Chris Matthews Explodes on Republican operative 'You know why I am against your party?'

[kpete]

Chris Matthews exploded. "You know why I am really against your Party?" Chris Matthews said. "... I can't stand the fact you fight too many wars. I think the Iraq War was insane. And I think it was really bad for our country. And the attempt by your party, from Reince Priebus all the way down, to repress Black voting in this country. Voting rights are sacred. You shouldn't mess with them. An you've got guys all over the country, Republicans as Republicans saying we are going to screw the Black vote. That is what you are doing. So again, the partisan game, I could not defend that if I were you."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/28/1360637/-Chris-Matthews-to-Republican-operative-You-know-why-I-am-against-your-party

[spanone]

1. k&r...

[UTUSN]

102. Yeah-well here's my years' re-posting of "THIS is what's wrong with you/Libs" to DONAHUE

How Tweety "Executed" DONAHUE on MSNBC. Tweety was on his book tour for another one of his "books" (large type, wide spaces between lines, blank half-pages). It was in the jingoistic hysteria in the run-up to the illegal Iraq attack. The book was about supposed "Americanism" -- an American Civ 101 ripoff about books and movies and cultural stuff that are essentially American (think, "The Great Gatsby&quot . So Phil welcomed him as a colleague and peer on Phil's show for the full hour to plug the book. From the moment he appeared, there was a strange, deadly snake look in Tweety's snake eyes. Phil was walking around the audience, apparently not sensing anything, while Tweety was motionless, following him only with his eyes. Phil brought up something or other questioning blind, kneejerk jingoism, and Tweety STRUCK! He started out with venom dripping, "You see, THIS is EXACTLY what's wrong with YOU Liberals: You are NEGATIVE about this country, you find NOTHING good about it," and on and on. It took awhile before Phil figured out what was happening. Later, Phil, devastated and spent, was sitting at the table with Tweety and, weaker and weaker, did some of his trademark shoulder shrugging and arm waving. Tweety delivered the coup de grace, "What's THIS (mimicking the movements)??!! What's with the --APE-- movements???!" Days or a week or two later, Phil's cancellation was announced and took effect.


(Sorry for piggybacking/crashing the line here, but Tweety's blowing-with-the-wind is a known phenom.)

[rurallib]

2. Usually I can't stand Matthews

but every once in a while his mouth gets rolling and truth spills out

[kpete]

4. every once in a while

and this one
SCORES!




peace rurallib,
kp

[merrily]

7. +1 I should have read the thread before posting. You said it much better than I did.

[Grins]

67. Totally agree! Every once in a while he does it up really right.

Other times he can be a jerk.

I especially liked Matthews when he took on Reich-wing apologist Andrew Sullivan (after Sullivan "discovered" that Liberals were right all along) over JFK on Bill Maher's show in 2011. Here's a clip:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/11/12/real_time_panel_has_livid_argument_over_jfk_being_a_dove_or_hawk.html

[Enthusiast]

68. Me too. There is sometimes that lone exception.

[PatSeg]

79. It isn't often

but when he unleashes his outraged liberal self, it is a sight to behold!

[KingCharlemagne]

3. Joseph Welch Matthews ain't. (For the youngsters here, Joseph Welch was

counsel to the Army during the Army-McCarthy hearings back in the 50s):

and

&index=3&list=FLhZgGSAb7KML6q5c7h-ngbg

********************************

In fairness to Matthews, Welch was testifying before a governmental committee. Which makes Welch's act of bravery all the more remarkable, imo.

[mountain grammy]

25. My family bought it's first TV to watch these hearing.. I was 7, and I remember coming home

from school and there was Mom, watching old Joe get his due. Joseph Welch was her hero. Hardly anyone has that kind of courage these days.. Amazing how much Ted Cruz looks like Joe McCarthy and he has "no sense of decency" either.

[KingCharlemagne]

31. I watch these clips every now and again, to remind myself what 'being served' (as the

kids say) is really all about.

Welch delivers his serving with a stiletto blade.

