Sickening Chris Matthews (MSNBC) TOTALLY in the tank for decrepitJohn McCain; "Softball, anyone?!"

Hardball? Matthews asked McCain: "[W]e've had enough softball,

Senator. ... Is Barack Obama an elitist?"

http://mediamatters.org/items/200804150008

During an interview with Sen. John McCain on the April 15 edition of

MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews stated, "[W]e're back at

Villanova, and we've had enough softball, Senator. It's time for the

show to start here." Matthews continued: "Let me ask you a tough one

here. We've done the Abu Ghraib stuff. We're getting to the domestic

Abu Ghraib here. Is [sen.] Barack Obama an elitist?" McCain replied,

in part, "No. But I do believe that his statements were elitist."

Matthews then asked: "Why do you think he thinks like an elitist or

talks like one, if he's not an elitist?" Following McCain's response,

Matthews appeared to refer again to Obama's recent comments: "Is it

relevant to the general election? If you face him in the general

election, would you bring that back and remind him of that, remind the

voters of that? Or would your independent committees, do you think

they'd be doing it as well?"

During the previous day's edition of Hardball, Matthews touted his

upcoming interview with McCain by saying, "[A] whole hour with John

McCain, with me asking questions. I hope they're hard enough."

From the April 15 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:

MATTHEWS: We're back at Villanova, and we've had enough softball,

Senator. It's time for the show to start here.

McCAIN: Those last two --

MATTHEWS: These two wise guys, with these setup passes to you --

McCAIN: Those last two --

MATTHEWS: -- these alley-oops, alley-oops, right at the basket. You

had to put them in. Let me ask you a tough one here.

McCAIN: Those weren't tough?

MATTHEWS: We've done the Abu Ghraib stuff. We're getting to the

domestic Abu Ghraib here. Is Barack Obama an elitist?

McCAIN: No. But I do believe that his statements were elitist. I think

the comments about America and small towns in Pennsylvania, which I

guess would apply to across America, the values and the faith that

they have, I think, is immutable and unshakable. I think that the fact

that they like to hunt has nothing to do with their economic

conditions. I think that they respect and cherish the Second Amendment

to the Constitution of the United States. And I think their faith, as

I said, is something that goes on in bad times and good.

These people were the ones that went through the Great Depression and

then went to war and made the world safe for democracy and came home

and built a better nation than we have today. And I think that it's

from the small towns and the large, but from all over America, that

people have hope and optimism and faith in this nation and their

future, and a real feeling of the unique nature of the United States

of America. And we are a unique experiment in history. And the

greatest thing about America and these young people out here today is

a small -- from the -- people from the small towns in Pennsylvania

want to continue to serve a cause greater than their self-interest.

MATTHEWS: Why do you think a guy, Barack Obama, grew up in -- you --

not exactly easy circumstances. His father went back to Africa after

he was just born basically. He was raised in Indonesia, a third-world

country. A white American mother, basically never had any breaks,

except he's a smart guy obviously. Why do you think he thinks like an

elitist or talks like one, if he's not an elitist?

McCAIN: I don't know. I don't know what shapes his views. I don't know

what would cause someone to say something like that. Frankly, those

kinds of thoughts have never been in my realm of view about this great

nation.

MATTHEWS: Is it relevant to the general election? If you face him in

the general election, would you bring that back and remind him of

that, remind the voters of that? Or would your independent committees,

do you think they'd be doing it as well? Or otherwise?

McCAIN: One of the things I regret most about this general election is

the, quote, "527s." Many of the people in this audience don't know

what a 527 is. It's this independent, and I use the word loosely,

independent, unlimited expenditure of money to run attack ads on

candidates. And it's unfortunate because I think that Americans want a

respectful debate, as I said before, and I think they want to know

about the qualifications of the candidate, not just attacks.

I defended [sen.] John Kerry [D-MA] when he was attacked on his war

record in 2004, and I would do so again. But it's unfortunate, and

it's against the '74 law, and I won't go into that detail.

