Chris Matthews Cites Abramoff Film to Bash Tom DeLay: 'I Saw The Movie'
Chris Matthews on Friday actually used material presented in a Hollywood movie to accuse former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of being convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's dupe.
As DeLay presented his side of the case days after being sentenced to three years in prison for illegally influencing Texas politics, the "Hardball" host said, "You were tied up with people [like] Mike Scanlon and [Jack] Abramoff especially. I saw the movie...You looked like these guys were manipulating you as a member of Congress" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: On Monday, Texas judge sentenced former House majority leader Tom DeLay to three years in prison for illegally conspiring to launder corporate political donations to candidates in his state, Texas, of course. Mr. DeLay joins us now from Houston. Briefly Mr. DeLay, Congressman, can you tell us what you think was the misapplication of law here?
TOM DELAY: Well, first of all, Chris, it's great to see you again. I've been a little busy. Well, using the criminal code to enforce the election code has never been done before in the entire United States and that's what this is. There's no crime here. They are accusing me of money laundering but you have to have proceeds from criminal activity in order to launder money. All we did was elect Republicans. We created a political action committee legally, raised corporate funds legally, took those corporate funds and sent them to the Republican National Committee legally, they took them spent them in states where they could be used legally, and they took individually raised money, legal, and sent it to elections in Texas. No corporate funds ever got to elections in Texas.
MATTHEWS: Is Texas capable of a fair trial?
DELAY: This is amazing. What’s the crime?
MATTHEWS: No, I don't know about your case and whether you're innocent or not. I understand your argument. It sounds reasonable to me that they misapplied a law made for drug dealers, threw it at you and used a conspiracy angle to get you. I understand that. But my question is why would the court system operate this way? Why would a judge, why would a jury believe that you were guilty of a crime if you aren't? Why would they all be wrong? All twelve jurors, or whatever, a judge, are they all in this -- is there some kind of conspiracy on their part do you believe?
DELAY: No, it’s not about the jury, it's about the law. The prosecution, which is a rogue prosecution that indicted me on laws that didn't even exist in Texas, presented their case and spent nine days and 33 witnesses and never brought one shred of evidence of wrongdoing or money laundering. They presented their entire case around the corruption of politics. The corruption of raising money, millions of money. Politicians flying around in private planes. Lobbyists and all of the stuff, and played to the emotion of the jury that this guy has got to be corrupt so put him in prison.
MATTHEWS: Well, you were tied up with people that are not, Mike Scanlon and Abramoff especially. I saw the movie, they, and you were sort of like the dupe of these guys. You were out there playing golf in Scotland on their paycheck. It was a junket. You looked like these guys were manipulating you as a member of Congress. They looked like criminals. You look like you were being their fool. That's the way it looks in the movie.
DELAY: Chris, you have been around politics long enough to know that that movie is a crock.
Actually, he doesn't, for despite all the people on both sides of the aisle that lambasted the recent Valerie Plame film as a pathetic piece of fiction with significant factual errors in it, Matthews highly recommended it even going so far as comparing it to "Casablanca."
But what's even more disturbing is the idea that a so-called journalist working for a cable news network would seriously question a guest about representations in a film as opposed to the actual documented facts about the case.
On the other hand, the "Hardball" host did admit, "I don't know about your case and whether you're innocent or not."
I guess rather than take the time to educate himself about the facts, Matthews just watched the film.
Some journalist, huh?
His bosses at MSNBC and NBC must be so proud of the work he's doing.
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Comments
Yeah, and we just know how accurate movies can be, don't we?
Submitted by Dave. on Fri, 01/14/2011 - 8:50pm.
But then again, Prissy does view the world through fictionally fog-coated glasses.
As for DeLay, I anticipate his appeal will be successful.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
I'd get a lawyer!
Submitted by okiehawk44 on Fri, 01/14/2011 - 9:22pm.
DeLay how much did your high profile defense attorney charge you for this wonderful defense?$10,000,000? You're a pest control guy and I'll wager you could have done just as well defending yourself. How much is it going to cost you to appeal this? Where you going to get the money? Is Dick DeGuerin going to do it pro bono? I'm beginning to think you just really want to shower with bubba?
One would think that Matthews would have been more concerned..
Submitted by Gary Hall on Fri, 01/14/2011 - 9:36pm.
..about stuff like this:
AP - Among the 44 people arrested were the mayors of Hoboken, Ridgefield and Secaucus, Jersey City's deputy mayor, and two state assemblymen. A member of the governor's cabinet resigned after agents searched his home, though he was not arrested. All but one of the officeholders are Democrats. [..]
Rosenbaum, a Brooklyn, N.Y., businessman, is accused of buying kidneys for $10,000 apiece from donors in Israel and then selling them to American transplant recipients for $160,000, according to a federal complaint.
But body parts?
This is round three in a series of New Jersey public corruption investigations that has spanned a decade and taken down more than 100 people, half of them government officials involved in money-for-access schemes.
