Chris Matthews

{{sources needed}}[[file:Chris Matthews.jpg|thumb|right|165px|His voice is irresistibly charming.]]{{pundits}}

'''Chris Matthews''' {{lived|1945}} is an American TV News anchor, a [[pundit|talking head]] flannelmouth, and host of [[MSNBC]]'s ''Hardball with Chris Matthews'' and NBC's ''The Chris Matthews Show''. ''Hardball'' was originally presented as the quasi-[[liberal]] counter to such shows as [[Bill O'Reilly]]'s ''The O'Reilly Factor''. In promotions before the show aired, his connections to the [[Democratic]] party were hyped, but the minute he opened his mouth, it was apparent he was left...compared to O'Reilly or [[Rush Limbaugh|Rush]]). As in, generally right-of-center in many of his comments and views.  He dramatically retired from Hardball by walking off the program on March 2, 2020, leaving a shocked Steve Kornacki to take over and finish the hour-long show. He had been recently accused of sexual harassment and sexual bias by a reporter in an article in GQ magazine.

==Hardball==
''Hardball with Chris Matthews'', a daily talking-heads panel "news"<ref group=note>Matthews' news is usually presented with somewhat of a liberal slant but his guests come from across the [[political spectrum]]</ref> show, first aired on America's Talking<ref group=note>MSNBC's short-lived ancestor</ref> as ''Politics with Chris Matthews'' in 1994<ref group=note>it's the only surviving show of that network</ref>. Its content (and obviously, title) is supposedly based on Matthews' 1988 book, ''Hardball: How Politics is Played, Told By One Who Knows the Game''. Matthews frequently gets his view across by interrupting and talking over his guests.

Recurring guests  on ''Hardball'' have included: 
* [[Pat Buchanan]], notable 
commie lover
 religious pundit and white supremacist famous for bashing [[homosexuality|gays]], [[atheism|atheists]], and damned [[woman|women]] who don't stay at home [[pregnancy|pregnant]], and the occasional holocaust diminution and associated World War II revisionism. 
*  Howard Fineman 
* [[Christopher Hitchens]]
* and his wife<ref group=note>Ok, so she's a news anchor in her own right, but still</ref>

A sad, notable moment: ''Hardball'' was one of the first shows to give [[Michele Bachmann]] a forum for her opinions. In effect Hardball was responsible for launching her political career. When on October 17, 2008 she was asked how many people she believed were "[[McCarthyism|Anti-American]]", she replied:
{{cquote|"What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-[[America]] or anti-America? I think people would love to see an exposé like that."}}

Matthews said nothing about the very unAmerican position she held, advocating that the media investigate our [[government]] to insure that they are "thinking right".  And [[history]] showed that while this offended the left, it was the single comment that made Bachmann's ascension to the new "Right Wing Darling".

==Controversies==
Sometimes it's best to just let the pundit speak for himself...
===Hillary Clinton===
{{cquote|I'll be brutal, the reason she's a U.S. senator, the reason she's a candidate for president, the reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around. That's how she got to be senator from New York. We keep forgetting it. She didn't win there on her merit.|||January 9, 2008 on MSNBC's ''Morning Joe''}}

===Obama===
{{Cquote|You know, I forgot he was black tonight for an hour.|||part of his State of the Union coverage, January 22, 2010.}}
{{cquote|“I felt this thrill going up my leg!”|||on Obama's style of speaking, quoted from Huffington Post on February 28, 2008}}

===Islam===
{{cquote|Every school in the Arab world will be a madrass school.}}
{{cquote|Five years from now, 10 years from now, there's going to be a huge Islamic population in the world, they're going to be nationalistic, they're going to be religious, and they're going to be militant.}}

===Hurricane Sandy===
{{cquote|I'm so glad we had that storm last week because I think the storm was one of those things.}}

He drew fire from conservatives. Matthews denied he was talking about the storm's destruction<ref>Matthews, C. (November 7, 2012). [https://twitter.com/HardballChris/status/266094988427948032 "Obviously I wasn't talking about the horror of the storm. I grew up on the Jersey shore."] ''Twitter''. Retrieved November 7, 2018.</ref> and later tried clarifying, saying "I was thrilled at the cooperation between the President and state officials that made the country proud. Great bipartisanship."<ref>Matthews, C. (November 7, 2012). [https://twitter.com/HardballChris/status/266094999412817920 "To clarify - I was thrilled at the cooperation between the President and state officials that made the country proud. Great bipartisanship."] ''Twitter''. Retrieved November 7, 2018.</ref>

===Bernie Sanders===

He has utilized his overwhelmingly large brain to produce prophecies such as predicting Bernie Sanders “will lose 49 states”<ref>Haynes, T. (February 2020)[https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/02/19/chris_matthews_bernie_sanders_is_full_of_it_would_lose_49_states_to_trump.html “Chris Matthews: Bernie Sanders Is "Full Of It," Would Lose 49 States To Trump Like McGovern In 1972”]</ref>. He has also started being reactionary in advance, claiming there would be mass executions in Central Park if Bernie won and that he would be amongst those killed. <ref>Fearnow, B. (February 2020)  [https://www.newsweek.com/msnbc-host-chris-matthews-ties-bernie-sanders-fears-socialist-executions-central-park-fidel-1486375 “MSNBC HOST CHRIS MATTHEWS TIES BERNIE SANDERS TO FEARS OF SOCIALIST 'EXECUTIONS IN CENTRAL PARK,' FIDEL CASTRO”] </ref>

Which begs the questions... Who the fuck does he think he is? And... what the hell has he been up to?

In early 2020, Matthews [[red baiting|red-baited]] Sanders' campaign, going as far as comparing his win in Nevada to [[Adolf Hitler]] and [[Nazi Germany]].<ref group=note>Keep in mind Sanders had several relatives killed in the Holocaust</ref> Yeah, [[Hitler and socialism|Hitler '''totally''' was a socialist]]. This drew ire from Jewish groups, demanding that Matthews resign from his show on MSNBC.<ref>https://www.newsweek.com/chris-matthews-sanders-nazi-france-1488613</ref> He was forced to apologize for this statement, which he did several days later.

==Lightning rod==
As you may have noticed Matthews has, at times, been more of a detriment to liberal causes than an aid to them. This is mainly because his stupid comments end up giving ammunition to [[wingnuts]] and feed their already severe [[persecution complex]]. Certain pundits will often conflate Matthews with liberals in order to [[nutpicking|generalize them and knock them down]]. Though Matthews is definitely a Democrat, he has described himself as being fairly conservative, to the point where he voted for [[George W. Bush]] in 2000 and earned the scorn of [[Media Matters]] for praising Bush repeatedly in 2005.<ref>http://mediamatters.org/research/2005/12/23/chris-matthews-2005s-misinformer-of-the-year/134530</ref> He has generally been more liberal since then but described himself as a "[[centrist]]" in 2012. He also strongly supported both the [[Iraq War]] and the Keystone XL pipeline. However, this probably won't stop right-wing pundits from using him to bash liberals over the head, since most of their audience probably thinks anyone to the left of [[Newt Gingrich]] is a liberal.

==See also==
*[[DINO]] - The sort of Democrats he represents.
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Chris}}

[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Sexism]]

Categories: Living people, Sexism