same time I have this problem with him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUqrCgMMacs
OMG, you mean Tweety will actually challenge some right wing idiots for a change?
I wish he would have done this 7 years ago.
Every so often Mathews goes on one of these attack rants. I remember when he went after one of the swiftboaters who claimed Kerry had not been involved in an action as he stated. Turns out the guy wasn’t there and Matthews asked him about ten times for the name of who told him what went on. The guy finally gave him a name…end of subject go to commercial. The next day an enterprising blog posts that the source was a guy who wasn’t there either..I think it was the guy who Kerry kicked off his first boat. I waited in vain for Mr. Hardball to tell his viewers just how phony these guys were, but, instead he just kept inviting them back on the show. Matthews has a long way to go.
Quit peeing all over yourselves just because Chris went after a hopeless dweeb whom he knew he could humiliate. On any other day he acts like a fool and his one turn at bat is not enough to excuse most of the airtime he pollutes with his psycho references. Let me just remind you of the “tingle up the leg” and his slobbering over Bush in his flight suit to bring you all back to reality. He will still be reminding you all of his insanity before long so I cannot quite work up the enthusiasm to pat him on the head.