On yesterday's Hardball on MSNBC, Chris Matthews was in hyper rabid mode, even for him. The subject was the report on Iraq progress scheduled for September:
Is the White House going to pull a Lucy again with the football trick all over again? For months, President Bush has been asking us to wait for a report from General Petraeus. How many times did we hear that phrase, Wait for the report from General Petraeus? Now we learn that the White House is going to write the report - the White House! - and that the general will testify publicly before Congress only after the report has been written by Bush‘s people.
And later as he hosted a panel discussion on the topic:
We have got the president over and over and over again saying don‘t believe me, believe this guy Petraeus. And now we‘re told he‘s going to be Cyrano de Bergerac to Petraeus. He‘s going to write it for him?
MSNBC's bio on Matthews
claims he's a "television news anchor with remarkable depth of experience." Apparently that depth of experience doesn't lend itself to knowing what he's talking about.
The Congressional appearances of Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker were, as was another Iraq status report from the President, mandated by legislation passed last May in Public Law 110-28. After requiring the President to report on specific benchmarks by July, 15, 2007, the law continues:
The President shall submit a second report to the Congress, not later than September 15, 2007, following the same procedures and criteria outlined above.
Two sentences later comes this:
TESTIMONY BEFORE CONGRESS. —Prior to the submission of the President’s second report on September 15, 2007, and at a time to be agreed upon by the leadership of the Congress and the Administration, the United States Ambassador to Iraq and the Commander, Multi-National Forces Iraq will be made available to testify in open and closed sessions before the relevant committees of the Congress.
The law requires the President to submit a report and the general and the ambassador to testify. Shouldn't the "ever wired" Chris Matthews have known that before ranting?
As time goes on, Mr. Matthews appears to be getting as far removed from reality as his former boss, the sadly pathetic Jimmy Carter.
