Chris Matthews Compares Obama To Neville Chamberlain

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Chris Matthews Compares Obama To Neville Chamberlain

By Noel Sheppard (Bio | Archive)
Sun, 11/29/2009 - 23:47 ET

A week after calling Barack Obama "Carteresque," Chris "Tingles Up My Leg" Matthews said the former object of his affection is "Too much Chamberlain and not enough Churchill."

I'm honestly not sure which is worse -- being compared to Jimmy Carter or World War II appeaser Neville Chamberlain.

Regardless, I guess Matthews really has lost that lovin' feeling.

As the discussion about the President's upcoming speech on Afghanistan wound down on this weekend's "The Chris Matthews Show," the host asked his guests if the "long deliberation" concerning strategy will make Obama "look smart and deliberate for having taken all this time, or will the dithering shot still being cast in by people like former Vice President Dick Cheney" hurt him?

What ensued will raise many eyebrows on both sides of the aisle (video embedded below the fold with transcript):

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CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Will this long deliberation, Anne Kornblut, you've got the tough question here to start with. Whip around here. It took three months to make this decision. Will he look smart and deliberate for having taken all this time, or will the dithering shot still being cast in by people like former Vice President Dick Cheney, is that still going to hurt?
ANNE KORNBLUT, WASHINGTON POST: The gamble they're making is that he'll look smart and he'll look like the anti-Bush for having thought about it for so long.
JOE KLEIN, TIME: The anti-Bush part is really important because Bush really needed to do a strategy re-evaluation about Iraq six months in there and he never did.
MATTHEWS: Andrea, will it look good if he takes all this time?
ANDREA KRAMER, NBC: I agree. I think it will look good if he takes his time, if taking his time he comes out with something that adds up. If he doesn't then people will say you took so long and what did you deliver?
DAVID IGNATIUS, WASHINGTON POST: The long period of analysis, very deliberative, robs this of passion. This is, he is going to be a wartime president now, and he has to sell the country on the idea that our young men and women are going to go there, fight and get killed and I think this is not...
MATTHEWS: So, too much Chamberlain and not enough Churchill.
IGNATIUS: Well, too much, too much college professor.

Yeah, that's what we need.

Exit question: Is this a function of Obama's declining poll numbers leading media to feel more comfortable expressing criticism of the President, or has the campaign ether really worn off, and these people are legitimately concerned about his ability to govern?

Picture courtesy Exurban League.

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.

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Did Matthews suddenly sober

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 23:54 ET by Free Stinker

Did Matthews suddenly sober up?

خال

FS, that was funny!

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 00:03 ET by pahuber

I needed a good laugh.

Maybe I'm just too cynical, but

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 10:07 ET by motherbelt

Did Matthews sober up?

Not really. He's just pretending that he can criticize his idol.

Notice that he asks will Obama look smart and deliberative for having taken so long, but he doesn't ask if he will look like a ditherer, but if the dithering shot will still be taken by people like Cheney and others. (emphasis mine)

Right there he de-legitimizes any criticism of Obama for taking so long; implies that it's just a political "shot."

He just can't help himself; it's his nature.

Is it all about Poll Numbers?

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 00:00 ET by pbthinker

One thing you can say about Bush, he wasn't concerned about his poll numbers. Ironically, by not caring about is poll numbers, they seem to be rising. You'll know Obama's in trouble when Matthews longs for George Bush.

Election 2008-God's way of showing us that elections count.

It hardly matters

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 00:09 ET by needle

“Exit question: Is this a function of Obama's declining poll numbers leading media to feel more comfortable expressing criticism of the President, or has the campaign ether really worn off, and these people are legitimately concerned about his ability to govern?”

Hard to say, but I recall shortly after the election Chris Tingles managing to shock me by saying that his job was to ensure the success of Obama’s administration. It sounds as if he may be stepping back a bit from THAT position.

As for Obama’s position / announcement / whatever about Afghanistan etc., I cannot imagine anything that he or anybody could say that would reconstruct his image as a leader; that is gone for good. All of the leaders of the world have noticed that Obama cannot make a decision, whether the liberal clowns chewing the fat with Chris get it or not. Heaven only know how our enemies will take advantage of that, but you can bet the American people are going to pay in blood for this cardboard cutout President propped up in front of his teleprompter.

- Relying upon the State Run Media for your information is like relying upon an embezzler for your portfolio management.

