Chris Matthews Rubber Room Watch: Democratic National Convention Edition: Part One in (hopefully) a series

Chris Matthews sounding like a petulant four year old? Priceless:

This is awesome

We still hate Chris Matthews on balance, though.

Tweety cops a feel

It sure looks to me that Tweety is groping Ellen Degeneres at the end of this dance:

Kirk Watson responds

Texas state rep. Kirk Watson responds to having been ambushed by Chris Matthews on Hardball the other night:

On Tuesday night, after an important and historic victory in the Wisconsin Presidential Primary by Senator Barack Obama, I appeared on the MSNBC post-election program. “Hardball” host Chris Matthews (who is, it turns out, as ferocious as they say), began grilling me on Senator Obama’s legislative record.

And my mind went blank. I expected to be asked about the primary that night, or the big one coming up in Texas on March 4, or just about anything else in the news. When the subject changed so emphatically, I reached for information that millions of my fellow Obama supporters could recite by heart, and I couldn’t summon it.

My most unfortunate gaffe is not, in any way, a comment on Senator Obama, his substantial record, or the great opportunity we all share to elect him President of the United States.

Had I not lost my mind, here are the accomplishments I would have mentioned:

Senator Obama’s fight for universal children’s health care in Illinois.
His success bringing Republicans and Democrats together (a huge selling point for me in general) on bills such as the one in Illinois requiring police interrogations and confessions to be videotaped.
His leadership on ethics reform in Washington (the bill that lobbyists and special interests are complaining about right now has his name on it).
His bill to make the federal budget far more transparent and accessible to Americans via the Internet – we could use that openness in Texas.
And his vital work with Republicans to lock down nuclear weapons around the world.
Of course, it would have helped to remember all of this last night. I encourage anyone who wants to know more (especially Mr. Matthews) to log onto texas.barackobama.com.

In the meantime, let’s not lose focus on what’s important in this election. It’s not my stunning televised defeat in “Stump the Chump.” Thankfully, it has nothing at all to do with me.

What’s important is the direction our country is headed. What’s important are the priorities, methods, and, yes, accomplishments of those seeking the highest office in the country.

Exactly.

Now, granted, the Obama campaign ought to make sure that in today's "Gotcha!" media environment, their public faces are prepared for any eventuality. But watching Chris Matthews ambush this guy was like watching the episode of Family Guy that ran on CW tonight in which Peter Griffin decides, after beating up a 13-year-old, that bullying is fun.

We Have Blacks, Too, You Know.

In a priceless catch by the gang at Crooks and Liars, they actually heard "Tweety" Matthews say this right after the State of the Union Address:

Matthews:”…And I have to think given the ethnic, you know, excitement - let’s call it American excitement about Barack Obama. If he doesn’t make it to the nomination a lot of people on the Republican side might say, well why don’t we try do something to offset that and take advantage of the hope of having an African American at a high level of government.”

So, in other words, whatever the Democrats can do, we can do better? Even if it involves getting black people "excited"?

His idea was having a GOP contender tap Condi Rice. Yeah, like a Republican would choose someone with a Y chromosome darker than them for a running mate. I wonder how that will sit with his old running buddy Colin Powell?

Can someone please tell me why spongeheads like Chris Matthews and Don Imus, as well as Melanie Morgan, and Michael Savage and Hal Turner and the rest of those racist, homidical assclowns are not only employed by the media but are making more money than everyone who writes for this blog combined?

Yo Mama! Apparently , Size Does Matter!

So sez Tweety this evening: "Big Bill surrounds Obama, is Hill thrilled? You bet yo mama!"
Really, does he write his own material? Are the news writers out on strike too?
My Mom found that hilarious, but I think its a bit too edgy for right now...and for some reason it drags me back to the Jefferson's and Brooklyn in the 70's....we're-a movin' on up, to the eastside...

From the blundering morass that is MSNBC's coverage of the mess in Florida, I just don't know what to say anymore.I feel like I should apologize or something, in that MSNBC might sorta partially represent the left in any way...To a deee-luxe apartment, in the sky...

This blog about Chris Matthews isn't nearly broad enough to cover the range of wankery that goes on over there. Ive been watching Matthews look all spooked, with those tail-between-the-legs-don't-hit-me-again-papa wide eyes, like he's a teenager who has gone too far. Then theres the obnoxious-little-weenie brother, Tucky, and the Deputy Dawg smirk of Morning Joe...We need a wider focus here because they play off eachother, and ...I dunno...you would think that there weren't soldiers dying in Iraq just about every day. Bring me my tin foil hat, honey, because I could swear that they were sending messages to eachother, the base, and for whoever has their finger on the Manchurian button lately .

First of all, What happened to all that war coverage that was pretty great for a while and was a major part of the day ongoing? Where is Richard Engle, Mick Ware, and Mike Boettcher? Where is the sand and grit, and reports from embeds outside of the green zone? Has that become a non-story because the actual War part is supposedly over? I'm trying to remember what I felt like to get good first hand reportage. Ever since the morning that I woke to find that David Bloom had died, while rushing towards certain disaster anyway, and trading bible passages with Timmeuh Russert; just saying no, no, no,(Jane, how do you stop this crazy thing?)and those images that Bloom had worked so hard to bring to us from right on the ground level of hell.... and ever since my worst fears were confirmed and reconfirmed about how badly we were lied to, and how the media went along with it, Ive tried to find whatever group of news people that don't aren't too scary in their strange toned-down world of morning television , and even then, I watch closely...I don't trust any one of them except Olbermann, Stewart, and Colbert (and that's a backwards kind of trust.)



I have to admit that I have been an avid MSNBC/NBC watcher, from my war coverage to just about everything else, morning to night. I guess you could say that I know them pretty well. But even if they are less scary than the Good Morning America crew or the CNN group, I still have seen them sway and bend with the political weather, and probably more due to the Bushies actual spiralling apart in front of our very eyes, than the people's desire for truth. I didn't notice especially the the rats started deserting the sinking ship till pretty late in the game, and some of them are surely still hanging on to that ship or a portion thereof, just in case the republicans pull something out of their combined asses, (swiftboating, anyone?), and that leads to 4 more years. I've seen too much hedging and positioning, and not wanting to get caught on the wrong side of criticizing the President...as if this isn't America; as if we don't live in a society where the job of reporter comes with the assumption of cojones and truth.

