Matt Damon and Chris Matthews Discuss Waterboarding Dick Cheney

Photo of Noel Sheppard.

Chris Matthews’ interview with actor Matt Damon, which was recorded last week, was aired on Monday’s “Hardball”. Apart from what was reported here Saturday, Damon also made some disparaging remarks about Dick Cheney (video available here), while Matthews addressed what it would be like to waterboard the Vice President...I kid you not.

Conceivably the most amazing part about this interview was the whole idea that Chris Matthews was actually discussing the war in Iraq with an actor as if Damon was some kind of expert on geopolitics. For instance, after Damon suggested that the entire war was a “PR battle,” Matthews asked the audience if they agreed. This met with great applause. When it died down, Damon said: “There’s no other reason to rush that fast to war unless you know you don’t have it. They didn’t have it.”

Matthews followed this up as if he was questioning Colin Powell:

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“You think the war was fought because of the reasons they sold it? Was it about WMD, was it about Mideast politics, was it about ideology?” Damon, in a somewhat roundabout way, declared “…it keeps changing.”

That's when the fun started:

Matthews: Do you think guys like Cheney – I love to pronounce his name correctly by the way. Do you think guys like – it’s like a Dickensian name, Cheney. Do you think he knew he was saying stuff that wouldn’t turn out to be true, or was he just mad dog to fight the war?

Damon: I’d like to see him under oath.

Matthews: I would, too. I’d like to see him with you. Do you think if you waterboarded Cheney, like in the movie, that you'd get a different truth out of him?

Damon: Well, there's two answers to that question.  One is he doesn't strike me as the kind of person who has any real personal courage.  When it was his turn to go, he didn't go.  He deferred six times…..The second part to the answer is that I believe that if you waterboard anybody, they'll tell you anything and that torture is completely impractical, on top of being dishonorable.  It's completely impractical because you can -- I mean, if you torture a normal person, if you torture anybody, they're going to tell you whatever you want them to tell you.  So if you're getting information that you're going to then use and you get it by torturing them...

Extraordinary.

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.


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Pardon the language but . . .

 I would personally like to bitch slap both Matthews & Damon.  How many deferments did Chrissie get?  I know that isn't a nice thing to say but these liberals make my sking crawl.  I cannot stand these idiots.  When they come for them I'll be laughing my butt off.

how many deferments for Chrissie???

how many deferments for Chrissie???  Before or after the gender changing surgery????

Oh Misterbill

 I got a great chuckle out of that! :)

Damon

Dammit!  Why is it that all of these IDIOT actors have to go and prove they're idiots.  Damon was one of the few actors I could watch and not find myself being distracted by what I know of him personally.  It turns out that he's a tool like all of them. 

Oh, and the "he doesn't strike me as the kind of person who has any real personal courage" line will stick with me for a while.  These ass-wipes play heroes and tough guys on the screen and convince themselves that's who they are.

I feel exactly the same way a

I feel exactly the same way and now I sadly must put him in the same category as so many of the idiot actors out there.  He showed just how big of a moron he really is.  I also was thinking about seeing this movie but after hearing what he said I definitely will not pay to see any more of his movies.  What really ticks me off though is that so many people have said that I look very much like Damon.  I definitely dont want people to see me and think of an idiot like him who talks about things he has no concept of understanding.  Anyone know a good plastic surgeon? =D

If going to war is Damon's me

If going to war is Damon's measure of "real personal courage," then why didn't he enlist in the Army or Marines to prove his point? After all, he was 20 years old when Gulf War I started.

By the way, torture does work and the incredibly naive Damon doesn't know that there are techniques for determining if one is telling the truth even while under duress.  Perhaps, he should have finished that degree at Harvard.

Also, our top combatants undergo training that assists them in enduring torture.  The goal is to suppress tactical information for 72 hours.  Of course, your mileage may vary, but that is the amount of time after which tactical intelligence is likely to be stale.  Of course, that gives one a whole new perspective on the challenges that we must undertake to elicit intelligence from the likes of the captured in the War on Terror.   Perhaps, if Damon actually learned about the potential harm that terrorists could do in our country if they weren't already otherwise occupied in several theater's of war across the planet includind Iraq, he would have some modicum of credibility.  Instead Damon makes millions playing a character that tortures and murders people in the Bourne series of films (not to mention the torture that he puts right minded Americans through when making utterly asinine statements). 