If I ever get a chance, I'm going to read a history of the episode or, if none exists, write one myself. (I'm sure one exists, just haven't taken the time to chase it down.)

[Jackpine Radical]

72. I once wrote a book during an extended period of underemployment.

It sold fairly well & made me a few bucks.

Give it a shot if you can manage the time. This would be a good moment for reviewing that history in light of current trends..

[louis-t]

56. I've posted on the resemblance of Cruz to McCarthy.

Spooky.

[DallasNE]

74. Cruz Wasn't Born Yet When Welsh Delivered Those Stinging Words

And his father still lived in Cuba and probably spoke no English so he would have no sense of what was transpiring back then. But a knowledge void does not let him off the hook for his current behavior.

[demwing]

86. Don't see it

I think people want to see it, because Cruz is such an ass.

Hairline, ears, eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, and chin are all very different. I just can't understand why DUers insist they look alike.

[Control-Z]

96. It is not that they look alike

but that they have "a look" that is very much alike.

[louis-t]

104. I still see it.

And it's still creepy.

[demwing]

106. What's similar?

change my mind...

[louis-t]

107. Eyebrows, eyes, chin, mouth, ears.

Nose is the only thing that's not a perfect match and only because McCarthy's was wider, but only in his later photos. Both have the Nixonian ski jump. I am comparing age-similar photos. There is a site that has side by sides if you do an image search.

[demwing]

109. I searched, found nothing

I asked you to change my mind. Still waiting...

[louis-t]

110. Hold please.....

[demwing]

112. i appreciate you doing the leg work

but I guess I'm never going to see it, or even understand why other people do (and it's clear that some people do)

[demwing]

113. Let me have a crack at photoshop tonight,

and we'll see if I can convince you!

[louis-t]

114. Hey, they're not identical twins like w and Ted Bundy, but

I still see a strong resemblance.

[louis-t]

111. Here you go.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0LEVzeD4s9UEoMAVYpXNyoA?p=joseph+mccarthy+and+ted+cruz&fr=ymyy-t-999&fr2=piv-web

[demigoddess]

59. I thought it was my imagination, when I noticed

that Cruz reminded me of McCarthy!!!

[merrily]

5. Yet, a decade ago, he was drooling over Dimson.

When MSNBC was all Republican from Imus in the Morning to Dennis Miller at night, Matthews opposition to Republicans was AWOL. Around 2006, MSNBC began changing gradually and so did Matthews. He is one of few afternoon or evening hosts who thrived in both iterations of MSNBC.

I think he well may be an old school Democrat at bottom, but he has been quite "flexible," perhaps even shameless. I do understand, I guess, to a point. Jobs like his don't grow on trees.

[notadmblnd]

9. I don't recall Dennis Miller ever being on MSNBC

I recall Phil Donahue on MSNBC but not Miller. I do recall Miller on Fox.

he did have a show on CNBC, was that before MSNBC became MSNBC?

[merrily]

13. Looks as though his employer at that time was CNBC.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/12/news/newsmakers/cnbc_miller/

I have never watched FOX, except for excerpts shown on other shows, such as The Daily Show. I didn't watch any of them back then because they were all too rightward for me. However, in my area, MSNBC is 37 and CNBC is 38, so I could have made that mistake as I channel surfed. I don't know what the technical relationship was then (or now) between MSNBC and CNBC.

Point is, MSNBC was all rightist at that time and Matthews was on then, drooling over Bush. Literally. (In general, he seems to have a problem keeping his spittle in his own mouth. Drools, "sprays" people he talks to. Yuck.)

[merrily]

29. Speaking of Donahue and Matthews:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/21/phil-donahue-chris-matthews-msnbc-firing_n_2926643.html

Actually, I never watched Donahue on MSNBC. I wasn't following politics closely until around the 2004 Presidential. Back then, I heard vaguely that Donahue had been fired from somewhere for his political views.

[notadmblnd]

36. he was too liberal.

but I've always admired Donahue. Used to watch his show back when he was on ABC daytime.

[merrily]

37. Too liberal for you? Or too liberal for MSNBC? Or both?

(I never saw his MSNBC show, so I have no clue.)

