http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh050303.shtmlLET’S PLAY AIRBALL! Bush looked manly in his flight suit. And Chris Matthews knew he should notice:
SATURDAY, MAY 3, 2003
SUPER-DUB’S DEBUT: Was that President Bush—or Super Dave Osborne—who addressed us from the Abraham Lincoln Thursday night? Bush’s Knievel-style clowning was a sight to behold. But cable pundits knew how to act. On Hardball, they indulged in a bit of deep clowning themselves, helping us see the deep dysfunction of what some still pretend is our “press corps.”
A bit of background: As you know, Chris Matthews opposed the war in Iraq. For the first time in the past six years, he actually said what he thought about something, and it cost him dearly with cable’s core audience. For that reason, the tough-talking pundit is pandering hard to get back in this cohort’s good graces. That explains the consummate foolishness displayed on his program Thursday night. We never thought we’d see the day when Ann Coulter could come off as the sane one in a group of three pundits. But given Thursday’s performances by Matthews and “Hardball Democrat” Pat Caddell, we’ve now seen the miraculous happen.
As you read this Hardball transcript, note the astounding immaturity of Matthews and Caddell, who might as well just go on TV and play with their G. I. Joe toys. We’ve now reached the point where our millionaire pundits will spend entire segments on national TV discussing which candidate looks good in a flight suit. And don’t fail to notice the slimy behavior when Hillary Clinton becomes the topic. A sad-but-true fact emerged long ago; Chris Matthews, at heart, is a thigh-rubbing man. When will Americans tell this strange man that he simply must stop discussing our female public figures in this slimy manner?
Two final points. First, we know who won’t tell Matthews to stop. E. J. Dionne won’t tell him to stop. Al Hunt won’t tell him. Mark Shields won’t tell him. Peter Beinart won’t tell him. Jeff Greenfield won’t tell him. Matthews has degraded our discourse for years; he lied and slandered all through Campaign 2000, for example. There isn’t a chance on the face of the earth that his colleagues in the press corps don’t know this. But have you ever seen a negative profile, anywhere in the mainstream press? The store-bought butt-boys who make up our “press corps” would rather eat live worms in hell than speak truth to power within their own cohort. They are extremely well paid—and plan to keep it that way. For example, how is it possible that the New Republic has never reviewed Matthews’ ludicrous work? You know the answer as well as we do. The Beinarts will give you good policy work—and they’ll angle for powerful jobs in the future. You will never read critiques of the “press corps” inside TNR’s store-bought pages.