CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well, somebody who doesn't like that group of voters might call them Archie Bunkers. I'll call them Reagan Democrats, John [Baer of the Philadelphia Daily News], they're Reagan Democrats: people who are culturally conservative, maybe a little culturally conservative on the racial front, on the ethnic front. They like to think of themselves as Democrats on the economic issues, but when it comes to the squeeze, on some of these cultural issues--didn't this all come up earlier about three weeks ago in San Francisco, this conversation.So declining to vote for Barack Obama amounts to being "culturally conservative on the racial front." You wouldn't think that branding as bigots a broad swathe of the electorate would be the way to go for a budding senatorial candidate like Chris. In any case, it's revealing of Matthews's fundamental animus towards conservatism.
NB: the exit polling data displayed by Norah O'Donnell in the video clip doesn't identify the white Catholics as Dems, but so they would appear to be. This was exit polling done in the Dem primary, a closed primary restricted to registered Dems. So Operation Chaos folks aside, we're talking about Dems here, and Matthews identifies them as such. For that matter, if 59% of all white Catholics including Republicans were planning to vote for Obama, that would of course be a surprising landslide in his favor.
—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.
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Matthews will take any
April 23, 2008 - 20:30 ET by Chris NormanMatthews will take any opportunity and warp all reason to inject the charge of "racism" into this - er - race. He's literally becoming the boy who cried, "Wolf!". Does he no longer want to be taken seriously by anyone?
Matthews is the perfection
April 23, 2008 - 20:39 ET by bigtimerMatthews is the perfection of the mindless leftist wanderer...looking for a place to land.
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill
Matthews has turned on one
April 23, 2008 - 20:55 ET by Chris NormanMatthews has turned on one of the Democrat heroes - the mythical "working man", because they don't appreciate the "genius" of his beloved Obama. Now, the scorn and condescension (that was always there) begins to flow out...
Question Chris
April 23, 2008 - 21:50 ET by acumenIs it just me or does Matthews sound a little.....bitter?
Not just you. They let him
April 23, 2008 - 21:51 ET by Chris NormanNot just you. They let him down - those ingrates.
ac... LOL... Yes...bitte
April 23, 2008 - 22:11 ET by bigtimerac...
LOL...
Yes...bitter being the operative word...
Poor ol' guy needs to eject that lemon stuck in his mouth...
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill
CM is soooooooooo stupid!
April 23, 2008 - 21:00 ET by BodiniCM is too stupid to get it. How hard is it to understand that anyone with even an ounce of conservative blood in their veins will never connect with a person who has the most liberal voting record in the Senate ... whether he be black or white. I am a white, male, conservative, voter who would gladly cast my ballot for a conservative black candidate like Alan Keyes or J.C. Watts.
CM ... read my lips "It ain't Obama's color that turns me off ... it's his message!"
re: CM is soooooooooo stupid!
April 23, 2008 - 21:21 ET by geoff.galeBodoni, I can't agree more. There are loads of people who can easily see past race, past colour, past religion and judge others by the ideas they espouse. Sadly, I think it's going to take a few million of us saying this over and over to get the point across to the closed minds of the modern liberals, especially the ones in the media.
"All that is necessary for the trimuph of evil is that good men do nothing."
- Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)
www.conservativeboot...
I'm really sick of the
April 24, 2008 - 06:46 ET by tysox45I'm really sick of the liberal premise that conservatives are racist. For years we have been saying how much we hate ideas like the ones Obama has proposed and now that they are proposed by a black candidate it suddenly has something to do with race.
Cris Matthews
April 24, 2008 - 08:01 ET by NKurucOne of these days this idiot is going to get so "torked up" that his head will explode. The problem is that no one will be watching because he has no ratings.
Too bad, this country will lose another potentially great...........lawmaker???
Just what does
April 23, 2008 - 20:59 ET by motherbeltJust what does "culturally conservative" mean anyway? It's a term that's defined only by the context in which it's used. Without that context of race, supplied by Matthews, it could mean almost anything. And Matthews uses it to advantage.
It means
April 23, 2008 - 21:05 ET by BodiniAnyone who disagrees with his "uncultured liberal" views. CM's way of ambiguous dismissal (elitist view) of all who haven't felt the tingle in their undershorts!
mb, Could it be their way
April 23, 2008 - 21:24 ET by Chris Normanmb,
Could it be their way of describing the old-style die-hard Democrats - industrial union guys, for example, who the party has left behind but who still can't make themselves leave it? The Dems who the party elites look down on, but still need as part of their coalition in the general election? The ones Matthews would call a much more offensive name if he thought they didn't need them any longer?
You know, Chris, that would
April 23, 2008 - 21:38 ET by motherbeltYou know, Chris, that would be a legitimate definition, IMO. To me, culturally conservative means holding the "old-fashioned" values of faith, family (including marriage), hard work, and morality.
I guess I shouldn't have said the term doesn't mean anything without context. I think both you and I have suggested things that it did mean at one time, to many people.
Matthews is obviously re-defining it here to mean "racist".
ON what basis he justifies that, I have no idea.
"ON what basis he justifies
April 23, 2008 - 22:00 ET by Chris Norman"ON what basis he justifies that, I have no idea."
I'm beginning to think that Matthews can't and feels no need to justify many of his pronouncements, any longer. They're just underdeveloped and overheated thoughts and ideas moving across his brain that drop out of that large opening in his face.
Someone said he was
April 23, 2008 - 23:11 ET by motherbeltSomeone said he was surprised that his guests responded to him seriously, and I said I was surprised he didn't get laughed off the set sometimes!
MB
April 24, 2008 - 04:50 ET by well99"To me, culturally conservative means holding the "old-fashioned" values of faith, family (including marriage), hard work, and morality."
