Chris Matthews Angrily Denies Having Ghostwriter's Help with New JFK Book

By Ken Shepherd | November 02, 2011 | 16:03

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"F*** you!" is how MSNBC's Chris Matthews reportedly objected to the notion that he used the services of a ghostwriter for his new book, "Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero."

In a November 2 blog post, Forbes.com's Jeff Bercovici detailed the Hardball host's testy reaction to the suggestion that just as Matthews's boyhood hero heavily relied on Ted Sorensen, Matthews had a professional scribe assist him on his latest project (emphasis mine):

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Matthews’ genial, boyish face darkens. “Forget you,” he says.

(Only he doesn’t say “forget you.” Both Matthews and my editor asked me not to print what he actually said, so I rely here on my readers’ familiarity with both the original and radio versions of a certain Cee-Lo Green song.)

“Forget you,” he repeats. “Where’d you get that? Is that what you think? You think I don’t write my books?”

I try to explain that I hadn’t meant the question to be insulting. After all, plenty of people in Matthews’ orbit of politicians and media talking heads use ghostwriters, or at least lean on interns to do most of their research.

Not Matthews. “I would never let anybody write something for me,” he says. “Why do you think I’m like that? It’s amazing to me that you think I’m some lightweight, glib bullshit artist that has somebody do his work for him. The writing is the hard part, the composition.”

What made my question so hurtful, he says, is the enormous amount of labor he’d put in. Here’s what he says is the sum total of help he received with his research: An intern made a trip to retrieve some materials he’d requested, and his son Michael helped him organize his notes into piles in accordance with his outline. Everything else was his own legwork, and Matthews says it was indispensable.

In the same interview, Matthews insisted he's happy at MSNBC, which he insists is "more evenly balanced" post-Olbermann -- even though the network's entire prime time lineup is left-of-center -- and that he's "got a conservative gut, but if you go through the list of all the issues, I’m a liberal. It doesn’t make any sense."

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Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters. Click here to follow Ken Shepherd on Twitter.

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" lightweight, glib bullshit artist"

Submitted by Newsbubba on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 4:08pm.

Way to go, Prissy! At least you know what and who you are!

You go, girl.

Comrade Bubba

His admission is just the first part of the journey...

Submitted by drsamherman on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 4:24pm.

...towards recovery...or at least that is what all of the self-help books that patients throw away say.

Neither light of weight nor glib...,

Submitted by CarlosS on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 4:45pm.

definitely a bullsh*t artist, though

Prissy probably really said.............

Submitted by OldJarhead77 on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 8:17pm.

F&%# me but then realized barry obama wasn't in the room......

Liberals: No Morals, No Standards, NO Problem!

Wow, dude hit a nerve! To put

Submitted by inquiringmind on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 4:13pm.

Wow, dude hit a nerve! To put it in plain English, I think you are protesting a little too much there Chrissy boy.

Rather touchy response for

Submitted by Bhaal on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 4:18pm.

Rather touchy response for someone who is the host of show titled "Hardball".

"For evil to triumph it is enough only that good men do nothing".

F*** You?

Submitted by Cool Arrow on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 4:21pm.

How pluperfectly prosaic of prolific author, Chris Matthews.

But if JFK's heroism is so elusive, what was it that drew Matthews to it?

Let's see,

Submitted by SickofLibs on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 4:30pm.

Tingles accused Palin of not having written a word of her books about 500 times.

How's it feel, pal?

The worm has turned for Matthews

Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 4:44pm.

MATTHEWS: ". . . It’s amazing to me that you think I’m some lightweight, glib bullshit artist that has somebody do his work for him."

Isn't this the same Chris Matthews who hypothesized an explanation that Cain could use in the recent harassment furball? Why would Matthews think that Cain was probably intoxicated at the time of the alleged incident?

Beyond the fact that Matthews is indeed "some lightweight, glib bullshit artist," Matthews thinks ill of most any famous conservative, and he doesn't stop there. He'll demean their spouses and their children.

