Did any of you see Chris Matthews on Jay Leno last night?

[jenmito]

He came right out and said he was "partial" to Obama (Leno's words, saying Matthews got a lot of criticism for seeming to be partial to Obama) and he said he WAS-he said, "You got me-you nailed me-I've been watching politics since I was a kid and all the way back to the days of Kennedy and Nixon and I've never seen anything like Barack Obama. No-one's ever been as inspiring. And I said so when I first saw him in Springfield, Illinois, when it was 3 degrees below zero and there was this young, African American guy, walking out on the stage with his beautiful family and there was the capitol where Lincoln was once a legislator and there was the place where he practiced law across the street and I said, 'Imagine if he could see this. It was just stunning to me from the time it started, I think he's a remarkable political reality, the American people went for him..." and then he went on to talk about the reverse-Bradley-effect in PA, how he won by so many more percent than the polls said. Very good of him IMO. He knows he'll get slammed by Faux and others and obviously doesn't care.

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. He said he voted for Bush when it was "popular" to say it.

Do you get the impression that this guy follows the polls and trends?

[MadBadger]

4. no

[SoFlaJet]

5. I remember him saying in 2000 that

he voted against his heart-he didn't seem to like Al Gore-the guy IS a democrat-he worked for Jimmy Carter and Tip O'Neil-those people don't hire republicans

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. I don't know how anyone could have missed Al Gore's genius.

It was so obvious that man had something big to offer us.

Matthews is going to have to do more than kiss Obama's ass to make that up to me.

[MadBadger]

13. He voted for Bush, get over yourself. He doesnt have to make up anything to you

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. Noo, siree. I watched what he did to Al Gore, the way he tipped his opinions

to benefit Bush prior to the 2000 election. That was back when we all still thought that the media was impartial about these things. How quickly everyone forgot that period before we all opened our eyes in unison to see just how manipulative the media was, and Tweety was on top of the bunch. Where were you when we were here vetting all that out?

[MadBadger]

25. You werent here...thats for sure.

[The Backlash Cometh]

29. Try again. I remember it distinctly. Tweety was constantly criticized.

Where were you?

[MadBadger]

31. STOP LYING....DU was created on Jan 20th, 2001

[The Backlash Cometh]

33. Oh, please! Stop parsing words.

We have been talking about Tweety and his kind for over five years after that election! The 2000 election went on for months because of the recount. We all had LOTS to say about it, but no where to go to discuss it. And when DU came into existence, everything that we had watched in silence was discussed here. And not just for a few weeks, but it went on for YEARS! The role of the media, especially during the recount, was an important issue. Do you remember mediawhores.com? And also mediamatters? Why don't you check the archives. Type in "Tweety" for the periods from 2001 to 2006 and see how people were talking about him.

[Samantha]

43. I totally agree - there are some FATAL mistakes which can never

be made good, and supporting Bush* in 2000 over Al Gore is a sterling example. Just look at all the damage Bush* has managed to accomplish in 8 years. Imagine all that was lost with that fatal SC decision. No amount of I am sorry, or I was wrong, I made a mistake can begin to restore that which has been lost.

Sam

[jenmito]

7. No. I think he says what he really feels.

[jbnow]

61. Agree with that. He opens his mouth and words fall out

I remember him becoming disillusioned with bush, you could see it happening. Before that he just admired bush's "sunny nobility" and pushed the blame for the war and other policy decisions off on Cheney and other neo-cons.

Sometimes he is hard to take...but he won a bit of my heart just before the 2006 elections...again on Leno. (Maybe he speaks even more freely there)
He was talking about how important the 2006 election was, how all of us needed to vote. He kept saying "It's all in our hands" or :your hands". He talked about how unhappy people were with the direction things were going. If we liked how things were going vote for republicans because they supported everything bush wanted, but if we were unhappy we weren't victims, we could change things, it was in our hands...go vote for it...etc

He was so passionate as he talked about how important this vote was, to use our power...and I am sure he got some people who would have shrugged it off to get out and vote...and vote for change. Leno's audience might need the push more than Hardball's audience. There were some close races and people seeing him talk that night might have made a difference. I was moved and I sort of disliked him.

