I’m told I should cut Chris Matthews some slack

I’ve made two or three posts about Chris (“Tweety”) Matthews which are less than flattering. After one of them I was reminded that he pushes people on all sides, somebody coughing up the video of his interview with Zell Miller in which the latter almost challenged him to a duel. I should say that in the post below, I don’t think Matthews is being deliberately racist or trying to cast Obama in a negative way. I just think the whole line of inquiry manages to be both condescending and moronic simultaneously, especially since two shows in a row obsessed over Obama’s bowling skills, or lack thereof.

But a reader wanted to remind me that the show is called “Hardball” because it asked “the tough questions.” He sent me the link to the video below of an interview with Michelle Malkin during the 2004 campaign in which she accused (trying to employ weasel words for plausible deniability) Senator John Kerry of shooting himself to receive a purple heart. Matthews goes after her tooth and nail, and she gets flustered because he won’t accept the weasel words as an answer.

It’s certainly a memorable clip, and give him credit because most journalists wouldn’t have pushed the issue the way he did. But I still think the whole lack-of-bowling-skill-as-indication-of-liberal-cultural-elitism line of questioning is, well, stupid.

Reasons to vote for the Democrat this year

A poster at MYDD provides a photographic study, for those Clinton supporters thinking they might vote for McCain over Obama.

And if that’s not enough, another stellar White House memo has surfaced.

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On the campaign front, remember the NY Magazine report about Obama pissing off Elizabeth Edwards on health care? She’s disputing the account.

Her beef is squarely with McCain.

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Polls have Obama closing the gap in Pennsylvania, but I believe this poll is probably way off. No way was there a 28 point swing in two weeks.

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And if you remember James Carville attacked Governor Bill Richardson for his endorsement of Obama a couple of weeks ago, calling him “Judas” and pointing out the irony that the endorsement came on Good Friday. Richardson’s responding to Carville’s astonishing ethical view that once you appoint somebody to a cabinet position you own him for life.

Carville and others say that I owe President Clinton’s wife my endorsement because he gave me two jobs. Would someone who worked for Carville then owe his wife, Mary Matalin, similar loyalty in her professional pursuits? Do the people now attacking me recall that I ran for president, albeit unsuccessfully, against Sen. Clinton? Was that also an act of disloyalty?

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Media Matters examines Chris Matthews’ question on whether Obama can “connect with regular people” and not just “African Americans and colleges graduates.” Matthews’ question was apparently based on Obama’s bowling performance.

Discussing Sen. Barack Obama on the April 1 edition of MSNBC’s Hardball, host Chris Matthews asked Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO): “Let me ask you about how he — how’s he connect with regular people? Does he? Or does he only appeal to people who come from the African-American community and from the people who have college or advanced degrees?” Earlier in the show, referring to Obama’s bowling performance at a March 29 campaign stop at Pleasant Valley Lanes in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Matthews teased the segment with McCaskill by asking, “[C]an Obama woo more regular voters — you know, the ones who actually do know how to bowl?” As Media Matters for America noted, on the March 31 edition of Hardball, Matthews said of Obama: “[T]his gets very ethnic, but the fact that he’s good at basketball doesn’t surprise anybody, but the fact that he’s that terrible at bowling does make you wonder.”

“Regular people” don’t play basketball.

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The mainstream media loves McCain. It’s starting to become obvious. McCain, with back-up from the media, claims that he’s never highlighted his Vietnam experience for political gain the way Kerry did in 2004. False.

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Lastly, the Obama Girl calls upon Clinton to stand down.

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Addendum: Hillary Clinton has a new 3 a.m. ad. This one aimed at McCain.

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Second addendum: On the other hand, Sen. McCain has pledged to legalize marijuana!

George Shultz a closet commie?

I missed the unveiling of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade monument last weekend. My mother was there with my grandmother of course. Mayor Gavin Newsom introduced some dignitaries, including apparently George Shultz. Yes, that one. I guess his wife is related to somebody or something.

My mother said there was some awkward applause with some booing when he was introduced, but that was about it. Somebody said something about him being a “murderer.” He didn’t speak or anything. And she said he had a stony look on his face when they sang the Internationale. What did he expect?

I find this quite extraordinary, but the articles on the event are quite cryptic and make no mention of his presence, let alone an explanation which I’m dying to read or hear. I’ll look into it a little more later.

Addendum: Some articles on the unveiling event. This one has a couple of unimpressive photos.

But Shultz made it to the Chron gossip column! Leah Garchik is probably the nation’s only overtly left wing gossip columnist. The “stony” reference may have come from my mother, as she had used the same adjective and was very busy with her e-mails.

The articles generated the following letters:

Editor – Regarding “Lincoln Brigade honored” (March 31): The term describing the many people who attended the unveiling of the monument to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, “Bay Area history buffs,” leaves the impression that those in attendance were primarily interested in the brigade’s involvement in the Spanish Civil War as a historical event.

If the reporters had inquired further, they would have learned of the many people who came from across the country, as well as from local communities, because of their personal connections to members of the brigade and/or their commitment to social justice.

Attending the unveiling gave me the opportunity not only to honor the lives of all the members of the brigade, but to also reflect on the complex ways, both positive and negative, in which my father’s experience in Spain has affected my life and the lives of the members of my extended family. I am certain that I was not alone in this experience.

JOAN FISCH
Palo Alto

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Editor – At Sunday’s well-attended dedication of the nation’s first memorial to Americans who fought in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade against fascism in Spain, no mention was made of our government’s harassment of those heroes when they returned home.

My wife and I attended the San Francisco event on behalf of our dear friend John Lockett, who did not live to see this long-overdue honor paid to him and his buddies. This friend told us the FBI made regular visits during the ’50s to be sure he was not engaged in “subversive activities.”

Rev. FRED FENTON
Concord

Please send links to any articles you find.

Second addendum: Sitting next to my mother was an old friend – a left wing chemical engineer born to east Indian immigrants and a long time radical. She didn’t think the organizers would have the guts to play the Internationale with all the mainstream dignitaries present. My mother’s argument: “This is San Francisco. You can get away with it if it’s packaged in terms of nostalgia.”

My mother won five bucks in their bet, which her friend was happy to lose. Not planned by the organizers was the veterans and many of their older supporters raising their fists in traditional salute. Most of the younger members of the crowd probably didn’t even understand the significance of the song. The lyrics are a bit obscure when you think about it. What exactly does it mean to say that “the international working class will be the human race?” I suppose from Stalin’s view it’s all that will be left after everyone else is killed. I think the original intent was to emphasize the workers as the vanguard class which everyone will join in the advancement towards the closing of the “prehistory of man,” and all that. But if it hasn’t been posted on Youtube, it probably won’t register.