Chris Matthews Suggests 'Ethnic' Animus by Conservatives Fuels Criticism of Cost of Obama India Trip
Worked into a tizzy over conservative radio talk show hosts and a Republican congresswoman complaining about the reported cost of President Obama's state visit to India, MSNBC's Chris Matthews today suggested racial animus -- against President Obama and the country of India -- played a role in the criticism. Yet at the same time Matthews put down Indian journalists by suggesting their reporting is inherently unreliable.
The Hardball host blasted Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Michele Bachmann for citing an Indian news agency's reporting on the cost of his state visit to India. A White House official says those reported cost figures are "wildly inflated."
"First of all, I consider this whole thing disgustingly ad hominem. It's an attack on our president, and sometimes I do think there's an ethnic aspect," Matthews groused, bringing the specter of racism into his complaint.
"I've never heard of a president being attacked on the cost of his trips," the political veteran incredulously insisted. "Like he's not worthy to travel, because of what?" Matthews asked, adding that India is "one of the most important countries in the world" for the U.S. to engage diplomatically and economically.
"You do kind of get the feeling that it's all aimed at 'this particular president doesn't deserve the dignity that others did'," Salon's Joan Walsh insisted a few moments later, imagining the rationale of conservative critics.
"Yeah, I also think they're putting down India too. Like, they don't like this Third World, it's not a white country," Matthews added. "Absolutely, Chris," Ari Rabin Havt of Media Matters agreed.
Of course in the same segment, Matthews was content to put down Indian journalism:
CHRIS MATTHEWS after a clip of Limbaugh: Well, that's not journalism. I don't know what you'd call it. But that's just mouthing a line that was given to them by an Indian newspaper that had absolutely no source of proper information.
[...]
MATTHEWS: Rush Limbaugh, I mean, is this rip and read from the Indian press? Is this the new standard now? Anything that you get from some stringer operation. It wasn't even an American newspaper stringer over there. It was some newspaper. They just like the fact that it was dirt.
[...]
MATTHEWS: I mean, are we just going to run anything that comes off the press over there? Is this news now? You don't have to check facts anymore, you just run anything you want as long as it's disparaging of our president. And he is our president.
- Ken Shepherd's blog
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Comments
Chocolate
Submitted by Jerry Mack on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 7:42pm.
Tingles can find racism in a chocolate chip cookie because the chips are not as big as the rest of the cookie.
Ken I just saw that too, and
Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 7:55pm.
Ken I just saw that too, and was hoping to bring it up here.
Ethnic??? Chrissie is really getting ridiculous! And of course, Joan Walsh chimes right in....it's "personal"....like he doesn't "deserve" it.
BTW what does everyone else think about the way Matthews looks? I commented yesterday that he looked like he wasn't getting enough sleep, but honestly, looking at him tonight, he looks positively exhausted!! Like he doesn't even have the energy to get through his show.
He looks like he's just tired of the whole thing! He really ought to take some time off. And I'm not saying that in a nasty way. He really looks bad.
Image a rat in a trap
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 10:05pm.
desperately trying to get out. Tuesday neutered his god and he can't seem to get a handle on it.
Which party has 2 governors of Indian descent?
Submitted by JeffC... on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 7:58pm.
HINT: the party that didn't form the KKK.Southern Republicans, I might add. You know, the ones that EVERYBODY knows are racists.
Great point Jeff
Submitted by Diesel on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 11:52am.
These liberals are completely unhinged. It's not even funny watching these freaks anymore. It's to the point where they need serious mental health treatment.
MATTHEWS: Rush Limbaugh, I
Submitted by MidAmerica on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 8:07pm.
MATTHEWS: Rush Limbaugh, I mean, is this rip and read from the Indian press? Is this the new standard now? Anything that you get from some stringer operation. It wasn't even an American newspaper stringer over there. Is Mathews suggesting that American newspapers are automatically trustworthy because they are American?BALONEY OF THE DAY 11.5
Submitted by reelman46 on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 8:46pm.
This effort to avoid telling the taxpayers the approximate or actual cost of any overseas trip by the President is the “Baloney of the Day”. “We the taxpayers” again get stiffed, again get stonewalled when WE pay the bills. It matters not which Party. Even Bill O. on FNC tonite forgot, its OUR MONEY! Appears as just another form of arrogance by OUR PUBLIC SERVANTS that has to stop. http://theconservativecrawfish.wordpress.com/Doug Schexnayder, Ph.D. (theconservativecrawfish<
The cost is what it costs.
