Chris Matthews issues a royal smack down to Joe Scab

[Atman]

I promise they won't be re-running THAT segment in the next hour! OMG, it was a thing of beauty...Joe kept trying to insist that companies aren't hiring because they're afraid of Obama's taxes and regulations. It was pointed out that after years of tax cuts and deregulation, obviously that approach isn't working. Joe stubbornly stuck to message, and when he claimed the current tax cuts were Obama's, the entire panel literally laughed at him. Big belly laugh, and Joe didn't like it at all. So Matthews twisted the knife...

"By the way, Joe, what night is Bush speaking at the convention? When is Cheeeeneey speaking?"

"It's CHAYney. Why do you mispronounce his name like that?" says Joe.

"You can pronounce it any way you want, the point is, why isn't the Republican party proud of their last President? All those achievements? Why don't they want to showcase how well all those policies worked?..."

Matthews kept on, even when they cut him off and went to commercial...instead of bumper music, it was just Matthews' voice hammering Joe. "Bill Clinton is going to speak to Democrats. Why don't you guys like Bush if all this stuff worked so well?"

Loved it. Chris may blow with the wind, but the wind is blowing in Obama's direction, and Matthews is out flying big Obama kites!

[annabanana]

1. poor Joe

He was trying SO HARD to hew to the line

And he was pushed back again and again.

[Motown_Johnny]

2. This show is almost watchable today.

The "New New Deal' segment was good too. Of course Joey was off the stage for that one.

[Atman]

4. Now they're re-running Ryan's bad poll numbers.

Joe is so sad...he can't understand why people don't like Ryan. LOL!

[chimpymustgo]

5. Scab had to change his pants after the segment with Tweety (Chris).

Matthews got him TOLD - emboldened meek Mika to chime in.

It has been a good morning! I'm looking for an article to post on the "New New Deal."

[CTyankee]

19. He ran away...couldn't take it. I loved Grunwald! What a breath of fresh air!

JOe is SUCH a coward!

[bushisanidiot]

23. I saw part of that. Was brushing my teeth and thought I had time to see more

after a looooong commercial break after tweety put the smack down on scab, this segment came on and is was so short! they went to commercial after about 3 minutes. it almost looked like mika was cutting the guy off because he was talking about how the stimulus was a good thing. i was amazed at how little time they gave this guy to talk about his book!

[JoePhilly]

3. Tweety has his moments.

[SHRED]

6. Yeah...companies are "afraid"...LOL

In the business world risk is taken on a regular basis. It's called doing "business". No risk = no gains.

This notion that companies are "afraid" of risk, and that that fear is somehow Obama's fault, is nothing but pure bullshit.

[Atman]

7. If they have customers, they hire workers.

They want to make money. More money. If they have to buy a new machine or hire a couple of guys to make that money, they will do so. No one except racist Tea Baggers who hate the black president are sitting at their successful businesses cowering in the corner over a tax that theoretically might maybe could happen some day, when an order for half a million widgets is sitting in the in-box.

The Republicans seem very stupid about how a business works, considering they claim to be so pro-business. Oh wait, they tank the economy every time they're in charge.

[1StrongBlackMan]

30. Exactly ...

It is so disturbing that the gop can talk about "businesses seating on the sideline because of uncertainty over taxes and regulations" with a straight face.

That's right up there with "If we raise the capital gains tax, the wealthy will stop investing, or if we tax their income, they will leave the U.S."

Businesses are sitting on all that wealth because the don't have the demand to cause them to re-invest it into their companies. And the tax policy makes it more profitable to sit on the wealthy and pay a very low rate, than re-invest the cash to avoid paying a higher rate.

[Cosmocat]

24. SERIOUSLY!

I have had this discussion with my R business friends.

Business is suppressed because of UNCERTAINTY?

Really?

I ask them what this means - of course it is uncertainty over taxes and regulation.

I ask how that is Obama's fault.

They babble a bit before I make the simple observation that is not Obama's fault, it is businesses' fault. I then make a couple of points.

First, Obama is pretty clear about what he would like to see with taxes. Have the Bush tax cuts to the upper brackets expire and extend the tax cuts to everyone else. He has proposed no new business taxes outside of what might come with the AFHC act. The republican party has taken an extreme position on taxes and has blocked attempts to reset them as stated. But, again, what Obama would like to see is pretty simple and clear.

Second, Dodd Frank got passed. Business has lobbied congress to block the implementation of it. If they are "uncertain" of when/if these regulations are put into place, they only have themselves to blame.