I dont see that as Conservative or Liberal.I see it as typical American values.Not that there arent other countries the same way.Just that this is the base of society.At least as far as regular folks go.As far as Elitist well I cant say what their view is no which way they swing...politically speaking.
well99, we are on the same
April 24, 2008 - 06:02 ET by motherbeltwell99, we are on the same wavelength.
Conservative is usually described as wanting to maintain tradition...that's why I put it that way. Liberals (as opposed to conservatives) believe in "evolving" values....e.g. unwed motherhood used to be something to be embarrassed about. No more: single mothers are a demographic all their own; no big deal. Sexual promiscuity used to cause shame; now it's a sign of "freedom." "Family" is now defined as any group who decide to live together and "support" each other (emotionally, not financially). That's the kind of thing I was talking about.
Those used to be "typical American" values, they aren't any longer.
MB
April 25, 2008 - 10:07 ET by well99If you go to regular folks of either lean I think they feel the same on all that.I mean real working people.Not celebs or these yahoo's in the msm.Or some snot nose college kid that doesnt know how to start a lawn mower.They wont be heard from because the media wont show them.They drather show those that support their left wing view..opps I mean p-r-o-g-r-e-s-s-i-ve.I think most Americans still have "Traditional" views.The problem is we have a media that only shows one view.Their own bias view.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well,
April 23, 2008 - 21:58 ET by HypocriteHaterCHRIS MATTHEWS: Well, somebody who doesn't like that group of voters might call them Archie Bunkers.
Interesting Chris should pick the name Archie Bunker as a slam against white Democrat Catholics. Archie Bunker was a WASP who btw also disparaged Catholics. But why should that matter to Chris when he has no respect for Catholics either.
Shows you how little Chris knows about the subject he's talking about.
I assume you're aware
April 23, 2008 - 22:29 ET by JerI assume you're aware Matthews is Catholic.
Jer
Does that mean he would
April 23, 2008 - 23:12 ET by motherbeltDoes that mean he would never disparage other Catholics? Say for instance, "culturally conservative" ones?
I don't think he was
April 23, 2008 - 23:24 ET by JerI don't think he was disparaging their Catholicism...and even if he were critical of Catholics, that doesn't imply he has "no respect for Catholics".
Jer
I didn't say he disparaged
April 24, 2008 - 06:57 ET by motherbeltI didn't say he disparaged their Catholicism. I said it didn't mean he wouldn't disparage any other Catholics (people).
And someone may criticize, but one doesn't disparage people whom someone respects.
There is a difference, but I'm not going to turn this into an argument about semantics.
motherbelt...When I
April 24, 2008 - 22:36 ET by Jermotherbelt...When I responded to you, I actually thought your post was another one by HypocriteHater [to whom I had initially replied]. I'm sorry my inattentiveness caused confusion.
Jer
jer
April 24, 2008 - 22:45 ET by botgperhaps there is a difference between cultural Catholics and faithful Catholics?
“i am the quixotic botg and i approved this message”
botg...I'm not even sure
April 24, 2008 - 23:58 ET by Jerbotg...I'm not even sure what the term "cultural Catholics" means. In any event, I'm hardly qualified to comment on Catholicism or to guage the devoutness of its followers. Matthews, a Catholic, is in a much better position to do so, but I don't think he was rendering a religious judgment so much as he was assessing a political and cultural demographic.
I certainly didn't interpret his remarks as evidencing a total absence of respect for Catholics or the Catholic religion. That appeared to be what HypocriteHater was suggesting, and the only issue I was addressing in my earlier posts.
Jer
jer
April 25, 2008 - 20:17 ET by botgI'm not even sure what the term "cultural Catholics" means.
really? well there's lots of people who are "catholics" because their parents are catholics even though they disagree which church doctrine on original sin, abortion, homosexuality, and salvation. These would be cultural catholics. Sometimes a priest or bishop will refuse communion to such persons.
“i am the quixotic botg and i approved this message”
Thanks, botg...I was
April 25, 2008 - 21:33 ET by JerThanks, botg...I was honestly unfamiliar with the term.
Jer
Is ..
April 23, 2008 - 22:24 ET by 10ksnookerMathews leg still tingling?
Being a Democrat hack, he probaly knows the history of race and the Democrats, and it's not pretty.
Regan Democrats
April 24, 2008 - 01:46 ET by sara123I always wondered why liberal white males - like Matthews - promoted and cooperated with reverse discrimination schemes against other white males. Then I realized these are baby boomers who "got their's" before the discrimination became instiutionalized and Nation-wide in government, education and private organization policy.
"Regan Democrats" are white males who paid the price of the Left's post civil rights discrimination scheme. They are denied equal opportunity - education opportunities, jobs and promotions and are demeaned when liberals are in power.
This is why it is so upsetting to Liberals that people have found out about Obama's racist pastor and radical associations. Suddenly Obama is seen as a liberal racist who is not trustworthy with power to white males and the women who love them and depend upon them. Matthews will smear them as racists because they are against racists. Liberals never learn. They never stop. They are hooked on the power of hate.
This all becomes a play to
April 24, 2008 - 08:12 ET by Hunter12This all becomes a play to white guilt. Ignore that their man has only painted his position in broad strokes and when he does get down to specifics, he's to the left of Teddy and Kerry. He's black, and if you don't vote for him, you're a racist. You're not an intelligent, thinking adult, who believes that his positions will damage the country and lead us to bankruptcy, you're a racist.
Rinse and repeat.
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Sir Winston Churchill
Wow
April 24, 2008 - 08:48 ET by OldSailor88That makes B. Hussein Obama, Malcolm X, Rev. Wright and David Duke "Culturally Conservative."
Interesting.
Noli habere bovis, vir!