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 9:58pm.
The cost is what it costs. As long as proper protocol concerning such trips are taken Im ok with it. As such trips dont release how how much they cost we will never know teh true cost.
Ken, I am so glad NB finally
Submitted by kathy5319 on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 10:34pm.
Ken, I am so glad NB finally covered this ridiculous story... but I was surprised that Chris Matthews was the focus... not Rush? Hannity? Michelle Bachmann? Glenn Beck? not the anonymous Indian source that knows American budget details, classified travel details and cites absurd costs?
I am tempted to display here the racist comments I've read in another right-wing universe related to this very story for your edification.
I know that race does play a big factor in why Obama is so hated by some on the right. But instead of even covering the real story... that Obama is so plaqued with ill-will by the Right that any old ridiculous stuff is just thrown to see if it will stick, you go with this.
Prior to your excellent piece here, I wish-commented for just such an expose here at NB. Thank you.
Apparently you know nothing.
Submitted by sentry_99 on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 10:42pm.
"I know that race does play a big factor in why Obama is so hated by some on the right....Obama is so plagued by illwill by the Right that any old ridiculous stuff just thrown to see if it will stick...blah blah"
What's that about throwing out any old ridiculous stuff??? People disapprove of Obama based on race?? What???
I eagerly await your list of
Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 10:51pm.
I eagerly await your list of "some" on the right who "hate" Obama because of his race.
I'll stipulate to your point that some like Rush and hannity were only too happy to run with what they saw as a damaging-to-the-president story, and didn't do their fact-checking. They were wrong.
But Chris Matthews isn't content to just say that right-wingers were being totally unfair to the president by running with this piece. He has to attribute it to racism. Just like on other occasions he has attributed disagreement with Obama to "tribalism."
It's a shoddy practice, and whether or not tothers should be castigated, I believe Chris Matthews' obsession with "racism" is a valid point to make.
who's a racist when it comes to BHO?
Submitted by porpoiseboy on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 11:00pm.
i mean he's white......right? i mean genetically he is 50% white....he was raised by a white mother and two white grandparents in a state that is mostly pacific islander and asian. what's there to be racist about? somehow the he and the libs decided he's black so they could call the right racist. total nonsense.
Ecclesiastes 10:2 The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left
The best social program is a JOB...ronald reagan
Racism against Indians
Submitted by Blonde on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 11:00pm.
Tell me again about who made the crack about 7-11 workers?
Oh yeah, that would be BiteMe.
LOL, I had a friend in grad school who was from Bombay. His name was Rajeev. He'd done his undergrad at Oxford. Even then, he thought American's obsession with race was retarded. In fact, during the Iran Hostage Crisis....he had a t-shirt printed up that said "don't look at me that way, I'm NOT Iranian".
Rajeev would have found this spew by Chrissy to be hilarious.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
Rajeev didn't worrry about
Submitted by Ciampino on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 1:16am.
Rajeev didn't worrry about race but I bet he sure worried about castes. The ones on the bottom, the Untouchables, get shunned by everyone else. The ones at the top, the Brahmins want their own personal toilets that are not to be used by anyone else. The irony is that those toilets would probably be cleaned by the Untouchables.
Yes, he explained that
Submitted by Blonde on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 11:13am.
I'm worried about little Barry in India. Barry, of course, thinks he's the smartest man in the room.
He's going to be in for a big shock. My friend Rajeev had a brain like a steel trap. Just because the country of India has a huge population that is mostly very poor, people tend to think they're stupid because of the poverty. Some of the smartest and shrewdest (and oddly, because the two don't usually mix) nicest people I"ve ever met have been Indians.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
The caste system is
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 7:04pm.
The caste system is officially abolished by law in India. it is fading and will be a remnant in a couple more generations. Your comment is a bit dated. My information comes from my longtime Indian coworkers. I wonder if you still believe ther are arranged marriages rampant in India?
( moved to reply to post ) --
Submitted by kathy5319 on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 1:59pm.
( moved to reply to post ) -- kathy
Motherbelt, I thank you for
Submitted by kathy5319 on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 2:00pm.
Motherbelt,
I thank you for stating that Rush, Hannity were wrong.