This pretty much ends it, and then I add on for good measure - I thought the whole romantic notion of how great capitalism was based on people taking risks to make it big. But, now, you want to ball around about "uncertainty?" There has always been and always will be "uncertainty" in business. Nothing has changes with Obama that did not exist with the sainted Reagan or Bush II. It is simple partisanship and political posturing.

[judy70]

47. future

Don't forget with the jobless rate being like it is, there are businesses that would have no moral objection to making fewer people work harder on their job. Why hire and spend more money on more people, when you you can make one person work for two. Why do you think they are so determined to get rid of unions, our fundamental protections against this and other unfair, immoral future business plans. If the repugnant's get in, the low information voters may finally wise up.

[calimary]

50. Thank you.

NAILED it on something I NEVER see examined closely, Cosmocat. That sniveling and whining about "uncertainty"!

Hey, let's be honest here. Any company sitting on a mountain of cash it's just hoarding - has NO legitimate claim to bray about "uncertainty." When you've got amounts of money as large as theirs stashed away, you can HARDLY whine about "uncertainty." That much money will see you through any alleged "uncertainty" with the greatest of ease.

Fuck them! I don't want to hear any complaints about "uncertainty"! Hell, you face "uncertainty" on the very moment you greet the new day! You're not 100% guaranteed of ANYTHING, EVER! You're certainly not guaranteed to have a successful day, or, hell, even survive the day! We all face uncertainty EVERY DAY and EVERY NIGHT.

It's called the unpredictability of life. It's called Fate. It's called the Luck of the Draw. It's called Serendipity. It's called "que sera sera." We live with it day in and day out!

[Ganja Ninja]

8. Tweedy points out the 800 pound gorilla in the room.

The GOP is in denial over their failed policies.

Now let me point out the other 800 pound gorilla. Their in denial because if they admit their failure their rich donors will stop writing checks.

Frankly, I hope the Obama campaign will start running adds right after the GOP convention pointing out the two 800 pound gorillas.

[pinboy3niner]

9. With so many 800-pound gorillas, this election season is a real zoo

[Atman]

11. Leave Newt out of this.

[Sedona]

21. and half of Christy too !

[Motown_Johnny]

10. I was just about to turn this off when they show a young lady in what looks like a nightie.

Now I am going to be late for work, damn it!


Just kidding, I have another 10 minutes or so.

[Atman]

12. Sex and math! BRILLIANT!

She grow'd up good!

[malaise]

13. It was better than my cup of

blue mountain coffee. I freaking loved it.

[JaneQPublic]

14. Great post, but...

...Where you wrote "when he claimed the current tax cuts were Obama's," did you mean "when he claimed the current tax cuts were Geogre W. Bush's"?

[tosh]

16. Nope. Scar actually claimed that the tax cuts are NOW Obama's.

Everyone on the set laughed at him.

[Atman]

17. No.

Matthews was making the point that, no matter how you slice it, the current tax rates are the ones Bush put in place, the rates Bush said would create jobs. We still have Bush's tax rates.

Joe replied, "Those are Obama's tax cuts." That's when his panel laughed at him. He totally ignored everything Matthews had just said to him.

[1StrongBlackMan]

32. And Matthews ...

or someone on the panel should have said: "Okay. Fine. The current tax cuts are President Obama's. So we can see that no matter who promotes them, they just don't work. Time to do something different!"

[spanone]

15. matthews is getting tired of the bullshit. he knows a lie when he sees it.

[mwb970]

53. Chris seems to be running out of patience with republicans in general.

He has been more outspoken than usual about their worthlessness on Hardball lately.

[Lucy Goosey]

18. I don't always love Matthews...

...but when he's 'on' like this, I've been known to applaud him and cheer out loud.

[Cosmocat]

20. hey, fuckface

We will call him Cheney when you call it the democratic party instead of democrat party.

MFers REALLY like to dish it out and REALLY don't like when it comes back.

[vlyons]

22. I get so tired of Scarbro'

All that yelling & ranting raving & pounding the table. As much as I like Mika, I'm getting tired of her too, deferring and sitting quietly and grimacing, patting Joe on the shoulder and telling him to calm down. MSNBC should dump Joe. Give the slot to Karen Finney or better yet Ezra Klein. I would watch Klein in the morning. and BTW Chris Mathews was great this morning. I don't know what they put in Chris' coffee, but he was sharp as a tack. Must have been the robust grind.

[Cosmocat]

25. it is like a bad 80s afterschool special

with the abusive dad and the family that has to take on roles to avoid being beaten by him.

Mathews is so darn sloppy in his style - just tramples over people.

But, maybe the morning round table thing is more suited for him.

[PragmaticLiberal]

26. Heck, if MSNBC insists on having a Republican in that time slot, I'd rather have Michael Steele.

Anyone but Joe.

