Which part of his legacy is more important?

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

Chris Matthews versus Chris Matthews:
Which part of Chris Matthews' legacy is more important—the way he treated some female journalists, or the way he treated male and female politicians?

Each part of his legacy is important. But which part is more important?

In part, our question stems from Laura Bassett's column in yesterday's Washington Post. In her column, Bassetted reverts to talking about female journalists' careers. She spoke about nothing else.

Let's concede that people's careers are important, at least as a matter of theory. But how about the role Matthews played in deciding who ended up in the White House, a place from which they sometimes launched wars in which all kinds of people died?

Chris Matthews never harassed us, as he apparently came close to doing in the case of Bassett. Our limited experience with him was this:

We appeared on his pre-Hardball program once, in 1995.

We lunched with him one time at The Palm for a reason we've never understood, although we could take a guess. Also, we had a peculiar experience with him on one other occasion, after a comedy-based charity event his wife had hosted.

We've known several people who worked for him. We're not in favor of beating up on people after they've been knocked down. Nor do we recommending hating or disliking persons.

That said, our main experience with Chris concerned his conduct on the air from 1999 on. Within a year after we started this site, his behavior on the air made him the person we (probably) wrote about more than anyone else, at least until his influence waned within the past dozen years.

He was much more influential back then, when there was so little "cable news." For whatever reason, his conduct was often astonishing.

His attacks on Al Gore and Hillary Clinton were frequently just this side of insane. Given the narrow ways the 2000 and 2016 elections were decided, we can't swear that Bush and Trump didn't both reach the White House because of Matthews' very strange behavior, which conceivably had roots of self-interest.

What were Chris' greatest hits? You'd have to list his ridiculous on-air love affairs with Gennifer Flowers and Kathleen Willey.

You'd have to list the astonishing time he and Willey almost got a journalist killed. You've never heard about that incident because what happens inside the mainstream press corps stays there, even if the crazy behavior in question started right on the air.

You'd have to list his insane behavior in the fall and winter of 1999/2000—insane behavior directed at Candidate Gore ("today's man-woman") and as senate Candidate Clinton ("Evita Peron," "Nurse Ratched").

You'd have to list the way he paraded around D.C. during the year 2000 saying that Candidate Gore "would lick the bathroom floor to be president." You'd have to include the way he apologized for saying that, on the air, in September 2000, when polling had Insider Washington convinced that Gore was going to win.

(That polling changed when the press corps invented two new "lies" by Gore.)

You'd have to list his greatest flips. The way he flipped in March 1999, going from someone who hated Bill Clinton but supported Al Gore to become cable's top Gore attacker virtually overnight.

Also, the way he flipped on the first Bush/Gore debate in October 2000:

Amazingly, Chris had spent two nights insisting that Gore had won the debate and that the rest of the press corps was inexplicably refusing to say so. On the third night, he did a truly amazing 180. He could now see that Candidate Bush really won, he now said.

You have to believe that a phone call from Jack Welch had helped him see the light about that. You've never seen that flip discussed because it happened inside the press corps!

You'd have to list the crazy night when he and Gordon Liddy applauded President Bush's manly appearance in his flight suit on MISSION ACCOMPLISHED night.

That said, his misogynist trashing of Hillary Clinton continued through 2008. Are we really sure that his decade of Hillary-trashing didn't help decide the narrow outcome of the Trump-Clinton race?

Which part of his legacy is more important—the way he behaved toward some female journalists, or the way he behaved on the air during these long crazy years? We ask our question because, just as female journalists found no way to push back against his makeup room behavior, the entire press corps chose to say nothing about his manifestly crazy behavior from early 1999 on.

The code of silence is very strong. Viewers do not understand this part of their world, and no one is going to tell them.

So which is more important? All the dead children in the fields of Iraq, or the way he treated some journalists in the makeup room?

Each part of his legacy is important. That said, it's easy to see which part of the story will continue to be disappeared.

What do we mean by insane? It was early December 1999. Hillary Clinton, then the first lady, was going to run for the Senate.

Chris Matthews was very upset. His program started with one of the crazy meltdowns everyone agreed to ignore:
MATTHEWS (12/6/99): I'm Chris Matthews in San Francisco. Let's play Hardball!

