Chris Matthews, MSNBC Hardball is an enigma, He is a documented progressive and in many ways he fits the model of the classic "liberal." Liberal if one ignores his occasional forays into fits of frustration when President Obama fails to 'saber rattle" or war chant when an adversary strikes out against the US and its allies. He is the one television journalist who will call it as he sees it.
Matthews and GOP voter suppression.
Exhibit One:
Exhibit Two:
Real Clear Politics
Exhibit Three:
Matthews is the only American television journalist, post Martin Bashir, who will call as it exists.
Before we view the latest examples of Matthews standing tall against GOP dogma (and tired time worn talking points), I remain convinced Matthews has some hidden agenda for his "take it easy" position on all things Rand Paul. After Paul's personal outing on the Rachel Maddow a few years back, the inimitable Kentucky Senator has strategically avoided appearing on MSNBC. Yet, Paul accepts interviews with Matthews shortly thereafter. I do not recall Matthews once question Paul on his comments to Maddow nor do I recall Matthews questioning Paul about his penchant for plagiarizing text and speeches.
Paul also has DNA (from his upbringing) that has evidence of overt racism via his father. While a racist father does not mean a racist son or daughter, it certainly is an item of concern if the son or daughter wants to be the nations 45th President. Of course, querying Paul about his fathers 1990's newsletter wouldn't be politically correct, however, questioning Paul about matters of Civil Rights, open food counter service to all and "state's rights' should be a matter of coverage form Matthews. Yet, Matthews sits with Paul and the issues do not come forth.
That said, I move to a piece from Egberto Willies, this copy from The Daily Kos.
Chris Matthews did what few journalists do these days. He immediately slammed a politician spewing misleading and false talking points. This is important because political talking points have a tendency to metastasize into a new reality after they are repeated over and over and broadcast by a generally willfully incompetent traditional mainstream media.
Republican spokesperson Ron Christie and Democratic spokesperson David Axelrod appeared on Chris Matthew's hardball to discuss President Obama's historic agreement with Iran. David Axelrod stated that the punishing sanctions imposed on Iran by President Obama was responsible for bringing Iran to the table. Axelrod said that the agreement if realized will help America avoid a military conflict with Iran.
Chris Matthews then asked Republican spokesperson Ron Christie to chime in. Ron Christie was ready with some of the most vile Republican talking points. He attempted to equate the agreement with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's capitulation to Adolf Hitler by ceding Sudetenland to Germany. Chris Matthews accused Ron Christie of a fundamental misunderstanding of that history. Moreover he accused him of completely contorting history to attempt to give his comparison some sort of relevance.
Matthews did not stop there however. He excoriated Ron Christie and the neocons. "I hope all the people who make these Hitler comparisons which are never apt, never apt, you should just stop doing that, these Hitler comparisons," Chris Matthews said. "Five years from now, six years from now when this deal holds will come back and say 'I said a lousy thing back in 2015. I compared this President to giving away Europe to Hitler. I will totally regret that the rest of my life.' Like you guys ought to have been embarrassed about the Iraq war. And never apologized for that. You are wrong, wrong, wrong, over and over again and you never get ashamed of it. And you keep making the most outrageous things. Comparing this President to being in bed with Hitler is disgusting."
David Axelrod then went on to tell Ron Christie that he neither understands history nor the Iran agreement. He told Christie he was just spouting Republican talking points.
Recently Republican Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson laid out why GOP operatives are making the rounds maligning the Iran agreement. "But I know what my political party wants," Wilkerson said. "My political party, at least some of them — the 47 for example who signed the letter to the Ayatollah — they want war.”
This was refreshingly different from the lack of push-back during the ramp up to the Iraq war. Few journalists in the traditional mainstream media then would challenge the fallacies.
If you have interest in viewing the full MSNBC video, I have embed the segment below.
Ron Christie is a GOP pundit who can best be described as Bush Administration ERA robot. Punditry is one consideration, completely idiocy when spewed as part of a panel to an audience with far more than a modicum of discerning common sense leads to Christie standing out like a Dandelion of the The Third Tee in early summer.
Christie's rarely if ever a panelist on Fox News, but his posits seem to failed on the much smaller MSNBC news audience. Moreover, he induces vision and images of childlike punditry. The MSNBC host and his audience is a far cry from people who sit each night and watch Fox News Obama derangement.