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Colbie_Caillat/message/2110

--------

Which Chris Matthews will interview McCain?

http://mediamatters.org/items/200804150005

MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews purports to be "tough" and "blunt"

on his show, but he has been effusive on the subject of Sen. John

McCain. Matthews recently asked how people could "still think [McCain

is] a straight-talk maverick when he's been in league with the

president," yet Matthews himself repeatedly refers to McCain as a

"maverick." Matthews once praised McCain's "candor" and "honesty" just

days after criticizing him for dishonestly denying the accuracy of a

quote during a presidential debate. On his April 14 show, Matthews

described McCain as a "tough customer," who is "always ... at his most

impressive the harder the questions," and asked guests John Heilemann,

New York Magazine contributing editor, and Chuck Todd, NBC News

political director, to send him questions in preparation for his hour-

long April 15 Hardball interview with McCain. But Matthews' track

record on the subject of McCain raises the following question: Which

Chris Matthews will show up for the interview with McCain -- the Chris

Matthews who boasts a "tough, fearless," and "blunt" television

program or the one who conducts himself as if, in his own words, he

"loves McCain"?

One Chris Matthews claimed during the January 17 edition of Hardball

that his show is "tough, fearless," and "blunt," yet the other, on the

July 10, 2007, edition of Hardball, had described having to report on

problems in McCain's campaign as the "worst part of my job." On

several occasions, that same Matthews has asserted that McCain

"deserves to be president" and "deserve the presidency."

One Chris Matthews, on the January 29 edition of Hardball, praised

McCain's "candor" and "honest[y]" about his knowledge of economics,

while the other, just days earlier, during MSNBC's January 24 post-

debate coverage of the Republican presidential debate, had noted what

he said was McCain's lack of "candor" in denying the accuracy of a

quote in which McCain claimed he knows "a lot less about economics"

than "military and foreign policy issues." That second Chris Matthews

asked of Newsweek's Howard Fineman: "Howard, the 'Straight Talk

Express': Did it stall tonight? Was it derailed by his denial of a

quote that's on the record?"

One Chris Matthews asked, during the April 13 edition of the NBC-

syndicated The Chris Matthews Show, how people could "still think he's

a straight-talk maverick when he's been in league with the president,"

while the other referred to McCain as a "maverick" during at least

four Hardball broadcasts in the month of March alone.

One Chris Matthews said during a discussion of universal health care

on the October 3, 2007, edition of Hardball, "Either you're going to

pay for this stuff or stop talking about it," adding in reference to

leading Democratic presidential candidates, "Why don't they put up

their money where their mouth is, and say, 'We're for national health,

and damn it, we're going to pay for it. We're going to cut something

here. We're going to raise taxes here. It's going to add up.' Why

don't they say that?" The other Matthews referred to McCain as a

"deficit hawk[]" on the February 4 edition of Hardball, despite

McCain's support for extending Bush's tax cuts to the wealthiest

Americans and opposition to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

One Chris Matthews asserted, on the September 21, 2006, edition of

MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, "[E]very column I've written from the day

they started talking about Iraq has been against it," adding, "I have

been a voice out there against this bullshit war from the beginning."

While discussing McCain's call for sending additional U.S. troops to

Iraq during the November 20, 2006, edition of Hardball, the other

Matthews claimed: "[H]e's kind of like a Martin Luther. He's going

back and reforming and finding the pure conservative movement. No

extra spending, no earmarks, and a very clear idea of going after the

enemy like we had right on -- remember when the president was at the

rubble on -- right after 9-11 -- that sense of purity and toughness."

During the March 23, 2008, edition of The Chris Matthews Show, that

same Matthews said of McCain's recent trip to the Middle East: "John

McCain was in the Middle East showing off his foreign policy

credentials."

