Chris Matthews Browbeats Guest Who Doesn't Think Newt Gingrich Is Racist
MSNBC's Chris Matthews is clearly not going to tolerate anyone on his program saying Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich isn't racist.
Politico's Jeanne Cummings had the nerve to do exactly that on Thursday's "Hardball," and for her sins Matthews relentlessly browbeat her until she finally gave up (video follows with transcript and commentary):
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: This is the worst we`re going to show right now since maybe the Welfare queen stuff that Reagan would pull, the young buck waiting in line to use his food stamps for booze or something. This is the most -- to me, the most graphic use of language. Watch this. Anybody watching tonight, tell me you don`t know what he`s saying. Here`s Newt last night on home court on Hannity comparing -- well, let`s watch the language. Let him speak for himself. No filter from me. Let`s listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH: If you look at the collapse of Detroit and the rise of Texas, and you say to yourself, Which would you like better, the state that had the most job creation in America for the last 10 years or a city which has collapsed? You know, I know -- talking with Governor Rick Perry and others, I know how to get the whole couple to resemble Texas. President Obama knows how to get the whole country to resemble Detroit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEWS: Jeanne Cummings, how do you read that, Detroit?
JEANNE CUMMINGS, POLITICO: Well --
MATTHEWS: Writ large.
CUMMINGS: Well, first, I want to push back for a little bit. I`ve known Gingrich for a long time, and I need -- I personally would need a lot more evidence to accuse him of being racist or salting in racist marks. I think what he`s doing is typically where he goes, and that is this is liberal versus conservative. And so you have, you know, the liberal urban areas and they`re collapsed, and then, you know, pastoral, you know, free market system in the South being, you know, the standard by which he would embrace --
JOSH MARSHALL, TALKINGPOINTSMEMO.COM: I think there`s -- if you`re talking about --
CUMMINGS: -- and try to take the country.
MARSHALL: -- liberal cities, there`s --
CUMMINGS: I really think that`s more where he is.
Reasonable response to Matthews' question, right? As you'll observe, Matthews and his perilously liberal guests would have none of it:
MARSHALL: -- New York, there`s San Francisco.
STEVE MCMAHON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: That`s right.
MARSHALL: There`s a lot of -- you know, Detroit is -- is --
CUMMINGS: But Detroit has collapsed.
MARSHALL: -- unique in its of collapse. It`s a very --
CUMMINGS: New York hasn`t.
MARSHALL: -- black city. I think -- you know, I don`t -- whether Newt Gingrich is a racist, I -- it doesn`t even -- it doesn`t even cross my mind. He frequently -- particularly with President Obama, he traffics in highly-raced language that --
MCMAHON: That`s right.
MARSHALL: -- I don`t think there`s any -- there`s any getting away from that. He`s the -- Obama is the avatar of Detroit. He`s the con artist and hustler. He`s the Kenyan anti-colonialist.
MATTHEWS: OK, let me go back --
MARSHALL: You know, Mau-Mau -- these are all -- these -- these -- I think these things speak for themselves. And you know --
MATTHEWS: Let me go back to what he said about the president. Let`s go back to that quote about how he`s really a Mau-Mau. Here`s a great one for him. This is to "The National Review." What if Obama is so outside our comprehension that only if you understand Kenyan anti-colonial behavior can you begin to piece together his actions? That," he says, "is an accurate predictive model for this president," for his behavior. "This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works who happened to have played a wonderful con as a result of which he`s now president."
So calling a guy having the mindset of a Mau-Mau, Jeanne, what do you make of that?
CUMMINGS: Well, I think in that -- in that case, what -- he is trying to foster the notion that -- that Obama is exotic and foreign and not a real American. I think he definitely is trying to hit those veins in people and to stir up that sense of concern about the president`s credibility.
Another reasonable response to Matthews' question, especially as what Gingrich was referring to was a Forbes article by Dinesh D'Souza and offering an opinion on it. Since this surfaced at National Review in September, Matthews has been citing it virtually every time Gingrich's name comes up on either of his programs.
Thursday was no exception as after reading Gingrich's quote, the "Hardball" host began browbeating Cummins to change her view:
MATTHEWS: What`s a Kenyan anti-colonial behavior? What is that for an American born here in America? Why would an American have an anti- colonial Kenyan mind-set? That`s Mau-Mau talk. What is he -- I know the history of Africa. You do, too. He`s talking about the blacks in Africa that killed white people to get their independence. What is he talking about in using that language about an American politician who grew up the way Barack Obama, who had never really as a kid ever been to Kenya? What`s he talking about?
CUMMINGS: Well, again, I think --
MATTHEWS: Wasn`t raised by his father. Wasn`t raised by his father. Was raised by his white American mother from Kansas and his white American grandparents. Where would this Kenyan, Mau-Mau, anti-colonial mentality come from except ethnically, through his body? Where would it come from?
