MSNBC’s Chris Matthews came out swinging, during Monday’s Hardball, against conservative radio host Mark Levin for being the source of President’s Donald Trump’s claim of having his tower wiretapped by the previous administration. The 71-year-old Matthews postured like a schoolyard bully, towards the top of his program, as he mocked Levin for the sound of his voice. “Well, that's a voice to be believed,” Matthews declared after playing an audio clip of Levin talking about Obama.
But the MSNBC host’s childish prodding did not stop there as he continued smear conservative talk radio and “The fudge that goes on here.” The irritated Matthews railed against Levin for damaging the good reputation of the media:
The notion that Mark Levin is a news outlet, or that Rush Limbaugh is a news outlet. And that's their way of disgracing legitimate media. By say those are just other news outlets. By saying those are just other news outlets. It's not The New York Times, it’s not The Washington post, it’s not The Wall Street Journal, it’s not the L.A. Times, it’s not a major news network it’s Mark Levin.
“I know what talk radio guys do on left and right, mostly on right. They rile people up with outrageous charges and nobody keeps count of them,” Matthews ranted. He continued to besmirch Levin’s reputation by lumping him in with the unhinged Alex Jones.
This isn’t the first time Matthews has targeted Levin for abuse. In January 2016, the wacky Matthews slammed Levin as “one of the most distasteful human beings out there.”
If Matthews’ ridiculous analysis of Levin is to be taken seriously (and it shouldn’t), it would be the pot calling the kettle black. He scorned talk radio as a disgrace to legitimate media that just riles people up with “outrageous charges.” Yet Matthews himself spread fake news when he falsely claimed that Judge Merrick Garland “never got a conversation with a Republican,” even though he met with 16 of them. And after Trump signed his first executive order travel ban Matthews announced that “we’re all crusaders now.”
As for his accusation of Levin being a “distasteful human being,” Matthews is infamous for his below-the-belt assaults on Senator Ted Cruz. During the GOP primaries, he chided the Senator, claiming, “...there’s a troll-like quality to Cruz. He operates below the level of human life.”
A few months later, he equated Cruz to Lucifer, noting that Cruz was “one in the tail and cloven hooves.” And at the end of his program, he continued driving home his discontent for the man. “Senator Ted Cruz, Lucifer, the devil, Satan, Beelzebub, the very personage of evil, the leader of the underlife, the chief resident of hell, Lucifer,” he said.
Matthews might want to look in the mirror before he complains that someone talks just to “rile people up with outrageous charges” and “disgracing legitimate media.”
Transcript below:
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MSNBC
Hardball
March 6, 2017
7:01:44 PM Eastern…
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well, this source of his wiretapping claim appears to be a conservative radio host Mark Levin. Let's watch.
MARK LEVIN [Audio]: We have a prior administration, Barack Obama and his surrogates, who were supporting Hillary Clinton and their party, the Democrat Party who were using the instrumentalities of the federal government, intelligence activities, to surveil members of the Trump campaign.
MATTHEWS: Well, that's a voice to be believed.
…
7:15:36 PM Eastern
MATTHEWS: The fudge that goes on here—I’ll be using nice American words like “fudge”—goes on here is: The notion that Mark Levin is a news outlet, or that Rush Limbaugh is a news outlet. And that's their way of disgracing legitimate media. By saying those are just other news outlets. It's not The New York Times, it’s not The Washington post, it’s not The Wall Street Journal, it’s not the L.A. Times, it’s not a major news network it’s Mark Levin. A guy who riles—I know what talk radio guys do on left and right, mostly on right. They rile people up with outrageous charges and nobody keeps count of them. Alex Jones. Nobody keeps count. There is President getting his information from these people.
…
