New Blog: Boycott Chris Matthews.

[_dynamicdems]

What's this all about?

Chris Matthews has repeatedly compared Americans who are concerned about the war in Iraq to Osama bin Liden. We are asking companies to refrain from advertising on Matthews' MSNBC TV show "Hardball" until he publicly apologizes and promises to stop his right-wing bias. READ MORE

http://www.openlettertochrismatthews.blogspot.com/

He's not a popular guy lately. Poor Tweetie. Serves him right, the arrogant hypocrite.

[jillan]

1. Good!

I'm so glad about this.

Matthews loves the fact that * is going down, and then he
makes comments like he did.

He loved bashing Hillary for her plantation comments.

Who is this guy? And does he just change his mind with 'whichever way the wind blows'? grrr.

[_dynamicdems]

2. Tweety is feeling a bit to big for his britches, that's for sure. I'm not

sure where he is politically anymore. He's not a Dem or a Republicans. Maybe he thinks he's beyond both parties now and a power unto himself. Maybe he feels he should be POTUS.

What at horrible thought! His ego is as big as Bsh's.

[karynnj]

3. In the old days of network anchors,

I often, especially in things like the Presidential debates, thought that the anchor moderating had more gravitas than the two candidates. In 2004, that was not true - both because the moderators were less distinguished (by design) and Kerry was Kerry.

In Matthews case, he does seem to have delusions of grandeur. He doesn't seem to realize that his dizzy switches from side to side mean that he can't be a leader to anyone. What's sad is that he was one of very few TV people who in the fall of 2002 and early 2003 was adamently against the war. Supporting any Democrat should have been a no brainer, but somehow he went on to bizarre Bush hero worship every other day.

I don't know if it makes sense to boycott Matthews though. Other than the wonderful Oberman, he is actually better than the others. His interview with Kerry last November was great. Beyond being respectful, he seemed to (visually anyway) get the points Kerry was making. Contrast that to what Scarborough or any of the Fox people (Colmes is an exception) would do.

[_dynamicdems]

4. Matthews is very concerned about his own image and

because of this he doesn't turn a deaf ear to criticism. If I were to seriously boycott MNSBC (by going after their sponsors), it would be over Joe Scarborough, not Tweetie. But I do think the existence of the boycott will be a wakeup call the Matthews because he does care what people think of him. He has already backed down to some degree by saying his statements were misinterpreted.

While he did do a decent interview with Senator Kerry, much of the interview was controlled by Senator Kerry. Chris Matthews was not on his home turf and this made a difference. I agree that he's not the worst out there, but he needs to be reminded that he's not God every once in a while and I'm glad to see that someone has taken the initiative in doing this.

[karynnj]

5. Interesting comments

Because he does care, a boycott could well be a wake up call, which it couldn't for Scarborough, who is there to do exactly what he does. I think Kerry's remarks - directed at Matthews comments, but not mentioning Matthews were done as a wake up call as well. The fact that he attacked the Republican tactic and the way the media plays with it directly and pointed out the obvious counter that the Republicans didn't capture Bin Laden made it issue oriented rather than name calling. I don't know the timing of Kerry's comments, but he clearly chose to blast the Moore comment on Matthews over the Scarbourogh comments that targeted mainstream Democrats.

You are right about the Kerry interview - it was a brilliant move on Kerry's part to make them come to his office. It stressed Kerry's stature and put their positions in perspective. In Blitzer's case, the effect seemed to carry over even to the later Israel and Iraq interview. (Blitzer will likely always adore Cheney, but he did show Kerry a respect that he gave almost no other Democrat. I can't remember seeing a Bill Clinton interview by Blitzer, but I would assume he would get a greater degree of deference.)

[_dynamicdems]

6. Matthews needs to take himself out of the equation and get a little

humility. It is not about him. Success has given him a measure of power and you know what they say about power. Some men can handle it (John Kerry, for example) and some simply cannot. Scarborough has an evil side to him that I don't think Matthews does, which is why I try to cut Tweety a little slack. Underneath the snarkiness, he does seem to have a heart. However, he needs taking down a peg when he gets too big for his britches. His job is to discuss the news not to make it.

You bring up an excellent point about JK's remarks: he used his criticism of Matthews comments to equate Republican tactics with the media slant, which was brilliant when you think about it. He could have gone after Scarborough (whose comments were more viciously directed at the Senator and his Democratic colleagues), but that would have seemed like sour grapes. And yes, Blitzer has seemed a bit more respectful toward John Kerry in recent interviews. Let's hope it lasts. IMO, Blitzer has a personality disorder that flares up on occasion. (I wonder if he takes medication.) He's not far removed from Geraldo if you ask me.

Thinking about these pundits and journalists, it makes me wonder how it must feel to be able to go on the air in front of millions of viewers and critique a national figure. The pundits are only human, after all, and I'm sure the structure of the news today gives them more free reign than the anchormen (you referred to in your previous post) had in the good old days. It's not about respect anymore: it's about celebrity. That has to go to a person's head, no matter how professional they try to be. We are living in a celebrity-oriented culture. (Jerry Springer became a media icon because he showed and exploited the underside of our society.) Maybe life is just too fast and too confusing for people for people to respond to serious journalism the way they used to. We have so much thrown at us from all directions and people have become addicted to it like junk food. People want flash, they want nasty, they want something that hits them over the head. God, I hope there is serious backlash to all of this.