While this is certainly embarrassing and sickening, unseemly for a
human man, let alone a "pundit", it's just Matthew's EMOTION ... laid
bare and unashamedly.
It's not misinformation. Sadly, we have to take Matthew's word that he is smitten. Link
This year, of all the news anchors, columnists, pundits, and reporters
whose work we've critiqued and corrected, one man stands alone as a
clear successor to the O'Reilly throne. We are pleased to announce
broadcast journalist, former newspaper bureau chief, former
presidential speechwriter, and best-selling author Chris Matthews has earned the title of 2005's "Misinformer of the Year." At times, it has even been difficult to tell the difference between 2005's Misinformer of the Year and his predecessor.
For your reading pleasure, we've compiled some highlights of
Matthews's most egregious false and misleading claims, as well as his
glowing and gushing praise for President Bush.
Without further ado:
Chris ♥ George, Part 1: Bush sometimes "glimmers" with "sunny nobility." On MSNBC's Hardball, during a discussion with Washington Times
editorial page editor Tony Blankley of the effects on President Bush
and his administration of the investigation into the leak of the name
of CIA operative Valerie Plame, Matthews said "[S]ometimes it glimmers
with this man, our president, that kind of sunny nobility." [Hardball, 10/24/05]
Chris ♥ George, Part 2: "Everybody sort of likes the president, except for the real whack-jobs ..."Insulting the majority of Americans who hold an unfavorable opinion of President Bush, Matthews exclaimed on Hardball:
"Everybody sort of likes the president, except for the real whack-jobs,
maybe on the left," adding, "I mean, like him personally." [Hardball, 11/28/05]
Chris ♥ George, Part 3: Matthews praised Bush speech as "brilliant" even before it was delivered.Before Bush had even delivered his November 30 speech
at the U.S. Naval Academy, Matthews used variations of the word
"brilliant" twice to describe it, while deriding Democratic critics of
the Iraq war as "carpers and complainers." [MSNBC live coverage, 11/30/05]
Chris ♥ George, Part 4: Bush "belongs on Mount Rushmore."Recounting his experience at a White House party, Matthews said that he
"felt sensitive" during his interactions with the president, adding:
"You get your picture taken with him. It's like Santa Claus, and he's
always very generous and friendly." He continued: "I felt like I was
too towel-snappy with him," explaining that Bush had noted his "red
scarf" and remarked that he looked "preppy." During the same show,
Matthews stated: "If [Bush's] gamble that he can create a democracy in
the middle of the Arab world" is successful, "he belongs on Mount
Rushmore." [Hardball, 12/16/05]
Matthews on the filibuster debate: Democrats are "just sort of pouting and bitching."
Matthews weighed in on the filibuster debate in May, declaring: "I
think the Democrats started this fight. I think they did. ... You know,
I think Democrats should win more elections. That will solve their
problem." Days later, in discussing the Senate compromise agreement to
avert the "nuclear option" to ban judicial filibusters, Matthews
repeatedly espoused Republican talking points,
claiming, among other things, that because of the recent bipartisan
agreement aimed at averting the "nuclear option," Democrats can stop
"pouting and bitching ... [and] actually participate in legislation
now"; that Republicans might "get double-crossed or screwed by the
Democrats"; and that the Republican position that every judicial
nominee deserves an up-or-down vote "sounds great to me." [Hardball, 5/18/05]
Matthews repeatedly smeared Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.On April 24, Matthews attacked Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) by referring to her as a "sort of a Madame Defarge
of the left." On May 30, Matthews questioned Clinton's ability to lead,
expressing surprise that retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, an NBC military
analyst, wasn't "chuckling a little bit" at the idea of Clinton giving
orders to the troops as commander in chief. On July 11, Matthews said
Sen. Clinton "looked more witchy" because she criticized
the Bush administration's homeland security spending priorities on July
8, a day after the London bombings. On July 27, Matthews asked Sen.