The war correspondents have given way to the politicians walking flanked by security guards, through the Baghdad marketplace. There was some certain transfer of authority from the correspondents that are on the ground, to the generals who are supposed to dig us out of this mess and juggle the desires of all the characters in the hearing room, and the politicians, all jockeying for position, or the correct position in this matter.

And what has become of the correspondents in Iraq? We cut to them from time to time, but it seems that there are selective blackouts on pictures of suicide bombs and other tragedies, that are certainly as much a part of the war as the wash across the desert was and the squads of brave soldiers breaking down door after door to find huddled, terrified, families, and who knows what else in the bedroom or beyond the patio.
Yeah, the drudgery of day to day village cleaning doesn't pop like those initial images, and at some point ratings have to take over, I guess. But I'd expect that even if the American public might grow numb and tired of watching soldiers and civilians getting blown up, to the players its every bit as terribly real and attention getting as the new season of American Idol. Who says that we get to divorce ourselves from the reality of what we started? How can we be a society that becomes bored and moves on to the new season of must-see TV?

This morning Scarborough was actually mouthing messages to his base on camera, saying "he's wrong" over and over to the camera in response to comments about Ron Paul's crazy and insane call to end the war....
Dan Abrams spends his evenings chasing his tail with the remnants of whatever scandal is left over from the day: Is it wrong to expect more than the constant repetition of breaking news from Heath Ledger's tragic death, only to find that its a story about how masseuses get certified for CPR? How far of a stretch is that? Who was called first? Is that breaking news? There is no story there guys; its just a tragedy like every other tragedy happening every day. Theres nothing to see, just drive on by.

I don't know why it so flabbergasts me, and call me naive, but most of the country, including the republicans are for pulling out of Iraq, and most everyone agrees that this is a criminal administration, so where do pundits or newspeople get off acting like this anymore? John Gibson made fun of an actor's death, saying that it was probably due to suicide while watching the democratic debates, Chris Matthews thinks nothing of spending months telling his audience that one candidate is the definite nominee, at the same time as he keeps up a pretty heinous running commentary about her and her husband. After Matthews was made to grudgingly apologize for his remarks, Little Tucker Carlson stepped in and repeated them..I'm not even going to go into the Rush Limbaughs and the Bill O'Reillys out there. I cant even believe that I'm grouping MSNBC into the same world with Fox News, but...they are growing in that direction, and it is beyond me why the powers would allow this to continue, what with the mood of the country and the real movement of us all towards a middle/left mentality. Its like the inmates have taken over the asylum, and there is a fine line between shock for ratings, and alienating your audience ...and ultimately we will switch the TV off. If I will then anyone would quite sooner, because I am a real TV person, and a real MSNBC watcher.

MSNBC seems to be getting its ducks in a row behind Keith Olbermann, but its not happening quickly enough. David Schuster and Rachel Maddow would be an excellent pair for a roundtable show or even a straight news show. They both are quirky as hell, but also smarter than smart. And they could garner a great following just because they are so quirky; it makes them each lovable and human. MSNBC has an embarrassment of talent to keep falling back on the same old failed line up. ...Chuck Todd, Richard Engle. Why is he so underutilized; Oh yeah, hes a foreign correspondent and we don't want to show much about that messy foreign stuff now, do we? Isn't it preferable to have Tweety and Tucky telling us like it really is over there? Sam Seder is fantastic with his sort of sparkle smirk and humor, which is the secret ingredient to any news show working well.

This morning I was sick, and laying helpless in bed flipping channels, trying to get past the local news on every network channel...and finally I jumped to channel 68, where I found the face of Willie Giest filing the screen, donning 70's tinted aviators and his canary-in-my-mouth, slap-my-face, look. The camera pulled back and there he was with two bikini-topped hula girls at the Hawaiian Tropic...um...restaurant...kiosk at the mall...booth at the convention center...?
Because I guess that since Mika and Scarborough were in Boca (Joe's home town, or so he told us over and over again, as if that's a good thing,) Willie was pretending that he was in Hawaii...huh? Childish banter ensued, as if we were supposed to be fond of these guys, and then we were back to the hard news of the debate last night.

Scarborough is proud to be a republican, even in light of the line-up of clowns who are representing his party. What they said is not worth reporting, because it doesn't amount to much, except for Ron Paul's usual anti-war rhetoric, that is good to hear but it tends to take away from his real platform of government abolishment and all kinds of silliness.
But Paul going on about ending the war and Morning Joe's silent commentary ("he's wrong, he's wrong, he's wrong")...and I know that this is an entertainment show, but I felt...offended...and I found myself looking at the curve of his nose and his little hateful mouth, his sickeningly thick hair, and I wondered how people like this get a platform. I know that when I switch him on, its because there is nothing else on...and lately because he has given John Edwards some air time. But today, this morning, I turned him off.

Do you hear that MSNBC? I turned your fucking Morning Joe off! ...And, I am, what might be referred to as, a loyal viewer. I lay here thinking about how Scarborough is their Deputy Dawg, sending a less than subliminal message to his base, and to the doleful Matthews and the under-appreciated and misunderstood Tucker Carlson. And I was wondering how it makes sense at all that a guy like this gets to pretty much state, on national TV, that the war is a good thing, or that we are not failing over there, in the bigger or the smaller views, without a peep from any one of the correspondents that MSNBC has supposedly under contract...Maybe they have cut them all loose; I haven't seen much of Engle since he went on his book tour and Boettcher seems to also have vanished after covering some major stories out of Atlanta.

The point is that they no doubt have some correspondents out there, or they have access to stringers, and they choose time and again to allow the right leaning, misogynist pundits to rewrite the storyline of our tragic tale; Which wouldn't be anything different than business as usual except for the fact that we are living in dangerous times, and to see Morning Joe winking into the camera just as John McCain is going on about the glory of the war, and decrying whatever it was that they have renamed the cut and runners, I get a sinking feeling.

