To me Chris Matthews is a raging alcoholic who I think has the potential to do something awful to himself on live TV. Matthews (and in fairness others too) represents every thing that is wrong with cable news these days. At times it reminds me of the old “interviews” that Vince McMahon used to do with “wrestlers” on the WWF shows.
by David Bauder
NEW YORK (AP) — To his boss, Chris Matthews has become a statesman. His critics probably have other words.
The veteran MSNBC host raised his profile as much as any member of the television commentariat during the presidential campaign. His 5 p.m. “Hardball” show has seen viewership jump by 24 percent this year from 2011, 17 percent for the rerun two hours later.
Matthews symbolized MSNBC’s growing comfort in being a liberal alternative to Fox News Channel. He engaged in an uncomfortable on-air confrontation with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, seemed nearly apoplectic when President Barack Obama flubbed his first debate and had to apologize for appearing grateful that Hurricane Sandy might have helped Obama’s re-election effort.
With Keith Olbermann out of sight, Matthews essentially replaced him as the commentator that most annoyed conservative viewers.
“During the run-up to the Iraq War, he just became really, really partisan and became even more so when MSNBC decided to become the anti-Fox,” said Geoff Dickens, who used to watch Matthews as a fan and now monitors him regularly as part of his job with the conservative Media Research Center.
Matthews is not afraid to say what he thinks. He’s a former newspaper columnist and one-time aide to a 1980s era Democrat, House Speaker Tip O’Neill. He seriously considered running for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania a few years back, where he probably would have been asked repeatedly to explain why he voted for George W. Bush in 2000.
[.......]
“He’s as good as he’s ever been,” said Phil Griffin, MSNBC president. “He’s at a place in his life where he’s really comfortable in his own skin. He’s a statesman. He has so much knowledge and I think he understands it better. He’s always been great, but I really think he’s been at the peak of his game.”
Iraq turned Matthews against Bush. He said war and peace, and civil rights, are the issues that drive him most and explain his enthusiasm for Obama.
Matthews seemed personally offended by efforts in individual states to tighten voter registration and identification laws. Republicans called it an attempt to curb voter fraud; Matthews said it was to suppress voters friendly to Obama. He said Republicans would use welfare and other issues to subtly appeal to white voters still uncomfortable with a black president.
[......]
His repeated attention to the issue “irritates some people, because they can’t stand being called bigoted. It drives them crazy. And I agree, it would drive me crazy.”
The issue drove his confrontation with Prebius, which occurred on “Morning Joe” during the GOP convention. Matthews challenged Prebius about playing the “race card” during the campaign and for references to Obama’s birth certificate. It devolved into a schoolyard insult match.
[......]
Prebius later called Matthews “the biggest jerk in the room.” Matthews doesn’t seem to have any regrets.
“I’d been talking like that for awhile,” he said. “He didn’t like it. I didn’t expect he would. I felt that I had in my presence the guy who represented the party and it was an opportunity I shouldn’t let pass. It’s one of those moments in the campaign that’s going to have endurance.”
The one quote Republican critics repeatedly throw back at Matthews is when he reacted to an Obama speech in 2008 by saying “I felt this thrill going up my leg.”
Matthews points out that he said something similar in 2004, after Obama addressed the Democratic national convention. Its frequent citation annoys Matthews, who knows it will never leave him, but probably also because he thinks people miss the point. He was speaking more about what Obama represented — a black man seeking the highest office in a land with a troubled racial history — than Obama himself.
It hasn’t exempted himself from some high-level teasing, like when Obama appeared at the campaign’s Al Smith dinner after the president’s disastrous first debate.
“I particularly want to apologize to Chris Matthews,” Obama said. “Four years ago I gave him a thrill up his leg. This time around, I gave him a stroke.”
Matthews said “Hardball” has gotten a sharper focus. The editorial opinion has moved to the front of the show. Saying what he thinks isn’t hard; Matthews’ flirtation with running for the Senate ended in part because the need to adhere to party orthodoxy wouldn’t mix with a man comfortable with voicing a dozen opinions per minute.
[.......]
Like most in his trade, Matthews seems a little lost with the end of a long campaign. He’s done a few speculative 2016 stories, not recognizing the subject is enough to send most people screaming from the room.
Every day is one day closer to another election, though.
“He is sort of the model figure for who we are,” Griffin said. “He doesn’t stick out loving politics and being passionate about politics. It comes across in everything we do … And that’s Chris.”
