While interviewing Ari Fleischer, Chris Matthews really went over the line.
Fleischer didn't let Matthews get away with spewing his usual slop. He slugged Matthews.
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Transcript excerpt
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Are you proud of the economic record of George W. Bush?
ARI FLEISCHER: You know, I think he came in with a recession. He left with a recession...
MATTHEWS: No, Really, are you proud of it? Is it something to brag about?
FLEISCHER: Chris, it's not a simple one word answer. I'm not proud of the way...
MATTHEWS: Well, the way we judge success is what you left behind. The way we judge success in life is if you have a campfire as a boy scout, you say, you're told, 'Leave it better than when you found it.' Did you leave the economy better than you found it?
FLEISCHER: Look, I think when people look back on the Bush years, the one thing...
MATTHEWS: It's not a fair standard?
FLEISCHER: The one thing that people are going to remember the most is that he kept us safe. We have not been attacked since September 11th. The second thing is, as I said, Barack Obama should be thankful that he has inherited a world without Saddam Hussein in it. The third part is troublesome...
MATTHEWS: Yeah, but we were attacked on your watch. If you start getting into who was attacked when, we suffered the worst domestic calamity in history on your watch. If you get into this 'whose watch was good?' you guys blew it. I don't know if you can do it that way.
FLEISCHER: Chris... Chris, how dare you!
MATTHEWS: No, how can you say that? That's like saying that...
FLEISCHER: If we get attacked, Chris, if we get attacked again, are you gonna say, 'We got attacked on Barack Obama's watch'? We got attacked by terrorists. That's who's to blame for it, Chris. And I think what you just did is shameful.
MATTHEWS: No, no, I, I, I'm using the word the way you're using it. You're saying...
FLEISCHER: I just said that we should all be proud...
MATTHEWS: No, no, it's not shameful to say... You were bragging about the fact that we weren't hit after 9/11. That's right. You're bragging about the fact we weren't hit. How can you brag about...?
FLEISCHER: I just said we should all be proud that we haven't been attacked since September 11th. And we should all be proud that we haven't been attacked since September 11th. That's exactly right. That's what people are gonna remember about President Bush's administration.
MATTHEWS: Well, they don't remember that because, because his popularity went down to about one of the lowest in American history. He's down near the bottom of American presidents because people believe that he didn't do as good a job as president. Let's go back to your standard. I'm not saying... Don't say I'm being shameful here but... just...
FLEISCHER: And Chris, there will always be people who just look at short-term politics and other people who look at substance. You're in the former category.
MATTHEWS: Ari, Ari, you can't set up a standard and then not live by it? If the standard is we didn't get hit...
FLEISCHER: Who's talking?
MATTHEWS: (long pause) What?
FLEISCHER: Who's talking?
MATTHEWS: If you set up a standard...
FLEISCHER: Set up a standard and not live by it? Chris Matthews? You know, Chris, I don't recall you saying that James Carville, Paul Begala, those people shouldn't be on the air defending their boss. But here you are questioning why people like me would be out there saying things about my boss.
MATTHEWS: Well, because, because I...
FLEISCHER: It's not a slam-dunk, Chris. There are two sides to every issue and I get to present...
MATTHEWS: OK, good. Fair enough. Fair enough.
Full Transcript here.
Matthews can't stand the fact that after 9/11, President Bush succeeded in keeping the country safe. He doesn't want to acknowledge that accomplishment.
He calls noting the fact that we weren't hit again by terrorists "bragging."
Matthews is a very small man.
7 comments:
Fleischer: "But after September 11, having been hit once, how could we take a chance that Saddam might not strike again?"
What a joke!
I miss Ari Fleischer. And, man oh man, Chris Matthews is a dope.
Maybe Ari was right, maybe Saddam was actually behind 9-11. I support a new 9-11 Commission to investigate this explosive claim from the former White House spokesman. This will give America renewed legal authority to continually occupy a sovereign nation in the name of the "War of Terror."
The guys in the white shirts need to come and pick up Matthews. He is mentally ill.
I don't think anybody came out of this one looking particularly clean. I swear, if they were in the same studio it would have come to blows. Which would have been awesome, come to think of it.
I don't believe for a minute that Fleischer meant that Saddam was responsible for 9/11. If anything he misspoke. In essence, he meant to say, "Given that we had already been hit once by these terrorists, how could we take a chance that Saddam might not strike as well?"
I agree.
Fleischer misspoke.
The interview was a mess. They were talking over each other.
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