Finally, in light of Huckabee's comparison between WMA and Easter eggs, and my Psych 101 text book, I've got to nod towards Melissa's pundit's balls open letter, (not cross posted here for some reason; maybe she just hasn't had time yet,) and the obvious obsession, in these days of wimmin and blacks being uppity enough to run for high office, with their own cojones and how every man, woman, and child must be admiring their manliness....I guess its hard to get knocked down a peg or five.... but, I have no empathy for those who have played such a deadly and destructive role in American History. Serving as a warning to others might be the best payback to a suffering country.
We've Finally Got a Piece of the Pie....

Chris Matthews, Nad Defender

I trust that title will be enough to make you click here.

Thus Spake Tweety: McCain is the new Reagan

The long romance between Chris Matthews and the somnambulent, baggy-eyed, Aqua Velva Senator Droopy from Tennessee is over. So is the "I'm Ronald Reagan. No, I'm Ronald Reagan. No, you dumbass, I'm Ronald Reagan" dance of the Republican candidate. Yesterday Matthews decided that John McCain is the new Reagan:

CM: It’s a heavily invested night. He brought his mother. Cindy looked very much like a first lady. It was a fascinating presentation. It gave me the tableau tonight of a man who believes—he may be wrong, of course—that this is his big night. That this is the night (that) will launch him. I would expect that the next step tomorrow morning, he gets up and calls Nancy Reagan and ask for an endorsement. I think he’s going to try to make himself “the Reagan candidate,” as he did in that speech, try to do it now, go for it, this is his chance, try to bring the party together under him. I think this is it for him and he knows it.

Video at Crooks and Liars.

Tucker's Hoof-in-Mouth Problem: An Open Letter to MSNBC.....

An Open Letter to MSNBC

I am one of the many, many people who has been “hurt” and dismayed by Chris Matthews’ abuse of his position, and woman hating, boorish, behavior. The viewers obviously agree, as this situation has blown up and resulted in an on air apology from Matthews last night. That apology can only be the result of many complaints over the past months and even years, and especially due to his contention that Hillary Clinton would never have gotten anywhere if she hadn’t been a wronged woman.

I am SO tired of having to watch that man, first repeat over and over who my candidate was going to be, then act incredulous at the fact that he may have been wrong, and continuously cut down the candidate who he obviously has a grudge against, and THEN sheepishly apologize, obviously not meaning it, and seemingly at the direction of his bosses, for the disgustingly misogynistic statements that he makes constantly, and for his boorish behavior…But no, he didn’t even actually apologize; rather, he told us that we had misunderstood his LOVE of politics and the players. Well, I don’t buy it. I didn’t misunderstand, and I am tired of being put down by another pasty white man who thinks that he represents the melting pot of America…think again!

This evening, I had the unlucky opportunity to walk into a room where the horrible Tucker Carlson was on the TV, and before I could flee, he was saying, “I know that we are not supposed to say it around here, but….” And then go on to restate the same crap about Hillary! I believe that this was part of a spot on the Tyra Banks interview that Clinton did and her talking about Bill cheating.

Is that issue out of bounds for Hillary? No! Its part of her life story and she can talk about it if she wants to. It’s a huge leap to say that she only got where she is because of it!

Tucker has no visible means of support! He has horrible ratings, nothing to say, and a bad attitude. His libertarian views are based on a prep school/frat boy existence that would, of course, allow him to support himself and his family with no social safety net and no care for anyone else in society. Who does he represent in the audience? Not me, that’s for sure! He actually proves, every time I see him, that he has an incredible amount of animosity towards me and people like me. So, who are you trying to attract with his show? And doesn’t it make sense that he has such low ratings? Does he even have sponsors? How does one get this kind of job security, because it’s a rare thing in today’s America.

Tonight, Tucker Carlson had the nerve to pile on to Matthews’ apology and restate the offending statement as if he is giving some sort of virtual high five to his friend…what could your producers, programmers, and whoever the bosses are over there, be thinking anymore? Did you come to the decision with Matthews to have him apologize only to have the petulant little child, Tucker, run between your legs and stick his tongue out at the viewers who complained? That is what he just did. And he did it not only as a statement against management, but as a clear message to the viewers…I consider this to be offensive and directed at me, as much as it is directed at Clinton or anyone else out here who might disagree with the frat boys club who think they know everything.

I am a woman and a long time MSNBC viewer. I am also someone who is very involved with the political process and I hope to turn to MSNBC for some insightful commentary, considering what else is available. But, obviously this is not the direction that your programmers want to go in.

Your few saving graces, such as Rachel Maddow, David Schuster, and the commentary of some fantastic guests such as Sam Seder, are feeling like not quite enough. Yes, I will watch Keith Olbermann anytime and follow him anywhere he broadcasts from, but the rest of your lineup is such that I have to turn off the station as soon as that hour is over! When are you going to make some changes?

Melina

www.RIPCoco.com
www.Brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com
www.SweetJesusIHateChrisMatthews.blogspot.com

Video and Transcript of Apology

Don't forget to read Melina's take on it here.




MATTHEWS: Good evening, I'm Chris Matthews. Welcome to Hardball. Well, we're in a time of a lot of frustration in this country -- Iraq, of course; the lack of health care for people who work every day; gas prices going up; the weakening economy that scares us every day -- and I come on here every night and try to wrestle with these frustrations, and also the changes in our country. We might soon have the first woman president, the first African-American president, or a man older than we've ever elected before. And of course, we always treat things here with hope -- our uniquely American hope that we can actually make things better, that we can make the greatest of countries, not only survive, but as [author] William Faulkner once said, "prevail."

In the midst of talking about all of this -- almost always without a script, and almost always on tricky subjects of gender and race, and right and left, and what's in our country's interest, and who I think is telling the truth, and who I think isn't -- I know I'm dealing with sensitive feelings. I've accepted all of this as part of the business I have chosen. This program, I am proud to say, is tough, fearless, and yes, blunt. I want people to react when I say something. I don't like saying things so carefully, so politically correctly, that no one thinks they even said anything.

