Matthews Scolds NY Mag's Heilemann for Echoing Obama Talking Points on Contraception Controversy

Noel Sheppard
February 9th, 2012 10:13 PM
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Something extraordinarily rare happened on MSNBC Thursday.

One of the network's admittedly liberal anchors, Hardball's Chris Matthews, scolded a liberal guest, New York magazine's John Heilemann, for echoing Obama administration talking points (video follows with transcript and commentary):

JOHN HEILEMANN, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: It’s amazing to me that it took them two or three days to point out that this is the law of the land in 28 states already.

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: It’s not the law of the land. The law, those requirements are not the same as this. I’ve gone through this. That’s what the White House is putting out. Get that established independently of the White House. Just do that, because there’s co-pays involved and it’s different.

As can be seen in the photo to the right, Heilemann looked a bit embarrassed.

But Matthews wasn’t done, for seconds later before going to a commercial break he added, “Anyway, thank you, John Heilemann. We all have different sources.”

Kudos to the Hardball host, but wouldn't it be nice if nobody on MSNBC was ever allowed to echo Obama administration talking points?

A media analyst can dream, can't he?

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