CUMMINGS: Well --
MATTHEWS: If this isn`t race, I don`t know what it is, what he`s talking about.
CUMMINGS: Well, again, I push back on the race thing. I think it`s foreign. I think it`s exotic. I think not one of us. And so I think that`s where he`s trying to go, that he`s got a mindset that`s not an American mindset and that --
MATTHEWS: Well, how would he have that? Why would he have such a -- why would he have a non-American mindset?
CUMMINGS: Well, I think --
MATTHEWS: What would be his -- what would be his premise here, Newt`s premise here?
CUMMINGS: Well, that he did -- he was raised -- his father, of course, was foreign, but --
MATTHEWS: He wasn`t raised by his father. He was raised by his white American mother from Kansas and her parents. How would he have a Kenyan mindset, an anti-colonial mindset? Where would that come from?
Having taken enough pounding, Cummins gave up:
CUMMINGS: OK, I can`t defend it, Chris.
MATTHEWS: OK. Thank you. It`s indefensible.
CUMMINGS: I can`t take on --
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: Thank you. I`m glad you agree with me.
So I guess that's the way it's going to be on "Hardball" now. If you go on Matthews' show and disagree with him, he'll browbeat you until you do:
MATTHEWS: Josh, your thoughts here.
MARSHALL: Well, you know, the one thing I think everybody forgets about with Newt -- go back to his signature election, the huge blowout in 1994. Just before the election, there was this horrible crime, down -- I believe, it was in South Carolina, Susan Smith --
MCMAHON: Yes.
MARSHALL: -- this mentally deranged woman who killed her kids, accused -- falsely accused some black man of having stolen her car and done it. Turned out she killed her own children. Newt finished the election on blaming this crime on the Democrats. That is -- that`s Newt`s style. This goes back 20, 30 years. And it`s just his -- it`s his signature. It`s how he exists in politics.
As the segment came to a conclusion, Matthews made clear his view that Gingrich is racist:
MATTHEWS: By the way, Dave Bing is trying to clean up Detroit. He`s doing a great job. And this old epithet here about Detroit being a city that`s had real problems, Motown. I think that`s a racist charge.
So anyone that refers to the horrible economic conditions in Detroit is racist. Got that?
MATTHEWS: Anyway -- I don`t know what Newt`s heart says, I know he`s willing to play this game. And it is the San Andreas fault of American politics, and anybody who plays racial politics is doing bad things for this country.
Thank you, Jeanne Cummings. I know you have to be objective. I think this is an objective fact this guy`s doing wrong things here.
"I know you have to be objective."
Shouldn't that be the job of all journalists?
Obviously not when they're on "Hardball."
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Comments
Chris is a Racer
Submitted by Red Jeep on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 10:02am.
He had a whopping 131,000 viewers Wednesday night in the poverty crowd, 25-54 age range.
That's hillarious.
Submitted by almostacowboy on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 10:51am.
That means that more people were watching a 4-minute "male-enhancement" commercial than watched Tingles' whole hour!
It's amazing how they can keep a network going with...
Submitted by Red Jeep on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 11:49am.
...very few viewers. They would be better off running informercials. But I guess the agenda is political spin, not profit. They forgot though that with no audience they have little power.
Wednesday night rundown 25-54 age range MSNBC (from tvnewser)
Chris: 5:00 131,000
Cenk: 6:00 101,000
Chris: 7:00 : 139,000
Larry: 8:00 : 171,000
Rachael: 9:00 263,000
Ed: 10:00 : 251,000
MSNBC, all white at night!
Typical.
Submitted by Morganfrost on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 10:06am.
Everyone (even that half-wit Matthews) knows that Gingrich was making a point about liberal v. conservative policies.
They've got no arguments against Gingrich's actual economic/political points (none that would hold water at this point), so they simply attack him and his views as "racist." Naturally, once you label someone as a racist, you really don't need much serious proof-- the allegation is usuallly good enough to taint someone.
And, since we all agree that racism is bad, we must, perforce, all agree that Gingrich is bad, and not only don't we need proof, we don't even need serious arguments.
It's classic racial politics, and (to quote Matthews at the end of this clip) "anybody who plays racial politics is doing bad things for this country."
Bless Jean b/c she was right but didn't pull in the
Submitted by VanPastorMan on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 10:09am.
correct information to wrap up the conversation. The reason Newt used the Kenyan word was because of BHO's book, "Dreams From My Father". His Dad was an imperialist who believed America and Brittain to be evil. BHO believes what his father believed. He has decided to take us down a peg or two from world leadership. He's doing a pretty good job of it isn't he?
Yeah...
Submitted by Tyler Durbin on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 10:10am.
No one does objectivity like Matthews.
"Hey Lama! How about a little something (you know) for the effort?"
