The Chris Matthews Show

 Appearing as a panel member on Sunday’s syndicated Chris Matthews Show, the BBC’s Katty Kay suggested that Tea Partiers are willing to go against the "country’s interest" rather than to "deal" with President Obama. Kay: " And if there is going to be a wing of the Republican Party that says, do not on any issue, on any case, even on its merits, compromise with the President, it’s gonna be the Tea Party. And if the Tea Party is driving the energy in the Republican Party ... Republicans in Congress are going to have to look very carefully at how they deal with them. And the Tea Party is saying we don’t care about whether it’s in the country’s interest, in our foreign policy interest, in our economic interest necessarily to deal with the President."

A bit later, as she speculated about whether obstruction by the GOP would be rewarded or punished in 2012, she seemed to suggest that "competence" would involve compromising with President Obama as she used the word as the alternative to standing on "principle" and opposing Obama. Kay: "I think this is the biggest point that, I mean, the point that Dan raises about in 2012. Will voters more reward competence and actions that have been seen to be effective for the country? Or will they reward politicians who stood on principle and oppose the White House expansionist agenda, as they see it?"

 On Sunday’s syndicated Chris Matthews Show, panel member Katty Kay of the BBC claimed that Vice President Dick Cheney had convinced 70 percent of Americans to believe that Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks, and that he "hoodwinked the American public." Kay’s accusation came as host Matthews had turned the discussion to the topic of how President Obama might have handled the response to the 9/11 attacks differently than President Bush.

Bob Woodward of the Washington Post asserted that "there was no al-Qaeda in Iraq until we invaded, and then they came." But, as previously documented by NewsBusters, before the 2003 invasion, varous news sources - some American, some from other countries - were already citing the governments of several countries as they reported that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of al-Qaeda in Iraq, not only was already in Iraq plotting attacks against targets in Europe, but that he already had an association with Osama bin Laden and had spent time in Afghanistan.

Kay then chimed in, as she suggested that Cheney had convinced most Americans that Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks, although she seemed to mistakenly use the word "Iraq" instead of "9/11." Kay: "But the, sort of, political ‘extraordinaryness’ of the Bush administration was that Cheney managed to convince 70 percent of American people that Iraq was, that Saddam Hussein was directly behind Iraq and hoodwinked the American public."

Matthews responded: "In the polling, you’re right, it’s in the polling."

If the Republicans are victorious at the polls next Tuesday, President Obama will demonize them the same way Bill Clinton did after the 1994 midterm elections. 

So said New York magazine's John Heilemann and NBC News's Norah O'Donnell on this weekend's "The Chris Matthews Show" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

 On Sunday’s syndicated Chris Matthews Show, as host Matthews asked the panel to predict the outcome of the Pennsylvania Senate election, he described Republican candidate Pat Toomey as "right-leaning," but assigned no ideological label to Democratic candidate Joe Sestak. Panel member John Heilemann of New York magazine asserted that Toomey is "not just right-leaning, he’s a pretty conservative guy," while also giving no label to Sestak. Ironically, it was Helene Cooper of the New York Times who finally described Sestak as "so far to the left."

Later in the show, as the group discussed what Republican control of Congress would mean for President Obama, Heilemann continued to see Republicans being at an extreme without noting any liberal extremism as he recounted President Clinton’s battle in the 1990s with Republican Speaker New Gingrich and how President Obama could play a similar role with a Republican Congress. Heilemann: "He (President Clinton) took advantage of Newt Gingrich’s extremism to make Republicans look bad. Obama can play that part of the game possibly very effectively."

Andrew Sullivan on Friday said that if you say something bigoted on Fox News, you get rewarded, promoted, and celebrated.

As the topic of NPR's firing of Juan Williams was raised on the syndicated program "The Chris Matthews Show," Sullivan was far more critical of the cable news station than the radio network (video follows with transcript and commentary):

On Sunday’s syndicated Chris Matthews Show, as the group discussed how a budget fight between a Republican Congress and President Obama might play out politically, host Matthews joked about the Chicago saying about bringing a gun if one's opponent has a knife, and putting enemies in the morgue as a metaphor for how Obama might deal with Republicans politically – a saying President Obama also has a history of using:

CLARENCE PAGE, CHICAGO TRIBUNE: But Obama knows how to play confrontation politics the Chicago way, and this is the kind of thing that, this is where the rubber meets the road.

MATTHEWS: You mean like Jimmy the Cop, "They come at you with a knife, you go at them with a gun"?

