Reply #123: P.S. Here is a little tidbit on Matthews specifically, there is much more

[Uncle Joe]

just go to the Daily Howler website and google "War Against Gore" or 2000 debates with Matthews or Russert's names.

I will say up front there are two points I disagree on with the Daily Howlwer, Matthews and his ilk aren't "liberal elites", they're corporate toadies and with the Howler's last paragraph of Matthews being stupid, I would only add the caveat that Matthews is paid to be stupid.

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh052206.shtml

Special report—Corps on Gore!

"PART 1—STILL CRAZY: Al Gore was right about global warming—way back in the 1980s. He was also right on internal combustion. And oh yes, he was right on Iraq, in a prophetic speech in September 02—a speech Joe Klein praised at the time. In a rational world, this would make Gore a reigning star—but we live in the world of a millionaire press corps, and we suffer, every day, from its judgments. On Friday morning, Michael Kinsley heaped torrents of praise on McCain, who was wrong. But how does the pundit corps treat Gore, the man was actually right on Iraq? On this weekend’s Chris Matthews Show, one empty scribe turned to another (Joe Klein), who then said what they’ve said all along:

KLEIN (5/21/06): You know, there’s a big question here. If you read Al Gore’s speech just before the war in Iraq where he came out against it, it’s a brilliant speech. If you saw Al Gore delivering it, he looked like a madman.

Al Gore can be right as much as he likes—but in these strange regions, he’s always a madman. Moments earlier, Matthews had started the hunt. He teed up the vacuous Kathleen Parker by quoting one of her columns:

MATTHEWS: Kathleen, you wrote a column recently—I like the phraseology—you said Al Gore is “one slice short of a loaf.” (Group laughter) I mean, that’s like they say up in Massachusetts, they say things like, “He’s got a few shingles missing from the roof.” What’s your point? Is he a little nutty, are you saying?

Gore can be right as much as he wants. But it will always be thus with these life-forms, the ones who run our public discourse—and prefer to watch King Kong. And Parker, of course, knew her role rather well. Coyly, the harlot responded:

PARKER (continuing directly): Well, I think he’s got—There are those who say he’s lost it. I’m not going to go that far. I think he’s actually feeling quite liberated from himself, I think he’s having a great time. He’s now the alpha wonk. And suddenly he has all these admirers and Hollywood types loving him with this movie.

For herself, Parker won’t say that Gore has “lost it.” Other people are saying it, though, the vacuous scribe coolly purred. Of course, she refers to Gore’s film about global warming—the topic where the nutty man who has “lost it” was actually right all along.

Yes, Parker and Matthews are deeply stupid. In fact, they’re stupid to the point of national calamity, since these are the people in charge of our discourse. And all this week, we’ll note the ways our liberal elites accept this weird state of affairs. But please understand what we’ve shown you for years: This is the way the “press corps” treats you—if you’re the guy who was actually right! Throughout this segment on Gore-as-a-candidate, the Standard Themes were dragged out and promoted. Was Gore too “bitter?” Did he have too much “venom?” Could be possibly get over his “anger?” And, of course, what about his “authenticity?” Robots couldn’t stick to a script the way these bizarre magpies can."

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