h/t Heather for the video
I thought I'd heard it all from Chris Matthews. Hardball scores a coup, in my opinion, landing Michael Joseph Gross, the author of the article of the week, the slamming expose of Sarah Palin in Vanity Fair.
But Gross turns the conversation to a topic Matthews clearly doesn't want to discuss: Why are so many television shows giving attention to a person who has proven to be intellectually lazy, dishonest, and hypocritical? Because that question is first and foremost about Chris Matthews. No other pundit has set aside so completely Sarah Palin's complete lack of qualifications to hold public office. Chris Matthews wants Sarah Palin to win the GOP nomination, I assume because in addition to the tingle up his leg, it also improves ratings for his show.
So Matthews cuts Gross off and gives the floor to...Norah O'Donnell? Who wants to talk about how Palin "can be this celestial guide post in a time when most Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction"?
Matthews concludes the segment by letting loose this odor of madness. No, I am not making this up:
MATTHEWS: Maybe we need David Broder to come back and really be strong, we need some gatekeepers again in this business.
And that, my friends, is when I fell off my chair. Maybe we need some gatekeepers? And you, Chris Matthews, are giving the job which FALLS TO YOU to David Broder?
I can't imagine Matthews hasn't read Broder's senility-confirming Paean to Palin from last February, given he harps on the same "common sense solutions" celebrated in that OpEd.
Mr. Matthews, I know you have nothing but disdain for bloggers. So let me address you as a fellow citizen of this country we both love: the closer Sarah Palin gets to the GOP nomination for President, the more damage she does not only to the nation, but specifically to the Republican Party. We on the Left cheer that on, but our partisanship comes at a cost to the nation of a balanced government with actual real debate on issues, a debate that leaves our country stronger. The GOP has been completely tossed to the fear-mongering White Trash and its charismatic hillbilly queen, a brain-lazy grifter who has NO answers to the problems that face this country. She doesn't even think about them. And when you, Chris Matthews, sacrifice your responsibility as a journalist to the cheering on of a Palin candidacy for the sake of ratings, you are a traitor to our country and the political process you claim to appreciate.
Transcript via Roll Call below the fold:
MATTHEWS: At what point does that become not use -- not even -- well, even ludicrous when you`re asked a question about how are you going to deal with the Middle East peace problems, how are you going to deal with nuclear technology around the world, what`s a common sense solution when there are no common sense solution? It takes a lot of ingenuity to figure out what to do with these problems. When will the voters say, enough of this common sense line of yours, what`s the answer?
GROSS: Well, I feel like we should have reached that point a long time ago. The question has as much to do with when those of us who are sitting in these chairs and looking in these cameras are going to stop giving her the attention that feeds this fire. She`s proven that she is a person for whom there is no matter to small to lie about.
MATTHEWS: OK.
GROSS: There is no distinction between fact and fiction in what she talks.
MATTHEWS: We`ll see how your piece runs.
Norah, your thoughts. You`ve been through the piece, you`ve covered her. How do you react to the piece you read by Michael in the "Vanity Fair" edition coming out?
O`DONNELL: Well, I think it`s fascinating and it captures really what is the sort of complex person that Sarah Palin is. And that Palin brand is exactly what makes her so marketable -- why she can sell 2 million books and why people come out in droves to see her.
I also think what`s fascinating is her use of the North Star.
MATTHEWS: Yes. I know that.
O`DONNELL: I mean, that is a great narrative -- good presidential campaigns need a narrative. She can be this celestial guide post in a time when most Americans --
MATTHEWS: OK.
O`DONNELL: -- think the country is headed in the wrong direction. And that can be a powerful narrative. But she`s got to work on the substance.
MATTHEWS: Maybe we need David Broder to come back and really be strong, we need some gatekeepers again in this business.
