With the year swiftly coming to a close, I thought I'd take a look back at some of the stupidest comments that Hardball host Chris Matthews made on the air in 2015. These are ones I consider particularly stupid, not necessary or merely politically slanted, just head-scratchingly stupid.
Here are just five, ranked in no particular order.
1.) Cuban-American Republicans aren't really Hispanic
On his November 11 edition of Hardball, Matthews holds forth on how Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are not really Hispanic, although they are "Cuban nationals." Of course both are natural-born U.S. citizens of Cuban heritage, which makes them Hispanic but NOT Cuban nationals, which implies they were born in Cuba or are subject to Cuban jurisdiction as resident aliens in the Communist country:
You can read the full post on this here and/or watch the video below:
2.) We should sentence the gyrocopter pilot who caused a terrorism scare at U.S. Capitol to... giving Congress a lecture?!
The day after Florida mailman Doug Hughes piloted a gyrocopter through restricted Washington, D.C. airspace to land on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol – ostensibly so he could "deliver" letters about the need for campaign finance reform to all 535 members of Congress – Matthews told his audience at home his brilliant idea for what sort of sentence Hughes should serve:
MSNBC
Hardball
April 16, 2015CHRIS MATTHEWS, anchor: I've got a good idea for Congress and the Capitol Police. Instead of charging this guy on the helicopter, the gyrocopter, why don't you give him community service? And his community service could be one hour. And his one hour should be spent addressing a joint session, a joint meeting of the Congress.
He should walk in there and tell them why he did that. And they must all be there to watch. And that could be his community service, and we can all watch. If they put this guy in jail, what a bunch of clowns that would be to do that.
3.) The Amtrak derailment in May was caused by the lack of "straight lines" on the route.
I kid you not. Now, in fairness, Matthews's larger complaint was about how property rights and lack of central planning mean countries like China can quickly build super-fast rail lines on relatively straight routes. That said, yeah, it's still pretty stupid:
MSNBC
Hardball
May 13, 2015
7:23 p.m. EasternCHRIS MATTHEWS to Reps. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) and Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.): Let's talk about the track. You take the train every night home. And you take it too, as well. You know how it's rickety. You know it jumps around a lot. It's like the Wild West, some parts of that route. Do we need to have a better right-of-way? Can we clear a straight line for this train? How fast can a train go if it's going like this? [rapidly moves his right hand laterally]
[...]
7:45 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS to Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.): But we have a country where people can complain. In Communist countries like China, they just draw a straight line, whether it goes through your house or not, it's a straight line. We have this Amtrak, I've been taking it for a half a century, it doesn't go in a straight line. In this case, it tried to make a turn and turned over! Because there's so many turns on that route. How do you get rid of the turns?
4.) Chris thinks the defunct Blockbuster Video chain has stores everywhere in 2015 America
This is one for the "Do you even get out much, Grandpa?" file. Apparently Chris Matthews is stuck in a 1995 America:
MSNBC
Hardball
April 16, 2015CHRIS MATTHEWS, anchor to David Axelrod: David, that's always the best argument against free trade. A point defense kind of thing. If you look in particular areas, Michigan City, a lot of the a lot of Midwestern cities have nothing less than a Blockbuster and a diner left, if they have the diner, and if they have the Blockbuster. They're hollowed-out cities.
So when you look at trade that way, city by city, section by section, it's a hard fight. If you look at the whole country, and you look at the Silicon Valley or 128 Massachusetts, areas of the country which have boomed through high-tech and other means, it looks pretty good. How's it balance out to you?
And last but not least...
5.) London's mayor should run for president of the United States some day
While Boris Johnson is in fact a natural-born U.S. citizen, he doesn't meet the other matter of constitutional eligibility to hold the office: the 14-year residency requirement.
