Russert: "I don’t hate Chris Matthews."

[kpete]

Russert: I don’t hate Chris Matthews.

In notes released at Scooter Libby’s trial, Cheney adviser Mary Matalin is quoted suggesting Libby call Tim Russert to complain about Chris Matthews’ coverage. “Call Tim. He hates Chris - he needs to know it all.” This morning on Imus, Russert said, “Chris is my friend.”


RUSSERT: I mean, the fact is Chris is my friend. He is my colleague and I mean, we both — he grew up in Philadelphia. I grew up in Buffalo. … I have been to his house. He has been to my house. He’s been on my show. I’ve been on his show. I talked to him yesterday. I was stunned by it all. And I was glad to see or hear Mary Matalin say she didn’t say it or didn’t believe it or whatever she said.

AUDIO AT:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/02/09/russert-i-dont-hate-chris-matthews/

[ellie]

1. How embarrassing!

I can barely tell those two assholes apart.

[Kagemusha]

2. I think Matalin said she didn't believe she'd said it

and if she did say it she didn't actually believe it, and if she believed it she didn't actually say it.

Something like that.

[City Lights]

3. You nailed it!

:crazy:

[underpants]

6. but she said that if Scooter wrote it down then she must have said it

[blm]

4. My guess is that Matalin's relationship w/Russert is a bit icy these days.

I wonder if Russert will go much tougher on Matalin and Carville's candidates in the future? Undergod knows he hasn't been there to be a newsman but a facilitator, if he decides he has to now show he's a newsman, Carville and Matalin's candidates might really get the tough grilling.

[KharmaTrain]

11. "Rules Of Engagement"

I'd bet that if the Carvilles were to show on Timmeh's treehouse in the future they all will agree beforehand not to discuss this black hole in all of their lives. Timmeh wants his name in this scandal to vanish as fast as possible...lest we learn more about his cozy relationships with the people he was supposed to be impartial to. Also he'd have to explain all those Meet The Press shows where he allowed misinformation pass freely...and what he knew and when he knew it. Of course, Matalin wants the light turned off on the OVP...that's why she was brought out...and that she feels she can bully people around one minute and sweet-talk 'em the next...always playing them to her advantage. Finally, there's the shell of what was once James Carville. Alienated from the left by a lot of bonehead comments that destroyed what flailing credibility he had and is now relegated to irrelevant punditry.

I was reminded of the cobra/snake relationship of the corporate media and the ruling elite. H2O Man posted a great Russert excerpt about him selling out when he took over MTP...and also how Matthews is also up to his beak in the manipulation of the news and use of talk shows to astroturf misinformation or slime critics. If NBC cared about credibility, they'd reassign Timmeh to covering Upstate New York, send Mitchell into a long deserved retirement and find out if Tweety's meds have been balanced lately.

[tsuki]

12. My guess, he'll be eased out to spend more time with his family. n/t

[underpants]

5. Aww all the war enablers are in a grouphug awww

f**k both of them all of them. They have a lot of blood on their hands.

[emulatorloo]

9. See Tweety toast a real war enabler -- Torie Clark

If tweety is such a war enabler, why was Cheney's office so pissed off at him?

This clip of matthews w pentagon flack is worth watching if you havent seen it.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/02/08/chris-toasts-torie/

Chris toasts Torie

<snip>

She completely abandoned the WMD claim and based it on a “pre-emptive war” strategy. He shot down all the arguments the administration used to get us into Iraq and called it a great “sales job.”

<snip>

[underpants]

10. Best of both worlds

MSM sells their product and then the continue the victim culture bit about never being given an equal chance.

[underpants]

15. I loved how dismissive he was at the end

They've had their say no reason to give them any more airtime

[emulatorloo]

16. "no reason to give them any more airtime" -- would that that rule were enforced!

:toast:

Although I guess there would be some value in seeing them humiliated over and over

[Tuesday_Morning]

7. "or whatever she said."

Video of Mary Matalin lying, dazed and confused on Imus here: http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/02/08/mary-matalin-is-dazed-and-confused/

A fun analysis of "whatever she said" from firedoglake here: The Trouble with Mary http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/02/08/the-trouble-with-mary/

[yellowcanine]

8. Matalin will say what the moment requires. I doubt that half the time she remembers what she

actually said. In that way she and her spouse are not all that different except that in the case of Carville, he would likely say "I don't remember if I said it but it does sound like something I might say so I probably did say it."

[gratuitous]

13. It's a hard-knock life, Timmeh

Go sailing off the Vineyard for a few days. That always gets you back in touch with your blue collar roots.

This has been a hilarious week, watching Pumpkinhead have to answer for his disingenuous reportage all this time, treating the Plame Affair as if he didn't know anything about it but what he read in the papers, when in actuality he was in it up to beady little eyeballs. Try to remember Ivins' First Rule of Holes, Tim: When you find yourself in one, stop digging. But the way you're going? Here, have another shovel.

[Catherine Vincent]

14. He's lying.

Everybody hates Chris. :)