Chris Matthews praises temperment of Cheney as better than Howard Dean

[Eric J in MN]

On his NBC broadcast television show "Chris Matthews" just now, Matthews said it's fine that Dick Cheney takes extreme positions on energy matters and brought us an elective war but is portrayed as a moderate based on his lethargic speaking style, and that Howard Dean was a centrist governor but is portrayed is extreme based on his energetic speaking style.

Matthews said that if you want to be President, you have to act Presidential.
---------

my comments:

When Ronald Reagan said, "I paid for this microphone," while campaigning wasn't he showing aggressiveness?

Is it Presidential to say, "I paid for this microphone?" Reagan got praised when he stood up for his right to speak.

Howard Dean got bashed for telling a heckler to sit down, and of course, for saying "yah," during part of a speech to supporters.

Chris Matthews played the "yah" clip perhaps more than anyone.

When George W. Bush called a reporter a name during the 2000 campaign, why wasn't that clip played a zillion times?

Because Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush are Republicans, Howard Dean is a Democrat, and the media has rightwing bias.

[BlueEyedSon]

1. Yeah I suppose temperment is more important than integrity,

honesty
and policy.

NOT!

[Eric J in MN]

3. I like Dean's temperment. I want Democrats to speak energetically. nt

nt

[Fleshdancer]

2. But Cheney is barely even human! Robots always have better temperments

:grr:

Passion is not a freakish emotion! Signs of being human is not a bad thing. I hate this.

[Eric J in MN]

12. When a Republican shows passion, like Reagan saying,"I paid for this micr

When a Republican shows passion, like Reagan saying,"I paid for this microphone," the pundits applaud, and treat an unremarkable line as something grand.

When a Democrat shows passion, the pundits say he proved he has a temperment problem and is unfit to be President.

[teryang]

4. Media whore Matthews

Still on his knees.

[Darth_Kitten]

7. Thing is, is this the worst thing about Dean?

the fact he's energetic? :eyes: I don't get how pathetically shallow and biased the american media is. No wonder they don't get any respect.

[quinnox]

5. Give Dean more credit

He didn't just say 'yah' to supporters.

He said - 'YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'

[Eric J in MN]

13. Dean was ending a long list of states with an exclamation. (nt)

nt

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

20. In fairness, you should listen to the Diane Sawyer retraction

and YEaaaaawwwww is far less harmless to America than "Bring 'em on."

I am no fan of Howard Dean's and believe he does backpedal more than his advocates are willing to admit, and believe he is FAR more conservative than some of our other choices, and believe he is LESS for the average person than he claims to be, but when the media is free to play a false story over 700 times to the disadvantage of the electoral process while not practicing similar equity with the current whitehouse occupant, thereby BRAINWASHING people into believeing things are as they present them when they CLEARLY are not...we have a very big problem.

It is incumbent on ALL Democrats to denounce this blatantly false story and the resultant GORING or McCaining of a candidate based on an outright lie.

I'd rather Dean be taken to task for his other inauthenticities such as claiming Kerry is a "do-nothing" senator when in fact he has authored or co-authored more than 350 bills in his career. So WHAT if a different compromise version was passed....there is nor doubt in MY mind his versions of bills were used for leverage. That is what the OLD version of bi-partisan used to represent.

[texasmom]

6. Chris Matthews is a

fine person to discuss others' temperaments. There is some kind of strange irony there.

Watching him interview Al Sharpton Thursday night reminded me why I don't watch him.

They're just dying for us to nominate a bland candidate so they can tear him apart like they did Gore.

[OKNancy]

8. He's an idiot

Teddy Roosevelt was firey, didn't hurt him.

[evil_orange_cat]

9. why do you care what Chris Matthews thinks?

is the man not entitled to opinions?

to refresh your memory, he also said the following:

(about Howard Dean) "We've got an honest man here"

(to Joe Trippi) "I respect you a lot."

(about Cheney) "He went down to the CIA and shaped the intelligence."