What I've always counted on in all the wild, speeded-up conversations on Hardball, and elsewhere on television, is my good heart. I've always felt that no matter how tough I got, how direct, how provocative -- how purposely provocative -- people out there watching would know I was not out against them, that it was them I was rooting for, that while I was tough on individuals who sought to lead the country, I was not against the hopes we all have for a fair shake, in fact, a better deal for people who have been held back before we came along.

Some people whom I respect, politically concerned people like you who watch this show so faithfully every night, people like me who care about this country, think I've been disrespectful to Hillary Clinton, not as a candidate, but as a woman. They point to something I said on MSNBC's Morning Joe the morning after the New Hampshire primary, that her election to the U.S. Senate, and all that's come since, was a result of her toughness, but also the sympathy for her because her husband embarrassed her by the conduct that led to his impeachment, because he, in the words I used, "messed around."

The truth of course is finer, smarter, larger than that. Yes, Hillary Clinton won tremendous respect from the country for the way she handled those difficult months in 1998. Her public approval numbers spiked from the mid-40s up to the 70s in one poll I looked at.

Why? Because she stuck to her duty; she performed strongly as first lady. She did such a wow of a job campaigning for Senate candidates, especially Chuck Schumer of New York, that she was urged to run for a Senate seat there herself. She might have well gotten that far by another route and through different circumstances, but this is how it happened.

The rest is history: how Hillary went up to New York, listened to peoples' concerns, and beat the odds, as well as the Republicans, to become a respected member of the U.S. Senate. So, did I say it right? Was it fair to say that Hillary Clinton, like any great politician, took advantage of a crisis to prove herself? Was her conduct in 1998 a key to starting her independent electoral career the following year? Yes.

Was it fair to imply that Hillary's whole career depended on being a victim of an unfaithful husband? No. And that's what it sounded like I was saying and it hurt people I'd like to think normally like what I say, in fact, normally like me. As I said, I rely on my heart to guide me in the heated, fast-paced talk we have here on Hardball -- a heart that bears only goodwill toward people trying to make it out there, especially those who haven't before.

If my heart has not always controlled my words, on those occasions when I have not taken the time to say things right, or have simply said the inappropriate thing, I'll try to be clearer, smarter, more obviously in support of the right of women -- of all people -- the full equality and respect for their ambitions. So, I get it.

On the particular point, if I had said that the only reason [Sen.] John McCain [R-AZ] has come so far is that he got shot down over North Vietnamese -- by North Vietnam, and captured by the enemy, I'd be brutally ignoring the courage and guts he showed in bearing up under his captivity. Saying that Senator Clinton got where she's got simply because her husband did what he did to her is just as callous, and I can see now, it comes across just as nasty, worse yet, just as dismissive.

Finally -- as if anyone doesn't know this -- I love politics. I love politicians. I like and respect people with the guts to put their name, their very being out there for public approval so that they can lead our country. And that goes for Hillary and [Sen.] Barack [Obama (D-IL)] and John and all the rest who are willing to fight to take on the toughest job in the world.

So, let's get on with the show. Whoa.

(Transcript courtesy of Media Matters. Video courtesy of Petulant.)

ARGH-ball! Tweety's Sorta Apology....

Well, now Ive seen everything....

I guess the heat got too hot in the frying pan at MSNBC, and after a phone interview with Morning Joe last week, "Standing by his words..."
and an insane visit with Jay Leno this week, much the same, chuckling and guffawing about how he is the non PC, wild man of politics...grasping on the slippery slope, the vines snapped tonight and there he was at 5PM, looking dolefully into the camera, and telling me something serious.
Something to the effect of; I know I'm wild and crazy; I know I shoot from the hip; but thats who I am. I said some things about Hillary and they were mean...and probably wrong...and unfair too...and I hurt people!! But, I LOVE POLITICS...I love Johnny and Baracky andHill...I love Mittsy and bootsy and bitsy and Bushy....I LOVE YOU ALL!...(and thats why I hit you!)
CAN I , PHULEEZE, STAY ON THE AIR??...Stop the complainin' to the bosses here!!
Now lets get on with the show!

I dont buy it...no, I dont...not even a little...
I wish I had been a fly on the wall in those meetings...imagine what goes into making Matthews make a sincere and personal apology into the camera, between him and us?

And in breaking the 4th wall, (of which 2.5 are made of freakish bluster, even though he technically "talks" to us,) acting as if he sincerely sees us and is communicating from the heart, he proved that he really shouldn't do that; Leave that territory to Keith Olbermann and his brilliant comments. It came off as forced and disingenuous. But what else would we expect from out Tweety?

c/p RIPCoco
c/p Brilliant at Breakfast

Protest rally against Chris Matthews in DC tomorrow

I just received this e-mail from the National Women's Political Caucus:

I wanted to let you know that the National Women's Political Caucus is holding a rally tomorrow, January 17, 4:00pm outside of NBC News, 4001 Nebraska Ave NW (right off AU circle) to protest and object to Chris Matthews' sexist comments and behavior on "Hardball" and as a commentator on MSNBC.

For your information, I am attaching a press advisory and the letter that NWPC, NOW, Feminist Majority and Women's Media Center sent to Steve Capus, President of NBC.

Because the mission of the Caucus is to do everything we can to elect women to public office, we feel it is extremely important to call out sexism and sexist behavior on national television. We deserve better from a national television network.

We need bodies at our rally. I would be eternally grateful if you could help us get the word out about this rally. And, it would be great if you could attend yourself. The weather is supposed to be terrible. Call me crazy, but protesting sexist behavior in the sleet and snow is my idea of a good time.

Thank you for anything and everything you can do in this behalf.

Best regards,
Clare
Clare Giesen
Executive Director
National Women's Political Caucus
1003 K Street, Suite 637
Washington, DC 20001
202-785-1100

NWPC appears to have endorsed Hillary Clinton, but you don't have to be a Hillary supporter to speak out against Matthews having a national podium from which to spout his misogyny.

Circlejerks

Good Stuff: On Hardball today, Chris Matthews really reached outside the box to interview fellow babblehead and enormous douchebag Tucker Carlson. And lookee there—they couldn't agree more. How splendid for us all.