Another thing. Jean hit it on the head. Detroit
Submitted by VanPastorMan on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 10:14am.
is where it's at because of LIBERAL policies. Whereas Texas is all about free market captialism. Matthews just glossed over that fact and went to race. What a piece of work he is.
Take it from the black guy...
Submitted by almostacowboy on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 10:49am.
on that panel of geniuses.....what?.....No what? No geniuses or......sorry, my bad.
In the linked article, Dinesh
Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 10:53am.
In the linked article, Dinesh D'Souza explains what "anticolonialism" means:
Anticolonialism is the doctrine that rich countries of the West got rich by invading, occupying and looting poor countries of Asia, Africa and South America. As one of Obama's acknowledged intellectual influences, Frantz Fanon, wrote in The Wretched of the Earth, "The well-being and progress of Europe have been built up with the sweat and the dead bodies of Negroes, Arabs, Indians and the yellow races."
Matthews also is apparently not familiar with fact that Mau-mau has other meanings besides anti-colonialism.
Of course, he sees it as a racist insult.
And wait a minute, Chris! He wasn't raised by his father, and his father had no influence on him (according to you), yet he wrote a book called "Dreams From My Father."
Doesn't that make him a fraud?
I Enjoy When Leftists Like Matthews Play The Race Card
Submitted by Conservator on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 11:26am.
First, Newt's comparison of Detroit vs. Texas was based on the results of last year's census - NOT RACE. Texas lead all states in population growth over the past 10 years. Detroit's census results show that its population has declined to a level that is less than in 1910.
With regards to Mau-Mau, Newt was observing a very interesting point raised by Dinesh D’Souza in the Forbes article referenced. He's a native of Mumbai, India. His generation in India was the first after securing independence from the British.
D’Souza writes, "...Anticolonialism was the rallying cry of Third World politics for much of the second half of the 20th century. To most Americans, however, anticolonialism is an unfamiliar idea, so let me explain it..."
It's amazing how uniform these left-wing pundits are or perhaps they aren't uniformed and just prefer to smear all of Obama's potential rivals in 2012. I think it's the latter.
Anyone who is breathing and
Submitted by jessieH on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 11:11am.
Anyone who is breathing and conservative is a racist, no matter what race they are. It's all they have to fight with. Half truths and blatant lies will not sway anyone to the dark side.
In other words, Chris
Submitted by Beukeboom on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 11:16am.
In other words, Chris Matthews isn't going to tolerate truth and facts whenever they get in the way of his liberal/socialist agenda.
Obama is a racist, Gingrich is a RINO
Submitted by JLin on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 11:18am.
.... big difference between the two and neither one should be President.
Oh, come on
Submitted by Chris Norman on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 9:24pm.
I don't support Gingrich as a presidential candidate, but the term "RINO" is getting misapplied and overused by conservatives almost as much as "racist" is used against us by liberals. Newt may have done some strange things, like the episode of posing with Nancy Pelosi on a couch, but he did a lot for the conservative movement in his time and to call him a "RINO" isn't fair and diminishes the meaning of the term.
So, Chris
Submitted by ProudAmerican58 on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 11:24am.
Anyone who plays racial politics is doing bad, bad things?
Kettle meet Black.
Oh, really?
Submitted by Galvanic on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 11:33am.
MATTHEWS: ". . . anybody who plays racial politics is doing bad things for this country."
Let's see. That would include not just Maxine Waters, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Charles Rangel, but virtually all the elected Democrats in the Federal government who claim that every political position they oppose is 'racist.' Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Debra Wasserman-Schultz, -- as self-appointed proxies for minorities in this country, they, too, play the Race Card.
And then there's the President himself, who, after conceding that he didn't have all the facts, condemned the white police officer that arrested a black Harvard professor in Cambridge, MA.
Lastly, there's Matthews and his comrades at MSNBC. They are constantly tainting legitimate political debates with accusations of racism -- always aimed at white Americans. NBC went so far as to broadcast a clip about the threat to our President posed by armed white men who were hundreds of yards away from where he was appearing. The image they used was that of a civilian male with a rifle slung on his shoulder, and his face digitally 'scrambled' to mask his identity. The scrambling of the face was important because the man was in fact and African-American.
So, by inference, the Democrats and NBC are doing bad things for this country.
The point was factual
Submitted by Tomorama on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 11:35am.
Tingles a few weeks ago "Ha, where are all the Republican candidates, Ha".........
As soon as one announces, he being the non-partisan he is hammers them with lies and innuendo and if a guest disagrees they get an "extra helping of spittle" until they succumb.
New York is doing swell geniuses and Sanfrancisco?
Are these a-hats serious?
More debt than they can handle thanks to uh, uh, uh, uh, uh liberal policies...
Pardon my Herman Cain for President :"thingy" at the bottom, I am but a racist.
SPIT AND SPUTTER MATTHEWS
Submitted by totsotvaitn on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 11:46am.
is a terrible interviewer. He is so busy answering his own questions he might as well spend the hour interviewing himself. What a arrogant jerk!!!!!!!
That is Detroit politics
Submitted by wingnut55 on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 12:38pm.
I live in the Detroit area and I have seen it for years. Any time you disagree with the mayor of Detroit, your a racist. It has been going on since Mayor Young destroyed the city with his idea that all white people need to move north of 8 mile (the northern boundary of the city). The city is still trying to rebound from the damage that Mayor Young did to it. I agree that Mayor Bing is trying to do his best to get the city back to it's former greatness, but he has to fight the city council to do it. Until he gets all the corrupt people off of the council he will not succeed. I don't know how may times people wanted to help Detroit by rebuilding a block or remodeling a building, ( The Kern Block, The Book Cadillac Building) but found that they didn't have enough money to fill all the hands out in the city council and mayor's office. I do not believe that Mayor Bing is there with his hand out, but there are still hold outs from former administrations who believe the city owes them a living. Dave Bing can clean up the city, but he has hit a stone wall, named the City Council.
Solve all your problems with one accusation!
Submitted by Dr. T on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 2:05pm.
We know Liberals don't think fiscal responsibility or logic is any kind of way to solve problems. We should also know by now, as evidenced further by this exchange on MessNBC, that Liberals believe the BEST way to solve the problems of a city, state or country is to elect a black or hispanic candidate to run things. This way, instead of solving the problems, you can just get people to stop talking about them by accusing anyone who does of being a racist.
Detroit is a disaster. That's a fact. It's also a fact that Mayor Bing will never be able to fix any of the problems if his supporters simply want to shut up the critics by accusing them of being racists, rather than actually addressing the issues. Name calling and baseless accusations have yet to fix one problem this country has faced. Interestingly, it also doesn't seem to translate into ratings.
MATTHEWS: Anyway -- I don`t
Submitted by Maestroh on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 6:16pm.
MATTHEWS: Anyway -- I don`t know what Newt`s heart says, I know he`s willing to play this game. And it is the San Andreas fault of American politics, and anybody who plays racial politics is doing bad things for this country.
Really?
Wanna talk about Jimmy Carter's race-baiting in the 1970 Georgia governor's race? Want to talk about his use of the term "ethnic purity" in 1976? Or how about when Parren Mitchell gave the intro for Carter on October 6, 1980 and during his intro said that Ronald Reagan "seeks the Presidency of the US with the endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan" (conveniently leaving out the part that Reagan publicly denounced and repudiated the Klan endorsement)? Or how about Bill Clinton attacking Sister Souljah? Or how about Clinton making sure his appearances before all black audiences occurred AFTER the evening news so it wouldn't be seen? Or what about Dukakis running a commercial with a Hispanic man who committed murder on furlough? (Angel Medrano but you'd think Willie Horton was a sin). Or what about Clinton having a commercial done with a chain gang (all-black) prior to the 1992 Georgia primary - a picture even Jerry Brown said was "a Willie Horton."
Oh I forgot. We're not supposed to expect objectivism from Chrissie Matthews. If that sawed off little punk ever wants to debate who runs racist campaigns, give me a cal and I'll make you rue the day you ever brought this subject up.
Reminds me of Star Trek
Submitted by Dave81 on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 10:01pm.
Wow, just last night I was watching the Star Trek: Next Generation episode Chain of Command where Picard is captured by the Cardasians and tortured to give up military secrets that he didn't have. His captor would shine 4 lights on him and ask him how many he saw, and when Picard replied that there were 4 lights, he'd be tortured. His captor was trying to get him to say that there were 5 lights when in fact there were only 4.
Chris Matthews' browbeating sounds a whole lot like that. Keep beating away at the lady until she finally "agrees" with you, right or wrong (actually, to me it seemed like she finally just gave up).
Chris Matthews
Submitted by Benjamin on Sat, 05/14/2011 - 6:08am.
is sick. I have to be careful when I view these clips of MSLSD hosts. They make my blood pressure go up.
Diabetic brain.
Submitted by Red Jeep on Sat, 05/14/2011 - 8:28am.
Diabetic brain.
Matthews has descended to racism himself in constantly showing
Submitted by daveinboca on Sat, 05/14/2011 - 3:25pm.
what a boorish oaf he is. He levitates into an ABC Sunday morning News Show and a nightly Mess-NBC comical parody of the Daily Show that is in no way justified economically. NBC has an agenda, get US govt. tax and big contract support and Immelt is a whore. Period. End of Story. ABC has a pitiful lineup anyway and cannot run anybody else except this clown of a drunken ninny whose obviously mixing up his meds with alcohol.