Read the rest – Matthews raises profile during campaign
Tags: Chris Matthews, David Bauder, MSNBC
since we were beating on peirs ‘i know warriors’ morgan, i suppose its time to beat on msnbc
@ coldwarrior:
Matthews is clearly suffering from some form of alcohol induced dementia. The NBC top turds are simply nuts.
And to think I used to watch the WWF on a regular basis back in the day….
huckfunn wrote:
he does show some neurological signs of chronic alcohol abuse.
Chris Wallace has Lindsey Graham and Diane Feinstein on to talk about the “fiscal cliff.”
My wife asked me why I was laughing.
I didn’t have an answer, other than I can’t think of two folks I’d rather hear less from the hill, except MAYBE Lisa Murkowski and Chuck Schumer.
Bumr50 wrote:
congressman hank johnson knows about geology like cliffs and islands.
@ Bumr50:
Since the Senate has absolutely no plans to do anything about it, why talk to either of them?
What’s the over/under on how long it takes DiFi (with Chrissy’s fawning approval) to switch the topic to gun control?
coldwarrior wrote:
Comedy gold hall of fame on so many levels.
@ Mike C.:
Well, that was pretty funny.
I wonder if Ms. Lindsey’s AR-15 is pink?
huckfunn wrote:
you cant write a funnier script. that admiral gets an oscar for keeping himself under control
coldwarrior wrote:
Correct me if my memory is faulty -- but I think you and I talked about this awhile back. I said I doubted there was alcohol abuse because he’s diabetic and you said -- oh, no, it’s doable if you know how to manage your sugar
????
(and what are these signs of chronic abuse you refer to?)
@ coldwarrior:
He was probably so stunned he couldn’t even laugh. Liberals often say stuff that is so astoundingly stupid that it literally takes your breath away.
There are only two things that might save Matthews from being
the muggiest person on MSNBC, Ed Schultze and Lawrence
O’Donnell.
S hultze is a buffoon, but O’Donnell is vileness.
Howard Kurtz on Reliable Sources starts the broadcast w/David Gregory and the 30 bullet mag
eaglesoars wrote:
cognition, dementia, erratic eye movement, prosody perception problems, vascular issues in the face
coldwarrior wrote:
I had to look up the prosody perception issue and I’ve noticed the erratic eye movement. As for the facial vascular -- never noticed that but it might be genetic -- all the males on my father’s side had it going back 2 generations, I inherited it and so did my neice. Nothing to do w/alcohol. Starts in adolescence.
The other thing so noticable about Matthews -- he cannot be STILL. Ants in his pants.
ole pinhead joe is running the effort?
LOL!!!!!!
fail.
(this is a head-fake/shiny object to cover the econ wreck)
@ eaglesoars:
neuro deficit.
bbl.
eaglesoars wrote:
He’s got that tingling feeling!
Matthews “a statesman?” Griffin must have been mistaken when he overheard some of the MSNBC staffers say of Matthews, “Man, is he in a state…”
Think of the progress! Television goes from Amos ‘n’ Andy to MS ‘n’ BC in a mere fifty years…
Life really is better once you kill your TV. Try it! Why support these worthless turds by watching their “news” and paying for cable? Go Galt, at least in this regard.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
OMG, does THAT bring back memories! I wonder if there are any old clips around?
Off to youtube
eaglesoars wrote:
To my amazement -- quite a few!
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
I think he meant Matthews is a Statist, or a satanist or some such.
@ eaglesoars:
Chris is a recovering alcoholic. He’s been sober for the last 20 years though. No matter what anyone thinks of him politically, let’s leave his personal life alone.
@ theoutsider:
Is that what you said about Rush Limbaugh and his opiate addiction?
MSNBC, somehow me thinks that Phil Griffin’s avocation in life is to be a 1940s Barnum & Bailey side show barker.
theoutsider wrote:
And your evidence of this is…what? Have you been drinking his urine and failed to get drunk?
@ buzzsawmonkey:
Maybe you are drinking his urine. I’m just going by biography.
@ theoutsider:He kind of threw those boundaries away when his leg got all tingly. I’ll all for treating him as he treats other people. A little crazy. A little rude. I don’t think there are any msnbc people who don’t leverage personal foibles.
theoutsider wrote:
I did not know that. I remember several years ago when he was diagnosed as diabetic so when people started speculating about alcohol abuse I was skeptical -- but medical people here said they’d seen it before. So…
The same is true of Bob Beckel. He had booze AND drug problems and managed to get clean -- and become a Christian.
eaglesoars wrote:
beckel is no christian.
coldwarrior wrote:
now, now.
No one said he isn’t a sinner………………