Can Chris Matthews ever regain credibility outside the "Bush Base?"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

...or is this even an issue for him? I have my doubts. He seems to have consistently displayed a schoolgirl crush level of admiration for Bush in the flight suit, I've seen him fawn all over Karen Hughes while she's patted herself on the back for being such a wonderful mom and fine Christian, and he seems to be making the incredibly stupid mistake of dipping his toe in the Sean Hannity waters...getting giggly goosebumps while praising Dubya and trashing anyone who doesn't join in.





...But it was this exchange(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4857692/)...Bill Maher "outing" him as a Bush Media whore...that makes me think that the guy is at a fork in the road, his bluff has been called, what's next?

"BILL MAHER: Why are you covering this? Why are you taking this bait, seriously? Why are you even letting them bait you into covering this complete nonissue? This guy has medals. This guy has ribbons. The other guy didn‘t go. That‘s the whole story.

The other guy is a draft dodger. They were both rich kids in the ‘60s. One of them went to where the bullets were flying and one of them found a way not to go and then he lied about that. Stop covering the medals.

Look, one guy went into the National Guard, which back then was a way of getting out of it. On top of that, he had the nerve to say to Tim Russert, “You know, if my Guard unit had been called up, I would have gone.” How very brave, Mr. President, considering that only 8,700 out of 2.5 million men and women who went to Vietnam. Only 8,700 Guard people were ever called up there, 0.03 percent. So there was no chance he would have been called up."

Don Imus has also been very vocal in recent months about Matthews being a guy with talent who is squandering it by being an idiot who is so intent on interrupting his guests that he can never hope to get the best out of them. Yeah, I know Imus can be a dick too, but he's right on this one.

[Skidmore]

1. Not here...

My personal media hero is Lou Dobbs. Now that man knows how to play hardball.

[Guaranteed]

7. Did you see his commentary last night

on the neo-cons being against importing prescription drugs...because we might lose US jobs??????????? ROFL!!

He pulled off the best, most straight-faced sarcasm I have EVER seen while talking to his guest...saying that it's good to see that both the Republicans AND Democrats are so concerned about the employment of Americans....

Unbelievably hilarious. He slammed them hard.

[zbdent]

10. I say that Canada should, as a whole, sue the US pharmaceutical

industries for failure to guarantee that their drugs are as safe as they say they are.

With George W. Bush's administration saying that they cannot guarantee the safety of the drugs sold in Canada to Americans, that means that they are not able to say that the drugs are safe for Canadiens.

[Demonaut]

13. Chris plays both sides, hes conservative by nature but sees thru the

Neocon bullshit

[Guaranteed]

15. Well...

I was actually talking about Lou Dobbs, there....:P

But, yeah, you're right about that, especially recently. He knows what's up now.

[trumad]

2. Only if he stay's consistant

which the last couple of years proves he can't... The dudes a finger in the air pundit...Period!

[qb]

3. Regain? I never knew he had any credibility. nt

[ACK]

4. Tough

I thought he took Kerry's side on the medal thing when he interviewed Kerry the other day.

However, it does appear that like Imus he is just a whore flapping in the wind ready to ride the next breeze that flows his way.

+

[Elbowroom]

5. wtf?

He doesn't side with Bush. He goes back and forth with the issues. On some, he seems liberal and on others he seems conservative. He doesn't have the Bush crush.

[Guaranteed]

8. He did while the war was popular nt

[Elbowroom]

11. yeah...i can agree to that,

but recently...since Clarke spoke out, the 9/11 widows, Woodward's book, O'Neil's speaking out, etc.... he has realised some things. : )

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

12. Yes, if you miss a day, you miss the shifting allegiance n/t

[Demonaut]

14. not at all , Chris never supported this war

and he called the repukes on the flight suit issue

[minkyboodle]

24. I seem to recall

that the day of Bush's lets play soldier flight suit bullshit Mathews basically fellating him on the air. I'm going from memory here but I believe he said something to the effect that none of the democratic candidates could pull that off (YES CLARK AND KERRY INCLUDED). He is whats wrong with cable and most of American media today an opportunist who goes where the wind blows and tries to make as much money as he can in the process. He never had any credibility to regain in my opinion. Enough of a Tweety rant from me
Scott

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

6. Yes, with the difference being...

...that Imus has no shame at all coming out and saying he's a whore. He's said on his show "I plan on going with the winner"...much to the consternation of his whole studio crew. Every time he waffles on an issue someone in the studio says "but you said yesterday that..." and he usually replies "I don't care. This is what I think today." Totally aware, totally unrepentant.