From the April 14 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:

HEILEMANN: The problem for him is that he is on the wrong side of the

public on this issue and has been for quite a long time, as he is also

on the wrong side of the public on the question of the economy. And

so, the question right now -- I totally agree with Chuck that McCain's

-- the reservoir of good feeling toward him from 2000 is very much

there. But as David Shuster pointed out, the John McCain of 2008 is

very different from the John McCain of 2000, and the Democrats haven't

had a chance to start making that case yet, and when they do, things

are going to get a lot more difficult for him on both the foreign

policy question and the economic question.

MATTHEWS: Well, Chuck and John, send me some questions on email

tonight. I'll need them tomorrow at five in the afternoon; I've got to

go up against this guy. He is a tough customer. We've had town

meetings with him before. He's always, I must say, at his most

impressive the harder the questions. So, maybe it'll be a good night

for everybody to watch.

From the April 13 edition of NBC-syndicated The Chris Matthews Show:

MATTHEWS: What he's doing, you're saying, is being bigger than the

neoconservative movement: "I have more concerns than just terrorism,

and at the same time not offending the different branches." Clarence,

can he do this? Can he thread this needle we're talking about here,

among the people who are ideologically with the president -- part of

the Bush doctrine, if you will -- and those moderate Republicans, in

the 'burbs, wherever they are, who are looking for something really

different?

CLARENCE PAGE (Chicago Tribune columnist): Well, he seems to be

pulling it off remarkably well, partly because of the force of his

personality and his lack of conventional charisma. People relate to

him well and they feel like, well, he is a straight-talker and a guy

who really does look at both sides and at least will tell you what he

really feels.

MATTHEWS: Why does that survive, that image of the straight-talk guy,

after he went back and made up with the religious, the televangelists

and those guys, [Pat] Robertson and [Jerry] Falwell? He made some

other comments that -- he hugged Bush.

PAGE: Right.

MATTHEWS: How come they forgive him? They still think he's a straight-

talk maverick when he's been in league with the president.

From the October 3, 2007, edition of Hardball:

MATTHEWS: All I know is this: that I think that we need a national

health care system, and the Democrats say --

PAT BUCHANAN (MSNBC analyst): We got a good one.

MATTHEWS: -- they're for one. But when it comes time to try to create

one, they don't even have the guts to finance it. If we're going to

have a 200,000 -- or $200 billion health care program like Hillary

[Clinton] and the others are talking about, you've got to be willing

to finance it. And if all they're going to do is this chiseling number

of saying, "Someday, I'll pay this -- raise the cigarette tax" --

that's not exactly a profile in courage, Rachel [Maddow, Air America

host].

Either you're going to pay for this stuff or stop talking about it.

Hillary and Barack [Obama] and [John] Edwards are all talking about

national health care. And all they can think of is some chiseling

little cigarette tax they know they'll never pass. Why don't they put

up their money where their mouth is, and say, "We're for national

health and damn it, we're going to pay for it. We're going to cut

something here. We're going to raise taxes here. It's going to add

up." Why don't they say that?

From the February 4 edition of Hardball:

MATTHEWS: And now the Hardball "Big Number."

I don't have to tell you that the economy is a key election issue this

year. In fact, the president's new budget projects that the deficit

will rise to near-record levels this year.

So, how much is the present annual federal spending total? How much is

the government going to spend under President Bush? In what he sent to

Congress today, $3.1 trillion -- the first budget to ever crack $3

trillion in government spending.

I see an opening for the deficit hawks, like John McCain, on this

issue. Anyway, 3.1, that's our number, and a trillion dollars is added

to it.

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Colbie_Caillat/message/2105

Should Matthews be tested regulary for health safety concerns since he is

a danger to anyone in a 100 foot radius of his frothy spit spray?

It's sounds like Matthews is moreorless a whore for anyone who comes

on his show.

(I recall he loudly announced a month or 2 ago having some boner

creeping across his leg a few months ago for Obama...)

--

Sean