Sadly...Dems in the majority didn't change much. I understand the Senate filibuster rules...but it didn't help much when we were in the minority. We really do seem spineless sometimes. Even if we couldn't overcome filibuster numbers don't know why Reid let such bad bills come up for a vote, we had the power to stop that.

OK, that's off topic.

[jenmito]

63. Good post...

well said. :hi:

[ClusterFreak]

9. Absolutely!

Thank you.

Listen up Tweety...we haven't forgotten your "We're all neocons now" line at the launch of the Iraq War. Matthews is a follower and not out front of the curve as he'd like you to believe. Look at Obama's popularity....and look how Matthews loves him. His 'neocons' line coincided nicely with a much more popular George Bush didn't it?

Fuckin' guy knows which side of his bread is buttered, don't you forget it.

[jenmito]

15. Matthews has been for Obama even when he was losing to Hillary. I remember him

saying something about "the dream dying" when he thought Hillary was going to win the nomination, adding something about the "establishment always winning in the end" and he seemed really upset.

[The Backlash Cometh]

23. Tweety has always disliked the Clintons.

It may also have been the reason why he turned a blind eye to Al Gore.

Some people say his prejudice is due because the Clinton's didn't give him a job he was hoping to get. Can't remember the details of it, exactly. Hope it wasn't as a speech writer because his writing is crap.

[jenmito]

26. However he felt about the Clintons, he didn't have to be obviously FOR Obama the way he was.

I respect him for expressing his views.

[The Backlash Cometh]

35. Well, don't be surprised if he's jockeying for a job in Obama's administration.

And don't be surprised if he turns on Obama at some point in the years to come if he doesn't get it, like he did to the Clintons.

[jenmito]

36. He didn't have to be for Obama so early. He could've been for Edwards.

Sorry you don't trust him when he says he was inspired by Obama from the start. I believe him.

[The Backlash Cometh]

38. You're entitled to believe him.

As long as you don't try to rewrite his history, you won't have an argument from me.

[jenmito]

39. I believe he was for Bush at first, turned against him when he turned against the war and

started saying he believed Libby, Rove, and Cheney all lied about the leak (investigation), and was for Obama since his first speech.

[The Backlash Cometh]

54. That's accurate, except for on thing.

He wasn't just "for" Bush. He shilled for him, helping to turn public opinion. He couldn't have done it if we didn't believe he was an honest broker and his opinion counted for something. We were all naive back then. I would like to think that the next generation will not be so easily taken.

[jenmito]

62. That's besides the point. He was "for" Bush like he's for Obama now. He was sincere in his beliefs

then and he's sincere in his beliefs now. You may choose not to believe that he really believes in OBAMA because of his sincere belief in BUSH, but I think he can be sincere in BOTH beliefs.

[The Backlash Cometh]

64. I never questioned that he was for Obama.

I question if that's enough to forget the role he played in the past, in the beginning, as so many people seem to adulate him as if it doesn't matter anymore. It will always matter, in my opinion. Maybe more so since it appears he is running for office.

[jenmito]

65. Your very first post on this thread implied, to me, that Matthews merely follows the polls and

SAYS whatever is popular to say and claims to support the person who is popular at the time without necessarily believing in the person. Another post of yours said not to be surprised if he's not just jockeying for a position in Obama's admin., and if he turns on him if he doesn't get one.

[The Backlash Cometh]

66. I questioned his motivations, not his decision.

He supports Obama. That was never in question. Why he supports Obama is a question left for conjecture because neither one of us have the omnipotent power to really know what goes one between those ears. We're just expressing our opinions. Maybe you choose to be less skeptical than I am. That's your prerogative. I take his past into consideration and believe he is not as selfless as many here thinks he is. That is my prerogative.

Time will tell, as it always does in the case of Chris Matthews.

[jenmito]

67. I'm not only LESS skeptical, I'm NOT skeptical. I believe he's sincere in what he

says. He seems to have an open mind and a real love of politics. I don't doubt him at ALL, even though I disagree with him at times.

[The Backlash Cometh]

68. You're entitled to your opinion.

Just for additional reading, if you're ever interested, go to mediamatters.com and see what Tweety was like in the early years.