PAGE: You’ve got it. And remember-

MATTHEWS: "They put you in the hospital, you put them in the morgue"? Is that what we’re talking here?

Notably, some MSNBC liberals like Keith Olbermann have a history of accusing Republicans of inciting violence by using metaphors, and just a few weeks ago, Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks filled in on MSNBC’s The Ed Show and went to lengths to accuse Republicans of inciting violence with metaphorical rhetoric, all while ignoring Obama’s own similar history.

Dan Rather this weekend smacked down the entire panel of the syndicated "Chris Matthews Show" over the press hyping Pastor Terry Jones's threats to burn Korans on the ninth anniversary of 9/11.

"Media in general bear some responsibility here by running so hard with this story so early and putting such comments as you just said not only on the air, but high on the air, giving it play," Rather said.

When everyone on the set - including Matthews, Katty Kay of the BBC, Andrea Mitchell of NBC, and David Ignatius of the Washington Post - disagreed with him, Rather pushed back, "We do have a responsibility, however you want to describe us, as gatekeepers."

He continued, "We could do a better job of putting it in perspective, putting it into context" (video follows with transcript and commentary): 

On Sunday’s syndicated Chris Matthews Show, after host Matthews asked if electing a President whose middle name was "Hussein" had "opened a door to better relations with the Arab and Islamic world. Or has it opened a door to more xenophobic American negativity?" the panel mostly agreed that Obama’s election was more of a "net plus" for America’s relations with the world's Muslim population. The Washington Post’s David Ignatius had a dissenting view that "President Obama raised expectations that there would be a different kind of America. That in itself could be dangerous."

After former CBS News anchor Dan Rather argued that "I think it's opened the door to both, but, on balance, and in the main, it's still a net plus in terms of the country's reputation," the BBC’s Katty Kay agreed and implicated President Bush in damaging America’s relations with the Muslim world. Kay: "I agree that it's a net plus, particularly when you compare it with what came before and the invasion of Iraq and how much of a problem that was for America's relations with the Middle East."

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell concurred: "I agree because after the invasion of Iraq and with this President and his multicultural background, it is a net plus."

Washington Post columnist David Ignatius then weighed in with a more pessimistic take:

It’s happened again! Collecting quotes for the Labor Day edition of MRC’s bi-weekly Notable Quotables, I found more outrageous liberal eruptions than could fit into the normal newsletter. So, just for NewsBusters readers, here are 12 worthy quotes that just couldn’t squeeze into the regular issue (although hopefully a couple of these gems will find their way into our upcoming September 20 edition):



Obama Opponents Pine for “Ethnic Purity”

“First of all, we have a mixed race President who has a middle name ‘Hussein.’ And a good part of the anxiety that’s going on in small-town white America isn’t just the plain old black and white stuff of the past. It’s the fact that South Asians are moving in and running the local motel or, you know, I don’t want to deal in those sorts of cliches, but there are a lot of Latinos about who are moving into these areas that their grandchildren are coming out as gay or intermarrying. The purity of, the ‘ethnic purity,’ to coin a phrase, that they grew up with no longer exists....”
— Time’s Joe Klein on the Chris Matthews Show, August 29.

Are you sick and tired of being called a racist because you don't agree with Barack Obama's policies?

If you are, you shouldn't read any further, for Cynthia Tucker this weekend claimed the voter anger that threatens the Democrat majorities in the House and the Senate is all a function of racism.

With the opening segment of the syndicated program "The Chris Matthews Show" focusing on the strong position the GOP has going into the midterm elections, Tucker said, "We haven't talked about the elephant in the room, and I don't mean the Republicans: race. Changing demographics. Fear of a white minority."

She disgustingly continued as host Chris Matthews agreed, "Obama's election has suddenly made many white Americans aware of the loss of a white majority. That's what this crazy summer has been all about" (video follows with transcript and commentary, file photo):  

Chris Matthews this weekend actually invited a real conservative on to the syndicated program bearing his name, and what transpired was a thing of beauty.

National Review's Reihan Salam did such a fabulous job of educating Matthews and his guests - especially Time's Joe Klein - that I imagine him quickly becoming a NewsBusters favorite.

The initial topic of discussion was Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally scheduled to occur after this was taped.

Between Matthews' disrespectful introduction, and Klein calling the conservative talk show host "a paranoid lunatic," one had the feeling this would have devolved into a full on hate-fest if not for Salam's presence.