Actually I agree with you that Matthews probably should not have come up with "racism" as the motivation for the mud-piece. I think he is truly perplexed as to why Obama is so over-the-top hated.
But in the other thread we posted in, someone responded to my comments about fact-checking that someday maybe I will be powerful enough to... "murder people". I believe vitriol exists and has nothing to do with race and exists among all party lines, and is sometimes exploited politically.
I can only conclude that some appeal to vitriol is what drove Rush and Hannity to propogate this story and encourage this mind set in viewers and listeners.
You wrote: "I believe Chris Matthews' obsession with "racism" is a valid point to make."
-- I agree that it is a valid point. I also think it is a valid question to have, But I personally think he would have been better off pondering it and not stating it aloud.
I don't eagerly desire to post the racist comments I spoke of -- or prove that racism does exist. These are mainly individual anonymous web posters exercising their free speech against blacks, liberals and Muslims at a site hosted by a Tea Party organizer. Ironically, Chris Matthews has asked this same Tea Party about racism, also... which was adamently denied.
Sure
Submitted by Maestroh on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 5:06pm.
Because we ALL KNOW the right has a monopoly on racism, right? If Obama weren't black-skinned, the people who don't like him would ride him even harder than they do. Besides - wasn't it a liberal who told Juan Williams to "go back to the porch?"
A Matter of Convenience
Submitted by IrateNate on Sun, 11/07/2010 - 10:06am.
"I know that race does play a big factor in why Obama is so hated by some on the right."
It would do you a world of good to find a dictionary and learn the difference between "know" and "assume". How convenient to blame all of Obama's failures on the fact that he is not white. I assume (for I don't "know") that his race was exactly the reason for his meteoric rise through the ranks of the DNC.
I'm happy that you support President Obama. However, some do not. My opposition stems from his leftist policies of social justice and his arrogant dismissal of any dissension against his ideological transformation of America.
Feel free to assume whatever you wish about my views on race. But first, admit the truth - you only guess/hope/pray that it's all about race, and not face your fear that Obama actually is the huge disappointment most everyone else sees him as. Admitting there is a problem is the first step toward recovery.
Nate, Please use that
Submitted by kathy5319 on Sun, 11/07/2010 - 1:38pm.
Nate,
Please use that dictionary and don't put words in my mouth.
I do not nor did not assume or claim to know YOUR views about race. I said that "I know race played a FACTOR for SOME". And yes, I believe that I know this. In much the same way, I know that race plays a factor for SOME that support Obama.
Your response made numerous assumptions and claims:
"How convenient to BLAME ALL of Obama's FAILURES on the fact that he is not white"
... when did I do this? Furthermore, the question WAS what is the motivation for mud and rumors about Obama that some people are so willing to believe, NOT his "failures"
... "and not face your fear that Obama actually is the huge disappointment most everyone else sees him as"
"Most"? "Everyone"? you know my fears?
Nate...
I stated in response follow-up to Motherbelt that although I think it is a valid question Chris Matthews had, the counter point is a valid criticism on the right.
Honestly, I think today's biggest schisms are about bigger things than skin color. My personal opinion is the lack of respect for others' opinions, among Americans (such as here) is hurting the process of trying to fix problems.
So, kathy5319, I am supposed to respect---
Submitted by matthewdean on Sun, 11/07/2010 - 7:54pm.
someone whose opinion is that Obama is indeed the Messiah?
That he is the most intelligent person ever to hold the office?
That he is the post-racial president?
Do you ever delve into the reasoning behind the vitriol shown by MSNBC "hosts"?
They are partisan to the point of being rabid, and they represent, to me, all that is bad in political discourse.
If you choose to respect their, or any, liberal or Democrats opinion, fine.
Do not, however, waste your time projecting in my direction (as I am one of the Americans here that you point at) that I am the cause of hurting the process of trying to fix problems.
Regardless of your opinion, it is my considered opinion that respecting the opinion of a fool is a fools errand.
MD
Race injector
Submitted by Jerry Mack on Sun, 11/07/2010 - 1:51pm.
. but I was surprised that Chris Matthews was the focusTingles was the one that injected race into the discussion.
Apparently Chrissy hasn't learned his lesson
Submitted by ckc1227 on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 12:43am.
We can only hope he and the rest of the Dems cry racism even more over the next two years.
The 200 million a day
Submitted by goldwaterfan on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 4:21am.