Rick Santorum (R-PA) if he thought Sen. Clinton is a "big-government
socialist." [Hardball, 5/30/05; The Chris Matthews Show, 4/24/05; Hardball,7/11/05; Hardball, 7/27/05]
Matthews falsely claimed Democrats accused Alito of being "lenient on the mob." During MSNBC's coverage of the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court, Matthews repeatedlymisrepresented
a document about Alito that was circulated by Democrats. Waving the
document around on camera -- but not quoting directly from it --
Matthews falsely claimed that the document accused Alito of being
"lenient on the mob" and made the baseless assertion that, by
mentioning a case involving organized crime, Democrats were "go[ing]
after [Alito's Italian] ethnicity." In fact, the document, available here,
made no mention of Alito's ethnicity and simply noted that he lost a
high-profile mob case -- not that he was "lenient" on anybody. [Hardball, 10/31/05]
Matthews made false claim about Jan. 30 Iraqi election.In praising the Iraqi election in January, Matthews falsely claimed
that no insurgent attacks had occurred at polling places on election
day. In fact, attacks on Iraqi polling places were widely reported
during the January 30 elections. [Hardball, 1/31/05]
Matthews distorted poll data to claim Catholics are increasingly Republican. Matthews cherry-picked poll data
to support his misleading claim that Catholics have voted increasingly
Republican since 1960. In fact, exit poll data indicate that Catholics
are actually a swing constituency: In every presidential election since
1980, a majority or plurality of Catholics have voted for the candidate
who won the popular vote, including Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996 and
Al Gore in 2000. [The Chris Matthews Show, 4/10/05]
Matthews's panels consistently skew to the right. Matthews
has hosted numerous MSNBC panels that contained far more conservative
commentators than progressives. In 2005, the trend was especially
prevalent during MSNBC's presidential inauguration coverage; and both before and after Bush's State of the Union address. While moderating discussion panels on Hardball, Matthews has repeatedly emphasized the liberal allegiances of progressive guests while failing to note that other guests on the same panels were Republican.
Matthews distorted Murtha's Iraq proposal.Matthews repeatedly suggested that Rep. John P. Murtha's (D-PA) call
for a redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq was inconsistent with his
record of being "known as the soldiers' friend" and "pro-Pentagon,
pro-soldier." The suggestion echoed news reports
that described Murtha as being "usually pro-military" -- implying that
his position on redeployment is not -- and a "pro-military" Democrat,
suggesting that the typical Democrat is not. [Hardball, 11/18/05]
Matthews resurrected false claim that Saddam let Sunni fundamentalists "come in for ... training."
Matthews falsely claimed that, prior to his overthrow by U.S.-led
forces, Saddam Hussein allowed Islamic terrorists to train for chemical
warfare in northern Iraq. In fact, as the Los Angeles Times
noted on June 15, 2003, the training camp, operated by Kurdish Islamic
fundamentalist group Ansar al-Islam, "was in an autonomous Kurdish
region not ruled by Hussein." [Hardball, 11/9/05]
Matthews falsely insisted that the ongoing insurgency in Iraq was unexpected.Ignoring evidence that the Bush administration received repeated prewar
warnings of the potential for a sustained insurgency in Iraq, Matthews
insisted that the continuing bloodshed had not been anticipated.
Matthews suggested that the "enduring" nature of the Iraqi insurgency
was a surprise and told viewers that he didn't "know many people who
expected it to still be going on this long." However, as reported by USA Today,
"Military and civilian intelligence agencies repeatedly warned prior to
the invasion that Iraqi insurgent forces were preparing to fight and
that their ranks would grow as other Iraqis came to resent the U.S.
occupation and organize guerrilla attacks." [The Chris Matthews Show, 9/25/05]
Matthews falsely attacked Wilson over Niger trip's genesis.Matthews falsely accused former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV of claiming during his July 6 Meet the Press appearance and in his July 6 New York Times
op-ed that Vice President Dick Cheney had sent him on his February 2002
trip to investigate whether Iraq had tried to acquire uranium from
Niger. In fact, Wilson never made such a claim in either his Times op-ed or his appearance on Meet the Press. Wilson wrote in his Times op-ed that CIA officials, not the vice president, asked him to go to Niger; discussing his op-ed on Meet the Press,
Wilson said that the "the question [of Iraq seeking uranium from Niger]
was asked of the CIA by the office of the vice president." [The Chris Matthews Show, 7/24/05]
Matthews mischaracterized Democratic efforts to complete intel probe as "disingenuous," "using crocodile tears."
Matthews baselessly assigned motives to both the Democrats' support for
authorizing the president to take the country to war in October 2002
and their recent push
to complete "phase two" of the Senate Intelligence Committee's probe
into the prewar intelligence on Iraq. Matthews characterized Democrats'
efforts to fully examine the Bush administration's handling of the
intelligence as "disingenuous," "using crocodile tears," and "trying to
climb down off the war." Matthews ignored Democrats' argument that the
judgments provided to Congress on the Iraqi threat prior to the vote
were later found to have been false or exaggerated. [Hardball, 11/1/05]
Chris has strayed so far off the reservation, that Tip O'Neil must be rolling in his grave over what Matthews has become.
