Chris Matthews on tonights KO w/Rachael Maddow - Where has THIS Matthews been?!?!?

[HardWorkingDem]

Matthews - where the fuck has this Matthews been for seven years!?!?

This may be on YouTube soon, but for those that have not seen it, this is the damned Matthews that should have been around for the last six years. He spoke about the importance of being able to question the government and not being shut down by being labeled with catch words used specifically to shut people up.

Where has THIS Matthews been for seven years?!?!?

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Getting paid very well thank you, but then PUgs started loosing

and the winds are changing

Feel free to call me highly cynical

[timtom]

5. I wouldn't call you cynical at all.

This is precisely what is happening.

I noticed Wolf Blitzer's stance when confronting Mitt Romney seemed decidedly defending of Obama.

[Marr]

12. Exactly-- the Republicans losing in Mississippi made it very clear, even

to the insulated Beltway cocktail circuit, that playing "Republican PR Department" wouldn't be feasible any more.

[Jawja]

37. And we, the American public, should

not let them get off so easy, either.

THEY enabled election theft and the treasonous actions of a criminal government. "Journalists" like Matthews and Blitzer deserve share of the blame for the direction our country has taken; and WE should make sure they understand that WE BLAME THEM.

[elizfeelinggreat]

43. I second your thought

Let's never forget who betrayed the public.

[SusanaMontana41]

45. Me three

And I'm a member of the media, trying to be honest with our readers by removing spin from wire stories. My apologies for not doing enough. I will keep trying.

[elizfeelinggreat]

48. hooray for your effort

And it's time for the old timers to make some room for newcomers. Not necessarily young but at least new voices that have been blocked by corporate ideology. I bet there are THOUSANDS of better journalists who could have put that republican sycophant on notice that his talking points aren't enough anymore; Rachel Maddow for instance, who has only recently been given a chair at the table.

I'm looking forward to the day when journalists get credit for being honorable and honest and not just able to hang onto their job and take up more and more time slots. How much Chris Matthews do we need in one day, anyway?

[Ishoutandscream2]

30. You are not cynical. You are exactly right

I appreciate what Chris had to say. However, I do not trust the man for a second.

[Retrograde]

35. pre-emptive sucking up to the Obama administration?

Sensing a change in the political weather and trying to jump on the non-sinking bandwagon, if I may mix my metaphors?

No, no one cynical here either.

[Submariner]

2. Kissing repuke butt is where he has been

Now that he sees the tide turning, he's cleaning up his act.

[Diane R]

3. I have a feeling that Matthews, and other media, are starting to feel liberated with HRC in decline.

I think there are books to be written, and stories to be told, about the stranglehold the Clinton and Bush machines have had on journalists. I almost see Matthews becoming giddy, sensing the end of the Clinton's power. One of these days he'll start his show by singing, "Ding, dong, the witch is dead!".

[Horse with no Name]

21. Actually that is just YOU...projecting.

:eyes:

[Prophet 451]

26. No, I think he was on to something

Like I said, right reason but the wrong culprit. It was the Rethugs (and even more so, their enablers) who kept the media on the defensive for years and now that their program is starting to crash and burn, they are starting to feel liberated.

The part with HRC is projection though.

[Prophet 451]

25. Right reason, wrong culprit

The Repukes have spent so long demonising the media for percieved "liberal bias" that virtually every journo swung to the right in self-defence. Now that the Rethug program is going down in flames, they're starting to feel liberated. The Young Turks had a very illuminating segment on this last week, pointing out how MSNBC especially is very slowly moving toward the left.

[magellan]

4. It was refreshing to hear him say what he did

But I don't trust that it's anything more with him than making sure he catches the next big wave.

[rocktivity]

6. Any port in a political storm, eh, Tweety?

Your speechifying about vast right wing conspiracies to "shut up" up political dissent would have sounded a lot more noble if you had been one of the chief "shut uppers."

:headbang:
rocknation

[opihimoimoi]

7. KO wannabe? Jumping the Fence to the Left?...looks it....

[chknltl]

8. Good Question, I saw that interview and was blown away! (+links)

I confess to not having much knowledge regarding Chris Mathews, I took it for granted that 'tweety' was a right wing shill. So when I heard him rip into a right winger yesterday for not knowing anything about Neville Chamberlain while using Chamberlain to back a bush lie: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24672043#24672043 I was quite impressed!

Then today he does this on Kieth Olberman,(guest hosted by Rachel Maddow):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24673883#24673883 -Utterly floored me!!! Upon reflection I could think of no basis for that earlier assumption regarding Chris Mathews. I looked him up in Wiki and found him to be on our side, so to speak. I think I will have to view this MSM pundit a bit differently henceforth.

Make no mistake, my praises do NOT reflect my very real skepticism regarding Chris Mathews....but to be honest, I want to hear more folks in the MSM talk like this.
Credit where credit is due: Here is to you Chris Mathews, :toast:

(edited to add: 'KnR')

[calimary]

9. He was busy declaring us all neoCONS now.

And keeping those presidential kneepads securely strapped in place.

He's leaning the other way because that's where the wind is now blowing him - so he's more open and attuned to something like this now. But I suspect his "conversion" goes strictly as far as the poll trends do.

[Pushed To The Left]

10. I'm becoming more and more of a Chris Matthews fan these days! n/t

[Skarbrowe]

11. Hmm, must be lots of new people here or to Tweety. He's done

this same thing to Democrats. When he senses that he's caught someone in something that he can go on and on and on questioning them about, he's the biggest bully around. True, all the guy knew about Neville Chamberlain was that Bush said he was an appeaser. The guy was all hyped up and probably told himself he wouldn't let Tweety talk over him. Bad move. Tweety went in for the kill when he realized the guy didn't know much about history.

I have seen Tweety do this to a female left leaning somebody that was on his show and others several times. It's true what people say here about him. Tweety sticks his finger in the wind. You have to be able to get "guests" on your show. If Republicans are running everything like they did the past seven plus years, he would jump on Democrats and go real easy on Republicans.

He knows the wind has shifted and to get the new party taking over to be his "guests" he's going to make several Republicans look like the fools they are. Finally. It means nothing.

He also has always, always hated the Clintons. I suppose he's a pretty happy guy right now. Oh, keep an eye out on how he treats McCain, just in case.

[LaurenG]

13. Did he just tell us something about where he's been?

"People were intimidated of challenging this president and his war policies...

Look at the way people are basically exterminated or try to be exterminated (mentions Bill Marr comment, Dixie Chicks comment)....the shutting up of opposition is critical to running a country in an undemocratic way... They cause people to run."

I guess he was afraid to say anything.

[SoCalDem]

14. His contract is supposed to be "up" in June, so

perhaps he's getting ready to "jump" or maybe he's been told to emulate KO more..or perhaps he just sees the handwriting on the wall..

[Disturbed]

15. Maybe he is getting ready to run for Rep. or Sen.?

He knows that Rethugs have less of a chance these days so he is leaning left
to run as a Dem.?

[kentuck]

17. Bingo !

He now sees the light. His future in politics is as a Democrat.

[lutefisk]

36. As he considers his run, his sense of duty might be shifting

I might be giving him too much credit, but as a talk show screamer his duty was to his corporate employer. Now that he is serious about a run for the Senate, he might be feeling a sense of duty to the people and the Constitution.

Maybe deep down, tweety is a decent person.

:shrug:

[madaboutharry]

16. I always tend to give people too much

of a second chance, but it could very well be that Matthews is experiencing an epiphany. It happens. It happened to Arianna Huffington. One day a person wakes up and says to themself "My God, these people are full of shit." Or maybe even "The administration is made up of a bunch of fascist." Who knows what is going on in Matthews mind. But he spoke the truth and deserves the credit for it.

[HardWorkingDem]

41. But the thing is....

The crap he was railing against has been going on for almost seven years now. Remember Max Cleland?

My first thought was, "It's about goddamned time."

[dorkulon]

18. Spineless or not, Matthews is signaling a paradigm shift

in the opinion jungle. This is definitely a good thing.

[a kennedy]

19. I couldn't believe it either.......my husband and I just looked at each

other and said, where the h*ll has he been for the last 6 years...... :eyes: May-be he's finally seeing that KO's numbers have risen and that he's gonna climb on board his bus.

[butterfly77]

34. Not only him..

also Dan Abrams I need to go back and look at some old tapes of him and tweety and their hypocrisy..

[KharmaTrain]

20. The Bloodsport Has Changed

Tweety's game has always been the sideshows and personalities in politics rather than the substance...not unlike many of the cable treehouses. It wasn't his job to determine what was true or not or advocate a position rather than to play with the egos and power trips that go on inside the beltway. He's also a creature of that beltway...living for the access, the personal self-importance and living by "conventional wisdom"...and that wisdom is what has changed.

When a "team" is winning, Tweety becomes a fan...fascinated with the power and how it affects his beloved "CW"...and for the past decade, that winning team were the GOOPers. Now the worm has turned...the polls and primaries are showing a big shift in the political dynamic and with it, so goes "conventional wisdom" and Tweety.

For the most part, it's all a game to him...winners and loser and not much inbetween. It's whose hot and whose not...and if that hot includes breaking laws or lying or intimidation, so be it.

IMHO, what really "woke" Tweety up was his involvement in the Plame mess...and the attempts by crashcart and rove to shut him up. He learned that while he could play up to the big boys, he wasn't one of them...and was being used.

Kudos for Tweety for his rare moments of clarity as of late...but the moment the "conventional wisdom" shifts, so will Tweety.