(Cross-posted.)

"Pissy Chrissy"

"Chris Matthews, this evening."

Sweet Jesus, Atrios hates Chris Matthews, too!

Tweety in the Crosshairs

Media Matters has launched a major online ad campaign that highlights the misogyny of Chris Matthews. Most of the major progressive blogs are now carrying an MM ad with various click-throughs to Tweety's greatest hits.

If you happen to see the ad in your progressive cyber travels, please check it out (or if you happen to miss it, click here). While SJIHCM might be a flash in the pan, Chris Matthews will be dogging us through election day. We need to bite back.

Update: David Brock from Media Matters posts an excellent diary re: Matthews at dKos.

Chris Matthews is The Continental!

Sweet Jesus, August hates Chris Matthews, too!

(Click image for whole comic.)

Tweety Talk

An intermittent feature of dispatches from the Tweety Beat:

Sara Robinson on Chris Matthews and his All-Boy Revue.

Dandelionsalad asks you to write Tweety and ask if he's a hypocrite for running commercials claiming that "those who watch get to decide who's right" while his network has kicked Dennis Kucinich out of this week's Las Vegas debate.

August J. Pollak has a new cartoon featuring Tweety.

Watch Tweety defend himself against the Wicked Crones (sic) of The View on Morning Joe last week over at Crooks and Liars.

Justin Cognito on Joe Scarborough beginning to contract Chris Matthews Disease.

Mark Bail examines Tweety's history of unprofessional behavior where women are concerned (and this is just what we KNOW about).

Sweet Jesus, I Love MSNBC!

It snowed in Baghdad yesterday.
In a scene straight out of solemn black and white stories of cease fires at Christmastime, residents of the war torn city marveled at the beauty of the white crystals falling, even if they melted upon hitting the torn apart streets. It hasn't snowed in Baghdad for as long as anyone can remember.

We are living in strange times, my friends.

This past week has been backwards crazy like that; on the heels of Olbermann's O'Reilly puppet theater the other night, in which O'Reilly unsuccessfully messes with Obama security, and then reports of Hannity being chased through NH by Ron Paul supporters, stirred up because Faux News didn't allow Paul to participate in the debate... Along came Dan Abrams complaining that he felt lately that Hillary was being shoved at us by the media! Oh really? The sweet indignation of just realizing what has been happening all along.


....and now Obama is suddenly the second coming!? What was Dan thinking when he was the program director of this very station and he supported the chronically low ratings of Scrappy-doo-Tucky-Carlson, the Libertarian fool, and the non stop rantings of Tweety Matthews, acting as if Hillary was a done deal and there was no point in even discussing other candidates. So sure were the M$M pundits about Hillary, that I started switching it off, because I am just fucking weary of being told what to do by pasty white men.

Yeah, Abrams' outrage rings a little hollow. NOW Dan is with us, in the face of the big bad M$M machine? Well, its possible, I suppose, since MSNBC is maybe the best of the worst of the M$M, but God, who in their right mind allows the likes of Willie Giest to ascend to the role of snide janitor, much less sidekick to the repugnant Morning Joe, and who kept Carlson employed against the usual formula of ratings and sponsors? I wasn't a fly on those walls, but if appearances mean anything, Tucker rode along on his relationships rather than ratings, long after it was clear that any retooling could help him in any way, and once the suits got involved there were slap-downs of Tucker and the "rumors" that Tuckie was on his way out (...also, didn't Tucker thank his 10 viewers on air, and then get reprimanded for it by the bosses?)

Granted, they have got Rachel Maddow on every show in a row, just about every night! (and, having quietly shot a pilot already, maybe she can get Kent Jones a gig there...he is sorely missed on Rachel's AAR show!) One good move doesn't clean the slate, but if they do start to build a decent lineup based around Keith, with Rachel taking the nine o'clock slot, it could be great programming for the upcoming Democratic majority! If New Hampshire is any indication, the snotty conservative pundits who used to have a stranglehold on all of the airtime they wanted, haven fallen from favor, along with their masters in the White House...

After writing the above rant the other day, I was surprised, pleased, and honored to receive an invitation to join Jill's newest project: a blog called Sweet Jesus I Hate Chris Matthews!
Not only was I pleased that she would consider my pitiful missives that are coming pretty irregularly lately, but also I'm kinda thrilled that we are all on the same page about this thing. I spend alot of time wondering if I'm just a crazy fool who was born at the wrong time, in the wrong world, and when I get any sort of confirmation of my sanity and/or remaining humanity around me, I feel so much better! Thats what got me started writing this opinion sort of stuff (and who watches more MSNBC than me??) and thats whats allowed me to go on through the morass of the Bush years and the press playing along like some sort of hired PR team.

And, it wasn't only me and Jill; it was also the entire newscycle, that left old Chris, by last Thursday, saying things like "the popular feeling is that the media...well, me actually..." influenced the outcome of the elections.... So, after years of being a sort of political kingmaker, in servitude to whosoever's stock was going up, and manipulating the American people by playing along with the farce that is his shtick; that no one could have known that any one thing or another was gonna turn out badly in this nightmare called the Bush years; no one could have known? I knew! So many of us knew! How come there were printed bumper stickers, way back then, that said "ATTACK IRAQ? NO!!," (to which has been added a new horrific array of other versions and countries,) right here in my neighborhood?

And regardless if who Tweety Matthews has ever written a speech for or been on staff with, it is an inarguable fact that he, and most of the other M$M pundits were decidedly leaning towards the talking points that were coming out of the White House in their reportage of the news leading up to this fiasco, and ever since. Its not even like any of the press would have had to look far or confirm all that much of the reams of information that was being dumped in their laps, already having been researched and confirmed. The only would have had to put their jobs on the line to report it.

So, when Tweety Matthews and his producers felt it prudent to give the stage to Michelle Malkin, as if she deserved to be on any show further towards the mainstream than the Jerry Springer Show; when they chose to allow old Tweety to literally drool on Ann Coulter, as if this is the kind of woman that anyone (especially a college crowd, which he was entertaining that week,) should aspire to be like some mean trannie with an ax to grind and books to sell, its so far beyond the pale, and begs some programming and social questions at the very least....Unless, of course, MSNBC aspires to be more like Fox news.

