Updated below with an email from Media Matters. (originally published 1/10/08)
I'm not the only one who's completely enraged by Chris Matthews, aka Tweety, and his sexist, immature, completely soul-less ranting lately (well, he's been all that for quite a while, but in the last couple of weeks, he's really just lost it with increasingly ugly attacks and embarrassing allusions). Yesterday, some well-known bloggers (Brilliant at Breakfast and Shakespeare's Sister, among others) have put together a new group blog to document the atrocities.
It's gotten to the point where I watch him, like waiting for the crash, or explosion, or whatever is going to happen to him. He gone so off the rails, you just have to look.
Sweet Jesus I Hate Chris Matthews only has 10 posts so far, but if you watch the videos, and read the transcripts of just the few shows addressed in that short period of time, its pretty evident that the man is seriously ill.
So the bloggers are covering his career and personal train wreck now like TMZ is covering Britney. Its probably just as cynical, but bloggers aren't the ones putting him on the air every night and letting him cover this political campaign, are they? Doing *that* is so corrosive to the country, it prompts a pretty harsh response — what else can those with just a little space on the Tubes do?
Sadly, he is supposed to be a serious political pundit, and has influence on the body politic, and thus on people's real lives.
PS A previous blog inspired by Tweety's maddening ravings was John Aravosis' An Open Letter to Chris Matthews. He is also a regular hot topic at Media Matters, probably the definitive source for Matthews' wankery (but MM only started a couple of years ago, before that, and still, Daily Howler has plenty of evidence). But the Blogosphere has been complaining about him for years, and almost any lefty site will have addressed him. Ironically, he is viewed by the Rightwing as a huge liberal, because in his youth he came to DC to work for some Democratic politicians.
Update:
Dear Friend,
Does Chris Matthews have a problem with women?
Using overtly sexist language, he has referred to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) as a “she devil” and compared her to a “strip-teaser.” He has called her “witchy” and likened her voice to “fingernails on a blackboard.” He has referred to men who support her as “castratos in the eunuch chorus.” He has suggested Clinton is not “a convincing mom” and said “modern women” like Clinton are unacceptable to “Midwest guys.” He has called her “Madame Defarge” and “Nurse Ratched.”
>> Had enough? Contact MSNBC to tell them what you think.
After Clinton won the New Hampshire Democratic primary, Matthews asserted: “[T]he reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around.” He described her performance at a debate last Saturday as apparently “good enough to seem good enough here for women who wanted to root for her anyway.”
His sexism is hardly limited to comments about Clinton. During coverage of the New Hampshire primary, he said that Clinton is the only viable woman presidential candidate “on the horizon.” He couldn't think of a single female governor eligible to run: “Where are the big-state women governors?” he asked. “Where are they? Name one.” In fact, several of the states that currently have women governors are comparable in population to the states in which the male presidential candidates serve or have served as governor.
>> Had enough? Contact MSNBC to tell them what you think.
In November 2006, shortly after the Democrats took the majority in Congress, Matthews asked a guest if then-presumptive speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was “going to castrate Steny Hoyer” if Hoyer (D-MD) were elected House majority leader.
During coverage of a presidential debate last spring, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell was compelled to remind Matthews that Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) wife, Michelle, is a Harvard-educated lawyer after he focused obsessively on her physical appearance.
The good news is that people are speaking out against Matthews' flagrant, persistent sexism.
Of the New Hampshire primary results, the blog TalkLeft, observed:
“It was a revolt of women sick and tired of the likes of Chris Tweety Matthews and the Media Misogynists.
Barack Obama did not lose New Hampshire. The Media did. Their misogynist hatred of Hillary Clinton was soundly rejected by the voters. Especially the women voters of New Hampshire.
How the Media will react to this well deserved rebuke is the question. And let's be clear, Chris Matthews should be removed from covering this race. His offensive behavior is a disgrace to NBC.”
>> Had enough? Contact MSNBC to tell them what you think.
It's time to play a little “hardball.” Please contact MSNBC and Chris Matthews today and let them know what you think.
Thank you for your continued support — I hope you'll make sure that your voice is heard.
Sincerely,
Jamison Foser
Executive Vice-President
Media Matters for America