Finally, maybe this is why dumber (Damon) is so screwed up:  "His parents divorced when he was two and he spent part of his childhood in a commune in Boston with his mother, a specialist in child education." 

I think this is just sick.

I think this is just sick. What a total wuss. Why do these idiots deserve a world stage?

I like to think that back in

I like to think that back in the day, a negative, malignant excuse for a journalist like Chris Matthews would have seen the end of his career over such ignorant and disrespectful comments about the Vice President.  In any event, the next time I hear a liberal moan about how biased Fox News supposedly is, I'll be thinking about CNN's representative from Howard Dean's office.   And as for Damon, unless he knows without a doubt that he would have willingly had his play-acting, pretty-boy face shipped over for some combat in Vietnam, he should shut his cake hole and refrain from judging anyone who faced that decision during the war. 

"Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him." -Muhammad

pansy slapping

"crapous" had to retort, since being taken to tasked by ex cia Milton Bearden who was techican advisor on the movie, who had gotten into crapous's face about such matter's ,But?? too bad he had to( miss??) that part of the show, But it looks like he was asked to remove himself from the panal for talking "down" at the hostess earlier, sissy-boy had tryed to bait him on several questions,an was b!tch-slapped each time..

Its funny, I have gotten to t

Hey… Matt, Alec Baldwin, Ed Asner, Joy Behar, Harry Belafonte, George Carlin, Cher, the Dixie Chicks, Mike Farrell, Jane Fonda, Richard Gere, Danny Glover, Whoopi, Woody Harrelson, Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Spike Lee, Madonna, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Julia Roberts, Martin Sheen, Barbra Streisand, George Clooney, Robert Altman, Bruce Springsteen, Ben Affleck, Leonardo.. DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Donald Sutherland, Richard Dreyfuss, Gwyneth Paltrow, John Mellencamp, Ted Danson, Jon bon Jovi. (this goes on and on)..  DON’T  PREACH TO US ABOUT POLITICS, AND WE WONT PREACH TO YOU ABOUT ENTERMANT.  How about that for a deal?

America is best described by one word, freedom... Dwight D. Eisenhower

What's worse than interviewin

What's worse than interviewing actors and singers about economics, foreign policy and other issues on which they have no training, is that so many of those watching lap it up.  Gee, if Matt Damon says "torture" doesn't work or the war is going badly, it must be true...he's famous!

Someone Tell MAtt............

Someone Tell MAtt........................You're NO Arnold Swatzerniger !

Why Matt Damon's New Movie Will Bomb...Along with Dreamgirls

Matt Damon's movie, "The Good Shepherd" is being released on the 22nd. And though it won't bomb quite as bad as DiCaprio's current disaster, "Blood Diamond", Damon will run a close second. The same reasons, by the way, Dreamgirls  will bomb.

There comes a point of overkill, too much nostalgia and time to move onward and upward. And at this point enough is enough of reliving the 1960's. How many times are audiences going be promised something new and instead end up watching the same movie and characters in slightly altered costumes, all coming from the dawning of the "Crybaby Boomers". It is time to quit worshipping this very dead decade, have the funeral and stop trying to resurrect the decade of dummies. But I doubt this will ever happen and sadly, even the "Crybaby Boomer" grandchildren are now being taught the mythology of the 1960's and yearn to imitate it instead of finding their own way.

Damon looks ridiculous and unbelieveable in his horn-rimmed whitey-X glasses, his G-man coat and meat-cutter hair part. This character has been played too many times on too many stages and is just a recycled 1960's powerful white nerd suffering from feelings of inadequacy...just as the characters in Dreamgirls have shown up in countless movies but now with the hope of some new star glitter people will pay for the same old show one more time.

Both of these movies are easily predictable and frankly a Jr. High student might find them intriguing, but beyond such juvenille sophistication they are muck. Damon is entertaining as Bourne and he needs to run back as fast as he can be be "Bourne Again". As for Jamie Foxx, "Ray" was just his Stevie Wonder bit from the 90's Fox show "In Living Color", with a few angry Ray gestures and beyond that Foxx has demonstrated that his acting should have stayed on the small screen.