The pale? Well, here is a guy who finds all of this politics stuff so fun and interesting, like alot of us do. He rubs his hands together and turns all red, practically jumping up with anticipation of the upcoming primaries and what they could possibly mean. But somewhere along the line, he seems to have disconnected with the reality of what he is doing ,and what it means in the life and death struggles of not only our soldiers around the world, but of the growing number of Americans who are suffering due to the economy and our lack of health care.

So, even with the turn back towards the middle, and the network's seeming attempt to start to show a little deference to what is actually happening in the country, there is still a bit of problem with the ongoing bipolar swings of not only Tweet, but the bunch of them. When you start to wish that all pundits could be as stable as old Pat Buchanan (even if you disagree with him,) you're in trouble. When you start to think from time to time that Morning Joe has a point or two right, you're in big trouble...but across the board, we all think that something is wrong, and getting wronger, with Tweety.

On the heels of this week, came word that Timmeuh Russert is going to give Hillary an entire hour on Sunday; and entire hour! Not only was Timmeuh featured on Hardball to promote this hour, but Tweet went on about how it was going to be the hardest hitting, most important interview in the whole wide world!! And this, as part of the umpteenth time that Tweety was musing on how Hillary should and would concede; bow out of the whole show, gracefully...you know, back off.

It makes me think of how Kos has supposedly been trying to manipulate the republican primaries by having dems vote for Romney...met by such outrage! Such venom!...on both sides....But How are we supposed to view a 1 hour "hard hitting" commercial for Hillary to display her newest self? And how are we supposed to take an entire segment of Timmeuh and Tweet's delight at being able to present her newest self?

Crazymaking; after so many months of beginning every interview with anyone even remotely involved in the election process with a question like "With Hillary as the obvious candidate of choice for the democrats, what do you think of....?" Then planning her fall...now he views this interview as the most historic, interesting, and hard hitting thing to ever happen!
Either he is just trying to go with the flow as he sees it day by day, he is seriously bi-polar and not in control of which way his mania is leading him on any particular day, or this has all been a plan to try to shape the discourse....And, if so, I don't think that its working. Its clear anyway that he is not all that fond of Hillary...or women in general.

The feeling that I'm getting is that in the shadow of being so wrong all the time lately, fearing that his power is slipping as a new generation of more liberal pundits makes their way into his world, and the reality of electing a woman as president looms large, he is very confused about how to act, but is sure that he must keep being the boisterous Chris Matthews that he always was. Whats clear is that something is wrong. Ive watched him almost daily for years, as something that I turn on in the background while I putter in the evening, and something that my entire family watches, and there is something amiss there.

Look for Tweety to pull out some of his personality to match Hillary's new campaign of showing people more of who she is emotionally. I want to start a pool about tears; the tears of Hillary, the tears of Tweet, the tears of all the clowns! (cue: circus music)


c/p RIPCoco
c/p Brilliant at Breakfast

Dear Chris Matthews,

One of the things the village idiots like [you] 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 [you] elites decide all on [your] own that we've made the wrong choice (or that we're about to) we tend to get a little bit testy.

Bob Somerby, Media Matters and the blogosphere have been documenting [your] dementia for years. [You have] serious psychological issues with gender and sexuality, from embarrassing codpiece worship to blatant sexism, which seems to be the prism through which [you view] American politics and which [you] cannot seem to control. Since we are dealing with the first serious female candidate for president, [your] public neuroses made [you] the poster boy for the general misogynistic coverage of her candidacy and a biased, wrongly called election. A badly called election, by the way, which is largely believed to have been the result, at least in part, of a backlash against the media's premature obituary and stomach churning arrogant schaudenfreude.

Just FYI.

Love,
Digby

Why Jon Stewart is still God

About five minutes into this video, Jon Stewart examines Tweety's "Lawrence of Arabia" analogy (first posted by Melissa yesterday).

He's right. "That man is insane."

They may think it's a movement...and that's what it is...

The Sweet Jesus I Hate Chris Matthews Anti-Massacree Movement. And all you gotta do to join is to sing it along with the good folks at Media Matters, who urge everyone who has had enough of Chris Matthews' sexist, racist, and just plain ridiculous journalistic hackery, to contact Matthews' employer and let NBC/MSNBC know that We Are Not Amused:

MSNBC
letters@msnbc.com
MSNBC TV
One MSNBC Plaza
Secaucus, N.J. 07094
MSNBC contacts

Chris Matthews
hardball@msnbc.com

Media Matters was all over Tweety long before I slapped up this here blog the other day, thinking it'd be just another forgotten corner of Blogtopia(™ Skippy). The attention we've received over the last few days has been fantastic, but Media Matters has been on the case as far back as April 2005.

The point here is not to hound anyone into the unemployment line -- not even Chris Matthews. But Chris Matthews' history of bizarre mancrushes to the misogyny that reaches preposterous heights where Hillary Clinton is concerned removes any credibility he has as a journalist. In case you thought his misogyny was just a manifestation of Clinton Derangement Syndrome take a look at his attempt to knock down the formidable Elizabeth Edwards after the Iowa caucus:

Cable news may still represent a relatively small resource for where most Americans receive their news. But a theme started and hammered by cable news has a nasty habit of migrating over to the network newscasts that constitute the main resource for most of America to receive information about candidates. Matthews' main concern may be who kisses his ass the most, but he's not contributing anything of value to the discourse in this country. This year the stakes are too high to put up with it any longer.

Matthews Keeps Flogging the "Bradley Effect"

And Digby wrote a great post about it.

Matthews eventually tried to pin Dyson down and admit that Hillary's crying jag brought out a bunch of addled old Golden Girls to vote for her and then pin Buchanan down that they were also racists who couldn't wait to pull the lever against the uppity African American. That's called "fair and balanced" on a show like this.

The takeaway "insight" from this Hardball was that the Democratic race is now a battle between the racist old bitches and the sexist African Americans. Fabulous. (White men like Chris, you'll notice, are the only ones voting purely on the merits in this little scenario.)