Well, now we know what gets his goat. He should receive Emails and tweets everyday asking if his book used a ghostwriter. It'll drive him nuts until he concludes one of his programs with a denial

Matthews, a real lightweight,

Submitted by cristo on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 4:47pm.

Matthews, a real lightweight, is consumed by guilt for having dodged the draft during the Vietnam War.

Matthews

Submitted by Curly on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 4:48pm.

Of course he used a ghost writer - he isn't smart enough to write a book by himself! Mucking foron!

Curly

Usually

Submitted by grammajane on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 4:56pm.

people who get that defensive over a remark are guilty of what was said. Saw a couple of Tingles past "authored" books in a local Dollar Store right next to Harry Reid"s

→ Another epochal liberal tome

Submitted by Cool Arrow on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 5:11pm.

Know Your Power - A message to America's Daughters - Nancy Pelosi

Jane--liberal books are not completely useless.

Submitted by drsamherman on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 8:28pm.

They make wonderful doorstops or chewy toys for Labradors.

Doc Sam,

Submitted by Dave. on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 9:40pm.

LOL - They work great in charcoal chimneys, too, and that is something I am not a little familiar with.

-Dave

Vote for the American in November

Another good barbecue hint! Thanks, Dave!

Submitted by drsamherman on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 6:13pm.

If someone asks if I read liberal books, I can honestly reply that I burn right through them.

Usually

Submitted by grammajane on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 4:57pm.

people who get that defensive over a remark are guilty of what was said. Saw a couple of Tingles past "authored" books in a local Dollar Store right next to Harry Reid"s

Matthews

Submitted by jefdov on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 5:45pm.

What would you expect from this guy? He's unstable mental garbage and he proves it daily with his words.

With his unbalanced state, it

Submitted by buddyc on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 6:00pm.

With his unbalanced state, it has to be booze or drugs.

Way to stay classy chrissy!

Submitted by Dukehoopsfan on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 5:47pm.

Nice response from the king of rudeness, obfuscation, and bias.

One thing he is right about

Submitted by KornKing on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 5:51pm.

The part where he says "it doesn't make any sense"

chrissy

Submitted by D'saredumbpeople on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 6:43pm.

are you mad enough to sit down and piss yet. and take your truck and go home.

I was quite surprised

Submitted by Bobbygn on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 6:44pm.

I was surprised that he is an author. I thought he was just an idiot that says stupid things. Didnt know he wrote them too. Unless of course some other pinko wrote them as is suggested.

ghost buster

Submitted by sngnsgt on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 7:48pm.

OK, OK You caught me. I'm the ghost writer. There. You happy now?

Berlin 1961

Submitted by Unsane on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 7:57pm.

Hey Chrissy, check out Berlin 1961, where your first love is basically slammed all over the place by Frederick Kempe.

In the meantime...you can dish it out but you can't take it? Go figure.

"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)

Unsane...I'm about half way

Submitted by celator on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 8:05pm.

Unsane...I'm about half way through "Berlin 1961", and you are spot on about Kennedy. Khrushchev played Kennedy like a fiddle (as you know), particularly after Vienna--actually during Vienna-- after he quickly realized Kennedy was a completely empty suit. I was in Berlin 60-63, so the book is very interesting for me. The author's account of Kennedy's behavior and actions through the Cuban Missile Crisis confirms the shallowness of his world view, and how completely unprepared he was to be POTUS.

"This is not your mother's Democratic Party"--Andrew Breitbart, CPAC, February 2012

celator

Submitted by Radical1979 on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 8:09pm.

Sounds like you could be talking about Obama with that description.

Proud member of the 53%!

Indeed!

Submitted by Unsane on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 8:54pm.

Indeed, Rad, if you read the book, and check out the intro written by Brent Scowcroft (sp?), he mentions how the book might have lessons for another young President: His Majesty The Shahinshah.

"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)

Uns

Submitted by Radical1979 on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 9:38pm.

Well now I'm hoping it's on Kindle. Looking for a good read. :)

Proud member of the 53%!

Rad...That was my thought

Submitted by celator on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 4:37pm.