If you claim to be a conservative, please don't disgrace yourself and conservatism by thinking and arguing like a liberal.

This is the left's cunning pl

This is the left's cunning plan; they got rid of Rumsfeld, now they are going after VP Cheney. I don't know how these people sleep at night. What stuff are they talking about in reference to "saying stuff he knew wouldn't be true"?

he has a high school degree.

he has a high school degree.  dropped out of college,  has made a nice living as an actor and his roles seem to be falling off lately.  sounds to me like another has been trying to get attention any way he can.  in american today that means being famous and criticizing the president or vice president.  that is always good for a little pr from the msm. 

what expertise does he have that would justify our listening to him on politics?   

he is the son of a tax preparer and a professor.  he  then got involved in hollywood.  the kid really had a one dimensional upbringing from a liberal point of view.   i would doubt he has spoken with more than 2 conservatives in his lifetime.  he is not particularly well rounded.

if you have seen one of his movies you have seen them all.  for all his hype, he is a poor actor.  he is BOORING. 

A degree?

A high school degree?  Why elevate such a pathetic institution to such heights of that of a college or university?

You know, I was thinking about watching The Good Shepherd.  Not now. 

"Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy."  -Sir Winston Churchill, British statesman (1874-1965)

Enough with these no-talent T

Enough with these no-talent Tinsletown half-wits thinking they know something about the world because they "played the part once".  These pampered prissies certainly live a charmed life where they get paid inordinate amounts of money for being able to "read-aloud".  That's effectively what they do; they're handed a script and told what to say, when to say it, and how to say it.  And if they're high enough on the A-list, they get stuntpeople to do the hard physical work that a regular soldier would be able to do without thinking.

What does Matt Damon know about personal courage?  Being given the opportunity to re-shoot a scene while playing a soldier getting shot at with blanks doesn't qualify as personal courage.

Advice to Matt Damon: stick with what you're minimally qualifed to do and let the real people who have courage work so that your pampered, overpaid behind can continue to dwell in the naive world you live in.

I love the image of Matt Damo

I love the image of Matt Damon asserting that Dick Cheney has no personal courage because of the draft deferments, in a conversation with Chris Matthews, who served in the Peace Corps rather than in the armed forces in Vietnam. 

Hey, Chrissie, did you catch what Matt said?  Afterall, he's been a soldier and a CIA man on the Big Screen, so he knows a lot about 'personal courage.'

in 40 and 50's it was Communist

Richard A. Schwartz, "Communist agents had succeeded in implanting Communist messages and values in Hollywood films."

NOW we have a bunch of SOCIALIST.

A time for choosing.....

http://www.reaganfou...

FOX NEWS is news.  MSM is Jerry Springer  crap

no clapping

Did you notice how many in the audience were NOT clapping for these pathetic weasels. Quite a few. I believe there's hope for our young. Don't give up the fight.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

NEVER,NEVER trust a liberal

Did anyone see how Matt and R

Did anyone see how Matt and Robert answered the question about them joining the military to fight a war? 

This girl asked, "Will you ever join the military to fight a war, or do you have other priorities?"  That was hit on these two idiots, especially Matt Damon who claimed that Cheney had other priorities besides going to war in Vietnam....

Both Robert D. and Matt answered by saying that it was a very complicated answer to give to the audience at that moment. 

amazing how they just finished claiming that Cheney was a coward for not going to war in Vietnam, yet they couldn't even say that they would go to war for the USA. 

Also it was also ironic that these two idiots were trashing Republicans for not being in the military and they themsevels are super rich, left wing elites that will never join the  military. 

Did anyone catch stupid Matt Damon claiming how no one is making sacrifices to fight the war on terror?  The guy my be a Harvard graduate, but he is quite uneducated.  He went on a rant about money and how the President is asking everyone to spend, spend, spend, instead of asking people to pay more on taxes. 

Funny how left wing morons like him talk about Americans not wanting to sacrifice anything for the war on terror, yet the left wing loonies like him are the first one's to cry and whine when we are asked to sacrifice some of our privacy to defeat the terrorist. 