I don't suppose Matthews's insistence that it was lying racists who made things go HRC's way in NH has anything to do with him wanting to disown his own possible part in that, huh?

Babble-Head

In which Chris Matthews explains to Keith Olbermann how Barack Obama is a modern-day Lawrence of Arabia, crossing the Nefu to strike Aqaba, err, Hillary Clinton from behind, because her campaign "was not, to use the parlance we all use, positioned well."



Sweet Jesus, I hate Chris Matthews.

(Cross-posted.)

Media Matters: Does Tweety Have a Problem With Women?

In a word, yes. Certainly appears to, anyway. I'm sure he spends plenty of time on his shrink's couch getting into the nuance of his issues with women.


Media Matters dissembles Tweety, and provides MS-NBC contact info.

Matthews - in Animation

I don't know who the hell Scott Bateman is. A one-hit YouTube wonder, I guess. But anyway, he gives good animation.

And He's Fluent in Pig Latin, Too

Chris Matthews has a new theory on why Hillary Clinton won in New Hampshire (his old theory being that she won because Bill cheated on her). Now she won because the people of New Hampshire are bigots…and he conveyed this theory by—wait for it!—behaving like a total bigot.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: What the hell happened in New Hampshire?

MATTHEWS: You remember the Lone Ranger and Tonto? I think paleface speak with forked tongue. You hear me? Forked tongue....

That, by the way, is a cleaned-up transcript. I listed to a recording of this exchange, and he actually says: "Me think paleface speak with forked tongue. You hear me? Forked tongue."

Seriously, why does this guy have a job anymore? He's a racist, sexist (sexist, sexist, sexist, sexist, sexist) homophobic, belligerent, insulting, crap-talking, know-nothing douche lacking even the merest capacity for self-reflection.

Sweet Jesus I Hate Chris Matthews.

(Cross-posted.)

Crazy-Assed Authoritarian Nutbag

Bueller? Bueller?

Tweety Off the Rails

There was a period of time around 9:30PM on primary night in New Hampshire that MS-NBC pundit and host Chris Matthews rolled totally off the rails. Coverage by the network was bad enough, but when Matthews said the following (from my live blogging of the evening), I almost blew out a chip on my laptop as I transcribed his drivel:

"I wouldn't put it past the Clintons if it looked like it was moving toward a victory for Barack to pull a quick press conference while it's still vague and say it's too early to tell and go to bed with some kind of vague victory statement."

This is word for word. I'm sure there's a YouTube of this moment floating around somewhere, or perhaps on the MS-NBC transcript of the remarks.

Between Chris Matthews and Andrea Mitchell, there could not be a more vitriolic pair of "reporters" dogging Hillary's campaign. I mean, I know that Mitchell dislikes HRC tremendously - and it comes through so clearly in her live reporting - but someone in Matthew's position has got to exhibit a degree of restraint. His mouth should have been in restraints last night.

I'm still having a hard time processing that a network anchor such as Matthews all but accused the Clinton campaign of getting ready to stage a victory dance if it looked like Obama was going to pull out a win in New Hampshire later in the night. And the way that he spewed his venom - the look on his face, the tone of his voice - was almost frightening.

I don't know if Chris Matthews needs a vacation or what, but clearly, he needs some time off. I hope that MS-NBC boss Dan Abrams reviews the coverage today, and gives Matthews some forced time off.

There is no place for that kind of behavior (allowing a personal distaste for a candidate) to drift into network coverage. None.

Equally tough on Hillary and Rudy?

Media Matters evaluates Tweety's October 4 assertion that:

I'm pretty independent, in terms of the two parties. I have been just as tough on Bill Clinton and Hillary and Rudy and the whole bunch of them.

Go ahead and take a wild guess what they found.

The results demonstrate that Matthews has been particularly friendly to Rudy Giuliani in recent months, and extremely hostile toward Hillary Clinton. Not only is there a qualitative difference between the kinds of praise and criticism he offers these two candidates, but a quantitative difference, as well: Matthews made 10 negative remarks about Clinton for every negative remark he made about Giuliani, and nearly three times as many positive remarks about the former New York City mayor as about Clinton. The ratio of positive to negative remarks was 3.5-to-1 for Giuliani, but 1-to-8.2 for Clinton.

The whole thing is delicious reading. I think the footnotes are my favorite part.

HAH! Tweety Puts on a Sweater and hangs With the Peeps in NH!

Tweety is back on his home nest, after a harrowing couplea days of having to go head to head in with the stylings of the ever more popular Keith Olbermann. Just Botox smooth enough, and in relaxed sweater garb for the "country" feel, he hit New Hampshire with a big "HAH," set to take the town on with his teetering bluster and that down home red faced bark that only our Tweety can muster. Thinner and older, and smacked down over and over, you've got to hand it to him in that he just keeps going...one hand on Dowd's knee the other cupping his own crotch (or the the man crotch of Ann Coulter)...HAH!!

Its an example of narcisissio-egotitus that rivals that the drawbacks of Bush himself. The swaggering oaf act was dampened by the presence of Rachel Maddow, representing the devastatingly smart contingent of pundits who manage to tell the truth and sweetly point out the lies. So smart is she, and so high is her Q-rating, that she is on every show in a row on MSNBC these days, and Tweet does not seem all so happy with this turn of events. Indeed, old Tweet seems taken aback to find himself on a set next to Rachel, considering that his usual foils have been the scary Maureen Dowd, the scarier Ann Coulter, and the Scariest Michelle Malkin, interspersed with a little Johnny Mac for good measure.

Given the choice, would Tweet find himself, at this late stage, so horribly wrong, unable to influence this thing even though hes tried, being schooled by a younger, prettier, smarter, WOMAN, who can intellectually and in just about every way, kick his ass all the way to the polls and back! In a few smart words, Rachel's dry sarcasm in the face of Tweety's wrong assertions, make him redder and redder; sometimes I watch just to see if he'll stroke out on national TV.

