Edited sentence: "  During the three minutes that followed, Matthews went on to repeat variations of the question a total of 28 times."  Finally, with James' reluctant admittance of "I don't know", Matthews accused James of being a "blank slate" who didn't know anything about history, adding "if you don't know what appeasement is about, then don't talk about it.Bush's speech to the Israeli Knesset in which the President made note of Idaho Republican Senator William Borah's statements in reference to not meeting with Hitler.Chris Matthews then asked James for a "history check", inquiring James about "What exactly Chamberlain did wrong.James responded by changing the subject and repeating generic responses such as "Neville Chamberlain was an appeaser, alright.Later in the same speech, although Bush did not mention Barack Obama by name, he drew what many observers interpreted as a comparison between Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler in World War II with Obama's expressed willingness to meet with leaders of U.Matthews also likened James to White House spokesman Dana Perino who in an appearance on NPR's radio program Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me admitted she had had no idea what the Cuban Missile Crisis was.On May 15, 2008, James appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews, debating with Mark Green of Air America Radio to discuss remarks made by George W.Speaking on Hardball, James vigorously supported Bush's comparison and insinuated that Bush "should have been speaking in reference to Obama" even if he wasn't