Chris Matthews on Friday called George W. Bush and Sarah Palin know-nothings.
Chatting with California gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown on "Hardball," the MSNBC host also called the Republican candidate for governor in that state Meg Whitman a know-nothing.
"What is it in the American psyche or character that says, if you don`t know anything, you`re somehow an average person or average guy and you have horse sense?" asked Matthews.
"What is it about people that keep picking people like George W. Bush to be president? And you see these people like Sarah Palin out there with fans."
It seems in Matthews' view, governing Texas, Alaska, or running one of America's leading Internet companies requires zero intellectual capacity (video follows with transcript and commentary, h/t Weekly Political Review via Twitter's @ndgc12dx):
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Former California governor Jerry Brown is currently the state`s attorney general. Governor Brown, it`s great to have you on. I just want to ask you, do you think the last seven years have been good for California with Schwarzenegger? Here`s a business guy and movie star, a business guy, who said, I can take business sense, like Meg Whitman, and make government work. It hasn`t -- well, has it worked? I`ll leave it as an open question. Has he been a net plus or a net negative?
JERRY BROWN (D-CA), ATTORNEY GENERAL, FMR. GOV., CANDIDATE FOR GOV.: Well, certainly in terms of the budget, blowing up the boxes, reorganizing government, it hasn`t. Now, Arnold Schwarzenegger has pioneered the environment and climate change legislation that is really path-breaking, so I give him full credit for that.
But in terms of the crisis we`re in now, the idea that not knowing anything, not even caring enough to vote for 28 years, gives you the equipment, the skill, to wrestle those 120 legislators to the ground, get them on your team and deal with this deepening crisis -- I doubt that. And if these surveys are any indication, Ms. Whitman has hit a wall for the last -- probably since March, not moved forward. And I think we`re in a very strong position to win the confidence of the people and get down to brass tacks here of solving the problem.
MATTHEWS: What is it in the American psyche or character that says, if you don`t know anything, you`re somehow an average person or average guy and you have horse sense? What is it about people that keep picking people like George W. Bush to be president? And you see these people like Sarah Palin out there with fans. Why would anybody like somebody who the campaign manager for John McCain said, "She doesn`t know anything?" Why is not knowing anything -- why does the know-nothing candidate, like Meg Whitman, a person who doesn`t have any government experience, have the appeal to be even with you in the polls? The know -- the person that doesn`t know anything about government!
How disgusting.
It's one thing to make such comments about a former President and a former governor, but to similarly disparage the Republican gubernatorial candidate while interviewing her Democrat opponent demonstrates absolutely NO journalistic impartiality by Matthews.
Maybe he should just endorse Brown so that his few viewers would fully understand why he's so hostile to Whitman.
Come to think of it, that's not a bad idea: maybe EVERY MSNBC host should be required to publicly state which candidates they support in November so that those still foolish enough to watch this abomination will be cognizant of the biases at play.
Of course, readers are advised to not hold their breath as this pathetic excuse for a news outlet wants to hide behind a dishonest veil of objectivity.
Yeah right!