The 200 million a day, 34 ships, 40 planes, etc. etc. was such a stupid story. It's dumb. It's not ethnic. Beck, Limbaugh and Hannity have been pushing this BS all week. They must think their listeners are idiots. I'm glad Chris Wallace and Bill O'Reilly finally came out and put a stop to all of this nonsense.
Amanda Carrington
Well mr smarty pants how much
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 5:17am.
Well mr smarty pants how much is it? Ya dont know because they wont release any records ... so if ya have no records they is no paper trail and the WH can lie their pants off. Obama and his WH and the Demoncrats are consumate liars. The nonsense is you believe the WH crap.
BTW link where these people have been enumerating this stuff and spouting off numbers. If you gonna play you gotta link or slink.
Obama's Flying Circus
Submitted by IrateNate on Sun, 11/07/2010 - 10:35am.
Regardless of source, the $200 million figure may or may not be accurate - we'll never know. It is possible that, as the figure originally came from an Indian news source, there may have been some confusion between dollars and rupees.
My guess is that, since the hotel reservation was for 3000, perhaps the hotel staff had already added in a sizeable gratuity. That would be a smart move, considering the falling dollar, our huge debt, and the fact that anyone who has waited tables understands that blacks are notoriously bad tippers.
I'm still wondering why we need Obama's Flying Circus for this task, instead of sending our Secretary of State for this Dog and Pony show. Doesn't Obama have anything important to do here?
IrateNate
Submitted by 26CX on Sun, 11/07/2010 - 10:48am.
You might be on to something with the conversion idea: as of this morning, 200M Rupees equals about $4.6M US. That's certainly a lot more in line with what the actual costs are.
Still too expensive, but what can you do? It's the Messiah we're talking about.
But Dan, didn't you think,
Submitted by motherbelt on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 6:47am.
But Dan, didn't you think, when you heard it, that $200 million A DAY sounded ridiculous?
I'm surprised neither Limbaugh nor Hannity scratched their heads at that figure and did a little research.
The "we don't know because they won't release the records" is a tactic that liberals use when they lack proof, and should be shunned.
Boondoggles
Submitted by BuffNBone on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 7:25am.
Consider the possibility the number could be even higher than the 200 Million and that may be why the information is withheld. Seems like the libs pick a target number they think will fly and then do what they can to come near or under the number. Take the stimulus or healthcare bills. When trillion sounds wee bit high they jimmy the numbers or shunt them off to different programs to make it seem like things are fine. After the fact reporting and analysis reveals how much and how often the initial figures were off or just a bald-faced lie.
One other factor is to consider the opportunity costs of the commercial air and shipping. They could be off making money for private business instead of billing the government.
A little sunshine please.
Actually when I heard a 737
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 7:10pm.
Actually when I heard a 737 billion dollar bailout for some banks who made bad loans incredulous. Sometimes incredulous figures are correct but that doesnt make them right. And yes the WH is not putting out any figures, its like the sealed records with Obama.
My point is that the figures are not known and the only ones who know are not saying, or have they and leaked it to some in the media?
Yess 200 million a day seems a bit much, but how much is it?
Not again!
Submitted by ZuccoZoid on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 7:13am.
So now what? We're a bunch of bitter racist rubes because the Imam is taking yet another luxury trip?
You're not in Kansas anymore, TOTUS.
Yep, those republicans are
Submitted by eaglewingz08 on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 8:39am.
Yep, those republicans are racist for claiming welfare queens drove cadillacs to pick up their checks, and that Obama is spending 200 mil a day for nine day trip abroad. How dare they.
Mr. Matthews was clearly
Submitted by liberalsarefunny on Sat, 11/06/2010 - 12:38pm.
Mr. Matthews was clearly drunk when he said this...
There is nothing else about it.....
Submitted by Patriot II on Sun, 11/07/2010 - 9:31am.
Matthews is mentally deficient...."BIGTIME'.......maybe this simple bastard would like to dip into his bankroll and pay for a big part of this wasted and useless trip? In fact, the trip being wasted and useless....they could call it the matthews trip.......LOL
Who's racist?
Submitted by bkeyser on Sun, 11/07/2010 - 8:20pm.
Why is it that when Whites vote 55% McCain to 43% Obama and Blacks vote 4% McCain to 95% Obama, it's only Whites that are racist?