[Captain Hilts]

41. March 2007 Matthews had a panel on his show and ALL said Obama would overtake Hillary...

[SoFlaJet]

21. right before that IWR vote

Matthews was one of the biggest anti-war voices out there. Then he went on a trip to Africa or somewhere with his kids, caught a disease and nearly died. Anybody else remember that? After that little "episode" he kind of fell right in line with the agenda. I always felt there was a warning in that illness-perhaps sent by the same scum that sent anthrax to senators.

[The Backlash Cometh]

24. Well, it didn't hurt that he has a son of draft age.

[MadBadger]

27. I think he was muzzled by MSNBC top brass. Remember what they did to Donahue?

[SoFlaJet]

32. and the likes of Dick Cheney's gestapo

who were paying visits and making phone calls to NBC brass-Chris has talked about these visits from
"angels of doom" on his shows.

[camera obscura]

45. Wow, missing some history? Libby called Russert to complain Matthews was too hard on the neo-cons.

Perle, Wolfowitz, etc.

Pretty obvious you weren't paying attention when this was all revealed during the Scooter Libby trial.

[ClusterFreak]

53. Actually...

No.


Inspired by a brilliant post by DU legend Will Pitt earlier this year...and sourced from:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2842

"We're all neo-cons now."
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, 4/9/03)

"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."
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, 5/1/03)

"Why don't the damn Democrats give the president his day? He won today. He did well today."
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, 4/9/03)

...and perhaps my personal fave...
"What's he going to talk about a year from now, the fact that the war went too well and it's over? I mean, don't these things sort of lose their--Isn't there a fresh date on some of these debate points?"
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, speaking about Howard Dean--4/9/03)

Now...who wasn't paying attention again?

[The Backlash Cometh]

56. You da man.

I suspect that the pundits were sold on a bloodless war. (Bloodless on our side.) Remember how Bush approved the Shock and Awe attack before the deadline? I really believe he was expecting to take Saddam out in that first hour. That was his first goal. The second was to finish what his fathered didn't do, and advance into Baghdad. I think he was expecting to get the same non-resistance that Bush I's troops received, with people surrendering the whole way in. I guess he never understood war, and never understood the concept of living to fight another day. They were just waiting to see what he would do, and when he didn't leave right away, the occupation resulted in a resistance movement. Guerrilla warfare style.

That gave everyone a chance to pause and catch their collective breath. A draft would have meant that this generation of 18 year olds would have experienced the same thing that the 60s generation experienced.

[ClusterFreak]

57. Matthews certainly wasn't the only one to roll over...

...the MSM as a whole was flat out horny for war...sorry to use such a term, but really...they couldn't wait for it. Someone wrote a book about this called "Lapdogs" or something, I forget the author, but it's absolutely true.

And that's why it's so funny now to hear the likes of Tweety and others stepping up to the Obama altar. Obama...for gawd sakes...said in October 2002 that this was a "dumb" war and has said so ever since. Back then Tweety would have told him to keep his yap shut and fall in line like everybody else.

[camera obscura]

58. You, actually.

Yeah, and Olbermann said nice things about Bush on "Mission Accomplished" day too. A few ridiculous quotes don't change what was actually happening behind the scenes during that period:

http://web.archive.org/web/20061230235235/http://www.tnr.com/blog/theplank?pid=3172
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021303418_pf.html
http://israpundit.blogspot.com/2003/02/toxic-talk-on-war-this-washington-post.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/chris-matthews-and-the-po_b_10039.html
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MGRkMzYzNGE3ZjUzYTIzMmNhNGM2YjA3NDVhNTc3YjA=
http://www.slate.com/id/2129634/&#mystery2
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2005/10/28/595/69042

[ClusterFreak]

59. Interesting that all those articles/blogs link back to Matthews...

...post-Plame outing which happened in July of 2003. My quotes are pre-Plame. My point is that Tweety and so much of the MSM were chomping for this war and didn't ask the tough questions beforehand. Once the faulty and downright criminal rationale for war began to reveal itself that summer of '03, suddenly the likes of Matthews and others started to ask questions. This war, just like Obama has always said, should never have been authorized and should never have been waged. Before Plame, before Abu Ghraib, before the WMD claim turned out to be bullshit. Our enemies were in Afghanistan and in the mountains of Pakistan, yet where were Tweety and his ilk in late 2002/early 2003 when it became clear that Bush was going to wage this war in Iraq come hell or high water?