[notadmblnd]

40. Too liberal for MSNBC

I've watched him for years

[merrily]

43. Even Cenk was too lliberal for MSNBC. Maybe Olberman, too, though there were other issues there,

maybe.

[notadmblnd]

45. I liked both of them too

I guess for some, the truth hurts too much.

[merrily]

47. Hurts me too, but then, lies hurt, too. All things considered, I'd rather be in reality.

[notadmblnd]

53. I'm with you on that.

[merrily]

54. .....

[cui bono]

73. Too liberal for any network! It was his opposition to the Iraq War that really got him fired.

He wouldn't stop speaking out against it. And they would make him have more conservatives on than liberals. GE really wanted a war.

[appalachiablue]

17. I saw Chris mention McCarthy once, had a real serious look, said M. was drunk, all the time.

He would know from being around DC so long and Tip O'Neil. I like some of Chris' ways, the old respect for Irish Americans, elders in cities, like his Grandmother in Phila. who doesn't drive or have a permit which is obstructing many older folks from voting lately.

[merrily]

18. Joseph McCarthy?

It was reported that McCarthy suffered from cirrhosis of the liver and was frequently hospitalized for alcoholism. Numerous eyewitnesses, including Senate aide George Reedy and journalist Tom Wicker, reported finding him alarmingly drunk in the Senate. Journalist Richard Rovere (1959) wrote:

He had always been a heavy drinker, and there were times in those seasons of discontent when he drank more than ever. But he was not always drunk. He went on the wagon (for him this meant beer instead of whiskey) for days and weeks at a time. The difficulty toward the end was that he couldn't hold the stuff. He went to pieces on his second or third drink. And he did not snap back quickly.[122]

Death
Tombstone of Joseph McCarthy with the Fox River in the background

McCarthy died in Bethesda Naval Hospital on May 2, 1957, at the age of 48. The official cause of his death was listed as acute hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver. It was hinted in the press that he died of alcoholism, an estimation that is now accepted by contemporary biographers.[9]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy

[appalachiablue]

20. That's the one alright.

[itcfish]

41. Must be a Relative

Of Orange Man

[merrily]

46. Or, as Colbert used to say, "Speaker of the House and Yam-American, John Boehner..."

Colbert's character was starting to wear on me, but I miss him so much already! I guess "absence really does make the heart grown fonder." Unless it's "out of sight, out of mind."


(So many cliches, so little time.)

[renate]

62. OMG... Yam-American

That is the funniest thing I've ever read!

[merrily]

63. I know, right?

[ND-Dem]

57. he's a garden gate that swings toward power

[calimary]

58. AND don't forget the "we're ALL neocons now!" burbling and slobbering over dubya with

his shameless stuffed-suit strut on the aircraft carrier. "We're ALL neocons now!" "Lookit that! He's a GUYYYYYYY. Americans like a GUYYYYYYY for President! We all like a GUYYYYYYYYYY for President!" He was almost literally slobbering over that disgraceful, contrived, phony-ass staged stunt.

I was sitting there gritting my teeth, growing "SHUT THE FUCKING FUCK UP, YOU IDIOT!" And btw, Chris - not ALL of us are so enthralled by a swaggering, smug, dry-drunk, showboating, coddled chickenhawk "GUYYYYYYYYYYY for President." I sure never voted for anything like that! (And let's not forget, there were MORE of US who did NOT vote for that "GUYYYYYYYY for President", than there were of those who swallowed the bullshit and did.) And as a matter of fact, I myself intend to vote for a GIRRRRRRRRRL for President this next time.

I disliked Chris Matthews for a long time, for that. Didn't trust him. Even with this new outburst - which I'm VERY glad to see and hear out loud out in the open, on the record, in-yer-face directly to that GOP talking head, and putting that GOP apologist on the spot - I still don't completely trust him. Makes me wonder how long it'll take to flip him back over to the GOP. Chris Matthews is easily snowed. He's a total lemming. The ultimate fair-weather fan. Whichever way the wind blows. I HOPE he's seen the light, and finally had a bellyful from these assholes, but I wouldn't bet my house on it. I wouldn't even bet the front-door welcome mat on it.

