Chris Matthews came aboard the shortened Countdown after MSNBC, unlike FNC and CNN, aired the Obama campaign's half-hour infomercial on Wednesday night, and oozed over how “it was romance. It was realism” and “most important, the connection with the average person in the economic turmoil we face right now I thought was fabulous.” Plus, the setting reminiscent of the Oval Office demonstrated “he's comfortable and we should be comfortable and will be with him in such a setting.” Bottom line for Matthews: “I thought everything was just right.”
The initial reaction from Matthews when prompted by Keith Olbermann:
I thought it was Hollywood. It was romance. It was realism. The technical quality of it, the production values were perfect, the way they timed going to live, the biographical material. But most important, the connection with the average person in the economic turmoil we face right now I thought was fabulous. Of course, there we see the setting, which is very much like an Oval Office setting, showing that he's comfortable and we should be comfortable and will be with him in such a setting. I thought everything was just right.
I thought, the most important part of it, I thought, was the biographical, showing him talking about his mom and talking about him taking a chance in history and not wanting to miss it having seen his mother die at a young age. It was very human and I think you'd have to be a tough customer not to be touched by it.
The infomercial also ran at 8 PM EDT/7 PM CDT (will run MDT/PDT) on CBS, NBC and Fox, as well as Univision, BET and TV One.
