Hardball

MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Wednesday questioned the patriotism of Rupert Murdoch, wondering of the media mogul is a "true American."

Talking to Judd Legum of the liberal Center for American Progress, the Hardball anchor, derided, "Did [Murdoch] become a citizen just like somebody marries somebody to get into the country because they want a job or because he discovered some love of America? Is he a true American or is he an Australian?"

Viewers will remember a furious Matthews denouncing Michele Bachmann in 2008 for her questions about people who have "pro" or "anti-American views."

[See video below. MP3 audio here.]

On Wednesday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry talked to left-wing MSNBC host Chris Matthews about the debt ceiling fight, who cheered Senator Mitch McConnell's plan to give President Obama sole authority to raise the nation's credit limit: "...the White House seems to be happy that somebody on the other side realizes how dangerous this is going to be next week."

Later, Matthews went further in his praise for McConnell, pleased that the Senate Minority Leader was moving away from conservatives: "I think what the White House is happy about is that finally Mitch McConnell who's a leader, just like the President is a leader, is separating himself from the protesters out there on the Right."

As much as liberal media members pushing for tax hikes don't understand the fiscal and economic reasons for not doing so, they've been deceitfully ignoring the political ramifications for Republicans caving on this issue.

On Monday's "Hardball," National Journal's Major Garrett explained to Chris Matthews that if the President didn't raise taxes high enough for his liking when the Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress for two years, it's absurd to expect the GOP to do it for him now (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh doesn't like to comment about MSNBC because he fears it will help their dismal ratings.

However, he made an exception on Thursday's program saying amongst other things, "That whole network is a loony bin filled with people who are overflowing with uncontrollable rage, anger, unhappiness, and misery, by design" (video courtesy Right Scoop follows with transcript and commentary):

Two times in less than 24 hours, MSNBC's Chris Matthews smeared Republicans who oppose raising the debt limit as "terrorists." On Tuesday, after liberal guest Joan Walsh compared the GOP position to "hostage taking," the Hardball anchor derided, "I agree. It's terrorism."

On Wednesday, while talking with left-wing blogger Ezra Klein, Matthews engaged in extreme hyperbole again, excoriating, "I was talking about the old days. I've never seen either political party play terrorist with disregard."

Tonight MSNBC's cast and crew will gather in Washington D.C. to celebrate their network being on the air for 15 long years. In that time its hosts, reporters and guests have attacked conservatives and Republicans on everything from impeaching Bill Clinton and conducting a war on terrorism, up to the fight over public unions. All the while some of its reporters and hosts have been thrilled by the likes of Mikhail Gorbachev and Barack Obama.

For that entire 15 years MRC analysts have been dutifully watching and noting these often outrageous outbursts of leftism from NBC News' cable outlet.

The following collection of the worst MSNBC quotes, year-by-year, is just a sampling of the Lean Forward network's decade-and-a-half long devotion to advancing the cause of liberalism under the guise of journalism.

(video compilation after the jump)

John Lennon in the '70s sang about instant karma getting you.

On Wednesday's "Hardball," two weeks after mocking Texas governor Rick Perry for calling Twitter "Tweeter," the pathetically pompous Chris Matthews made the same mistake not once, but twice (video follows with transcript and commentary):

In the wake of Mark Halperin's suspension by MSNBC for calling President Obama the D-word, there have been numerous vulgarities aired on the network further proving his offense wasn't what he said but who he said it about.

After MSNBC allowed numerous F-bombs during its Independence Day coverage of the Casey Anthony trial, Matthews uttered a D-word of his own on Tuesday's "Hardball" (video follows with transcript and commentary, vulgarity warning):

MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Tuesday escalated his attack on the Republican Party, comparing them to a violent sect of Islam. The Hardball host frothed, "Well, the GOP has become the Wahhabis of American government, willing to risk bringing down the whole country in the service of their anti-tax ideology."

Discussing the debt ceiling vote, Matthews placed all of the blame on the right. In a tease for the segment, he fumed, "The Tea Party Republicans who are ready to bring down this country's economy in the name of ideology. This is really getting serious, and I believe scary, what's really being perpetrated here."

