Chris Matthews' Entire British Panel Corrects His Claim Blair Was Closer to Clinton - No, It Was Bush
There was a marvelous moment on this weekend's "Chris Matthews Show" when the host literally stuck his foot in his mouth claiming in front of four British journalists that former Prime Minister Tony Blair "was much closer emotionally and politically to Bill Clinton" than George W. Bush.
Guest's Andrew Sullivan of the Daily Beast and Gillian Tett of the Financial Times both immediately shook their heads as the BBC's Katty Kay and Matt Frei said "No" and "Wrong" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
MATT FREI, BBC: I think Katty has a point there. I mean, you mentioned the word marriage earlier. The special relationship is like an arranged marriage. And for that arranged marriage to be happy, it needs genuine love. We had the love between Tony Blair and George W. Bush. It was perhaps a bit of a fatal attraction. We didn't have the love between Bush's father and John Major. You remember John Major? But we had the love between Reagan and Thatcher. So there needs to be some genuine affection. The chemistry at the top needs to work for everything else to click in, otherwise Katty’s point about schizophrenia is right. We Brits we tend to swing from adulation to revulsion when it comes to…
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Revulsion, okay. Well let me ask you, Gillian. I actually, just to correct one thing. I thought that Matt, that Tony Blair was much closer emotionally and politically to Bill Clinton, that's what I thought.
[DAILY BEAST’S ANDREW SULLIVAN AND FINANCIAL TIMES’S GILLIAN TETT SHAKE THEIR HEADS]
KATTY KAY, BBC: No.
FREI: No.
KAY: He was closer to Bush.
FREI: Wrong, wrong. Emotionally and intellectually probably closer to George Bush.
KAY: And that surprised Brits a lot and disappointed Brits a lot.
MATTHEWS: It disappoints me.
Yes, I imagine it does, but not as much as being proved wrong by all of his guests with cameras rolling.
Nice job, Chris.
- Noel Sheppard's blog
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Comments
ooohhhhhhh... that's gotta sting..
Submitted by Mark81150 on Sun, 04/24/2011 - 4:35pm.
Like hearty slap of cheap aftershave when you've just shaved with a belt sander...
--
ooohhh mommy....
sorry,
Submitted by Mark81150 on Sun, 04/24/2011 - 4:43pm.
Had to put that in, since he looked so damned sad when he said that... I know it's hardly Christian for me to find anyones discomfort a pleasure, but when his discomfort comes from a well deserved smackdown over his rewritting history to fit his fantasy...
I'll risk it.
You had to know even God found that one funny.
Only Chris Matthews could be
Submitted by motherbelt on Sun, 04/24/2011 - 4:48pm.
Only Chris Matthews could be "disappointed" that George Bush had a better personal relationship with Tony Blair than Bill Clinton did.
What a pathetic, small-minded little man.
Liberal Bias on Display
Submitted by Blonde on Sun, 04/24/2011 - 4:56pm.
That was a great clip....hope it gets nominated for the Bias Awards next time around.
Great find, the perfect Matthews clip, not too long, and a gorgeous smack-down at the end. Of course, one of my favorites was still the Jon Stewart interview where he laughed at Chrissy's pathetic little book about Life as Politics or whatever. That was five minutes of pure squirmy put-down.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
Matthews is turning into the.................
Submitted by BEGRUNT on Sun, 04/24/2011 - 5:20pm.
Homer Simpson of cable news....due to all of his "D'OH's" Here is a weeks sample......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6GuEswXOXo
:-)
"A nation can suffer it's fool's, but cannot survive the traitor"
Cicero
Noel Sheppard...
Submitted by AgentAmerican on Sun, 04/24/2011 - 5:30pm.
...you should go on Hardball, just to make Chrissy wince having to actually converse with someone who does not agree with him...but it will never happen. (snaps fingers).
Tingles:
Submitted by djwolf12 on Sun, 04/24/2011 - 6:20pm.
OWNED ON HIS OWN SHOW.
FAIL.
Yes Noel
Submitted by shawn. on Sun, 04/24/2011 - 6:23pm.
That was delicious
Disappointing....
Submitted by jdripper on Sun, 04/24/2011 - 6:33pm.
is that Chris Matthews and Andrew Sullivan have a means to spread their propaganda.
Jack
Open mouth....
Submitted by saintknowitall on Sun, 04/24/2011 - 6:58pm.
..... insert foot.
Is Matthews partisan?
Submitted by okiehawk44 on Sun, 04/24/2011 - 7:02pm.
Do you think Matthews cares about America's imminent bankruptcy and what that will mean to this great country's 310 million residents and the rest of the entire world if that bankruptcy can be blamed on Republicans?
Matthews is a moral pygmy.
"It disappoints me"
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Sun, 04/24/2011 - 9:54pm.
The disappointment was that his current delusion was shot down quicker than a tingle could run up his leg.
And oh the fact here is that you either lied in this statement or are just a fool and "thought" that was the case. Which works better for you Tings?
This was good
Submitted by Boil It Down on Mon, 04/25/2011 - 1:34am.
Matthews looked so crest fallen. It was almost as if he became self aware for that brief moment.
-bidn-
Crest Fallen Because He Could Not Roll The Bits Into The Fantasy
Submitted by Avitar on Mon, 04/25/2011 - 2:06am.
Mathew’s effort was to discipline the Brits for talking out of school.
That Clinton is an ignorant no class jerk is known to everybody who thinks about it. His string of foreign policy failures was unmatched by any President except Jimmy Carter. But our media wil not say so and have to rescue the failed Clinton Presidency so they assign the achievements of Newt Gingrich to him and never acknowledge the astounding foreign policy successes of George H. W. Bush or George W. Bush. They set Clinton up as the exact opposite of a straw man. Sort of a Thirty foot tall balloon man plated in gold on the outside but nothing but hot air on the inside.
You may not agree with either Bush letting Muslims off lightly as they did or Bush 43 enticing China to change into a wildly capitalistic country during his term with most of America's new jobs but you cannot argue that he did not know what he was doing before and while he was doing it. If it works and conflicts with China do not rise to war then it was cheap at the price.
Actually...
Submitted by DemsRFascists on Mon, 04/25/2011 - 3:41am.
Blair WAS much closer to Clinton, at least politically and philosophically.
However, the Left Wing Brits on Matthews' panel will never forgive him for agreeing with W (and any sane person) that Saddam had to go.
Matthews is actually right on this one, his panelists are just amazingly sick and petulent.
Tony Blair
Submitted by ladeflippinda on Mon, 04/25/2011 - 5:32pm.
I am a proud American, but for a few years there Tony Blair was my prime minister. When he came directly to the states after 9/11 and stood in Congress when Bush gave one of his best speeches, I got teary-eyed. When it looked liked the world hated us and when the Palestinians were dancing in the streets over our pain, having Tony Blair show solidarity with us … well, I will never say a bad word about him in my lifetime.