In what he should have recognized as damning self-criticism, Chris Matthews admitted to MSNBC's infamous self-promoting fabulist Brian Williams Friday afternoon that the establishment news media is "not representative of the country," especially in regards to how the U.S. is "uniquely pro-gun as a country."
But those who observe the Hardball host's choice of words, his demeanor, and his tone of voice will detect the predictable condescension of the smug media elites, specifically that the rubes outside of New York, Washington and L.A don't possess "the usual sophistication we’re used to" or the "cosmopolitan attitude we all share."
Matthews was responding to a question from Williams about the "split" between the media and the "gun culture in America," aka the people in this country who believe that they have the primary responsibility for defending themselves and their loved ones, and that the right to keep and bear arms is a necessary component of that duty.
Williams' stammering as he asked his question also seemed to betray his discomfort with the topic, i.e., "Maybe I shouldn't have gone here, but now I'm stuck, so I'd better finish the question":
Transcript (bolds are mine):
BRIAN WILLIAMS: And why has there been this split between members of the news media who so often are mystified, uh, to learn, uh, of a gun culture, uh, in, uh, in America outside New York, Washington and L.A.?
CHRIS MATTHEWS (almost laughing): Because you’re answering your own question.
Because of geography, Brian, and you know, just like stock car racing or, abortion rights, we always assume in the big cities there’s sort of a cosmopolitan attitude that we all share. I'm sure there are quietly with and know socially who have different views.
But there is sort of a language. I’m sure there are quietly out there even among our multitude of people we work with and know socially who have different views. But there is sort of a, a lingua franca, if you will, a language that is spoken in the media which is pro-choice, is anti-gun rights. It's the usual sort of sophistication we’re used to, but it’s not representative of the country.
I think this still is a cowboy country in spirit, self-reliance, drive your own car. Uh, people don’t like mass transportation. They like to get in their own car and and drive around with their wife or girlfriend or husband. They like to be out there on the road, and they like to have that self-reliance of that gun. Uh, I don’t have that instinct. But I know it’s out there and very much a part of our history. It just is. And it’s in the Constitution, and it's in our history.
We are uniquely pro-gun as a country, not like the Japanese, or the Chinese, or the English, or the French, or the Germans. This country's unique! Today, we will see Donald Trump point to that and probably try to grab the support of that unique attitude about guns.
Shorter Matthews: "I'm trying to be nice and fair, but I just can't help myself. We really should at least pretend to respect the grunts out there who have these quaint constitutional and traditional notions. But we really know that we're smarter, more sophisticated and more cosmopolitan than those gun-rights cowboys at the NRA Donald Trump is about to address."
Matthews' answer that the difference lies in "geography" is very incomplete.
Mere "geography" fails to explain why the values of the big-city elites are so different. It also fails to explain why the left-dominated governments of so many large, allegedly "sophisticated, cosmopolitan" cities, where large areas have become cesspools of crime and violence, are so grimly determined to take away their citizens' rights to fully defend themselves.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