[See Video below. MP3 audio here.]

On MSNBC you can call a sitting president a "murderous" "fascist" even muse about putting the President on trial for war crimes, so long as that president is a Republican. But if you dare call a Democratic president a "d–ck," as MSNBC analyst Mark Halperin did this morning it's grounds for indefinite suspension.

While calling any president the D-word is probably not showing the proper respect for the office, it has to be asked where does it rank compared to essentially accusing a president of mass murder and war crimes?

Chris Matthews Tuesday once again showed that his tenuous grasp of reality is getting dangerously weak.

During the final segment of "Hardball," the host unequivocally blamed the 2007 financial crisis and resulting recession on George W. Bush just moments before he said, "Okay, Obama hasn't been able to get us out of it yet, but...there’s no sense blaming one Party or the other" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

This may not be the endorsement Jon Huntsman wants. MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Tuesday touted the Republcian presidential candidate's apparent acquiescence to a demand he made in an advertisement for Hardball. The journalist was so pleased, he dubbed himself, "the great communicator."

Matthews praised the moderate Republican for answering "the call I made during that promotional ad I was very happy to do when I said the Republican presidential candidates ought to have the courage to stand up and say that Barack Obama is as much an American as they are."

[See video below MP3 audio here.]

For months, NewsBusters has been alerting readers that the media scrutiny on every word uttered by Republican presidential candidates this election cycle will be like nothing we've ever experienced.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews perfectly demonstrated this on Monday's "Hardball" when he not only took Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) to task for mistaking the name of the town John Wayne was born in, he also expressed shocked that she would say "Iowa" fourteen times during a speech given in - wait for it! - Iowa (video follows with transcript and commentary):

After playing a clip of Michele Bachmann longing for a return to the "Founders' vision of a constitutionally conservative government," MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Monday assumed the Republican presidential candidate meant "slavery."

The Hardball anchor offered bizarre analogies, questioning former RNC Chair Michael Steele on Bachmann's 2012 campaign: "What is this, Michael? The Protestant Reformation? That somehow we're going back to the purity of the original Christian church?"

Immediately jumping to the worst interpretation, Matthews continued, "We're going back to the original perfection of slaveholders and how perfect they were and government is the enemy. She speaks pure Tea Party lingo."

Today's official announcement by Republican Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann that she is running for the GOP nomination for President could spawn a whole new round of frenzied attacks by the liberal media on the Tea Party favorite.

A review of the MRC's archives shows a particular disdain for Bachmann coming from the likes of MSNBC host Chris Matthews, who once accused her of being a "zombie," even going as far to ask her on live Election Night coverage if she "hypnotized?" 

Chris Matthews on Wednesday made it clear that like Al Gore, he believes the media should only be telling one side of the story when it comes to manmade global warming.

Such came out in the middle of a discussion about Gore's new article in Rolling Stone magazine when the "Hardball" host told his guests, "I hate that so-called evenhanded so-called objective journalism" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

A frothing Chris Matthews on Wednesday excoriated Rush Limbaugh as "evil" for spreading "lies" about global warming.

The Hardball host highlighted a new Rolling Stone article by Al Gore that chides Barack Obama for not doing enough on climate change.

Matthews, however, chose to attack Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh: "These people are evil in what they're doing. I'm not saying their souls are evil, but what they're doing is really, really wrong and it's not the President." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

MSNBC's Chris Matthews has for months been bashing potential GOP presidential candidates for not getting into the race to challenge Barack Obama for the White House.

Now that people are throwing their hats into the ring, the "Hardball" host has ripped virtually all of them including the not-yet-announced Texas governor Rick Perry who Matthews vociferously attacked as a phony and a puppet Monday because of hand gestures he made during his speech to the Republican Leadership Conference (video follows with transcript and commentary):

There's been a lot of talk lately that MSNBC's Chris Matthews is beginning to lose it.

