UPDATE on Chris Matthews' "unobjectivity," January 16, 2008:
MATTHEWS: The fact is I wouldn't be an honest reporter if I didn't tell you what the spiritual experience is like of being at a Barack Obama rally._________________
MSNBC's Chris Matthews, former speechwriter for disgraced former President Jimmy Carter and current host of the embarrassingly low-rated Hardball, appeared as a guest on Wednesday's Tonight Show.
His entire segment was a positively rabid anti-Bush, anti-Republican rant.
Jay Leno hardly said a word. He didn't need to speak since Matthews wouldn't shut up. He just railed and railed on Bush and the administration.
The MSNBC website describes Matthews as a "television news anchor with remarkable depth of experience" and "a broadcast journalist, newspaper bureau chief, Presidential speechwriter, and best-selling author."
The profile leaves out unhinged blowhard.
The segment began with Matthews' take on the Senate's fake all-night session.
He said:
What are fighting for over in Iraq right now?
Majority rule.
Well, the Republicans, for whatever reason, don't want majority rule.
And so they say they don't want to have a vote on the war. So they're using the threat of a filibuster. So the Democrats came up with this sort of PR stunt, to stay up all night, and sleep on the cots, and eat pizza, and act like it's for real.
But you know, they're trying to get a vote and it looks to me like they're trying to wear down... they got four Republicans now to join and they need about ten. That's what it's all about.
Let me see if I understand.
When the Republicans held the majority, and the Democrats didn't want to vote on the President's judicial nominees, they threatened a filibuster. That was doing the work of the people.
In other words, Dems don't obstruct, only evil Republicans do.
Matthews went on:
You know, this war is terrible. People hate it....
We took the whole American army and put it right in the middle of Arabia with no way out...
So if we leave, they attack us. If we stay, they attack us. I don't think it was very smart putting us in there.
Unfortunately, some in the audience applauded. That served to encourage Matthews to ratchet up his rant even more.
Next, Leno brought up a New York Times piece by David Brooks in which he writes that President Bush believes that God told him to invade Iraq.
Matthews insisted:
If he was gonna play Joan of Arc, we wouldn't have elected him. Getting whispers from heaven is scary business. I mean, the guys we're fighting say that, too.
The people that attacked us at the World Trade Center believe that God led them into the World Trade towers. I think we need a little more humility...
I think if President Bush had said this when he was running for office in 2000, he wouldn't have got anywhere near the White House.
People would say, 'This is messianic. This is scary. God's talkin' to me telling me that the world needs to be democratized.'
Leno set up Matthews so he could attack Bush for his faith and paint him as delusional.
Matthews puts the 9/11 terrorists on the same moral plane as President Bush.
That's really sick, meaning typical liberal drivel.
Then, Matthews went deeper off the deep end.
And by the way, let's not get so thrilled about our form of government. We have a good form of government for us and it works, and it works for a lot of people....
Are we selling this system? Is this what we're dying for? No, I think we're dying to protect this country and that's what a young soldier ought to be dying for if he has to die....
Matthews was really out of control.
I think he forgot that he was on the Tonight Show rather than yapping on his own MSNBC show that no one watches, or hanging out in Keith Olbermann's dressing room.
"[L]et's not get so thrilled about our form of government"?
What is that???
I'm thrilled with our form of government.
I guess the self-proclaimed enlightened elite liberals don't think it's anything special. I couldn't disagree more.
He continued his harangue:
The idea that we're on some Napoleonic crusade to spread Democracy in a part of the world where they may, if you let them vote, say they would choose to have their version of God rule their country.... I'm not sure what they would do, but one thing I know is it's not working. And we're stuck over there and they're shooting us....
Misinformation...the indoctrination that's going on....
The latest I heard this weekend was if the surge doesn't work, Bush is gonna want more troops.
He has snookered us again.
Translation: Bush lied to the American people. Bush brainwashed the American people. Bush is the enemy of the American people.
So I think we in journalism have got to stop being so scared of being unobjective and start focusing on our job which is to question, question, question. String 'em out.
Matthews is campaigning for a new brand of journalism, one that is subjective and pushes a specific political agenda. It's also known as propaganda.
He believes his role is to be a propagandist.
We got to stop treating politicians who get elected, and this crowd wasn't even exactly elected, stop treating them like dispensers of the truth. That's our biggest mistake....
I couldn't believe that he dragged out the tired old line that President Bush was selected, not elected.
Whatever Matthews may erroneously think of the 2000 election, he can't argue with the results of the 2004 election.
"This crowd" certainly was elected. Apparently, Matthews can't handle that truth.
Matthews then warned:
I think we gotta be damn skeptical about this crowd because on WMD, on the connection to 9/11, on this surge, every step of the way, on the torture, on every step of the way we've been given misinformation.
How did we get all this misinformation? From the top. Unfortunately. Sad thing.
It was quite a performance by Matthews.
He came right out and said that he thinks journalists should chuck the objectivity standard.
I think Matthews was worse than Bill Maher when he appeared with Leno on Monday night's show. At least with Maher, it's clear that he's an entertainer, albeit a not very entertaining one.
He doesn't have any journalistic credentials to uphold. Maher can be as offensive as he wants to be.
Matthews, on the other hand, can't deliver an on the record tirade like that and expect to be taken seriously as a journalist in the traditional sense.
He's a hack and he seems to be proud of it.
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