He's here today. Tomorrow's another matter.

[merrily]

60. He's an equal opportunity sell out.

Then again, he may have been closer to the truth than he knew.

The head of the Progressive Policy Institute signed the PNAC letter, urging Bush to invade Iraq and way too many Dems voted for the invasion, as well as for the unconstitutional Patriot Act. If none of that was neocon, I don't know what would be.

[Dragonfli]

77. Marshal has been a tumor within the party so long his vision has metastasized

The cancerous "mets" branched off the PPI and DLC include the New Democrat Network, the New Democrat Coalition and of course the infamous Third Way which appears to be the latest re-branding of this aggressive disease.

IMO we are in stage four now and the host party could well die from this cancer leaving no viable party for non conservatives. Of course, vacuums tend to become filled eventually but if a non conservative party does not appear soon (or the cancer cut from this one), it will be too late to avoid a neo-Dickensian reality where workhouses would appear quaint and generous.

It is a very serious problem.

[bvar22]

75. "We're ALL Neo-Cons NOW!"

Tweety shouted with jubilation the day Bush-the-Lesser landed on that aircraft carrier and declared "Mission Accomplished".

[99Forever]

6. k/r

[Darb]

8. I can think of a few more reasons,

but that's a start.

[wolfie001]

10. The tickle down his leg is gone.

Maybe stopped taking the blue pills?

[dembotoz]

11. we gotta stand up to these thugs

[brewens]

12. As far as matthews and Iraq. Bullshit! Here's a link to his after "Mission Accomplished" day.

http://mediamatters.org/research/2006/04/27/mission-accomplished-a-look-back-at-the-medias/135513

He fell for it hook, line and sinker!

[Fred Sanders]

16. All the Iraq war cheerleaders and apologists are furiously attempting to rewrite their own history.

Even the NYT.

The same fucking media that fucked it up over Iraq and failed to defend the Dixie Chicks, and anyone who saw through the bullshit and tried to stop the looming disaster, - the same ducking media, is now busy apologizing for their failures - while actively engaged in another failure to point out the Christofascists and Oligarths are now terrorizing America?

No Ducking way you get off so easy.

You fuckers will be forgiven when you start speaking truth.

You can start any time, you can start with grovelling apoligies, in detail.

Here is my message to the media, same as the old message.

I am not ready to make nice either.

[libdem4life]

30. Powerful women...intense performance...incredible personal statement. n/t

[Fred Sanders]

33. When folks don't get it as to how lies can kill and demonize good folks....this song.

[olegramps]

22. There is no doubt the MSM failed us and continue to do so.

Our forefathers fully recognized that a well informed public is essential for the a democracy to function. Our government does not represent the people but is a hodgepodge of those representing the special interest groups and corporations. Just one example is needed to demonstrate how dysfunctional the present system has become. The vast majority of citizens wanted background checks for gun purchases. The special interest groups opposition prevailed and the will of the people was totally ignored while the MSM remained silent.

Thanks for the link to the shameful bootlicking media whores who have brought helped destroy our Republic.

[Fred Sanders]

27. And it only took the criminal media how many years for faint apologies? While making no changes?

[Enthusiast]

69. +1

[kairos12]

38. Exactly. He fell in love with that codpiece strutting Shrub on the carrier. Can't stand him since.

[itcfish]

44. Yes He Was Pro War

Matthews kissed up to the Republicans. Remembering him kissing up to Delay? Remember how badly he treated Hillary Clinton? He is no liberal, and just about a DINO.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

50. He got all giddy talking up the war

He kisses up to power, nothing more. And now even he sees the winds are shifting and is planning to get his nose up the asses of Democrats for 2016. Serious Dems and Dem candidates - at least those with serious, talented staffers who actually want to win - will take a pass on appearing on his show.

[cpwm17]

65. Before the Iraq War Matthews was against it.

He was one of the very few TV commentators that spoke against the war. I remember it well since I had access to cable TV at that time. Whatever he did after the war started I don't know too much about since I didn't watch him much at that time.