Fortunately, the National Reviewer was there to set the record straight (videos follow with transcripts and commentary): 

Gloria Borger this weekend ridiculed Barack Obama's dependence on his trusted teleprompter.

During the opening segment of the syndicated "Chris Matthews Show," the host was comparing the current White House resident to the late John F. Kennedy.

After Matthews showed video clips of JFK and Richard Nixon during the 1960 presidential campaign, guest Dan Rather remarked, "I noticed in the acceptance speeches neither one of them used a teleprompter. You can't imagine any candidate today going without a teleprompter for an acceptance speech."

Borger marvelously quipped, "Particularly Obama" (video follows with transcript and commentary): 

Chris Matthews this weekend winced in pain when a guest on his syndicated program said it's actually more likely the Democrats will lose the Senate than the House in the upcoming midterm elections.

As the "Chris Matthews Show" entered its final segment when panelists offer their predictions, New York magazine's John Heilemann said, "There are a lot of really smart Democratic politicos that I talk to who are actually a little bit more worried right now that it's possible Democrats could lose the Senate more easily than they could lose the House."

Matthews interrupted with a pained expression on his face, "That's like losing a dozen seats."

As Heilemann continued, the host once again interrupted, "Could [Sen. Barbara] Boxer lose in California?" 

When Heilemann said yes, Matthews grimaced, "You're talking tsunami" (video follows with transcript and commentary): 

The panel of the syndicated "Chris Matthews Show" this weekend campaigned for Hillary Clinton to replace Joe Biden as Vice President in order to assist Barack Obama's re-election in 2012 and set her up for a successful presidential bid in 2016. 

As NewsBusters reported Wednesday, Chris Matthews on that evening's "Hardball" had former Virginia governor Doug Wilder and New York magazine's John Heilemann on to discuss the merits of this strategy.

The "Hardball" host must have found this quite compelling, for he decided to do an entire segment on his weekend program with guests Erin Burnett of CNBC, Kelly O'Donnell of NBC, Howard Fineman of Newsweek, and Heilemann.

After playing a clip from Wednesday's "Hardball," as well as a video of Clinton in 2009 saying she'd never run for president again, Matthews and his panel started the campaigning (videos follow with commentary):

Chris Matthews, during his syndicated The Chris Matthews Show over the weekend, warned viewers that a big win for Republicans in the upcoming midterms could lead to a bunch of "oddballs" coming to Washington. Matthews, citing a New York magazine article by Jennifer Senior, alerted his audience that if the Tea Party is successful in November it could be reminiscent of the Republican class of 1994 when a bunch of "nutty standouts" arrived. Matthews then went on to list two groups of Republicans who were elected in 1994 and placed them in two groups: "the black helicopter crowd of paranoids" and "hypocrites who stood on the party's family values platform and then managed to slip off." [audio available here]

The following Matthews monologue was aired on the August 1 edition of The Chris Matthews Show:

Dan Rather this weekend said the odds are that the Republicans will take back the House in the upcoming midterm elections.

Maybe more surprisingly, Chris Matthews, with a look on his face like someone had given him the worst news possible, actually agreed with him. 

As the discussion on the latest installment of the syndicated "Chris Matthews Show" focused on what Democrats need to do this fall to prevent a disaster at the polls, the former "CBS Evening News" host said what has to be scaring the heck out of liberal media members from coast to coast (video follows with transcript and commentary):

MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Wednesday demonstrated how the dissemination of Democrat talking points and marching orders via the JournoList can be far more effectively employed on television.

In a "Hardball" segment about a new Democratic National Committee ad that looks to connect the GOP with the "more extreme elements" of the Tea Party, Matthews chatted with Republican strategist Todd Harris and the George Soros-funded Center for American Progress's Jennifer Palmieri about whether the strategy will work.

What was most interesting was how Matthews, almost like a JournoLister, seemed to be drawing from a discussion he had with his panelists on last weekend's syndicated program bearing his name.

Before we get there, here's the relevant discussion with Harris and Palmieri (videos follow with transcripts and commentary): 

Chris Matthews made a delicious Freudian slip this weekend calling Barack Obama President Carter.

In the first segment of the syndicated program bearing his name, Matthews and panel discussed what Democrats are going to have to do to win in the upcoming midterm elections.

The consensus was that they can't run on what they've "accomplished" in the past eighteen months because Americans are unhappy about the exploding federal debt and healthcare reform.

Quite surprisingly the famous "Matthews Meter" found twelve out of twelve show regulars believe the anti-Democrat feeling in the nation is so strong Republicans could win in a wave election this year without actually proposing an agenda.