[Enrique]

22. the bad Tweety will come back

then the good one will come back again.

Tweety toggles.

The bad Tweety was around recently:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3272583

[noel711]

23. Probably got his insulin adjusted..

he has off-the-charts diabetes....

You can almost tell when his sugars are uncontrolled,
he acts like a 12 year old after too much birthday cake and soda...
that's when he's got ADD, won't let anyone talk,
gawks and grobes the ladies, and is an insulting bully.

Perhaps its his ambition to go out on a high note,
and throw his proverbial hat into the PA senate ring...

But I say its all biological... eat right, exercise, take those shots,
and make sure your hair is colored right..

[MiniMe]

24. I have always that he is much better as a guest than as a host

Tweety tends to pander to his guests unless the lies are so outrageous that even he can't stand it. I will give him credit for being against this war.

That smackdown was beautiful, but it was 1 time, 1 show, and it wasn't to a candidate. If McCain had said the exact same thing and acted the same way, I think that his response would have been completely different.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

27. ARCHANGELS OF DEATH. By his own definition, Matthews has been an appeaser for the last 8 years.

He even admitted that he had been threatened by Cheney and gang for reporting the News and had been a very "good boy" for quite some time. Every now and then he'll have little spurts of courage, until the archangels of death descend upon him again.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17049480/

FINEMAN: Well, because the furiousness of their defense here is tragic and comic in retrospect. In the spring and summer of ‘03, I was on the receiving end of some of these phone call for some of what I wrote. Not about Joe Wilson but other things speculating about the vice president‘s motives. And the vice president‘s office was all over everybody. And I think the reason they were so furious was because the president didn‘t know what Dick Cheney was doing half the time. And Cheney didn‘t want to get caught. That‘s my theory.

MATTHEWS: Well, I got visited by at least three archangels of death from that time from that same direction that didn‘t like what I was saying.

[blm]

28. Feeling guilty that HE HELPED PROTECT the Bushboy the last 8 years along with the rest of corpmedia

and the last couple years, Keith Olbermann has been making them all see it.

[Irishonly]

29. It's been shocking, to say the least

Had I not read about the flaying of a neocon, I wouldn't have watched Hardball so a big thank you to whomever posted it. I hadn't watched since Elizabeth Edwards had been on the show right before John suspended. Since the everyone is a neocon I had only watched maybe once a week. I was surprised and pleased. I know he is an American history buff and I think it's what prompted him.

I still don't trust him. He was horrible to Gore and throughout these past eight years has sounded more republican than democrat. The Libby scandal rocked him as well as the war but he ignored so many other scandals. I don't know what he would be doing if one of his man crushes had been the repuke nominee.

[butterfly77]

31. He knows the tide is turning...

and he now wants to pretend he was on the right side and he is afraid because he now has begun to really see that WE THE PEOPLE know that he and his counterparts are all full of shit..

[graywarrior]

32. R A T I N G S

eom

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[monmouth]

38. I think the "PA senatorial candidate" is also making an appearance.

He wants to appear mature and on the team. It has become obvious to him that Obama is the man, I think Matthews does admire him and he's going to take his shot in '09 to be part of the "change."

[truth2power]

39. Matthews is a tool, and an opportunist. Don't be fooled..

Maybe he sees the handwriting on the wall.

Follow the money!

[Frank Booth]

40. Isn't Matthews' contract up?

I think he just doesn't care anymore, since he's losing his job anyway.

[Blue_In_AK]

42. I saw that Matthews on Bill Maher once. n/t

[KelleyKramer]

44. He's setting it up to criticize a Dem prez

For six years it was rah rah, support our manly prez.

Now he has to get ready to attack a Dem prez, so after years and years of going along with everything out of the Bush admin propaganda machine, you suddenly get the Mathews ... 'oh, we need to question the government' line.

Media whore, through and through

[retread]

46. Sycophant : a servile self-seeking flatterer. n/t

[Indenturedebtor]

47. Exactly.

Tweety is a douche nozzle. He doesn't care what bung he's nosing today so long as it's the bung in charge. He's a facist enabler and a coward who towed the line for far too long for me to forget or forgive.

It's even worse that he sounded like he really believed what he was saying. So he's known all along what he and others like him were doing to our country. Fuck you tweety.

[bunkerbuster1]

49. I saw it too, thought it was a very fine set of observations

and it seemed genuine.

He's obviously deeper than the "Tweety" punching-bag cartoon character we love to pummel here at DU. All I can say is, more, please.

[Paladin]

50. His Whole Look Was Upgraded, As Well

His hair was styled in a better manner, and he was wearing a beautifully fitted, obviously expensive suit, with an elegant tie to match. His manner was softened and his voice was calm and moderated (rather than the usual squeeky ranting).

I wonder what brought all this on? I hope he keeps it up, because this is a definite improvement.....