I keep thinking, "I am SO TIRED of this slimmed down, botoxed up, FUCK, telling me who the choice of my party is before the votes are even in. What gives him the right to plant shit in every lazy American's head, until no one bothers to even go to the polls because its a done deal. Tweety's stock and trade is to plant the talking point conversationally and just let it do it's job. And of course he never fails to jump from one sinking ship into the cult of another visionary leader. Is this guy a reporter?

So, no Tweety, I am not wondering whats next for the BIG LOSER(S,) Edwards and Huck-ominy . I do not buy that Edwards is the big loser at all, when the frontrunner's are within a couple thousand votes of eachother, and, to paraphrase Trippi, are caught in battle while circling round the drain; you gotta just stand on the edge of the tub and watch...because anything can happen! Edwards was third and maybe a low third, at 16%, but take away either one of the front runners and half of that percent of voters will peel off and join HIM. The people with him are with him...so I believe that would be 16% and then half of the rest..? The anti Hillary people are never gonna vote for her...not now, anyway.
Don't you ever learn, Tweets?

Its all a big gamble for him, and his ilk, and hes got a gambling problem. He approaches this thing like its So exciting; so much fun. But what has his role been in preventing certain information from getting out, and promoting misconceptions and swiftboating? What role has he played in the continuation of this war, with his dense reporting of the talking points for...YEARS!!....

And tonight's hardball!!!: I haven't had time to really study this, but I think that he diminishes all women by suggesting that Hillary won mostly because 'every woman can remember being passed over for that big promotion or denied a job because they were women.' If thats true, Obama has it in the bag when we get to the states with people of color living in them! So, what Tweet is saying is that after seeing Hillary CRY, we all remember the times we were kept down...and in the grips of that we lose our ability to make a decision? He wished this evening that he had even one woman on the panel, but maybe it would have to be a particular woman, because Rachel might just have to say that there were alot of times in her career when she was kept down for being a Lesbian...no?...so, lets only ask certain women, OK? BUT there were no women....so a panel of men discussed how a part of Hillary's surprise win must have been disappointed women feeling sorry for her. hell, maybe...

Or one could see Keith Olbermann for some REAL information about polling and all that...

I missed the beginning of the show, but I'm sure that part of the reasoning must have been the fact that people in open Cauci are less likely to vote certain discriminations, as opposed to others, in public. The secrecy of the voting booth is a big part of this. But that cuts both ways as we move towards different states. Could it also have been that after the Iowa Cauci, there was a certain clear picture of what it might feel like to have Obama be our candidate, and it felt a little dangerous and...too soon because of his youth and idealism?....BECAUSE, Tweet would have it be all sewn up right there as Obama was supposed to roll right through New Hampshire on a streak.

I know that there is alot of dead air to fill for these guys, but I resent like hell how knee jerk quickly the script went over to "How will Hillary drop out gracefully in the face of the Obama phenomenon?" And in that way, I'm happy that they were as good as tied in NH. I don't want to have it decided now, and I want them to circle the drain for a little while longer just to give Edwards a chance to talk more...because more than anything else, what Edwards is saying to the American people is really, really important to our future. To that end, I hope that everyone will send him some cash. If for nothing else, just for message!

Tweety's question tonight about Romney and Edwards "Is he still alive?"...
God forgive me if I'm just a little sick and tired of wondering how Tweety even has a job anymore. Are you listening MSNBC suits? Ditch Tucker and Matthews...and throw out Giest while you're at it; consider this the baby and the bathwater because this is Damien the Omen and we should cut it off before it kills again!

Oh, and an aside to Hillary: I don't want to see us "fall backwards" either...but I don't feel like we should try to "reverse it," by keeping a presence in Iraq as a gushing wound, represent large corporations as if they were individual people, and continue this deregulated globalism insanity without some careful reconsideration. Don't cry for me, Hillary....If you are elected, I'll keep working to make it better just the same way as I have been all along, with no expectation that my government is going to help; with the full expectation that my government will work against me!

RIPCoco

The Tweety Effect

Part One: Rachel Maddow explains.



Part Two: Chris Matthews acts like a huge douche.



Part Three: Repeat ad infinitum.

"The Tweety Effect"

Christy Hardin Smith transcribed the spew coming from Chris Matthews' mouth on Morning Joe this morning:

Mika Brzezinski: Do you think...that there was a turn at the last minute for some voters, given the really sharp twist in the media in terms of how they went negative...

Chris Matthews: It's not in the polling. I'm just saying, it's not in the polling data.

Brzezinski: I know, that's my point. Because people went to the polls throughout the day, and maybe changed their minds, and maybe were turned off by by what they saw. By these nasty headlines.

Matthews: Well, I don't know if they all read the NYPost.

Brzezinski: In taking after her for crying.

Matthews: I think the Hillary appeal has always been about the mix of toughness and sympathy. Let's not forget, and I'll be brutal, the reason she's a US Senator, the reason she's a candidate for President, the reason she may be a front runner, is that her husband messed around.

Brzezinski: Yeah, but...

Matthews: That's how she got to be a Senator from New York. We keep forgetting it. She didn't win it on her merit, she won because everybody felt, "My God, this woman stood up under humiliation," right? That's what happened. That's how it happened. In 1998, she went to NY and campaigned for Chuck Schumer as almost like the grieving widow of absurdity, and she did it so well and courageously. But it was about the humilation of Bill Clinton.

Brzezinski: Um...NO, okay? Well, you could take it a step back, and say that SHE put Bill Clinton where he is and then he messed around and she was humiliated and people felt sorry for her. And she does have more to her than being a victim. She does have more to her. [Mika smacks him on the arm.]

Matthews: Ow. I agree. You hit me? Hit him. [pointing to Scarborough, who cannot get to the commercial break fast enough...] (emphasis mine)

Later on I'll post contact information for MSNBC and NBC News.

Just what I need...another fucking blog

But tough times call for tough measures, but after Melissa posted today that after a slight degree of contrition last night, Chris "Tweety" Matthews was up to his old tricks by this morning, well, it's a dirty job but someone has to do it.

I just slapped this up for now, but I'm looking for a few good contributors to expose the misogynist douchebag that is Chris Matthews. If you're a blogger and you're interested, e-mail me at brilliantatbreakfast at gmail dot com