The repurposing is complete: Chris Matthews was quite worked up at the start of last evening’s Hardball.
To watch the full segment, click this.
As we ingested his opening points, we came to a sudden realization. The repurposing of this corporate tool is now completely complete:
MATTHEWS (8/1/12): Fury on the right! Let’s play Hardball!Before he let his first guest speak, Chris had compared Ted Cruz to a fascist who may be staging a military coup. This was part of his attempt to counter “fury on the right!”
Good evening. I’m Chris Matthews down in Washington. Let me start tonight with this:
Huey Long once said that fascism, when it comes to America, will call itself anti-fascism. So what do we call this hard lurch to the right that’s happening in the country as I speak? I don’t mean conservative. The conservatives are the ones getting hit by this new hard rightward swing in Republican politics.
Last night in Texas, a cheered-on hero of the Tea Party right beat Governor Perry’s candidate, and now can’t be stopped. Suddenly, conservatism isn’t good enough. You’ve got to be on the far-out fringe, where people don’t believe in science, think the government should arrest people for abortion, or same-sex marriage is the work of the devil, where government is baaaaad, where nothing is better than another war in the Mideast, yet another neocon race toward Armageddon.
[...]
I want to start with John Heilemann, who watches it. You talk about a game change. I’m watching people like— The language of "save our republic." You know, the language almost sounds like "Seven Days in May," like a military coup.
Nia-Malika and John played along, as it had been written. For the record, we don’t know Cruz’s views on the issues Chris rattled off.
You can trust us: Chris doesn’t know either!
As we watched, we had to admit—Chris has really come a long way since the days when he was making up shit about Clinton, Clinton and Gore and insulting Democrats as “a bunch of sweaty, yelling people,” “a bunch of crazy people yelling.”
Chris was taking his pay from Jack Welch in those days. At long last, the repurposing is complete!
This morning, we heard a reaction to Chris from the average man on the street. A fellow we see at the bagel joint asked us what we think about the Mitt Romney cookie-insult issue. He had seen Matthews lead a discussion of the key issue on last Friday’s Hardball.
To read the transcript, click this.
This man on the street thought that discussion was just amazingly stupid. This was the first time he had heard that those cookie insults are an issue. Just a guess:
Based on prior conversations, we’d guess that this voter may still be undecided. We’d guess that what he saw last Friday tilted him somewhat toward Romney.
What do non-aligned voters think when they see Matthews clowning in these ways? Some will think one thing, some another.
But one point is abundantly clear: The reinvention of this corporate tool is at long last completely complete.
Ted Cruz believes George Soros leads a United Nations Conspiracy to eliminate golf. He wants to gut Social Security and he believes that Medicare is unconstitutional. Cruz has touted another of the Tea Party’s favorite conspiracy theories, claiming that “Sharia law is an enormous problem” in this country.
ReplyDeleteCruz co-authored an unconstitutional proposal claiming two or more states could simply ignore the Constitution’s command and nullify the Affordable Care Act so long as they work together. Although the Constitution does permit states to join in “interstate compacts” that have the force of law, under the Constitution such compacts require the consent of Congress and can be vetoed by the President. Cruz falsely claimed that states do not need to meet these Constitutional requirements to undermine laws they don’t like. He's anti-gay rights and is pro death penalty.
I have no idea what the "cookie-insult" thing is about -I looked at the first page of the transcript and decided I had better things to do than trying to figure it out. I wish you had told us what it's about. I'd venture a guess that the average "person on the street" doesn't watch Hardball and would have no Earthly idea what you were talking about.
ReplyDeleteWell, to help you out. . . Matthews brought up the Pennsylvania "cookie" incident -- when Romney remarked that the cookies he was served from the area's finest bakery looked like they came from 7-11 --- in the context of his remarks in London questioning their preparedness to host the Olympics as an example of his tendency to be rude to his host.
DeleteThat's all it was.
"... we don't know Cruz's views on the issues Chris rattled off."
ReplyDeleteBlogging from the far side of Neptune again?
Cruz has a Harvard law degree, like our current president. Maybe Harvard is the source of the radical views. If not Harvard law, check Princeton, where Cruz was an undergraduate.
ReplyDeleteSo Sharia Law is where all these impediments to the constitutionally protected right to abortions is coming from.
ReplyDeleteGot it.
Berto
A CBS interview with Cruz indicates that his primary interest in controlling government spending. See http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/08/02/cruz_the_government_spending_gravy_train_has_to_stop.html
ReplyDeleteBob continues to marginalize himself with silliness.
ReplyDeleteIf the 'man on the street' os going to go over to Romney because of Chris Matthews, then America is well and truly pooched. And deserves to be.
ReplyDeleteGuy at the bagel joint. There's a scientific poll.
ReplyDeleteYou can't make this stuff up.
I missed the part where this was touted as being anything beyond anecdotal. Maybe you could point that out. Or maybe you're just a confused douchebag.
DeleteBut you do know the point of the post is the bought-and-paid-for hypocrisy of Chris Matthews, and you do know the point's accurate.
So why would Somerby bother to bring up the bagel guy in the first place? What exactly was his point?
DeleteBy the way, did you catch how Somerby himself was dissembling? He's trying very hard to turn the discussion entirely to the "cookie insult" when Matthews was in fact discussing Romney's rather painful habit of opening mouth and inserting foot in light of his disastrous foreign tour, and used the cookie insult as one example.
How could I miss the point about Matthews? This was, by my rough count, the 8,657,398th time Bob has made it.
ReplyDeleteHow? Because you're dumber than a sack of hammers. Cleared that up for you. Yer welcome!
DeleteYou really elevate the discourse, don't you?
DeleteYou really elevate the discourse, don't you?
Deletewhy are you even here fanboy?
DeleteSo Bagel Store Guy is going to vote for Mitt Romney because Chris Matthews is a tool? Interesting conclusion to draw. Do you suppose that if John Q. Bagel watched the 24-hour tool parade that is Fox News, he'd have been so turned off that he now wants to vote for Obama? If not, why not?
ReplyDelete"John Q. Bagel."
DeleteLOL!
Actually the jump from populist fascists like maybe Huey Long was and Rod Serling's fantasy of a right wing military take over is quite a leap in itself, but a small and amusing volume of such nonsense from Chris Matthews could now be assembled.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind TDH using anecdotal evidence now and then, but this stuff is just not very convincing, it's a long in the tooth leftover from the days when we were told it was those crazy hippies who forced sensible people to vote for a dimwitted old actor for President.
Nadar supporters in 2000 told us it was the Democrats own fault good people voted for Republicans, but they won very, very few converts from the right themselves. Just enough, perhaps, to send W to the White House. So, when I don't like something on the left (like say, Hate Crime legislation) I blame the liberals who are pushing it. And when it's the Republicans pushing insane nonsense, which is mostly what they do, I blame them.
A return to that kind of clarity (as Bob calls for on race questions) could only improve matters, yet the Daily Howler falls further and further into the triangulation camp, where the sins of Mitch McConnell can basically be laid at the feet of Rachel Maddow.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, this really is beautiful. Think about every one of the studying along with writing you could do... Chilly during the cold months even though.