- I didn't leave the Republican Party; the Republican Party left me.

yeah, too dang bad it can't

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 00:23 ET by Rowane

yeah, too dang bad it can't be meted out only to the fools that voted for the O
"You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, uh, you
know — Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would
necessarily skyrocket" - Barack Hussain Obama

Your point about Matthew's saying his duty was to endure success

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 02:22 ET by CO2Maker

is well taken. And he's been doing that for these 10 months. But Chris the Wide Mouth Frog is way too smart and savvy not to know that comparing any politician or statesman to Neville Chamberlain is simply damning. There is nothing that Chamberlain did that anyone remembers except "Peace in our time," which was quickly betrayed by Hitler. Now CTWMF wonders whether O'Bama is acting like Chamberlain about a war decision: how can that be taken as anything except a severe judgment? If Matthews wanted to prove his point about O'Bama's intellectual footdragging, he could have compared him to Adlai Stevenson (who was called an "egghead" and of whom, Eisenhower said Stevenson couldn't make up his mind if he had to go to the bathroom).

Exit question

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 00:10 ET by cajun2

Exist question is a good one Noel. The polls say the campaign is over. The bloom is off the rose. Hundreds of thousands marched in DC. Thousands attend town hall meetings protesting his policies. I think that ordinary American people have assessed his ability to govern, as usual, we now must wait for the intelligencia in the fringe media to catch up.

I hope he fails, soon. nujac

Covering Their Butts

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 00:15 ET by countmein5050

This is how the liberal media segueway from blowing sunshine up Obama's butt to covering their own. Mattews hasn't fallen out of love with Obama, but like your typical 25 cent who.re...they go where the money is, which is what defines the liberal.. Liberals can't EVER give the impression they depend on capitalism, but that's their dirty little secret in every thing they attack conservatives for doing openly and without shame. The MSM are so two faced and lacking in logic, they have to have back up plans for their back up plans...none of which involve actually ever telling the simple truth. They all know Obama is going down quicker than Monica Lewinsky did on Clinton.

I don't think Tingles has

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 00:35 ET by Scuba Dude

I don't think Tingles has lost the love he feels for the LOTUS. I think he is hiding it for now. He sees that his shows ratings are in the tank and he is now trying to get some ratings by saying negative things about the president. He figures it will get the attention of the folks on the right and they will come over to see what Matthews is saying thus boosting his ratings. Matthews probably sends over messages to LOTUS apologizing for everytime he says something bad about him.

I would never trust anything the scum on MSNBC say.

"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws" Tacitus

It's the "Coyote Ugly"

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 00:38 ET by metaphorsbwithu

It's the "Coyote Ugly" syndrome.

These people are waking up to what they are in bed with and are chewing their arms off to get away from it as fast as possible.

metaphorsbwithu

They're still living in the bubble.

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 00:39 ET by supercon

It's as if they have no concept of alternative media. All four lefties talking about how wonderful it was that Obama took months to make a decision that was a campaign promise that he never really meant. They can't possibly believe what they say and must think their viewers are ignorant retards who cannot form an opinion unless they give it to them.

" if Republicans are able to stop Barack Obama on health care, 'it will be his Waterloo, it will break him...." -Sen. Jim DeMint

The rats haven't quite

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 00:43 ET by RR GOP

The rats haven't quite jumped off of the sinking ship, but they are hanging around the hausers just in case.

These guys figure that in the future they will need some tape they can run and say, "See, I, too, was critical of Obama's mistakes!"

One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 86% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.

To be expected

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 00:47 ET by helyanwe

Tingles is preparing to jump off the sinking ship is all . Nothing of consequence here, just twitching whiskers and squeaks.

Chris Matthews, moron.

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 01:09 ET by jefflebowski

Looks like someone needs a hug. That will get the chills back a-running! DemonRats just can't bring it upon themselves to think people really disagree with Hussein Hopenchange's agenda! When Chris starts doubting, you know it is going to be a great November 2010!

Angry White Dude

www.angrywhitedude.com

When doubt cannot be refuted

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 01:27 ET by CO2Maker

The convert sings loudest in the church. And the most ardent believer often is the former opponent and doubter who, after valiantly, faithfully, and passionately advocating for one position realizes the falsity of that position and comes over to the other side. David Horowitz, raised in a Communist American family, Berkley graduate, editor of Ramparts, friend of Huey Newton, is now an outspoken and provocative conservative. Climategate is going to produce its share of "New Bluers," i.e., non-green or at least non-AGW (Al Gore Warmist) foot soldiers.

This might be one of first moments that O'Bama's media inamoratas begin to wonder, to doubt, to lose the bloom of rapture, to not tingle anymore, to feel a flaccid support for him.

For sure, they won't go Cindy Sherman on O'Bama, but we might start to see much harder coverage of his administration's policies and actions. There certainly is a topic-rich environment for the journalists to jouronate about: staggering spending plans, health care coverage that doesn't and that will cost another staggering amount, and the burgeoning scandal of what appears to be rigged climate data.

Chris might choose to revitalize his journalistic creds while Keith the Sports Boy blows bubbles in the bathtub.