[YOHABLO]

101. "Can't imagine any Democrat landing a jet on a carrier" .. Ann STFU. Matthews is such kiss ass.

[brewens]

103. if you read all of that, some of them are carefully trying to make it sound like Bush was flying

and landed it himself. They were being pretty cute about it though. Not actually saying that but hoping some people would actually believe that because he was allegedely a pilot at one time. I don't know how big of a freakin' tool you'd have to be to fall for that one! Even if he had been an active duty expert carrier pilot for years, like McCain, there is no way! I could see them letting him take the controls and make a little turn ot two for fun but that wouldn't even be likely.

[elzenmahn]

14. Well, they say that...

...broken clocks get it right twice per day.

Trite, yes. But true in this case.

[hatrack]

15. "We apologize for the disruption. We now return to 'Televised Beltway Blowjobs."

[SammyWinstonJack]

21. HA!

[uponit7771]

26. +1

[Fred Sanders]

28. "We control the horizontal and the vertical". How dare the unwashed rabble fiddle with the controls.

60 Minutes Scott Pelley was pulled from his regular media blowjob duties to gave a special double blowjob to Mitch and John just last Sunday night - in public without shame.

[kairos12]

39. That interview was beyond the Outer Limits.

[whathehell]

19. Tweety does get it right once in awhile..Gotta give credit when it's due.

He has a particularly good record on speaking out against voter suppression.

[City Lights]

23. Every now and then Chris gets it right!

Wish we'd see more of this in the corporate media.

[kydo]

24. Wow, twetty didn't spit on me this time.

Maybe cause it was on you tube.

[jollyreaper2112]

32. shut the fuck up chris

http://mediamatters.org/research/2006/09/21/matthews-claimed-he-has-opposed-iraq-war-from-t/136694

Goddamn potato-headed idiot.

As Media Matters noted, Matthews was chief among the cheerleaders when Bush delivered a nationally televised speech from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, in which he declared that "[m]ajor combat operations in Iraq have ended," all the while standing under a banner reading: "Mission Accomplished." Despite lingering questions over the continued violence in Iraq, the failure to locate weapons of mass destruction, and the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein, Matthews fawned over Bush: "He won the war. He was an effective commander. Everybody recognizes that, I believe, except a few critics. ... He looks for real. ... [H]e didn't fight in a war, but he looks like he does. ... We're proud of our president. ... Women like a guy who's president. Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president."

Another copy of part of this quote without edits:

We’re proud of our president. Americans love having a guy as president, a guy who has a little swagger, who’s physical, who’s not a complicated guy like Clinton or even like Dukakis or Mondale, all those guys, McGovern. They want a guy who’s president. Women like a guy who’s president. Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president. It’s simple. We’re not like the Brits…

Mr.Potatohead here will say whatever he thinks will sell on a given day and has no memory, no history, no shame.

[Autumn]

34. He's against the republican party for two reasons, a lack of tingles or too many tingles.

Either could be a winner.

[Paladin]

35. Matthews is overdue for yet another conservative man-crush.

It's only a matter of time.

[johnnyreb]

42. K&R for the occasional Matthews lucid moment

and all the great comments here.

[jwirr]

48. I heard that. Finally.

[Duval]

49. Wow! Now, this is

the Chris Matthews I remember! He really socked it to the Republicans with the truth, i.e. voting rights of Black Americans and even called the Iraq War insane! Yes, to both, Chris, and thank you!

kpete, great post!

[Orsino]

51. "So I can hump its leg!" n/t

[lame54]

52. Where's Larry Wilmore with his 100 card?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

55. He's so full of shit, though. He was kissing Trent Lott's ass. He WAS for this war, declaring

Last edited Wed Jan 28, 2015, 04:22 PM - Edit history (1)

all of us "Neocons Now!". And don't forget, his criticism of Obama not being able to appeal to "working class whites" as if Obama could change his skin color. He knows damn well why working class whites (Reagan Democrats) don't/didn't support the president.