Rad...That was my thought while reading the book. The big lesson is that when bad money buys a POTUS --as in JFK and Obama-- who is all hat and no cattle, the whole country suffers and gets put on a collision course with some very bad folks. That's for sure, and we're living it now (again), as we all know.

"This is not your mother's Democratic Party"--Andrew Breitbart, CPAC, February 2012

celator!

Submitted by Unsane on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 8:11pm.

So you were there when the Wall went up? What was that like?

I merely visited Berlin about 23 years later. I'm intrigued by this book just because I had been there as a visitor (at an impressionable age). Not to mention I am finding it to be an antidote to JFK hero worship. The JFK loving types like Matthews refuse to acknowledge that Nikita more or less made JFK his personal b**** at Vienna.

I'm halfway through it too. Good stuff.

"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)

Unsane.. it was confusing,

Submitted by celator on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 5:25pm.

Unsane.. it was confusing, scary and unpredictable. I worked at two sites in the city, Templehof and the Grunewald.

It had been a nice weekend weather wise, lots to do (as the book states) and we were off duty. For sure, everyone knew something was up beforehand, there had been speeches from East Berlin, scary headlines from Berliner Zeitung and an astounding flow of refugees from Eastern Europe going through checkpoints to West Berlin for weeks--which you could easily watch from the West. But no one really knew what the East would do, if anything, to stop the refugee flow.

After a night of hell raising Aug 12-13, my buddy and I got back to Andrews Kaserne on the morning of the 13th, and switched on the radio...must have been about 7 am. The announcer was talking in German about the "mauer" (sp?) being set up near the Brandenburg Gate. We jumped on the #78 strassenbahn and headed out. We got to the Gate about 20 minutes later (as I remember) and the whole place was in chaos with families, old folks, drunks, everyone you could imagine walking around staring at the construction of the wall.

On both sides of the concertina wire, the crowds gathered, talking, crying, staring, running around, asking everyone, "What's happening? What are they doing?" There were lots of East Berliners in the West, and lots of West Berliner in the East--it was a weekend. Whichever part you were in, you were stuck. So you could see members of families waving to family members on the other side. There must have been 100 or more Vopos just inside the wire on the east side with machine guns aimed at both the West Berlin crowd and the folks in East Berlin. They were just kids, teenagers, it seemed to us, scared and nervous as hell.

My buddy and I figured oh oh..and headed back to Andrews. By the time we got back, the place was in full alert, as you would imagine. The next few weeks were scary, no one knew what was going to happen next. And we were restricted to base and our work sites. Eventually, things calmed down for us, but the concertina wire became concrete slabs, and the only escape routes were the underground tunnels--from apartment house to apartment house-- Hitler had ordered the citizens to build them during the Allied bombing of Berlin in WW II. Eventually, those were plugged up by the East, and the escape routes became even more desperate.

I guess looking back, I was amazed how low key the US response was, overall. As you know, Kennedy's position was...a wall is better than a war. There was a lot of "Is there more coming?" in the air. Lucius Clay arrived not long after the wall went up and I remember seeing him. He was a huge hero to the Berliners, so that brought their hopes up. But, eventually, the existence of the wall became more or less normalized--it was just there, and there was nothing we could do, or would do about it. Life went on. For the East Berliners, life became even far worse as far as food and amenities were concerned.

It was an amazing thing to witness. Left me with life long memories for sure.

That's why I like the book. As you know, a lot of info in the books was revealed publically after the Soviet archives were opened up. So that makes it very interesting.

"This is not your mother's Democratic Party"--Andrew Breitbart, CPAC, February 2012

Berlin Wall

Submitted by Unsane on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 11:31am.

It's always good to read of experiences like yours. My father had a TDY in Berlin in the 1980s when I was growing up in Germany and he took my mother and I along for the ride. So I got to go through Checkpoints Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. Five years later the unthinkable happened as the Wall fell. Therefore books like Kempe's have, for me, considerable interest.

Another book you might like is Berlin Wall by Frederick Taylor. He's a Brit, and this book covers the history of the Wall from the rise to the fall, and even the earlier days in East Germany (such as the June 17, 1953 uprising). It is extremely readable, and very well-written.

"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)