[Firebrand Gary]

28. That's ridiculous! Michael Steele is every bit as horrible as Joe! nt

[1StrongBlackMan]

33. Maybe ...

But Steele doesn't begin EVERY comment with, "When I was in Congress ..."

[Mike Daniels]

40. It would be the end of that person's contract but...

I'd love someone to reply back..."and just why did you leave Congress again Joe?"

[1StrongBlackMan]

44. +1

[goclark]

52. joe...what happened 2 that intern?

[whathehell]

27. Me too..In fact he was so annoying at the beginning of the show, I had

to turn him off and missed all this apparent fun!...It's a good thing I have DVR,

cause I'm going to go back and check out Tweety...He can be terrific, at times.

By the way, did you notice that Mika was CRYING at the beginning of the show?

Joe kept pressing her on the reason, but she would only say something like

she was concerned about the direction the country was going.

It looked REAL, and though I'm no big fan of Mika's democratic LAMENESS,

It was enough to wet my curiosity.

[Beacool]

29. Chris Matthews, that sexist creep?

You couldn't pay me to watch the sniveling jerk, no matter what he has to say about anything. Besides, why is he gloating about Bill Clinton after the crap he said about both Clintons during the last presidential election cycle (like this gem: the only reason why she (Hillary) is a senator and a presidential candidate is because her husband messed around). He can take his tingling leg and shove it up his ass!!!

[Gold Metal Flake]

31. Nevermind

Answered upthread.

[UTUSN]

34. It's not a mispronunciation, CHEENEE. Alan SIMPSON taught Tweety

I saw Tweety's show when SIMPSON told him that he went way back with CHEENEE and that that was the way it was pronounced. Tweety (and equal I) have been using it that way ever since, but I do it because, despite being "correct," it sounds wrong and "wrongness" is appropriate to CHEENEE.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

41. It's true..Chee-nee. I actually know this because he is a relative of people in my home town who

made their wealth in the textile business way back when. There are still big mills there, converted into condos and offices. They have always been called "Cheney Mills" and pronounced chee-nee - Manchester CT

[socialist_n_TN]

49. I'm sure there are some Irish people on here, BUT.......

I've ALWAYS heard that CHEE-NEE was the original Irish pronounciation of Cheney.

[Thinkingabout]

35. Eugene Robinson thoughts on the school bus driver was great.

The bus driver was pushed out of the picture by Rmoney but still a great part in our lives and community, it takes a village to raise a child and the bus driver is a part of it. I guess since the bus driver did not have a piggy bank for Bain to come in and empty he is not important.

[Enrique]

51. ive been looking for someone to comment on that

I found someone on YouTube that connected it to the school bus bully kids, I thought they nailed it.

[Surya Gayatri]

36. 'Twas truly a thing of beauty. When Chris

gets on his righteous high horse, he can ride with the best of them.

I was LOLing at Scar's discomfiture. Chris had him cornered like a wounded beast.

[3feetofsnow]

37. Bummer for me

cuz I stopped watching that right wing fools show about a year ago. I would of loved to have seen Mattews hammer the clown.

I have sent messages to NBC/MSNBC to pull the plug on Scarborough. Probably 10 of them. He's a liar and is very arrogant.

[lonestarnot]

38. He did kick deadintern's ass.

[freshwest]

39. Ha ha! Thanks for the report for those of us who don't watch teevee.

That was so complete, it's not much use when people ask us to tune in and see it. You explained the whole thing, and yes, I think they'll edit it.

[LiveNudePolitics]

42. Chris gets off a good one

Chris, fellow Pennsylvanian, I salute you!

[rox63]

43. Tweety has been rather pro-Obama lately on his own show

I'm suprised at how consistent he's become in the last few weeks.

[Cleita]

45. He must be channeling Keith Olbermann.

KO loved smacking Joe Scar down every chance he got when at M$NBC. I'm sometimes suspicious that this is one of the reasons he got the axe.

[Bucky]

46. It used to bother me how Matthews said "Cheeney" until I found out he was right.

Cheney himself says Matthews is using the correct pronunciation used in their family. He just never bothers to correct anyone when they say it "Chayney" (why? because he's an oddball).

[DonCoquixote]

48. I hate tweety, but

when 2 plus 2 equals four, it does not matter who said it, though I do give him props for courage.

I humbly add:

hy the hell are you keeping your last president and VP the hell away from Tampa?

[adigal]

54. Matthews has mocked Romney's "marvelous" comment about Ryan's budget

For months now. He really seems to despise Romney, calling him "smarmy" one night. And he hated the Ryan budget. Matthews will be fun to watch in the next few months!