This hysterically led the host to ask his guests, "Will the Democrats running for the House re-election, they're all running for re-election under the Constitution, and the Senate candidates, will they run away from President O-Carter?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

If you needed to know just how liberal Chris Matthews is, consider that he thinks Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, and Michael Dukakis are on the center-left of the political spectrum.

So said Matthews on this weekend's syndicated talk show bearing his name.

To be sure, the host of "Hardball" has in the past expressed his pride in being a liberal.

But claiming on national television that Carter, Mondale, and Dukakis are all center-left should open a lot of eyes (video follows with transcript and commentary): 

Throughout the last half-century, time and time again, a means to stimulate an ailing economy has occurred through tax cuts. Former Presidents John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush have proven economic relief is most effective through tax cuts - not government spending. 

Still that method has detractors. However, CNBC "The Call" co-anchor Trish Regan, with a panel decidedly against her, made the case for tax cuts. On NBC's July 11 broadcast of "The Chris Matthews Show," Regan explained how tax cuts encourage businesses to help reverse the trend of high unemployment and that businessmen are worried about the end of the Bush tax cuts.

"They absolutely are," Regan said. "They're concerned about it and this is one of the issues when it comes to hiring. They're hesitant right now when it comes to bringing more employees on board because one, you're not seeing final demand because consumers aren't spending that much, and number two, they're dealing with the tax consequences of having more people in their companies. So that's definitely an issue."

There's something very tortuous about watching some of the talking heads assembled on NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show," especially when they try to dissect former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin like she is some alien life form.

On the July 11 broadcast of his weekend show, Matthews and his panel analyzed Palin's "Mama Grizzlies" ad spot and attempted to determine what Palin's end goal was with the ad. And Time magazine's Joe Klein attributed credit to Palin's charismatic ability.  

"The most important thing about Sarah Palin is that she's a great stand-up politician," Klein said. "I mean, when you hear her talk - this is not a woman who has sat in a room with a political consultant telling her how to pronounce words. It's just her voice."

"There's something in the inflection which is provocative," Matthews replied.

Appearing on FNC's "Hannity" on Thursday, Media Research Center President and NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell discussed the media's left-wing slant on the latest issues during the weekly "Media Mash" segment.

The first topic was NBC's Matt Lauer fretting that Americans would not learn the "proper message" from the oil spill and curb their "appetite for oil." Mr. Bozell pointed out that the media had learned nothing from the ClimateGate scandal and noted their determination to bring an end to offshore oil drilling.

Another topic of discussion was the media's fawning coverage of Elena Kagan, particularly by ABC's Claire Shipman, who spoke of the Supreme Court nominee's "personal charm" Bozell observed that he had never seen such a one-sided profile of someone in his life.

The segment wrapped up with a look at NBC's Chris Matthews and a panel of liberal pundits all describing President Obama's left-wing policies as a "positive" in the November elections. Host Sean Hannity remarked "How about negative?" Bozell joked that the liberal panelists might be working for the RNC because of their encouragement for Obama to continue down such an unpopular road.  

For the full segment, watch the video above or listen to the audio here.

On the syndicated Chris Matthews show over the weekend, Chris Matthews praised Barack Obama for earning another "big feather" in his cap for getting his Wall Street reform bill passed and then went on to ask his panel if all of the other overbearing, big government laws signed in his term would lead to victory for the Democratic Party in the fall. Just before closing his show Matthews posed the following big question to HDNet's Dan Rather, the BBC's Katty Kay, CNN's Gloria Borger and the Politico's John Harris: "Will the President's legislative success with the stimulus, with health care, with Wall Street reform and maybe even an energy bill be a net positive or negative for his party this fall?"

The following are their individual responses as aired on the June 27 Chris Matthews Show:

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Cynthia Tucker believes Americans are the enemy of the nation moving in a new energy direction because of what she called our addiction to oil.

As the discussion on this weekend's "The Chris Matthews Show" moved to why President Obama hasn't attacked energy policy much like Eisenhower did the space program, Tucker said, "One of the differences between the '50's when Sputnik was launched and now, that was a battle against Communism."

She continued, "It's always much easier to rally Americans against an external threat, an external enemy."

And sadly continued, "In this case, the enemy is us. Americans are addicted to petroleum. We use way too much oil" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Some Tea Party leaders are calling for conservatives to boycott MSNBC's advertisers, after the network ran a documentary on June 16 that they say unfairly slandered the movement.

