Kate O'Beirne/Matthews on Hardball 3/7 transcript

[laststeamtrain]

O‘BEIRNE: I think a great injustice—I think the justice system was abused over a big political fight.

MATTHEWS: OK. You believe that if he accepts a pardon, he is accepting guilt? Because that is the legal precedent that Jerry Ford honored when he pardoned Richard Nixon? Do you believe that he should accept guilt, which you don‘t accept? You say he is innocent.

O‘BEIRNE: He doesn‘t have to accept guilt by accepting a pardon. He doesn‘t have to do that.

MATTHEWS: Well, that is the law.

O‘BEIRNE: That was the deal with Nixon. He doesn‘t have to do that.

MATTHEWS: That was the deal. Gerald Ford, to the day he died, God rest his soul, carried in his pocket the verdict decision, which said to accept a pardon is to accept guilt. He always carried it with him. And I can read it to you now if you want, the verdict decision.

<snip>

O‘BEIRNE: He shouldn‘t have been on trial.

MATTHEWS: I go back to the law. “It‘s an act of grace which exempts the individual on whom it is bestowed from the punishment the law inflicts for a crime he has committed.” You‘re saying a pardon is something else. You‘re calling a pardon expungement. A pardon is not expungement. It doesn‘t deny the crime or the finding of a jury. It simply says he is relieved of the punishment. That‘s what a pardon is. You‘ve got this sort of sacramental notion of a pardon.

O‘BEIRNE: I‘ll look it up. I‘ll bring that—I‘ll copy that and read it.

MATTHEWS: Well, I‘ll read it to you again. Do you really think pardon means, like, he didn‘t do anything wrong, he should have never been tried, he should have never been convicted, he‘s a great guy, this was all terrible? That‘s what you consider a pardon. And you say a pardon is, Well, give it to him because he doesn‘t really—he shouldn‘t go to prison because that‘d be awful.

<more>

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17517888/

Clinton comes up in the exchange as well as Cap Weinberger etc.

Cato Burn is hideous...

[Blue_In_AK]

1. She was really quite unbelievable yesterday...

even worse than usual. The part that cracked me up was when she drew a distinction between Bill Clinton and Scooter Libby by saying that Clinton admitted that he lied under oath, therefore impeachment was called for, but since Libby never admitted that he was guilty, punishment for him would be a sham. Chris had to keep reminding her that Libby was convicted by a jury of his peers, thus making him guilty, guilty, guilty. He had to remind her that many convicted felons claim that they're innocent, but that doesn't make it so.

Kate sounded crazy.

[laststeamtrain]

2. I think Chris got her to think of things she hadn't thought of before,

caught her thinking on her feet. Confused her.

I chose from the transcript the 'to be pardoned is to admit guilt' theme.

Yours is great too.

Everyone's innocent in jail. Doesn't make it so.

I just don't think some wingers get it. It's just not the way it was a short year ago. Thought is back...

[obnoxiousdrunk]

3. Mathews does have

his greatest moments.

[sallyseven]

5. It was interesting. Tweedy doesn't think women should be

famous like him,. He laughed in her face. Her husband was the one that hired all those mis fits to be in charge in Iraq. 24 year olds that touted the party line on abortion, gays etc. She is creep and is always wrong. She makes me ashamed to be a woman. From her editor to her ear she regurgitates the lies.

[mntleo2]

4. The Woman Is Really Out There

...She looked like an absolute idiot. Usually I do not watch Spitball, but I turned it on to make sure I caught Olbermann and watched in amazement as this woman went to Lala Land, rode the MaDDerhorn and then took a balloon ride, I swear. I was wondering why they ever bother to have such delusional people like her. did you also notice they did not have one counterpart to her? What a bunch of hacks. It convinced me I have not missed much in the last 5 years and to wait another 5 years before I try to watch again.

My 2 cents

Cat In Seattle

[EC]

6. She did look like she wanted to cry

and was clearly shakened by Matthews calling her on her bull...she was ill prepared having just talking points and no real facts to go on.

[Vinca]

7. I expected her to say -

"It doesn't matter that Scooter chopped puppies into tiny, little bits on live television. He's innocent."