Tag: Chris Matthews

May 13 2012

LGBT: The Times They Are A Changin’

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

Yes, they are. And the change has finally struck right wing panderer Chris Matthews who finally called out Tony Perkins of the “Family Research Council” for “spreading hateful lies and junk research about the LGBT community.” On this May 10 segment of Hardball, Matthews, with the help of Rep. Barney Frank, challenged Perkins’ anti-gay misinformation, held him accountable for past statements, and demonstrated how out-of-the-mainstream his extreme positions really are:

Thank you, Mr. Matthews, for showing the rest of the media how a bigot should be treated. This is how a responsible journalist responds to hate speech.

h/t Gaius Publius at AMERICAblog

Jan 26 2012

Tweetie Likes Mitch

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

We all know that Chris Matthews is a fawning tool who gets excited over politicians’ rhetoric even when it laced with blatant lies and 1% talking points. But Matthews got called out by none other than Rachel Maddow when he went all gushy over Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN) rebuttal to President Obama’s State of the Union address.

   MATTHEWS: You know, I really liked that speech by Mitch Daniels. I thought it was really a Midwestern conservatism of the best kind, honest, fiscally conservative or course, but recognizing that we have to protect our safety net and we have to recognize that the rich cannot get all the pension money and all the entitlement money. There’s not enough to go around. We’re going to have to have means testing. We’re going to have to close the loopholes.

   A very responsible kind of look at fiscal conservatism that recognizes that the rich can’t plunder the poor any more, that if you’re going to have a true conservatism, in other words a society that will sustain itself, a society that will be at peace with itself, you need to help the people to get a break and that means it’s not Libertarianism at all. There’s nothing of Ron Paul in what that man said.

   It was a responsible social policy of the right, which was really I think cast in old time Midwest, Bob Taft conservatism, except for some of the bromides, the idiomatic crap that he threw in there to make everybody happy. There was a seriousness to this speech. And now I understand why people like Mitch Daniels.

   MADDOW: Chris I am very glad that we area all talking about this together because I could not disagree with you more about the speech. This was just my impression of it but I don’t have time to go into that…

   MATTHEWS: Why?

   MADDOW: We’re going to go into that in a moment.

   MATTHEWS: What’s wrong?

   MADDOW: I think that Mitch Daniels there to say the world is on fire. Be afraid. Run to Republicans. I mean, he’s talking about America as a country that… America adrift, quarreling and paralyzed going over Niagra. I mean this was a “Be afraid, be afraid, be afraid” this guy’s trying to murder the country speech.

   MATTHEWS: But he also had solutions. He had gutsy solutions. He wasn’t afraid to take on the rich and that’s so rare today in the Republican side.

   MADDOW: I will take you on that Chris, absolutely.

Does Daniels make Matthews’ leg tingle?

h/t Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for the transcript

Dec 17 2009

Republican Calls Waterboarding “Torture”, Still Likes It

Last night on Hardball, when discussing why he was opposed to bringing Gitmo detainees over to a supermax prison in Thomson, Illinois, freshman Congressman Aaron Schock (R-IL) defended the use of waterboarding on detainees — with a slight twist.

Schock: “I would not limit our intelligence agencies’ ability to get information from people.  If they have a ticking time-bomb or some critical piece of information that can save American lives, I don’t believe that we should limit waterboarding or quite frankly any other alternative torture technique, if it means saving Americans’ lives.”

For the moment, leaving aside Schock’s boilerplate right-wing justifications for why he believes waterboarding is a good thing, I will give him a small, small modicum of credit for admitting what Dick Cheney will not — that waterboarding does, in fact, constitute torture.  I would even argue that Schock went one step further than even NPR, whose ombudsman Alicia Shepherd explicitly banned the use of the word “torture” when referring to waterboarding or other brutal interrogation methods authorized by the Bush Administration.

That said, Schock still has no idea what the hell he’s talking about, and calling it torture instead of “enhanced interrogation techniques” is mostly a cosmetic change when he’s still advocating for a reprehensible method of interrogating detainees.  He engages in the same denialism that Cheney does by stating earlier in the interview that “there have been no torture techniques, no alternative interrogation techniques, nothing negative in a bad way has happened at Guantanamo Bay,” despite the evidence from multiple reports that say otherwise.  He also justifies the use of torture with the “ticking time bomb” theory, even though counterterrorism experts have roundly debunked that scenario as a myth, and the fact that torture does not yield accurate or reliable information anyway (to say nothing of the evil and moral repugnance of the practice itself).

Still, while I doubt this young Republican’s admission will have any appreciable effect on the public’s opinion of torture (which, sadly, is supported either “often” or “sometimes” by a majority of Americans, including 47% of Democrats), Schock’s words do clearly illuminate exactly what right-wingers are cheerleading.  If only every major media outlet would muster up the same honesty to call torture precisely what it is and the courage to unequivocally condemn anyone who supports it.

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Cross-posted at Daily Kos

Nov 14 2009

Let’s Put Sarah Palin for President to Bed

I am sitting here watching Chris Matthews and his guests consider Palin possibilities.  They are talking about her book and her inability to take responsibility but her ability to get people to support her.  They spoke on her comment to Couric about being able to see Russia from Alaska, therefore being able to understand foreign policy with Russia and I swear I can’t tell if they are serious or not.  They are saying she is short on smarts and ability, but through all of this she IS a contender for president.  And it really seems like they are trying to be serious.