But I'm not sure that Tweety fully understands yet that he is a whore (even though Maher's "tough love" should have given him a clue).

[Ganja Ninja]

9. I love the little exchange at the end.

(snip)

MATTHEWS: It must be great not to have to be fair and balanced, Bill.

Thank you very much, Bill Maher. Good luck.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: Huh?

MAHER: Speaking of fair and balanced, on your anniversary, I just—

I got some statistics. In seven years, for you, Chris, 1,841 interrupted responses, 3,621 guest bullied into crying, and 2,974 unfairly rephrased positions. That‘s quite a record, Chris. Congratulations.

[Tactical Progressive]

16. No, he can never regain credibility with me

And it pisses me off that Democrats are so willing to forgive years of evil with a single favorable op-ed or interview. They do it every time Maureen Dowd writes a favorable piece. Suddenly, all is forgiven. Fuck that, and fuck Democrats who do it.

Matthews has been a Clinton/Gore slimer forever now. I remember vividly on selection night 2000 when Gore was presumptively ahead and looked on his way to victory based on Florida exit polling showing him winning the state. Matthews was despondent. He looked like he had just received a call telling him someone he loved had just died. His face and speech couldn't have been more depressed. When they turned that Florida call around he lit up like it was Marti Gras. Huge permanent smile and mile-a-minute motor-mouthing in absolute rapture. That is all the Chris Matthews I ever needed to know. That is all the Chris Matthews there is.

If you want to compliment someone like Matthews on a performance you can always say: 'That was a good tough interview of Donald Rumsfeld, especially from such a sleazy, right-wing asslicker like Chris Matthews.' There, that's more complimentary than he deserves.

And, I have to repeat this EVERY SINGLE TIME: the media whores did not start worshipping Bush after 9/11. That's just more media bullshit. They turned, ideologically, ethically and morally, hard right on Clinton. They did that before 9/11; they did that before election 2000; they did that before Monica. 9/11 DIDN'T CHANGE THEM AT ALL. It reinforced them.

Slime like Matthews, Russert, Dowd, the Washington Post and the entire cable news lineup is what MADE Bush and Cheney. Bush and Cheney are, in fact, LITTLE MORE THAN SIDE-EFFECTS of the contemptible right-wing degeneration of American corporate journalism. Fuck any Dem who doesn't understand that.

[AlinPA]

17. I agree with much of what you say except the "fuck every Dem" lines. n/t

[Tactical Progressive]

18. Yes, it pisses me off

I thought about leaving that out, but it can't be ignored. American journalism's betrayal of Progressive evolution of this country is the biggest single antagonist America faces. Al Qaeda is nothing in comparison.

Democrats who don't understand how ideologically corrupt American journalism is are no different than Democrats who think that Bush and Cheney are decent men doing a pretty good job. How sanguine would you be in addressing that kind of an attitude in a fellow Dem?

[AlinPA]

20. I see your point, and think I know how you feel. Cheers. n/t

[onecitizen]

21. WOOOEEEEE Chris!

Well put!

[tom_paine]

23. Hear Hear! Well said, sir!

:toast:

[minkyboodle]

25. damn straight

[tom_paine]

19. Not with Free America. matthews is firmly established as a Bootlicking

Pravda Whore.

His minor (and getting even smaller as time goes on) incursion into the territory of Free Minds is not even close enough to wipe the Bushevik semen from his lips that he has accrued all these years.

He's got a Bush Moustache, like those milk ads...but it ain't milk on that Bleached Upper Lip.

Tweety makes me sick. He is among the worst of the worst. He CAN NEVER win back the hearts of Free Men, any more than Old Molotov could after licking his tongue raw on Stalin's asshole.

Tweety and Molotov were and are both pathetic Slavish Totalitarian Clowns. Unfit for the company of Free Americans and certainly unfit to be a TV Personality of a Free Nation.

Luckily for him, Imperial Amerika is no longer technically free, so that's not an issue anymore.

[onecitizen]

22. Oh my........

I agree with you too! But I couldn't say what you said so I'm glad you did.

[LandOLincoln]

26. Not with me. He lost credibility for all time as far as I'm concerned

the night--I believe it was shortly after Bush began his shitty, shamelesss little "war"--that Tweets actually compared the Chickenhawk in Thief to (are your ready for this?)

Henry the Fifth. Henry V Plantagenet.

The warrior king? Who fought alongside his men at Agincourt? You know, St. Crispin's Day, the "Band of Brothers" speech?

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

I'll never forgive that fat loudmouth. Never.