'Hardball' Matthews Shows Soft Side; John Kerry, Super-Bore

The fellow synonymous with "Hardball" showed his soft side today. Interviewed by his wife to help mark the show's 10th anniversary and promote his new book, "Life's a Campaign,"Chris Matthews was frequently emotional as he talked about everything from his heroes [including JFK, Churchill and Hemingway], his drinking days and his admiration for John McCain's patriotism.

In contrast, Kathleen Matthews, a former TV news anchor, exuded a composed professionalism. A nice, cool balance to Chris's fire, it seemed.

Later, John Kerry reminded us of what we didn't, shall we say, necessarily love about the guy.

View video here.

At show's end, a montage was run of highlights of Matthews's ten years of "Hardball." There were clips of a cavalcade of guests, including Arnold, Robin Williams, George Bush, Al Gore, Al Sharpton and many more, including the famous moment with Zell Miller at the 2004 GOP telling Chris to "get out of my face" and regretting he couldn't challenge Matthews to a duel.

No one, not even Michael Moore, got on my nerves. With one exception. I'd encourage folks to check out John Kerry, whose moment comes 3:10 into the clip.

Pomposity personified.

Update: Matthews might have been displaying his soft side, but it didn't take him long to revert to form. At a reception after the show, he reportedly accused the Bush admin of "criminality." This from a man scheduled to moderate a GOP presidential debate this coming week.