Two of the Tea Party leaders interviewed in the Chris Matthews-narrated documentary are asking supporters to write, call and fax the offices of Dawn and its parent company Proctor and Gamble and request that they cease giving advertising dollars to Matthews' "Hardball" program on MSNBC. FreedomWorks chairman Dick Armey and Kitchen Table Patriots member Ana Puig jointly called the documentary a "propaganda piece" and urged Tea Party groups around the country to boycott Dawn products.

"The program ‘Rise of the New Right' was low-ball journalism at its worst," said the Kitchen Table Patriots in a statement released today. "Chris Matthews and his Hardball program slandered the Tea Party movement, and misled the American people by distorting facts about the Tea Party movement, its motivations and its history." (Videos at the bottom of post.)

With Americans heading to the polls in less than five months, the liberal media have once again adopted their typical strategy of depicting every Republican candidate as being a far-right extremist.

Such was on display in this weekend's syndicated "Chris Matthews Show" when the host began the second segment by saying, "This week's primaries proved again that this anti-Washington year may usher in Republicans who owe a lot to the far-right."

Matthews then played a clip from his upcoming special "Rise of the New Right," saying after its completion, "Well, Tea Parties have had some luck with conservatives who have beaten establishment Republicans this year. This past Tuesday night, for example, Nevada Republicans chose a Tea Party candidate to go against Harry Reid. And she's not shy about her extreme views like killing Social Security and Medicare."

After a brief clip of Sharron Angle speaking at a Nevada debate, Matthews said, "And even mainstream Republicans like Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina who won nominations this week in California have bent to the right in reaction to pressure from the hard-right."

Matthews then showed a Whitman ad wherein she was talking tough about illegal immigration followed by a Fiorina commercial that had the nerve to use "that tried and true conservative line 'The Democrats are soft on terrorism.'"

The host then asked New York Magazine's John Heilemann, "That's very hard-right talk; is that the smart talk to win an election in California?" (video follows with more transcription of this discussion):

Barack Obama's presidency goes the way of Jimmy Carter's if he doesn't get control of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

So said New York Times White House correspondent Helene Cooper on the most recent installment of "The Chris Matthews Show."

As the opening segment's discussion concerning the spill moved to a close, the host surprisingly asked his panel if  Obama can continue to "blame the previous administration, the oil patch guys, Bush and Cheney" for the disaster.

Readers will likely find the answers quite surprising (video follows with transcript and commentary): 

On Sunday’s syndicated Chris Matthews Show, Time magazine columnist Joe Klein joined the ranks of left-leaning media figures like Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann in blaming the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on the Bush administration. As the panel discussed President Obama’s handling of the disaster, Klein opined that "this is more Bush’s second Katrina than Obama’s first," and, after agreement from host Matthews, Klein continued: "Yes, because it was the Bush regulations, it was Dick Cheney’s deregulation, and lording over the Minerals Management [Service]-"

Later in the show, as the group discussed whether President Obama would recover from his current sagging approval numbers, Klein asserted that Obama is lucky because Republicans "look worse" on the oil spill than do Democrats: "He is incredibly lucky in his opposition. I mean, you know, the oil spill is a great example. The Republicans look worse on that than the Democrats do. I think that, because there are no really coherent Republican leaders now, he’ll come back."

Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Sunday, May 30, syndicated Chris Matthews Show:

Chris Matthews ended this weekend's syndicated program bearing his name by asking a very strange question: Will President Obama eventually get blamed personally for slow action on the oil spill?

The word "eventually" seems almost a Freudian slip inasmuch as it not only suggested the current White House resident ISN'T shouldering any of the responsibility for this horrific disaster yet, but also that Matthews is somewhat surprised by that.

Stranger still were the responses from Matthews' panelists -- Howard Fineman and Jonathan Alter both of Newsweek, and Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post -- who felt Obama would eventually be blamed.

Less surprising was MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell saying he wouldn't -- how could she return to that network daring to blame Obama for anything! -- and Matthews who oddly declined to answer his own question (video and transcript follow with commentary):  

People always ask me if the media's liberal bias is caused by ideology or ignorance.

My answer is "Both."

Exhibit A: Cynthia Tucker, the Pulitzer Prize winning editorial page editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, actually believes Republicans controlled Congress in 2007.

Appearing on this weekend's syndicated program "The Chris Matthews Show," Tucker said the following after the host asked her why neither political party, including the current president, seems to be able to do anything concerning immigration (video follows with transcript and commentary):