What is this?  I don’t have to go into her history as a character on the scene since her nomination for vice president, but how can you devote a segment of your show to bolster/ponder/consider this , I’m sorry, polarizing nitwit, as a real contender for president?

Something is wrong.  With Chris Matthews.  He offers that Palin impresses him even though her thoughts aren’t clear.  How can you try to propel this woman?  Chris better get out of town with this nonsense.

Why on earth does this woman not have to earn it?  Why are they giving her this?  Because she can move a crowd?  Because she can form a crowd?  The media has the ability to make or break or pass altogether.  And they are opting to give her handicap ponits?  This lady is Carrie Prejean on steroids.  Orly Taitz on a mild sedative, but not presidential,  Not smart.  Not a leader.  She quit her job.  She whines.  She attacks.  She polarizes.  She is currently at war with her daughter’s baby father, a mere teen, if twenty.  She believes there are 2 Americas and that it is her job to make the America she sides with win.

I am baffled by Chris’ segment on her.  I am not going to go backward from a sensible leader to insanity.  

In short, I want an apology from Chris from this segment of his show, or I want Chris to admit he’s a troublemaker.

Aug 04 2009

It’s about damn time! Brutal beatdown of Pat Buchanan and GOP, and they still don’t get it

Crossposted on Daily Kos

    How long have you been waiting for this? Well it was worth the wait. For 8+ minutes Unkle Pat is on the ropes, on the defensive, and the tool he is attacked with is the pure, simple, inconvenient truth that the fantasy world of Conservative politics can not co-exist with.

   And now that fantasy world is falling down all around them.

   I could have titled this diary Death by Stupid. It is really getting that bad, and the GOP just doesn’t get it. They have begun to believe their own spin.

   In order to grok fully the utter totality of this beatdown I have broken this video down into it’s Nonsense and Smackdown componenets.

   Go below the fold to see the brutal beating explained.

May 28 2009

EXPOSED! The Media Lie Of A Center-Right Nation

Throughout much of last year’s presidential campaign, and right on through the first weeks of Barack Obama’s administration, the media has persistently peddled the falsehood that America is a center-right nation, politically and socially. Now Media Matters has published a study (full pdf here) that thoroughly debunks this notion, and they do it by using surveys and facts that realistically portray the ideological character of the country – something the media may want to check in to.

The Media Matters study is a comprehensive look at the American electorate. It covers virtually every one of the most debated subjects of public discourse: Size of government; health care; taxes; abortion; gay rights. It also examines the demographics of age, ethnicity, gender, and geography. And every case the evidence shows that America is a progressive, and yes, a center-left nation.

And nowhere is this more misunderstood than in the media…

Jan 18 2008

Olbermann vs. Matthews

In the last 24 hours we’ve had some very interesting communications from MSNBC.

Yesterday at 5 pm Chris Matthews opened his show with an apology to Hillary Clinton (h/t Atrios).

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.

I invite you to read the whole transcript and watch the video.  While it was pretty earthshattering breaking news to get any kind of apology at all, a lot of people, including myself, thought it was just an example of the “I’m sorry you were offended by what I said” variety of non-apology apology.

In fact I still think that.

Also yesterday, at 8 pm, Keith Olbermann had Lawrence O’Donnell, author of this from the Huffington Post, on to talk about the campaign and Lawrence pretty much delivered a hit piece on John Edwards.

Quite a few people over at the Daily Kos were upset enough to diary about it and many more joined their voices in agreement.

So today we get this from second time diarist Keith Olbermann (don’t worry, it’s a storyonly link)-

Those of you complaining about it are right.

His HuffPo piece was news to me.

Shouldn’t have been, obviously, but it was.

I don’t read every blog, nor everything written by my guests. I often don’t know until an hour beforehand who will be a guest on a given show…  Also, to announce, on-air, each guest’s preferences, prejudices, shillings and shiv jobs, would reduce the rest of the show to “Good Evening. Call Me Ishmael. My Boat Sank. The End. Good Night.”

…

But even with these caveats, the point about this appearance, especially in the wake of such a freshly-written piece, is well-taken and I’m very sorry.

It will be addressed tonight on the show.

As usual I hesitate to editorialize too much, you can think what you want, but in addition to the question of who’s the mensch I invite you to consider if this represents a new direction at MSNBC.

Dec 14 2007

Matthews Wants Maddow Waterboarded

MATTHEWS:  … But we kick off with today’s debate itself.  Matt Continetti writes for “The Weekly Standard.”  Rachel Maddow’s a radio talk show host for Air America.  Rachel, you go first.  I know you’re on the political left.  Who won on the right today?

RACHEL MADDOW, AIR AMERICA RADIO:  Alan Keyes.  Alan Keyes was the star of this debate today, unexpectedly.  He took over.  A lot of the pundits are trying to ignore him and pretend like he wasn’t there.  But he was like the-he was the uninvited guest at the party who stole the show.

MATTHEWS:  You are causing trouble here because you don’t…

(LAUGHTER)

MATTHEWS:  I would like to put you-I would like to waterboard you right now because there’s no way on God’s earth you believe it!  Let’s go to Matt for straight answer.  Who won today?

More bullying below-