Before polls closed on Election Day, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews had already vomited a bewildering story. Talking about how candidates spend the early part of elections nights, Matthews related, “Jack Kennedy did this, Ben Bradlee. His buddy, they went off to see a porn movie.”
Now, Bradlee was the longtime editor of the liberal Washington Post. Mentioning porn on MSNBC seemed to shock his co-hosts. Rachel Maddow blurted, “What???... They went to, like, a porn theater?” An even-keeled Matthews continued, “Oh, yeah. During the West Virginia [primary in 1960].”
The Hardball anchor added, “Well, they tried to go to a nice one and it was closed and they couldn't get in.” Brian Williams dryly remarked, "Your nicer ones."
Several years back, New Yorker magazine explained the porn story:
Bradlee’s friendship with and access to the President are something almost unthinkable today. Bradlee cannot quite bring himself to say so in his book, but I doubt whether he would have let one of his reporters cover a friend who had made it to the White House. But at Newsweek he pretty much owned his friend and neighbor. “Little by little, it was accepted by the rest of the Newsweek Bureau [in Washington] and by [the editors in] New York that Kennedy was mine.” On the night of the West Virginia primary, the Kennedys and the Bradlees went to see a porno movie—“a nasty thing” called “Private Property” and “starring one Katie Manx as a horny housewife.” Imagine the uproar today.
The evening is young. One wonders what Matthews will blurt out later in the night.
A transcript of the exchange:
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MSNBC Live
11/8/16
6:26CHRIS MATTHEWS: In my past, I worked in politics. And I must say that there's something about the whole ritual, like, concession speeches, which I love. I've said that before and crying when you lose. These are very important rituals. Going to dinner at this time. What you do is — Tip used to do this, my first guy I worked with in '72, Wayne Owens did this. Jack Kennedy did this, Ben Bradlee, his buddy, they went off to see a porn movie.
RACHEL MADDOW: What???
MATTHEWS: Oh, yeah. During the West Virginia -- they didn't want to be any near news
MADDOW: They went to, like, a porn theater?
MATTHEWS: Well, they tried to go to a nice one and it was closed and they couldn’t get in so they —
NICOLLE WALLACE: They tried?
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Your nicer ones.
MATTHEWS: So, the thing is, you try to desperately do what we are doing in a different way. Hide from the news. You don’t want anyone coming in with “Well, one percent in.” Because that just drives you crazy.