But the trajectory of this latest inquiry seemed to impress even experienced investigators who, in the course of tracking mayors reportedly taking cash in diners and rabbis depositing untraceable money into the accounts of their charities, stumbled upon Levy Izhak Rosenbaum allegedly selling human kidneys.
The numbers are stiking. 43:1 Corruption is rampant. Look not at the R's.
(:~/ gary
So I guess that Chrisso Marx
Submitted by djwolf12 on Fri, 01/14/2011 - 9:58pm.
would believe that EVERYTHING Oliver Stone put in his movie W. is the absolute be-all-end-all in truth about the former president. He should know. He saw the movie.
So, tell me again...
Submitted by The_Barrel_Guy on Fri, 01/14/2011 - 10:03pm.
Why do we spend ANY time on Tingles? If we take away his audience generated by NB and similar, it equals his wife, his children and his dog... And the dog only shows up because of the leash...
How about we ignore him for one sweeps period and see just exactly how many trolls he draws...
Enough already...
Abramoff - Pfffft - where's the movie on James Riady?
Submitted by Gary Hall on Fri, 01/14/2011 - 10:06pm.
DOJ - JANUARY 11, 2001 - JAMES RIADY PLEADS GUILTY WILL PAY LARGEST FINE IN CAMPAIGN FINANCE HISTORY FOR VIOLATING FEDERAL ELECTION LAW
I think I missed that movie?
Hollywood has no interest - MSM has no interest in their own corruption - only others.
(;~/ gary
Matthews: "You were tied up
Submitted by Chris Norman on Fri, 01/14/2011 - 11:13pm.
Matthews: "You were tied up with people [like] Mike Scanlon and [Jack] Abramoff especially. I saw the movie..."
Matthews, you're a whacked out liberal who gets stranger and more out-of-control every day. I saw your show.
"Stupid Is as Stupid Does" ...quote Forrest Gump Movie...
Submitted by gruyere cheese on Fri, 01/14/2011 - 11:20pm.
...need I say more?
Just be honest: MSNBC has stupid people hosting shows
Submitted by merly1 on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 9:33am.
for stupid viewers. There is no other explanation.............
And let me add, with about 800k viewers
Submitted by merly1 on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 9:36am.
Fortunately, I insult a mere pitance of our population--1/310 so about .3%, right?
Good grief!
Submitted by drsamherman on Fri, 01/14/2011 - 11:44pm.
He cites a MOVIE as fact? Perhaps his next move is to cite such "factual" narrative as Robert E. Howard? Everyone knows that Conan the Barbarian is based on strong, proven archaeological evidence....certainly enough to satisfy a neglible intellect as Chris.
Even though medical science
Submitted by Chris Norman on Fri, 01/14/2011 - 11:59pm.
Even though medical science probably can't back me up, I have this theory that when Matthews' mouth reaches a certain speed, a kind of centrifigal force causes a separation between it and his brain. I mean, nobody could possibly be this stupid and still be smart enough to breathe.
Dbl Post
Submitted by Chris Norman on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 9:47am.
Dang.
Hey Chris
Submitted by Comrade Jim on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 5:16pm.
There is some good material in the Marx Brothers documentaries.
Leftists think Hollywood is 'real'
Submitted by Slyrr on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 12:17am.
The libs still think, 'The West Wing' was real, too.
That was what Obama thought he was actually running for - to replace Martin Sheen on a new season. The left's insane divorce from reality and their marriage to hollywood has been ongoing for long decades.
They thought 'China Syndrome' was real, and forced real people to stop making nuclear power plants. They brought actors who portrayed farmers in to congress to ask them about what being a farmer was like - and ignored the real farmers. They were so depressed that Avatar wasn't real, that some of them wanted to commit suicide. Hollywood actors who think their pretending to be real people makes them somehow more qualified than the real people they're mimicking. And besotted politicians bored with their humdrom lives - listening to Hollywood ingoramuses and forcing people to live by ill-conceived laws based on their snivelling desire for how 'they think things should be'.
Victor Davis Hanson pegged them best a while back, calling 'legions of college dropouts, recovering bad boys and self-praised autodidacts.'
What a pity that Hollywood are a pack of know-nothings, and when they actually stumble into real positions, the cause harm and destruction to millions.
Well, that settles it
Submitted by MinneMike on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 3:14am.
Chris Matthews is incapable of separating facts from fiction. Add that to his growing list of afflictions.
The Movies,etc.
Submitted by iveseenitall on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 1:29pm.
There's the "liberals" for 'ya. When in doubt, quote the movies,or a t.v. comedian, or an economist about politics. Even the New York Times, that bastion of intellectualism, does it. It's called "ad verecundiam", using an "authority" in one field to support an entirely different subject. Whether it's the economist Krugman, or the comedians Stuart and Mahar, or the actor Sean Penn, when it comes to political philosophy, their "opinions" are like bellybuttons (as the saying goes). Of course, most of the MSM are entertainers,not authorities in anything but bias and bombast. Matthews is a prime example of the so-called "jounalists" lurking about today. And as generations pass through our wonderful educational system ( which uses movies to keep students quiet in the classroom), it just gets worse. Sad.
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal" (progressive)