[rhett o rick]

61. I rec'd for the posting but not for Matthews. Where was he when we needed him?

He is a fair weather A-Hole.

[SalviaBlue]

64. Tell it, Chris!!

[MADem]

66. Sounds like he's getting his Carter-Tip mojo back... nt

[TeamPooka]

70. He's a weathervane but you never know which way his wind is blowing. nt

[Tuesday Afternoon]

71. credit given, when he is right, he is right.

ain't often but, when he is, I give him credit.

[Gothmog]

76. The GOP can only win by suppressing the vote

[Skittles]

78. Chris has always been such a mixed bag

he can be such an asshole but when he's right he does it very well

[blm]

81. I concur - he has the talent to express the truth. Sometimes it takes him awhile

to see it.

He was also saying he was against invading Iraq in the run-up…it was only afterwards when the MSM was being sold the impression of a quick victory and the visual of Bush's victory lap that he famously said 'We're all neo-cons now.' Ha……..ha……..hah.

[Skittles]

82. wasn't it Tweetie who salivated over the codpiece?

he can be right the rest of his life and still never live that down

[blm]

99. That was a month later in May2003.

.

[Rex]

80. If only he was consistant in his anger, he LOVED...FUCKING LOVED DUBYA'S WAR!

Chris was slobbering all over the table top after we illegally invaded Iraq. He LOVED it! Drooled all over Dubya in his fake military garb. At this point, I wouldn't trust Matthews with a wooden nickle.

[libodem]

83. Amazing

Color me impressed.

[yuiyoshida]

84. Tell em like it is!

[Cha]

85. It is Amazing that Tweety came through like this.. I had been watching some old epidsodes

of The Good Wife and they had him on as himself doing something.. and I was feeling disgust.

But, This is totally DEAD ON! Should be Viral and brought up anytime there needs to be the final word on the ******* gop.

Mahalo kpete

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

87. Matthews was strongly against going into Iraq

His columns in the San Francisco Chronicle written in the build up to war prove it. His words were very prophetic.

Hail and Farewell by Chris Matthews

"...So I'll say it: I hate this war that's coming in Iraq. I don't think we'll be proud of it. Oppose this war because it will create a millennium of hatred and the suicidal terrorism that comes with it. You talk about Bush trying to avenge his father. What about the tens of millions of Arab sons who will want to finish a fight we start next spring in Baghdad? ..."

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Hail-and-farewell-2775603.php


The Road To Baghdad by Chris Matthews

"...2002-03-24 04:00:00 PDT WASHINGTON -- Like Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, a pair of rightist factions in the Bush administration are hoping to take the United States on the road to Baghdad. Unlike the beloved Hope-Crosby "road" pictures, however, the adventure in Iraq is not going to be funny.

It will take 200,000 U.S. troops to invade Saddam Hussein's capital and effect the "regime change" demanded by neo-conservative policy wonks and backed by oil-patchers George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. The question America needs to answer now, while there's still time to stop this road trip, is whether a war justified by ideology and energy economics is truly in this country's interests.

A U.S.-Iraqi war has advanced well beyond the "contingency" phase. The last barrier of restraint, Secretary of State Colin Powell, has been broken by the will of a Bush administration partnership of ideology and oil that is now set on war. I wonder if anything can prevent this military move against Baghdad on which so many who hold power have set their hearts.

Start with the neo-conservative faction. Op-ed pages are full of anti- Hussein war drums. Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol has made a crusade of getting U.S. troops onto the streets of Baghdad.

He and fellow Iraq hawk Robert Kagan write a regular column in the Washington Post pushing war, as does fellow neo-conservative Frank Gaffney Jr. for the Washington Times. Also on an Iraq jag is William Safire of the New York Times.

When the neo-conservatives cannot blame Hussein for Sept. 11, they try tagging him with the anthrax letters. When that doesn't work, they again try to connect him to the World Trade Center and Pentagon horrors.