Tingles is just playing hard to get

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 02:41 ET by TylerP

He didn't get a ticket to the state dinner and was not invited to the White House with Bathtub Boy and Madcow. I predict Tingles will kiss and make-up Brokeback Mountian style.

Delay

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 04:12 ET by KC Mulville

Why the delay? That's the deceit here.

The media is presenting this as a thoughtful and deliberate evaluation of the strategy. If so, you would expect new perspectives to emerge, but none have. The same alternatives that were available at the beginning are available now.
No new information has emerged. We knew the same things at the begninning as we do now.
What's astonishing is that knowing the same information as we did before, it took Obama several months to accept the same strategy that was offered at the beginning of the process.

That isn't thoughtfulness. Has any new perspective emerged? No. Has any new data emerged? No. The delay has been completely empty, as far as the mission is concerned. The only value in the delay was to assess how it played out domestically.

providing the outsider view

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 05:12 ET by surfergirl54

I agree with the comment that there is deceit in what the media is saying. At the same time when are they going to stop making the false professor claim. The POTUS was never appointed as a College professor. He was nothing more than a mere part-time lecturer, without a tenured position.

I cannot understand the logic of those who claim that all of this dithering makes Obummer look good and deliberative. In a time of war all of this dithering is really very bad.

Let me give an example here, using your own generals of the past. Who springs to mind? Washington? Custer (who made mistakes), Jackson, and Ulysses Grant, to name but a few of the generals that are well-known.

If any of these generals, when facing the dangers on a battlefield had waited and waited and waited to make a decision about what moves to make, then the course of at least 2 wars would have been changed for ever. If Washington had waited to review all of the alternatives then the USA would not have gained her Independence from Great Britain, and you would all still be bowing and curtsying to the British Queen.

This panel has it so very wrong about what is best. Love him or hate him, Bush did the right thing when it came to jumping in and getting the job done. He did not deny troops for the surge to General Petreus, he gave the troops, he backed the action that was suggested and a miracle took place when the tribal leaders came on board in Iraq to oust Al Qaeda from their midst.

Obummer has had that information for 12 months. He was briefed 12 months ago, and yet he failed to take the initiative when it was first mooted to him. Instead he has dithered, calling for more information, then dithered again. That is not cool deliberation, and it is not the way to win.

I do not know whether Matthews is finally getting it, but maybe, just maybe he is waking up. The comparison to Neville Chamberlain cannot have been a mistake, and everyone knows that Chamberlain was the great appeaser, the one who could not see through Hitler, (yet the appeasement did give a little bit of time to start building up a fleet of ships and aircraft in preparation for war). Obummer is so totally clueless - a jackass in my view. He is not intellectual, and he is not smart. Also he never was a professor.

Liberal virtues

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 08:25 ET by KC Mulville

Thoughtfulness and courtesy ... Obama and his administration display them as if they were the magic potions to diplomatic success. And yet, no success yet. As George Will said a couple weeks ago, the rest of the world likes us more, but that has no cash value.

Countries don't act on what they think will work best for Obama. Instead, they pursue their own self-interests. America's reputation ultimately makes minimal difference, whether as arrogrant bulls in delicate china shops, or as CIA-conspirators, or as John Wayne cowboys.

When Obama came along, the liberals pushed him as an example of an American that the rest of the world can love and therefore follow. Turns out that "follow" doesn't follow love. That's why we dismissed those qualities before, and weren't all that disturbed if Bush wasn't a Manhattan socialite.

What's astonishing is that

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 08:20 ET by motherbelt

What's astonishing is that knowing the same information as we
did before, it took Obama several months to accept the same strategy
that was offered at the beginning of the process.

But at least now he can say he deliberated long and hard....while more Americans died there.

I know I'm perhaps being too skeptical, but I think it's possible that he spent all this time trying to figure out how to start pulling out, in light of his campaign rhetoric that this was the "necessary" war. Deciding that there's no way to do such an about-face, he decided to go "all-in."

What infuriates me most is that even after he makes a decision he puts off announcing it for a week, while they set up this dog and pony show at West Point! It's always about appearances.

Hey, you guys make a pretty good photo-op! -President Obama

The West Point Photo Op

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 10:34 ET by Blonde

I truly hope the Corps of Cadets realizes the sham and does nothing more than politely applaud, denying the Vain Obama any semblance of approval or positive photo op.

And if his "well thought out" response is one iota less than McChrystal requested, over THREE months ago, I'd hope the good general would resign in disgust.

Obama dithered so long because he was hoping for something to change that would allow him a politically safe way out. If Dick Cheney hadn't been bashing him with the clue bat, he may have dithered with this decision until the end of his administration.