[camera obscura]

60. I didn't have cable back then, all I knew of Matthews was his column which was anti-war but--

for all I know he was pro-Bush on his show.

Either way, I'm not sure where the idea that Matthews loved Bush up until recently is coming from, as there's obvs. a lot of distance there.

[The Backlash Cometh]

55. Just in case you hadn't noticed, history is linear.

What I'm referring to happened in 2000. He made a major mistake. As far as I'm concerned, he can spend the rest of his life making it up to us. America will be the better for it.

[Barack_America]

14. To his credit, he makes no secret of that.

I've heard him refer to how he himself was "hoodwinked" by Bush & co. on several occasions.

He was wrong, but he seems to be willing to admit it. And yes, that does earn my respect.

[FrenchieCat]

2. Well Obama is President now......

So Matthews can be open about the fact that he likes his new President.
Thank God, all are not like all at Faux and Lou Dobbs! We've had those folks
kissing Bush's balls for way too long. Its OUR TURN! :)

[jenmito]

8. Yeah, but he also tipped his hand before Obama was elected. Remember the thrill up his leg

he got after one of Obama's speeches?

[CoffeeCat]

10. Matthews has been in the tank for Obama...

...for nearly two years.

It's always been very obvious that "Tingle up my leg" Matthews had deep respect and
admiration for Obama.

I have always enjoyed Matthews. Even when he supported Bush--the guy calls em as he sees em. He
doesn't allow politicians to get away with bullshit on his show and he really presses those who
dare to go on, "Hardball."

I haven't always agreed with his political views, but he is an astute interviewer and he has
vast knowledge of politics and history.

I've had a secret crush on him for a long time...I can't help it. :blush:

[ClarkUSA]

50. Your secret is safe with us.

;)

[bunnies]

3. Not surprising at all.

I've always thought tweety had much love for Obama. Good for him for admitting it. :)

[jenmito]

12. So did I. And he has admitted to liking Obama before, too.

I like him.

[ellacott]

17. He got Michelle Barnard to admit the she was supporting Obama

Barnard is a conservative. During the Dem. convention he pressed her and she admitted that changed and that she supports Obama.

[jenmito]

20. I remember something about that. He said he knows she's for McCain and

she denied it and made it pretty clear she supported Obama.

[ellacott]

28. It was kinda cute

She looked like she was confessing to having a crush on a boy in high school.

[bunnies]

18. I like him too.

Now... We hide! :hide: We are definitely in the minority here. :scared:

[jenmito]

22. Yeah...

I always stick up for him when people here bad-mouth him.

[bunnies]

30. same here. again. :)

:hi: I think he's genuine... and its obvious how much he loves politics. Plus... absolutely love the way he doesnt let people squirm out of his questions. I'd really love to see him hosting MTP. I havent been able to stomach it since Brokaw took over. ugh.

[jenmito]

37. Same HERE again!

It's like you're reading my mind! :hi:

[Jennicut]

44. OMG, Tweety would be so much better then Tom Snores Brokaw

I love Tweety's show on Sunday. Interesting guests, good topics.

[Kahuna]

34. Yep. He hardly tried to conceal it. Tweety LUVS Obama..

:loveya:

[Cha]

6. Good for him..fascists have fauxsn00ze..

why shouldn't tweety be able to say what he wants?

[jenmito]

16. Exactly. n/t

[Captain Hilts]

40. It's obvious he wanted Obama and McCain and at least he admits appearances played a role. nt

[jenmito]

42. I don't know if it's obvious he wanted McCain. I thought he wanted Giuliani. n/t

[Window]

46. Thanks Jen, I totally forgot to watch/tape the show.

Good synopsis.


:kick:

[jenmito]

47. YW. He played a clip of it on Hardball tonight. If you missed it, it's on again about

half-way through his show in the "Sideshow" segment.

[Window]

48. Thanks sweetie.

:fistbump:

[jenmito]

51. No problem!

:toast:

[ClarkUSA]

49. I like Matthews alot. Hope he runs for Arlen Spector's seat so I can work for him.

He'd win, hands down.

[jenmito]

52. I hope he does, too...

just so you can work for him. :D

[Beacool]

69. Oh geez, was his leg tingling again?

I can't stand the sexist creep!!!!!!!

:puke: