Chris Matthews is lying about Barack Obama

[babylonsister]

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200907290042

Chris Matthews is lying about Barack Obama

July 29, 2009 5:36 pm ET by Jamison Foser


Chris Matthews just said on Hardball that Barack Obama's initial comments about the Gates arrest was a case of "profiling":

CHRIS MATTHEWS: "He was profiling in a sense. The president. He was looking at it as a classic case, he thought. ... I mean, he was profiling the situation. He was saying 'This is a situation I'm familiar with, therefore I know what happened.' He doesn't know what happened."

Except that isn't what happened. Not at all. What actually happened is that Barack Obama said, very clearly, that he did not know what happened in this situation, or whether race played a role. Here, take a look at Obama's exact words:

BARACK OBAMA: "I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that."

How is Matthews able to get away with such a gross distortion? Easy: When he plays video of Obama's Gates comments, he leaves that part on the cutting-room floor.

That's spectacularly dishonest.

[sandnsea]

1. Arresting anybody in their own home is stupid

Whether it was a white guy or a black guy. Matthews is showing his own racism because he can't understand something so simple. He can't imagine that a black guy could look at a situation and not see race.

[Yes We Did]

23. Not only stupid... illegal. n/t

[JuniperLea]

2. I believe that was Obama's second pass at a comment...

I believe his first, his initial comment was more akin to profiling the situation. He spoke of he himself breaking into his own home, and joked about it.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

3. The first comment he made, he said he did not know what role race played.

or if this was an example or racial profiling.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

4. Chris Matthews has a real problem with race. His comments on Sotomayor leave no doubt about that.

How many times have his panels on race been composed of all white people? Who could forget his tag team screed with Buchanan about how firefighting is an Irish tradition and if a firehouse wants to have only irish firefighters, that is there right like an Italian restaurant only hiring Italians.

I used to be sort of ambivalent about Matthews, but after watching him and Buchanan that show he did on Sotomayor, he can rot.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

22. You got that right - Tweety's a fool.

[lewiston]

25. Nuts!

Matthews has always been more than supportive of the prez.

[Zen Democrat]

5. Obama said the outcome was stupid. The fact that Gates was arrested at home!

That's not profiling. That's common sense.

[doc03]

6. I have to agree with Tweety, I think the President

acted stupidly when he said the Cambridge police acted stupidly before he knew all the facts. I just listened to the lady that reported the incident to the police, I think it is despicable how she has been treated. People calling her a racist and threatening her when it turns out she never even mentioned the race of the man in her 911 report is just disgusting..

[EFerrari]

7. Reasonable people had enough facts to conclude the Cambridge police failed massively.

And Whalen was set up for that kind of pain by the same officer that Obama said acted stupidly, which proves that Obama was right in his estimation even though he didn't have every single last detail -- which no one ever has.

[babylonsister]

8. Obama had nothing to do with how that woman

has been treated. And you agree with Tweety, even though he's lying? Okay.

[doc03]

9. No body said Obama had anything to do with

how that women was treated. It's the mindset I have seen by some people that no matter what if you disagree with this President on (anything) you just have to be a racist. Gates came off as a racist by immediately screaming racism at the police, racism works both ways you know. I also wonder just how Obama thinks since he immediately prejudged the case before knowing what actually happened. The black police officer that witnessed the incident backed up the other officers account of the incident.
Matthews was not lying in my opinion. When the president immediately prejudged the police as acting stupidly with out knowing the facts shows that Obama was in effect profiling the police himself.

[Zodiak]

11. Because the black officer HAS to be on the side of the black guy, right?

I get it, black people are likely to back other black people because they're black, right? If one doesn't, then that MUST be an objective opinion because it is so unusual for a black guy to betray his black brothers, right?

And black people who are treated badly by a white police officer that should have left have NO RIGHT to feel they are treated badly because of their race, because that is racist!!

:sarcasm:

My god, I am so tired of the cop apologists over this issue. Charges dropped...officer lied, and you are still focusing on the "racist" Gates? So is it latent and unacknowledged racism or authoritarianism that makes you this way? I cannot tell which.

[doc03]

13. From what I understand all the Officers present

black, white, brown whatever backed the officers account. I suppose you believe all Police Officers are corrupt and back their fellow Officers no matter what I guess. The Police were just trying to do their job and Gates overreacts and gives them a hard time insinuating they are picking on him because of his race. I highly doubt if he would have just cooperated and kept his mouth shut that anything would have come of it.

[EFerrari]

14. The other officers were Sergeant Crowley's subordinates.

And, btw, he did cooperate and even after that, Crowley called for more officers to the scene.

[doc03]

15. Didn't he threaten the Officers saying

how important he was and they don't know who they are messing with, that doesn't sound that cooperative to me?

[EFerrari]

17. Bluster IF it happened. Geezus. Do you think it was worth

dragging the whole department and the whole city through all of this because Gates was jet lagged and pissed off?

He handed over two good pieces of ID that showed his address. Any reasonable person would have checked out at that point.

[Solomon]

24. bAM. Busted. Classic "black people are the racists" drivel.

Well done.

[scarletwoman]

16. Edited for stupid error.

I was not following the sequence of posts correctly.

[babylonsister]

19. Oops! nt

[scarletwoman]

20. Oops! Sorry! Please accept my embarrassed apology!

I was reading down the thread and didn't look carefully enough at the post number you were responding to.

Hope you won't mind if I edit my other post -- I'll leave an explanation why.

sw

[babylonsister]

21. No worries. nt

[BlueIdaho]

10. Tweety is a light weight

The real problem with the MSM is the lack of veteran news men and women. All we have are these third rate celebutants puffing, positing, and posturing. Chris mistakes his experiences for skill and knowledge and we all end up suffering as a result.

[mgcgulfcoast]

12. i agree

why is this still even a story.

[Cha]

18. What's up with that?! Here's tweety's email.

Chris Matthews [e-mail]

[marshall]

26. Chris Matthews? Lying? Who'd a thunk it?

It's all about ratings, the truth be damned.

[bullwinkle428]

27. Matthews literally just MAKES THINGS UP AS HE GOES ALONG!

It's his whole modus operandi! It really shouldn't be that shocking, until he begins introducing actual facts to his discussions.