Well, joining us right now from Washington, D. C. is author and journalist Gail Sheehy. She's got a new book, it's called Hillary's Choice. We'll get to the meaning of that.

[...]

MATTHEWS: You talk in a nice way about how Hillary never wanted to learn to ski. Now, I learned to ski at a relatively late age, and I love it. But it does involve falling. And you point out in your book that she doesn't like to fall. And therefore—

I mean, just falling, the physical act of falling in front of other people, where they see you fall. Yet she was willing to take on a seventh of the American economy with no economics training, and say that she was going to personally redefine the economic system with regard to health.

How can she be afraid to fall on her butt on the bunny slope, and yet willing to jeopardize the health security of the American people without a blink?

SHEEHY: Well, I think she thought she knew what she was doing, and she thought Ira Magaziner would be—

MATTHEWS: The guy with the propeller on his head!

SHEEHY: Right.

MATTHEWS: I mean, why did she hang around with that clack? Those guys have never been elected to anything, they've never run for anything. Why does she trust those kinds of guys?

SHEEHY: Well, she—

MATTHEWS: They're all lefties and propeller heads! They're worse than she is!

SHEEHY: Wait a second! Let me just ask you one thing. I know you don't like Hillary Clinton—

MATTHEWS: No, that's not true. That's not the relevant point. I'm asking you why did she— Why was she afraid to fall on soft snow on a bunny slope, but wasn't afraid of bringing down the health security of 260 million Americans? That's what I don't understand.
Hillary Clinton didn't want to fall on the bunny slope! As he continued to rant, Matthews explained the thinking behind the health plan she had helped devise during her husband's first term:
MATTHEWS: She said, “I'm going to give you universal coverage. I want to give every man who gets into this country, legally or illegally, free health care, and they're going to have to thank me for it, and bring flowers to me like I'm Evita.”...

She wanted to sell it as socialism, because then she could get credit for it.
She and the government, like Eleanor Roosevelt, her hero.
Can you see the basic talking points in there? The talking points about "socialism" and health care for illegal residents?

At any rate, he would call her "Evita" for years. Later in that interview, The Doctor was very much IN:
MATTHEWS: Here's the weird thing about this dysfunctional relationship [between Bill and Hillary Clinton], and you've been sorting this out as an author for so many months.

You have one partner on the team that thinks they're always right. They think they're better than us morally, politically, culturally, and intellectually and every other way. The other person believes they've never done anything wrong.

If you have one who's a born cover-up artist who can't even turn in an honest golf score, and the other one who thinks she's always right about everything, God help us! As you say, Hillary's choice is the choice to be blind-sided or to be blind about the truth. What an amazing credential to be United States senator for New York!

[...]

I get the feeling she's got this moral superiority that somehow he [Bill Clinton] was lucky to have her, but she wasn't lucky to have him, like she could have gotten there with any guy—as that little story you tell in the book goes, any guy she could have dragged into the presidency—because she was the superior moral, intellectual and cultural and political force, and he was just some bumpkin she picked up and dragged along like a barnacle behind her rear end.
Bill Clinton couldn't record an honest golf score. Hillary Clinton had a weird approach to skiing.

She thought he was some bumpkin she dragged along like a barnacle behind her rear end! Our upper-end "journalism" would be like this for many years.

Matthews routinely conducted crazy attacks like that on Hillary Clinton and on Candidate Gore. He almost got a journalist killed. Everyone agreed not to notice.

That's the way Bassett's predecessors behaved. Even if it happened right on TV, no one was willing to see it.

Children are dead all over the world because those journos all put career first. That's the way they behaved for years. Please wake us when something else happens.

29 comments:

  1. Whoa. You, dear Bob, give an impression here (and we hope this is a wrong impression) of a nasty and vindictive zombie, denouncing everyone who doesn't stick to the party-line dembottery all 100% of the time.

    Similar, ironically, to the way your psych-dembots commenters denounce you.

    Oh well.

    Here, to contrast it with your regrettable post, a very nice 'obituary' by Howie Carr.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mark,
      Have you, yet, decided how you are going to spend the Social Security benefit cut Trump is promising you?

      Delete
    2. I never believed that i will be happy again after much frustration. I have been rejected by my husband after Six(6) years of marriage just because he met another woman and he left me and the kids to suffer. One day when i was reading through the web i stumbled at a post on how chief dr lucky the great spell caster has helped people to restore broken marriages and relationships and curing of diseases. I emailed him immediately to help my situation via: chiefdrlucky@gmail.com He told me not to worry that my husband will return to me begging and shedding tears of forgiveness. I am so happy that my husband actually returned to me in 48 hours after i obeyed the words and instructions of chief dr lucky. contact him today in any of your problems for a lasting solution:
      If you want your ex lover back.
      If you want to be cured of Herpes, Fibroid Cancers and other diseases.
      You want to be rich and famous.
      You want to be promoted in your office.
      if you want to win the troubling court cases.
      You want your husband/wife to be yours forever.
      if you want to divorce or stop your divorce.
      Pregnancy spell to conceive and bear baby.
      Contact chief dr lucky via: chiefdrlucky@gmail.com or call/whats app +2348132777335 for lasting spell solution to all your problems. His website: http://chiefdrluckysolutionhome.website2.me/  

      Delete
    3. Good day to all viewer online am so happy sharing this great testimony on how i was checking for solution in the internet then miraculously i came Across Dr.LOSA the powerful herbalist that Cure Numerous individuals Herpes Simplex Virus,so I contacted him base on the testimonies I?m seeing about him on the internet, I was cured too by him, kindly contact him actoday through his email he can help you email ; dr.losaherbalhome@gmail.com and so he can cure types of diseases like,HEPATITIS B,DIABETICS,CANCER,HPV,LOW SPERM CAM HIV/STDS FIBROSIS LOST OF WEIGHT .. all thank to you Dr LOSA for your kindly help in my life his Mobile number +2349056464736

      He cure listed diseases
      CANCER
      HEPATITIS A AND B
      DIABETIC.
      HERPES































































      Good day to all viewer online am so happy sharing this great testimony on how i was checking for solution in the internet then miraculously i came Across Dr.LOSA the powerful herbalist that Cure Numerous individuals Herpes Simplex Virus,so I contacted him base on the testimonies I?m seeing about him on the internet, I was cured too by him, kindly contact him actoday through his email he can help you email ; dr.losaherbalhome@gmail.com and so he can cure types of diseases like,HEPATITIS B,DIABETICS,CANCER,HPV,LOW SPERM CAM HIV/STDS FIBROSIS LOST OF WEIGHT .. all thank to you Dr LOSA for your kindly help in my life his Mobile number +2349056464736

      He cure listed diseases
      CANCER
      HEPATITIS A AND B
      DIABETIC.
      HERPES

      Delete


    4. I want to give a big thanks to a great spell caster commonly known as DR TAKUTA for the great spiritual prayers he did in my life by bringing my ex-lover back to me after many months of breakup and loneliness. With this, I am convinced that you are sent to this word to rescue people from heartbreaks and also to help us get the solution to every relationship problem. for those of you out there who have one relationship problem or the other why not contact DR TAKUTA. that is the best place you can solve all your problems, including a lack of jobs and promotions, binding and marriage spells, divorce and attraction spells, good luck and lotto spells, he has herbal medicine to cure any type of diseases and infections and medicine for infertility, and pregnancy spells, and also the business success and customer increase, winning court cases and many more. contact him at takutaspellalter@gmail.com or contact mobile contact +27788634102














































































      I want to give a big thanks to a great spell caster commonly known as DR TAKUTA for the great spiritual prayers he did in my life by bringing my ex-lover back to me after many months of breakup and loneliness. With this, I am convinced that you are sent to this word to rescue people from heartbreaks and also to help us get the solution to every relationship problem. for those of you out there who have one relationship problem or the other why not contact DR TAKUTA. that is the best place you can solve all your problems, including a lack of jobs and promotions, binding and marriage spells, divorce and attraction spells, good luck and lotto spells, he has herbal medicine to cure any type of diseases and infections and medicine for infertility, and pregnancy spells, and also the business success and customer increase, winning court cases and many more. contact him at takutaspellalter@gmail.com or contact mobile contact +27788634102



















































      Delete
  2. "Which part of his legacy is more important?"

    Why do we have to choose one or the other? Why ask this kind of question?

    No one can hold Matthews solely responsible for Bush or the Iraq war. If he were blameless in his on-air comments, should his behavior toward women be tolerated? Of course not.

    But how can anyone separate out his treatment of women off screen from his attitude toward women in politics and the comments emerging from that on screen? It is all of one piece.

    Men with sexist attitudes toward women tend to also have odd attitudes about men and what it means to be a man. That is why most feminists consider sexism a problem that affects both men and women, why feminists talk about "toxic masculinity". The nasty comments about Gore and the laudatory ones about Bush on the aircraft carrier both arise from the same source, mistaken beliefs about gender, and a hostility that takes gender-based attack as its form of expression.

    A woman wrote an opinion piece about how Matthews affected her personally. Somerby thinks that means she (or the NY Times) didn't care about the awful things Matthews said on-air about other people. It is wrong to conclude that. It is also wrong to tell anyone that their personal woes are unimportant in the face of some much larger problem such as global warming, world hunger, or the war in Iraq.

    That Somerby thinks stuff like this is almost as troubling as Matthews and his sexist brethren. Women don't have to wait until every problem on earth is solved before asserting their right to have their concerns taken seriously.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Clinton never took golf as seriously as Obama or Trump. He did give himself Mulligans for unplayable shots, but that is a practice common among duffers who are playing socially. He used to joke that he was giving his errant balls pardons. He wasn't surreptitiously changing his score card, as Matthews implies. As I recall, this is something that only Republicans cared about, as if the president should have wasted his time searching for balls in the bushes or shooting from sand traps.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Of course, Hillary was never going to give us health care. Her plan would have to start by taking from us the wherewithal for health care. We citizens would still be paying for our own health care. A more accurate description of her proposal was a government takeover of health care financing, along with much greater government control of health care delivery.

    It's like the old, non-PC joke about the recipe for [ethnic group]-chicken: First, steal a chicken.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David, you speak as if you knew all the specifics of her health plan, when I doubt you do.

      Are you aware that seniors pay for Medicare each month? And yet seniors are happy with that and wish it covered everything, happy to have the government control too.

      Your racist joke is not appreciated.

      Someone has to pay for health care. When you run health care like insurance, spreading the cost out among an entire population, the small cost is bearable to all, while the catastrophic costs that fall on elderly and very sick people do not bankrupt them or the system. It is how insurance works -- as an actuary you should have understood that. So I suspect you are playing dumb about both Hillary's plan and where chickens come from.

      Did you read the story today about the worker who was decapitated by cleaning equipment in a chicken processing plant, because the employer didn't have proper safety procedures? It's like the old, non-PC joke about the recipe for billionaire chicken. First, hire an unassuming worker...

      Delete
    2. David used to be an actuary years ago.
      He gave that, and his understanding of math and economics, up so he could be a Conservative.

      Delete
    3. David in Cal: just so there's no confusion since you're easily duped, go fuck yourself you brain-dead asshole.

      Delete
  5. So Chris Matthews sounded just like Rush Limbaugh! So what? Is all of the media supposed to be favorable to Somerby's candidate? Matthews wasn't a reporter -- he was an on-air personality and pundit, like Limbaugh. Just as Dowd writes opinion, not news. There is no law that constrains such people to only speak nicely of their political enemies list, the candidates and public figures they do not support.

    All you can do is (1) complain, as Somerby did in real time, or (2) turn them off, or (3) both.

    One of the reasons I admire Hillary Clinton so much is that she never let this kind of horrible coverage get her down. She never took it personally. Somerby could emulate that quality. Clinton always focused on the issues, not personalities. That others didn't follow her lead, is not her fault.

    We can agree that Matthews is scum. It doesn't matter why he resigned. I suspect it is because he was old and tired and used this as an excuse to quit. John Oliver had a compilation of his mush-mouthed intros to Chris Hayes last week. I think that is probably why he was looking for an excuse to stomp off.

    To answer Somerby's question about why an accusation of assault is more serious than saying mean things about Clinton, the assault against individual women off-screen is against the law (and perhaps company policies) whereas the first amendment protects the mean things he says on air. They are perfectly legal (unless they cross over into slander).

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sen. Clinton and Pres. Clinton supported going into Iraq, and he had fairly recently been privy to classified intelligence for eight years. Oh, but what if...

    I can’t stand the media any more than Somerby can and Matthews panders to the right people and is a jerk to whoever it’s expedient for him to be a jerk.

    Still, as a conservative you are never in the position of viewing any conserve politician such a national treasure as to be treated fairly in the media. A McCain and Romney have their day, but they’re taint will return in the eyes of our moral colossi journos. There’s never the luxury of expecting otherwise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The NY Times spent 2016 pretending to care that Republicans were pretending to care about Hillary's email protocols.
      Is that because Hillary is a Conservative?

      Delete
    2. Well, who thinks the lid should have long time ago been clapped on a prominent liberal pundit, Anonymices?

      Who’s arguing that it’s high time he paid for flapping his gums against the wrong people?

      Matthews may have romanced the Texas patrician when he first came into view and was contrasted with years of political contretemps, but it didn’t last long. And he’s not been a friend to Pres. Trump, to put it sedately. .

      Who is glad that Matthews was finally put out to pasture in the increasingly ideologically driven, thought controlled narrative humping environment that now constitutes our intellectual elite?

      Let Matthews continue to conspiracy monger against Trump and Republicans every night of week. I don’t cotton to this appalling culture simply because they ritualistically eat one of their own.

      Delete
    3. There is no need to "conspiracy monger" about a racist, grifting, self-admitted sexual predator.

      Delete
    4. Cecelia,
      When the corporate-owned media tries to make Trump out to be somehow worse than every other Republican piece of shit, do what I do.
      Ignore their idiocy.

      Delete
    5. Anonymouse 9:04pm. now work on learning how to read.

      Delete
    6. Cecelia,
      Sure. If you work on learning basic math. If you are successful,riches will abound for you.
      Just kidding. Riches may not abound for you, but you will stop being a Conservative.

      Delete
  7. Well said BoB. Matthew's is a clown who helped bring this country Bush and Trump and the disasters they brought.

    ReplyDelete
  8. After watching Bill Maher's sickening defense of Mathews tonight, I came here & Mr. Somerby didn't disappoint. He expressed my view of Mathews far more eloquently than me. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I never believed that i will be happy again after much frustration. I have been rejected by my husband after Six(6) years of marriage just because he met another woman and he left me and the kids to suffer. One day when i was reading through the web i stumbled at a post on how chief dr lucky the great spell caster has helped people to restore broken marriages and relationships and curing of diseases. I emailed him immediately to help my situation via: chiefdrlucky@gmail.com He told me not to worry that my husband will return to me begging and shedding tears of forgiveness. I am so happy that my husband actually returned to me in 48 hours after i obeyed the words and instructions of chief dr lucky. contact him today in any of your problems for a lasting solution:
    If you want your ex lover back.
    If you want to be cured of Herpes, Fibroid Cancers and other diseases.
    You want to be rich and famous.
    You want to be promoted in your office.
    if you want to win the troubling court cases.
    You want your husband/wife to be yours forever.
    if you want to divorce or stop your divorce.
    Pregnancy spell to conceive and bear baby.
    Contact chief dr lucky via: chiefdrlucky@gmail.com or call/whats app +2348132777335 for lasting spell solution to all your problems. His website: http://chiefdrluckysolutionhome.website2.me/  

