Last night on Hardball, Mathews tried to blame bad Chinese products on Labor Unions

[mod mom]

Last night my husband & I watched the tail end of Hardball and were astonished to hear Chris Mathews attempt to place blame on the outrage over unsafe ChinesE consumer products on a secret campaign by labor unions! OUTRAGEOUS!

from the transcripts:

MATTHEWS: OK, let‘s talk about America again. Our xenophobic tendencies have been roused again, Jonathan—you‘re first here—on China. Here we go. We have discovered the evil of China. They are sending us poisonous toothpaste. They are sending us bad fish, unsafe shrimp I think is the category here. And they‘re also going after—with everything else in the world—bad toys, dangerous toys.

Is this a secret campaign by the labor unions and other projectionists to challenge a bogeyman, basically, saying this is what we‘re fighting, bad goods, not just cheap labor standards, but bad stuff coming in this country?

-snip

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20297013/

PLEASE JOIN ME IN WRITING IN RESPONSE TO THIS RIDICULOUS CHARGE:

[email protected]

[Virginia Dare]

1. WTF???

labor unions and consumer groups have been trying to warn Americans of the dangers of Chinese products and human rights violations for YEARS. There has been nothing secret about it.

[mod mom]

3. I couldn't believe my ears so I waited until the transcipt was posted. Pls send

comments to Hardball!

[Virginia Dare]

9. I will put this bit of tinfoil on my head...

Nancy Pelosi has been a constant voice against open trade with China and it's repressive government policies for a long time. She has many Chinese American consituents. She led the Democratic opposition to MFN. She went to Tienanmen Square and faced down the government's thugs there. There could be some levers being pushed from her direction.

[Katherine Brengle]

2. What a loser he is.

Interesting spin there.

[billyoc]

4. ix-Nay on the ecret campaign-Say...

:yoiks:


:rofl:

[here_is_to_hope]

5. Tweety makes me gag....

I have no idea how he got where he is...and that any one pays him to spew what he spews.
Yuck.
I guess he is saying that labor unions are sneaking into the Chinese factories like rats in the night and leaving treats behind.
"if a man makes a mistake and yet profits from it, expect him to make that same mistake again and again."

I will not buy cheap Chinese plastic crap and no way will I knowingly put anything in my mouth from that country.

[ClassWarrior]

6. Couldn't be that "this" actually "IS what we‘re fighting"...

:eyes:

NGU.

[moggie]

7. Projectionists?

I knew it! Never trust anyone who works in the dark!

[sinkingfeeling]

8. So if you don't want yourself or your kids poisoned, you're being xenophobic about the

Chinese? Is this part of the new 'you cannot criticize anything' or you're un-American rules of the Bush (mis)administration?

[Virginia Dare]

11. It's the same argument used with Israel..

if you oppose the Israeli government's policies, you are antisemitic.

[liberalmike27]

10. I got a kick out of that globalization debate

The guy was actually arguing for the poor folks at Wal*Mart to be able to buy cheap, and apparently poisonous and unsafe, merchandise from them. He didn't put it in that language, but there was this idea that "hey, this stuff is cheap, you guys know it may be poison, or unsafe, why do you think it is cheap. I couldn't believe the absurd argument, and the fact Chris didn't call him on it.

The saddest thing is that people are actually watching this stuff, and thinking it is the liberal media. No wonder so many people fail to see the problems with our Fascist government. And people say they've not been brainwashed.

[Virginia Dare]

12. That guy was a buffoon..

Matthews asked him, so would you buy toxic toothpaste from China? And the guy said, no I probably wouldn't, but at least that's my choice??? WTF??? As if somebody would actually choose to buy toxic toothpaste???

Talk about elite effete, these people are such fucking hypocrites!

[malta blue]

15. Who is the "that guy"

I can't get to the transcript right now and did not see it?

Thanks

[Virginia Dare]

16. Some dork from the Wall Street Journal...

he was debating against a Professor from the University of Maryland. What a maroon that guy was.

[malta blue]

18. Aha - I thought it was Capehart - I usually like him and was

really hoping it was not him

[mod mom]

17. Steven Moore

Here is how tweety described him:

Steven Moore, what a free trader, what a classic “Wall Street Journal” editorial writer you are.

[malta blue]

19. THAT that guy

:puke:

I will have to check out the transcript later..

Thanks:toast:

[Neecy]

22. that WSJ guy really was awful....

...and when he said he wouldn't buy Chinese toothpaste, he gave a huge laugh, as though the idea of an elitist twit like him having to buy tainted dollar-store toothpaste was just the most ridiculous thing ever - being poisoned is for proles, y'see!

It also infuriated me when he insisted the lead-paint toys weren't unsafe, just 'defective'. Jesus Christ, these are children we're talking about playing with these toxic toys and he's splitting hairs. Tells you a lot about Repig 'family values'.

[The Traveler]

13. WTF???

Every time I think Tweety might be pulling his head out of his colon he goes ahead and proves me wrong. What a dork.

:banghead:

[jojo54]

14. I saw that too.

Definately a jaw dropper!!:wow:

[valerief]

20. Where's diabetic coma when you need it? He's long past forgiveness. nt

[Ino]

21. That was NOT Tweety's opinion!

If you only saw the tail-end of the show, you didn't see the earlier segment where Stephen Moore brought up this argument.

MOORE: And it is not as if American products don‘t—I mean, we have Ford and GM recalls all the time.

MATTHEWS: So, you think there‘s a secret conspiracy by the labor unions or who? Who is pushing this?

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: You called—you said there is some effort to—some sort of secret plan by the protectionists.

MOORE: There is a China-bashing going on by the labor unions, by members of both parties who don‘t like China.

Later in the show, Tweety asked his roundtable about Moore's argument -- it was NOT HIS OPINION. Tweety goes on to say, and this IS his opinion...

MATTHEWS: You‘re not just losing jobs. You‘re losing your children to dangerous toys, and bad shrimp and whatever else—

CAPEHART: Toothpaste.

MATTHEWS: These are familiar products that we have to use. Maybe they will kill you. We will be right back with our round table.

Geeeeez! Now you've got everyone hating on Tweety for something SOMEONE ELSE brought up!