As further evidence that the "Hardball" host seems a bit detached from reality, consider that on Monday's program, he referred to ABC's "This Week" as a show "not many people see...It doesn’t get many viewers" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Chris Matthews on Monday could barely contain his glee as he recounted a contentious Fox News debate between liberal comic Jon Stewart and Chris Wallace. Regarding Stewart's appearance on Fox News Sunday, Matthews excoriated, "Coming up, we got a real prize fight here and it's somewhat imbalanced. Jon Stewart smashing his way through Chris Wallace's face to make a point."

Matthews' panel to discuss the segment included David Corn of the leftist Nation magazine and Alex Wagner of Huffington Post. Corn had a bizarre comparison to the heated discussion.

As NewsBusters has been reporting since Monday's Republican presidential debate, MSNBC's Chris Matthews is suddenly a big fan of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's (R-Minn.).

On Saturday's "Fox News Watch," syndicated columnist Cal Thomas said, "Chris Matthews praises her, which is sort of like getting a civil rights affirmation from David Duke" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Now that disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) has resigned, the media are not only trying to help resuscitate his career but also coming up with reasons why he wasn't that well liked anyway.

Jumping on the bandwagon was the Huffington Post's Howard Fineman who told MSNBC's Chris Matthews Friday, "I also don't think a lot of people loved the fact that he was on Fox a lot" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Tamron Hall was so taken aback by Chris Christie's "none of your business" response to a voter's question about why he puts his kids in private school that she blurted the New Jersey Republican Governor reminded her of HBO's fictionalized mobster Tony Soprano. Right after playing a brief clip of Christie's "gruff" answer to the voter, Hall stooped to take a stereotypical cheap shot at New Jersey and its governor as she exclaimed: "I thought that was Tony Soprano!"

(video after the jump)

Chris Matthews on Thursday said Fox News ought to hire disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) to play the "typical liberal with all the lifestyle qualities of a typical liberal" to talk about "the latest scandal every night."

Politico's Ben Smith responded to the "Hardball" host, "I asked them about it today. They didn’t buy it. They referred me to CNN" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Chris Matthews came up with a bizarre analogy on Thursday, suggesting that Anthony Weiner's resignation press conference was "sort of like the hanging of Saddam Hussein." While offering criticism of Weiner, the Hardball anchor also praised the event: "At his best, he had dignity today. He had a measure of class, which has been missing in all of this."

Matthews made the weird comparison to the execution of a dictator while talking to Ben Smith of Politico. The host complained of hecklers at the press conference, opining, "Ben, it reminded me of the Saddam Hussein hanging today. Even they couldn't do that right. The grossness of affair led to the grossness of the finale."

[See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Hey, I couldn't give it away in the headline, could I? And no, it's not steamy dreams of Obama in the night.

In a new "Media Diet" interview at the Atlantic's website, Matthews explains how he sees himself as a conservative of sorts and how he revels in exposing "Grand Canyon[s] of ignorance" on his "Hardball" program (emphasis mine):

What is Chris Matthews up to? The MSNBC anchor, who once trashed Michele Bachmann as a "zombie" and a "nutcase," on Tuesday praised the Congresswoman as "poised, informed and serious." Touting Bachmann's performance in Monday's Republican presidential debate, he gushed that the Representative did "great."

MSNBC's Chris Matthews took a well-deserved shot at rival network CNN Monday for actually giving former New York governor Eliot Spitzer his own program.

The "Hardball" host also took a swipe at Spitzer saying it was "ludicrous" for him to actually be talking about Congressman Anthony Weiner's (D-N.Y.) sex scandal (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Talk about demonizing your political opponents, Chris Matthews has literally done it  to Newt Gingrich. . .

On his MSNBC show this evening, Matthews said that Gingrich "looks like the devil," reminds him of the warlock in Rosemary's Baby, and "is evil."

View video after the jump.

"Shouldn't presidential candidates and prospective candidates have a firm grasp of American history?" Chris Matthews rhetorically asked on the June 9 "Hardball" before lamenting that Sarah Palin had a penchant for being "painfully wrong" on the subject, citing her recent inartful explanation of the famed midnight ride of Paul Revere.

Yet it seems Matthews may have no idea why the British regulars were marching on Lexington and Concord in the first place, as the "Hardball" host scoffed yesterday at Palin making an "NRA ad" out of the historical ride.

Video follows page break