    ReplyDelete
  10. Are you having troubles in getting your Ex Lover back, having marital problems, infertility, financial instability.
    Why are you bordering yourself about your lover/husband/wife breaking up with you, its time you get all your problems solved with the help of my PERMANENT SPELL CAST powers.
    Am specialized in all types of spell casting such as
    Love Spell ( to get your ex lover, husband or wife back )
    Lottery Spell
    Money Spell
    Pregnancy Spell
    Job/Contract Spell
    Health Spell
    Wealth Spell
    Good luck Spell
    Life Spell
    Spiritual Spell
    Beauty/Shape Spell
    Trick Spell
    Fantasy Spell
    Spell to win court cases
    Am always here to help you solve all your problems and grant you all your heart desires through my spell powers.
    My PERMANENT SPELL CAST is 100% guarantee sure. Do get to me to help solve your problems now on Email: padmanlovespell@yahoo.com. website: https://padmanspell.com/index-3.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. Did you hear there is a 12 word phrase you can tell your partner... that will trigger deep feelings of love and instinctual attractiveness to you deep within his chest?

    That's because hidden in these 12 words is a "secret signal" that triggers a man's instinct to love, worship and look after you with his entire heart...

    12 Words That Trigger A Man's Desire Impulse

    This instinct is so hardwired into a man's mind that it will drive him to work harder than before to make your relationship as strong as it can be.

    In fact, fueling this dominant instinct is so binding to having the best ever relationship with your man that once you send your man one of the "Secret Signals"...

    ...You'll instantly find him expose his soul and heart for you in a way he never experienced before and he will distinguish you as the one and only woman in the world who has ever truly interested him.

    ReplyDelete
  12. If you're trying hard to lose fat then you need to start using this brand new personalized keto plan.

    To produce this service, licensed nutritionists, fitness trainers, and top chefs have united to develop keto meal plans that are productive, decent, price-efficient, and delightful.

    Since their launch in January 2019, thousands of individuals have already remodeled their figure and well-being with the benefits a professional keto plan can provide.

    Speaking of benefits: in this link, you'll discover 8 scientifically-confirmed ones provided by the keto plan.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I would love to see a Times Up for all the journalists who hounded Clinton and Gore until Bush was in the white house, thereby enabling the Iraq War. But I doubt that it will happen. Americans (or at least the American media ) will weep for a rich female journalist made to feel uncomfortable but not for the Iraqi s whose lives were lost. Our priorities are insane. I'm not defending Matthews behavior towards her but it's bizarre that no one bats an eye over our presses warmongering and misbehavior until the moment it involves something sexual. Though it's interesting that Matthews was hoisted by his own petard. Wasn't he one of the members of the media who made Clinton's infidelities a matter of national importance? Well, I guess what comes around goes around.

    ReplyDelete
  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hello, my name is RITA CARMEN and I have been trying to get pregnant for over 12 years. i have been looking for ways online for so long, I first did Depo Provera Shot which i consecutively took every three months in order to get pregnant or fertile, but there was no way from it. I did Depo shot for 3 years constantly until my Doctors in Australia told me to try IVF because I had Endometriosis stage 4 and I resulted to try IVF (In Vitro Fertilization). For months after my IVF no progressed and my situation became worse that my husband had already had plans or getting married to another woman because I was barren. I read a testimony about Prophet Abulele how he had helped so many women with pregnancy problems and also how he usually casts return spells to bring back partner and make one fertile. Of all options tried, I gave Prophet Abulele a try. I am now a mother of a baby boy. For over 13 years of my marriage I received my help from this spell caster. I want to impact on someone's life and make the person get help from a good spell caster. Prophet Abulele's email is:- prophetabulelehealingtemple@gmail.com and his WhatsApp is +2349022406159 once you contact him, he will help you fast.

    ReplyDelete

  16. LOTTO, lottery,jackpot.
    Hello all my viewers, I am very happy for sharing this great testimonies,The best thing that has ever happened in my life is how I win the lottery euro million mega jackpot. I am a Woman who believe that one day I will win the lottery. finally my dreams came through when I email believelovespelltemple@gmail.com and tell him I need the lottery numbers. I have spend so much money on ticket just to make sure I win. But I never know that winning was so easy until the day I meant the spell caster online which so many people has talked about that he is very great in casting lottery spell, . so I decide to give it a try.I contacted this great Dr Believe and he did a spell and he gave me the winning lottery numbers. But believe me when the draws were out I was among winners. I win 30,000 million Dollar. Dr Believe truly you are the best, all thanks to you forever

    ReplyDelete