I like Chris Matthews and Hardball .....

One of the big lies on DU goes something like this:
"The dog grabbed the remote from my hand, and the channel accidentally switched to FOX, and I watched twelve seconds of ...."
Bullshit!

That kind of excuse is as old as DU itself. And, I'm not alone in watching a heavily biased cable program or three, I'd bet.

I like Chris Matthews ("Tweety") and Hardball ("Hairball") on MSNBC ("MSRNC"). I go out of my way to watch it. I schedule many things so as to not miss it.
Matthews is one smart guy - a political junkie, perhaps to a degree to make many DUers envious. He does his homework, and he has a mostly Democratic background. He admitted that he voted for * once (2000).
He's played the political game a lot more years than most of us at DU. Matter of fact, he's been in the game longer than many of our posters have been alive.

From what I expect of a general news "program", I get it with Hardball. I don't want another biased source; I have that right here at DU 24/7. I think Matthews is middle of the road with a lot of left leaning opinions, unlike many of the characterizations often presented at this site.

I have no dog.
Nobody fuckin changed the channel to Hardball except me, and I intentionally watched the whole damn program!
So, there .... I said it. I feel better.

...O...

:-)'s

I know some people on DU don't like him, but he does a pretty good job criticizing war in Iraq and he genuinely cares about the troops. He has also been carrying coverage of the CIA leak case every day since the story broke. We have to give credit where credit is due. You are not going to agree with everything someone says on television. We should all give him some credit. But I must admit I love DU best of all!

:puke:

he has good info. Inside track. Believes in America more than *.

He's noteworthy also as a weather vane.

And he has other weather vanes as guests, like Andrea Mitchell.

Remember, he's the guy that Karl Rove called to say that "Wilson's wife" was "fair game".

And: you can watch him skeptically and still glean good info.

who perceives a "sunny nobility" in that POS in the White House.

:rofl:

down. Matthews is in the same category as Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly,
Ann Coulter, Brite Hume, Tony Snow and Orin that writes for the New York Post, and the many other right wingers I failed to mention.

I recall when I quit watching him. It was during debates when he was talking about what Kerry said about bush not being concerned with Osama. He added that bush did say that but Kerry took it out of context and put it in the worst possible light. Kerry took nothing out of context and did not even say the worst of what bush said. I actually sent him both quotes.

That bothered me enough to just quit watching. But not long ago I heard David (Gregory?) was often hosting, so I would switch over to see if he was there. One day I heard Matthews say something about the breaking CIA case. I was impressed. I have watched since.

He can bug me, not just by what he says but his way of talking over people. He is too easily impressed by bush for my taste (bush, he who we'd prefer a beer with). But he does know politics and he speaks his mind. It isn't always my mind but he isn't a bush administration pusher either.
He is very excited by this CIA leak and very sure cheney and gang helped lie us into war, using the press to do it.

SO yes, I now watch him on purpose. I have tried to watch fox to see what the fuss was but I can't do it, it's just been disgusting the times I have watched.

He seems to have his finger in the wind based on who his guests are. I cannot figure out if he's just naturally contrarion or argumentative, but he just strikes me as inconsistent.

That says about all that needs to be said about Chris "Clinton didn't hire me so piss on all Democrats" Matthews.

saying something good or not. I really like K.O.

this week. Add in the "sunny nobility" and "everyone likes Bush" and my gag reflex was in overdrive. He has been better about the CIA Leak Scandal but even in that he is doing his best to pretend Bush is not involved. He is shilling for Bush and Rove and doing his best to try and position them above the fray of all the scandals, wars, etc. that is coming out of this White House. Plus he gives all the neocons (John Fund, Mitchell, Buchanan, et al) plenty of air time to spew vile lies and never calls them on it. Sorry Tweety is not my cup of tea.

And, no, I do not accidentally or otherwise watch Faux.

leaning at all. He likes to occasionally mention how he worked for Carter and Tip O'Neill, but I think he does them a disservice by dissing our party by the comments he makes. Frankly, though, I'd rather him stay neutral. I think he just can't help himself.

Check out Media Matters' website:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200512010012

<snip>

December 1, 2005 (Washington, DC) - Media Matters for America today called on MSNBC host Chris Matthews to stop insulting the majority of Americans who have an unfavorable opinion of President George W. Bush. On the November 28 edition of Hardball, Matthews said, "Everybody sort of likes the president, except for the real whack-jobs, maybe on the left," adding, "I mean, like him personally." In fact, recent polls indicate that a majority of Americans have an unfavorable view of Bush: A November 11-15 Diageo/Hotline poll reported that 56 percent of Americans have an "unfavorable" opinion of Bush, and a November 4-7 NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey found that a large plurality have "very negative" feelings toward Bush. Bush's job approval ratings are even worse.

"Chris Matthews's personal insults of those he disagrees with are not only inappropriate for the host of a cable news program, they are also patently absurd, given Bush's obvious unpopularity," said David Brock, President and CEO of Media Matters for America. "Matthews's insults signal a troubling disconnect from reality and from the opinions of his viewers."

<snip>

Hardball's pattern of misinformation and imbalance on CIA leak case

In recent months on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, coverage of the investigation into the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame has offered a clear pattern of misinformation by host Chris Matthews and his guests. Further, on numerous occasions, Hardball's panels of guests who discussed the issue have skewed right -- solely composed of Republicans, prominent conservatives, and journalists or political figures with no public partisan or ideological affiliation; only one arguably skewed left (the head of a nonpartisan professional organization was paired with a columnist frequently presented on PBS' The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer as the liberal of two panelists). Media Matters for America has reviewed Hardball segments devoted to the leak investigation since the July 2 revelation that Karl Rove was Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper's source in the Plame matter. Below, we have documented the show's panels that had a conservative slant, as well as the torrent of falsehoods and misinformation dished up by Matthews and his guests.

<snip>

If you like him, more power to you. I won't deny that he's got a formidable wit, but he's about as whored-out and compromised as they come.

And the fact that he voted for POS Bush EVER damns him to hell in my book. Bush was not only the poorer choice between Bush and Gore, he was the worst of the whole 2000 GOP contenders, except maybe the loon Alan Keyes.

I don't see how your devotion to Faux-lite is something to brag about.

I check Drudge from time to time, and I don't pretend it's by accident. I do so to see what the right-wing spin for the week is that we will have to contend with.

But that doesn't make me a fan of Mattilda Drudge.

Though my brother dialed it in on Thanksgiving - I told him it wasn't allowed on my TV. He's a blue collar liberal who must like the flashy nature of Faux "news". Kinda makes me sick to my stomach. Matthews on the other hand is OK depending on who the guests are. If they are unreasonable nut-jobs I won't subject myself to it.

Didn't mean I always agreed with him, but I thought he played "hardball" with all guests, democrat or repub. Around the election he started to really piss me off and I haven't been able to bring myself to watch him since -- at least not a whole hour of his show.

HA! (I still like his "ha!", cracks me up just thinking about it.)