It is the left wing lunatics like him that are unwilling to sacrifice anything to defend America. 

"...disgusting, unAmerican draft-dodger..." Liberal Zapata/Tom talking about draft-dodgers.  Thus asserting what we have always known about Slicky Willie Clinton

 

Matt dodged the question abou

Matt dodged the question about him enlisting in the military.  Instead he said the  Bush twins should enlist.  What a bozo!  I think we should boycott all movies until the Hollyweirdos stop voicing their stupid political opinions.

Yes, matt is a coward, I coul

Yes, matt is a coward, I couldn't stop thinking through out the whole interview....if you think Cheney is a coward for not going to war in Vietnam, why haven't you, Matt, join the military?  Why didn't he piss all over Clinton for burning his draft card and fleeing the USA? 

Will these idiots go after HIllary Clinton and every other Democrat that has never served in the military and yet have the power to send our troops to war?  what incredible hypocrisy!!!!

it is time to boycott rats like Matt Damon.  I liked him as an actor, but I think he has been around George Clooney and other idiots for too long. 

These rich, elites Hollyweirds nee to be taught a lesson.  Spew crap, lies and treason from your mouth and your movies will tank. 

Boycott DeNiro (man this hurts) and Matt Damon movies!!! 

"...disgusting, unAmerican draft-dodger..." Liberal Zapata/Tom talking about draft-dodgers.  Thus asserting what we have always known about Slicky Willie Clinton

 

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000354/bio

He's so filled with personal courage, plenty of anecdotes about his personal courage.

What a courgeous man.

"During an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" (1986), he announced that he and Minnie Driver broke up, even before telling her in person, just before the Oscars. Minnie found out on air."

"Quit smoking after visiting a hypnotist in L.A."

""What I want to do is a character-driven porn movie. It's all going to
be about characters, and the porn's gonna grow all out of the
character's and it's going to serve as character development.""

You're missing the best moment from Softball

Newsbusters missed the highlight of this interview. Damon was very quick to judge Cheney for not having any courage and taking six deferments. No nuances there, even though he doesn't know anything about Cheney's personal circumstances at that time or what led him to make those decisions.

But only a few moments later, a student from the audience asked Damon if he would serve if called. Unbelievably, and with such hypocrisy only a liberal could dare get away with it, Damon said 

"That's a complicated question." 

And he didn't answer.....

Where was Mathews? He was playing "Softball."

     

matt was never touched

One retort to this kind of a simpleton is always readily available. We'll never know why the audience wouldn't shoot back into his side of the Lib court:

If Americans had the stomach to keep Bill Clinton in the White House two full terms (he should've resigned after his impeachment) --IF youz imbeciles supported HIM, a known-draft-dodger --KNOWN to abhor the U.S. military; why are you sounding off at others who avoided joining up? Clinton is your icon, who can do no wrong. Aren't you actually very accomodating to slackers? Keeping also in mind, we have today an all-volunteer armed forces. Anyone today is free to take up arms or stay out of harm's way. Clinton was eligible for service. But he was a total shirker and coward.

History Lessons

Those who do not read or remember history are bound to repeat mistakes. Damon should consider what happened to the careers of the Dixie Chicks and A. Baldwin. The customers of his acting jobs may well decide to vote with their dollars and watch movies and shows that do not give Damon a platform for his ranting.

You know with people like C M

You know with people like C Matthews (crap head) you really have to blame the entire MSM - with Rosie O'Donnell; CM, KO and all these nut cases it's sad to see how they put down anyone they don't agree with. 

TV is full of crap, and lies and sh*t heads like I mentioned above;  Oh and that Sean Penn who the hell is he; an oscar winner, so what!

I have 4 words for Matt Damon

I have 4 words for Matt Damon

SHUT UP AND ACT!!!!!

Matt Daaaamon....

derka derka mohammed jihad.

derka derka mohammed jihad. Baka baka.

Proud member of the all-powerful and vast
militarist/industrialist/capitalist/zionist-bagelist complex

Ahhhh, it's been a while, Jac

Ahhhh, it's been a while, Jackson... Good to hear it again!