Matthews' show has morphed into "Softball" with his pathetic buttsmooching of the current administration.
Like Woodward, Matthews has become enamored of being one of the
popular crowd and has sold his integrity to maintain his good standing
with Jr. and his "crew" of criminals.
Chris, it's not the horserace that is important! It's the substance. Good call by Media Matters for America - and not just for the above atrocities...
As Bob Somerby at The Daily Howler has consistently pointed out,
Matthews was the phoniest, fakest shill for the RNC in 2000 - his
smears of Gore were just awful. He gave a repeat performance in 2004,
giving the Swift Boat Liars credibility when they deserved none.
In a way, 2005 is not Chris's best work - that comes in an election
year, when he can smear, distort, pretent to read minds, and just plain
old make s*** up.
When I heard Matthew's story about the red scarf and the Christmas
party. It sounded like a romantic diary
entry from a teenage girl. I did not realize Matthews was ever an
actual journalist until I read it here.
The Bush administration's surveillance policy has failed to make a dent in the war against al Qaeda. This kind of shortsightedness is the reason why empires always fail to win guerilla wars:
U.S.
law enforcement sources said that more than four years of surveillance
by the National Security Agency has failed to capture any high-level al
Qaeda operative in the United States. They said al Qaeda insurgents
have long stopped using the phones and even computers to relay
messages. Instead, they employ couriers.
"They
have been way ahead of us in communications security," a law
enforcement source said. "At most, we have caught some riff-raff. But
the heavies remain free and we believe some of them are in the United
States."
Several
members of Congress have been briefed on the effectiveness of the
government surveillance program that does not require a court order.
Senate
Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican,
who was briefed by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on the matter,
said he plans to hold hearings on the program by February 2006.
"There may be legislation which will come out of it [hearings] to restrict the president's power," Mr. Specter said.
The
law enforcement sources said the intelligence community has identified
several al Qaeda agents believed to be in the United States. But the
sources said the agents have not been found because of insufficient
intelligence and even poor analysis.
The
assertions by the law enforcement sources dispute President Bush's
claim that the government surveillance program has significantly helped
in the fight against terrorism. The president said the program, which
goes beyond the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, limits
eavesdropping to international phone calls.
The
sources provided guidelines to how the administration has employed the
surveillance program. They said the National Security Agency in
cooperation with the FBI was allowed to monitor the telephone calls and
e-mails of any American believed to be in contact with a person abroad
suspected of being linked to al Qaeda or other terrorist groups.
At
that point, the sources said, all of the communications of that
American would be monitored, including calls made to others in the
United States. The regulations under the administration's surveillance
program do not require any court order.
"The
new regulations don't require this because it is considered an ongoing
investigation," a source familiar with the program said.
The
sources said the Patriot Act was based on the assessment that al Qaeda
had established cells in Muslim communities in the United States.
Documents
obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union confirm that the FBI has
monitored and infiltrated a range of Muslim and Arab groups, including
the Washington-based American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
But
despite the huge amount of raw material gathered under the legislation,
the FBI has not captured one major al Qaeda operative in the United
States. Instead, federal authorities have been allowed to use
non-terrorist material obtained through the surveillance program for
investigation and prosecution.
In
more than one case, the sources said, a surveillance target was
prosecuted on non-terrorist charges from information obtained through
wiretaps conducted without a court order. They said the FBI supported
this policy in an attempt to pressure surveillance targets to cooperate.
"The
problem is not the legislation but lack of intelligence and analysis,"
another source said. "We have a huge pile of intercepts that never get
translated, analyzed and thus remain of no use to us. If it
[surveillance] was effective, that's one thing. But it hasn't been
effective."
Could it be that Al Queda isn't doing vegan cookouts, Gay Pride marches or Quaker peace meetings?
I know it's hard to believe, but they might have other interests.
This year, of all the news anchors, columnists, pundits, and reporters
whose work we've critiqued and corrected, one man stands alone as a
clear successor to the O'Reilly throne. We are pleased to announce
broadcast journalist, former newspaper bureau chief, former
presidential speechwriter, and best-selling author 
The Bush administration's surveillance policy has failed to make a dent in the war against al Qaeda. This kind of shortsightedness is the reason why empires always fail to win guerilla wars:
