Chris Matthews on Wednesday urged the American people to "grow up" and accept that war against ISIS will be a long, bloody struggle. At first, the cable host offered what sounded like a recitation of the cycle of violence argument: "You can't just keep killing people and not expect them to try to get even with us. You know what I mean? They're beheading people, they say, because we used air strikes against ISIS." [MP3 audio here.]
He continued, "This is a cycle. So, we hit them with more air strikes. They'll do more against us." Yet, Matthews also lobbied, "It's an Islamic zealotry over there. This religious crusade, if you will, on the part of those fighting to behead people, to kill Christians, to kill anyone who disagrees with their version of Islam." He implored, " this isn't something we created. But we have got to deal with it."
So, which Chris Matthews is the real one? In 2005, he praised anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan:
Cindy Sheehan: "We're not going to cure terrorism and spread peace and good will in the Middle East by killing innocent people or - I'm not even saying our bullets and bombs are killing them. The occupation that - they don't have food, they don't have clean water, they don't have electricity. They don't have medicine, they don't have doctors. We need to get our military presence out of there and that's what's gonna start building good will....I see Iraq as the base for spreading imperialism...."
Host Chris Matthews: "Are you considering running for Congress, Cindy?"
Sheehan: "No, not this time...."Matthews: "Okay. Well, I have to tell you, you sound more informed than most U.S. Congresspeople, so maybe you should run."
- Exchange on MSNBC's Hardball, August 15, 2005.
In 2008, the host railed that neo-cons spread human rights at the "point of the gun."
On Wednesday, Matthews Insisted that the President "tell the American people, 'grow up.'" He also bristled at Chuck Todd's comparison of Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well, I was a speech writer for President Carter. Let me tell you, it was a totally different situation. The people in America were really angry in 1980, '79, '80 over the fact we were being humiliated overseas. But there was a tremendous feeling that we had the strength to deal with those people if we wanted to play rough. It wasn't like we were afraid at home or homeland security or even the term homeland wasn't there.
A partial transcript of the September 10 segment, which aired at 9:25am ET, follows:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: So, the American people have their attention grabbed. The President, as Chuck said this morning, doesn't need their [sic] attention grabbed. They know we're in fear. The question is how do you deal with that fear reasonably? Can you prevent any attack on the United States ever? No. Can you prevent any entanglement over there without going to war? No. So, the President has to come out and say something that's impossible tonight: "We can defeat the enemy without any danger to America." You can't just keep killing people and not expect them to try to get even with us. You know what I mean? They're beheading people, they say, because we used air strikes against ISIS.
PETER ALEXANDER: Right. Right.
MATTHEWS: Well, this is a cycle. So, we hit them with more air strikes. They'll do more against us. So, the idea that, somehow, a President can avoid any casualties and win a war is not really reasonable.
ALEXANDER: For the President, this isn't just a foreign policy cris obviously a political crisis. Some of these numbers are staggering. As you see, the disapproval, in terms of his handling foreign policy is now, I think, at like 61 percent of Americans suggest that. Chuck earlier today said that President Obama is in danger of doing, in his language, Jimmy Carter-like damage to the Democratic brand on foreign policy. What do you make of that?
MATTHEWS: Well, I was a speech writer for President Carter. Let me tell you, it was a totally different situation. The people in America were really angry in 1980, '79, '80 over the fact we were being humiliated overseas. But there was a tremendous feeling that we had the strength to deal with those people if we wanted to play rough. It wasn't like we were afraid at home or homeland security or even the term homeland wasn't there. It was the humiliation of us being blindfolded and being marched around. Our people weren't killed over there. It was a pride thing. This is different. This is a vulnerability feeling. The American people are afraid. They weren't afraid then. They were angry then. And by the way, let's leave politics out for at least a half hour tonight. Because I think the issue is, American security tonight.
ALEXANDER: So, what do you want to hear tonight? In specific, simple language –
MATTHEWS: I would like to see the President cut through the polling, which is not really reasonable, what it's finding in the polling, and tell the American people, "grow up." We're facing a situation we didn't necessarily create. It's an Islamic zealotry over there. This religious crusade, if you will, on the part of those fighting to behead people, to kill Christians, to kill anyone who disagrees with their version of Islam. This isn't something we created. But we have got to deal with it. And it is not going to be clean and it is going to involve casualties. It is going to happen. We're going to get people killed. Unless we just let them run rampant. We could do that. But nobody in America seems to want to do that now. So, if the American people want to do something about Isis, it's going to be costly. I think he has to tell they, unlike George W., there's going to be a cost to this war.