It will be interesting to see if his big "policy" is substantially different from his March 27th speech. I personally think he'll lift the text wholesale and pretend like it's some new revelation. Time will tell.

I hope he fails, too.

Too Much - Too Little

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 06:03 ET by Joe-Oakton

Too Much Chamberlain, too little Churchill – Too Much Carter, too little Regan.

An armed society is a polite society

no hint of Reagan!

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 08:51 ET by spepper

no hint of Reagan with Obama--

Chamberlain was destroyed

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 07:50 ET by wolfemanic

Chamberlain was destroyed by a disastrous incapacity to handle foreign affairs, but in the end he at least had the brains to resign.

Later he wrote.....

"Few men can have known such a reversal of fortune in so short a time."

Obama is working hard to be one of those few.

Chamberlain and obama?

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 07:56 ET by MidAmerica

Chamberlain and obama? Peace in our time?

One's a fool. The other a coward.

OUR SOLUMN HOUR...

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 08:38 ET by danybhoy

Bingo MidAm, Bingo.

What is also funny is it was the anti-war/Bush/Cheney left that pushed Obama to the Dems nomination. Since he had official NO TRACK RECORD since he was in the IL State Assembly, & everyone in the Senate except Wellstone & Sanders voted for the Iraq war. Matthews was a cheerleader for Obama & his Iraq was "the wrong war" crowd. Now he does'nt understand why Obama does'nt act like Churchill. When you elect Chamberlain, do you have the right to expect Churchill? Nope.

Churchill is my favorite politician of all time, just for full disclosure.

"...How blind can you be, don't you see...

...that the gambler lost all he does not have..."

Nightwish

ANDREA KRAMER, NBC: I

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 08:35 ET by ThisnThat

ANDREA KRAMER, NBC: I agree. I think it will look good if he takes his time

If this was GWB, this same person would be tallying the number of servicemen killed in the 3 months it took to make a decision. Every day we'd have a new number, and it would lead the nightly news. But I guess that would be considered racist or against the agenda in the obama-state.

__________
"mmm, mmm, mm. Barrack-Hussain-Øbama↓." - The liberals coolaid drinking song

bullets magically stopped killing...

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 08:51 ET by OuttaMyWay

...after the election, or so i thought, never mentioned in the local press, where as there were daily above the fold reports about what the current number was for the previous 7 years.

he's lost that tingly feeling

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 08:53 ET by spepper

"He's lost that tingly feeling,

Whoa that tingly feeling--

He's lost that tingly feeling, now it's gone...gone...gone... "

What a panel!

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 08:54 ET by Texndoc

Nothing BUT Obama suck-ups. And the "too much Chamberlain" quote was just #1 Obama girlfriend Matthews paraphrasing what the other panelist was saying.

They see it coming

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 09:57 ET by nadadhimmi

The msm are just giving themselves some wiggle room when the excrement impacts the rotary oscillator. They still love Obi-One, but see him decending well past Carter levels. Just a little cya going on here. Nothing more serious than a newlwed spat.

Cue music for Cwissy:

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 10:49 ET by KJ_sez

LOTUS and Matthews are so over...

Hey anyone remember this?

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 11:23 ET by Mrltavern

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMMklhX74_w

Analysis

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 12:06 ET by bradbenj5952

What I think is going on here is that Matthews stuck his neck way out there supporting Obama. O' Tingles has a lot of emotion, and perhaps, just a bit of reputation tied up in his man and his man is letting him down. He's starting to realize that Obama is not 'all that'. But far be it from Matthews to admit error. He is and will spin this thing as if Obama is just far too cerebral for the office of President. Obama's "genius" is just too far above the practicalities demanded of the presidency. His thoughts are so far above ours that we mere mortals just don't understand what it is that he is trying to accomplish...for our good of course. Chris is looking for his god among men.

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Romans 10:9

what?

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 15:05 ET by Libertydude

*sigh*

The msm who put Walks on

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 15:11 ET by bigtimer

The msm who put Walks on Water in office, are now defending their own rear-ends...as if millions and millions of us are going to forget what they did 24/7.

'Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea'~Breitbart

Matthews is a joke

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 15:44 ET by Acoustech

Everything Matthews say's and does is self serving.

And I agree, this is no more than smoke screen for this hack to appear
"journalistic like" which of course he is not nor will he ever be.

But to his statement...I totally agree.

Obama is without a doubt the weakest president we've ever had and most
likely ever will have.

He's put America in great danger both domestic and abroad.

His government needs to be shut down...nothing he or the democrat want...
passes.

Period

Matthews Won't Get Away With It

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 17:25 ET by Winghunter

He never lifted a finger to vet Obama. In fact, he belittled and discredited anyone if the subject remotely threw the smallest negative light on the card carrying Communist.

Matthews will pay for his treason!