It's easy to find quotes to push your opinion of someone... but keep it in context. Yes, the media has a bias... everyone thinks it is biased for the other side... the right wingers think it's liberal (calling CNN the Clinton News Network) and liberals think it's right wing bias.

But Chris Matthews isn't some right winger, he has his own opinions... he worked for the Carter campaign back in the day!

plus, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart was playing the Dean yelp... David Letterman (who makes fun of Bush all the time) was playing it... Everyone was playing it. Don't be mad at the media, be mad at Dean for making a mistake. Personally, I agree with the strategists (on both sides) who ripped on Dean. He deserves the criticism. And this is coming from someone who thinks Dean would be a great president.

[Eric J in MN]

16. Daily Show played it once, and treated if fairly.

"The Daily Show" played the Dean-clip once, and treated if fairly, expressing mild surprise that the speech was upbeat for third place.

"Hardball" played the clip a zillion times. Matthews himself said at the end of last week, "we're wallowing in it."

Every show should have treated the clip like The Daily Show, playing it once at most.


Regarding your implication that Matthews sometimes makes good points, yes, he does.

However, the only other person who regulary states his opinion on MSNBC today is former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough.

So if Matthews is a moderate, then each night on MSNBC we have a moderate giving opinions and a rightwinger (Scarborough) giving opinions. Shouldn't MSNBC have a leftwinger on each night giving opinions?

[MoonRiver]

10. Excuse me, but I really need to go

:puke: after reading that.

[Capn Sunshine]

11. Cheney is a cold blooded sociopath

I should hope his "temperment" is more subdued. You can't sneak up and kill people if they see you coming.

[charlie]

14. That goes a long way in explaining

Matthews' effusive appreciation of Clinton's comsummately mannered and even-keeled public persona...

...wait...

[TacticalPeek]

15. Cheney's temperament is better for badgering intelligence analysts,

installing himself from the Houston suburb of Wyoming as VP, hawking conquered oil to his jackal friends, and similar patriotic pastimes.

[funky_bug]

17. Cyborg vs flesh

Cheney is a cyborg. Robots have no emotion.

[Anwen]

18. Tweety also said that Cheney could beat all of the Dem candidates

I don't know what he was smoking! :smoke:

[TacticalPeek]

19. Bring 'em on!

Though Dick may have to campaign from his bunker in a federal prison.

[Eric J in MN]

21. Really? If Cheney ever Presidential candidate, I don't think he'll win nt

nt

[Anwen]

27. Yes he really said that. And yes, Cheney would lose

BIG TIME! He's so creepy and robotic -- who would trust him?

Yeah, my jaw seriously dropped when I heard Matthews say that. Unbelievable.

[MoonRiver]

23. self deleted

[annagull]

28. Cheney? He's not exactly the most loved Bushista

That's the dumbest analysis I've heard in a while.

[onecitizen]

22. Chris Mathews is so taken with his own........

celebrity, he can't think straight. It clouds his judgment which was questionable to begin with. Look how stupid he acts when that guy from SNL is on his show. He is positively giddy over him. Then he had a segment on with people from Sundance that were previewing a film and Chris said he couldn't wait to see it to see if he was in it!! God what a dork! Apparently it was a documentary or something about politics.

[Anwen]

29. So true!

I saw that bit with the SNL guy...I was really embarrassed for Chris Matthews. He was acting like a giggling school girl.

[Julien Sorel]

24. LOLOLOLOLOL

Matthews was one of the original whores for Dean. He used to fawn over Dean's scrawny little forearms, and publicly stated that he was a Dean supporter, that he loved Dean's story of a small state governor coming on to challenge Bush. That was when the Republicans still thought they could finesse Dean into being the Democratic nominee. What a difference a few weeks make.

[Auntie Bush]

25. You can say that again!

"Because Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush are Republicans, Howard Dean is a Democrat, and the media has rightwing bias."

[bushwakker]

26. perception vs reality

Cheney and the Bush Crime Family portray themselves as the experienced, soothing, "grown-ups". In reality they are incompetent fools who have failed in every way. However the Matthews', Russerts, and Woodruffs of the world fall for their act every time.