Meanwhile, back at the White House, fellow neo-conservatives keep up the cadence. David Frum, a neo-conservative Canadian, crafted President Bush's "axis of evil" locution targeting Iraq, Iran and North Korea. Joseph Shattan, a like-minded ideologue, fills the vacuum left by Frum's recent departure.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz leads the neo-conservative forces at the Pentagon. Undersecretary Doug Feith recently OK'd a new U.S. "posture" that threatens to nuke Iraq if it moves against Israel. I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, is another well- placed hawk, as is neo-conservative high priest and Pentagon adviser Richard Perle.

The neo-cons casually compare Iraq to the Third Reich, Israel to forsaken Czechoslovakia and skeptics to Neville Chamberlain, but their evidence for attacking Iraq doesn't hold up. The anthrax letters came from a source far nearer to our shores than Baghdad. And CIA chief George Tenet testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that the "jury's still out" on whether Hussein had anything to do with Sept. 11.

Oil is a much more powerful motive for an Iraq attack.

Iraq is the Mideast's No. 2 supplier of oil, behind Saudi Arabia. The United States, swallowing a quarter of the world's production, is the world's No. 1 consumer. This country is led by a pair of oil-patch veterans who share a sense of entitlement about the world's oil reserves regardless of what flag flies above them. Bush and Cheney see Hussein's chief weapon of mass destruction as his threatened grip on the Persian Gulf oil tap.

This confluence of interest between ideology and oil has put us on the road to Baghdad. It's time for us to realize that American principles have precious little to do with this costly prospective military campaign.

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/The-road-to-Baghdad-2861108.php

[YOHABLO]

88. So it's just about the wars and voting rights for blacks .. yeah top of the list, but so much more

[herding cats]

89. Rec for agreeing with what he said, but I didn't know he was against Republicans

Let alone that he was opposed to war. Those two bits are news to me.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

90. Matthews has been rehabilitating himself since 2006. He LAUDED the Iraq War

Media Matters has documented numerous instances during the past three years in which Matthews lauded President Bush's handling of the war, advanced false and misleading claims about the war, and attacked Democratic critics of the war.

http://mediamatters.org/research/2006/09/21/matthews-claimed-he-has-opposed-iraq-war-from-t/136694

[ecstatic]

91. policy change at MSNBC?

I noticed it the night of the SOTU speech. Looks like the president of MSNBC finally got the message (due to extremely low ratings) and the anchors are once again allowed to challenge teabaggers. I'm glad they're changing course.

[tavernier]

92. Kudos to Chris M.

Glad to see that he has finally lost his man crush for dubya.

Oh how I long for the return of an Edward R. Murrow.

[oberliner]

93. "I think the Iraq War was insane"

Senate Democratic votes for the Iraq War

YEAs — 77
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Breaux (D-LA)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carnahan (D-MO)
Carper (D-DE)
Cleland (D-GA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Daschle (D-SD)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Edwards (D-NC)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hollings (D-SC)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Miller (D-GA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Schumer (D-NY)
Torricelli (D-NJ)

Let's not pretend it was just Republicans.

[Major Nikon]

94. Let's also not pretend the war was sold on honest pretenses

Congress largely depends on information the Executive Branch provides. Even the House Majority Leader (Republican Dick Armey) said Cheney "bullshitted" (his word) him into war.

The biggest mistake both parties made was not putting Bush and Cheney in shackles once the truth was known.

[oberliner]

97. If the BS was true would war have been justified?

If it turned out everything Cheney said was true, would you have been OK with it?

[Major Nikon]

98. If everything they said was true, there never would have been a war to begin with

[catbyte]

95. I'm still so proud that BOTH of my senators voted "no." Thank you, Michigan senators,

Carl Levin & Debbie Stabenow.

[BlueStater]

100. Oh, please.

Matthews originally supported the Iraq war and was all "Rah, Rah, USA!" in 2003. Now that it's proven to be one of the worst fuck-ups in American history, he's trying to save face and pretend like he was always against it.

Too late, Chris. Too fucking late.

[99th_Monkey]

108. It's never 'too late' to wake up.

well, not unless you're of a conservative Christian persuasion.

[KamaAina]

105. Who is that guy, and what has he done with Tweety?!