Free Republic

Maybe the Obama-inspired tremor that began in Chris Matthews’ leg has traveled up to his head and done some damage. Last night on Hardball, Matthews was discussing–what else?–President Bush’s unconscionable Obama attack in the Knesset. The conversation with conservative radio host Kevin James wended round to the career of Neville Chamberlain, and Matthews began to excoriate James for being ignorant of history. Things got very heated, and James fired back, recounting recent historical examples of America’s failure to counter terrorist acts against the U.S. When James mentioned Bill Clinton’s lackadaisical response to the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in...

Curious what Chris Matthews' brother thinks about the Hardball host entertaining a run for Senate? Ponder no more. "I think it is great," Republican Jim Matthews, a Montgomery County Commissioner, said in an interview Thursday. "We are all surrounded by dead people who just plod along and don't even investigate their dreams. It is kind of neat to see a guy at the top of his game contemplating a complete change in direction," brother Matthews said. The prospect of a Chris Matthews run for Senate has come up before, and a 2010 challenge of Republican U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter has...

A Hardball epic . . . Message to Chris Matthews: when ripping a guest for his lack of historical knowledge, try to avoid making a history mistake of your own in the same segment. It happened on this afternoon's Hardball. After lambasting a guest for not knowing his Neville Chamberlain history, Matthews surmised that the attack on the USS Cole in October, 2000 happened under . . . President Bush. View video here.

Heavens to Murgatroyd! Chris Matthews has reduced Hillary Clinton to a cartoon character. Snagglepuss to be precise. "Exit stage left" was one of the Hanna-Barbera animation's catchphrases, and Matthews used it to wonder whether Hillary was prepared to leave the presidential race, given her flagging political fortunes. Here's how Matthews put it at the top of today's Hardball: CHRIS MATTHEWS: Meanwhile, listen carefully. That sound you hear is the slow falling of electoral delegates, of superdelegates, to Barack Obama. Seven more came aboard today. So with Obama way ahead in elected delegates, now trails Hillary Clinton by only four-and-a-half superdelegates....

Was it Hardball—or the World Series of Poker? Interviewing Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson today, Chris Matthews accused the Clinton campaign of playing the white race card. Just minutes later, when Wolfson accused Matthews of discriminating against Puerto Rican voters, Chris protested "don't play that card on me." Matthews began the showdown by rolling tape of Hillary repeatedly telling USA Today that she had stronger support than Obama among "white" voters. View video here.

Now no longer the center ring for the traveling Democratic presidential nomination circus, Pennsylvania's inventive political community has discovered a new favorite political parlor game to while away the brisk springtime evenings: will Chris Matthews, the irrepressible host of MSNBC's Hardball, step down from his pundits perch to run for the US Senate against Arlen Specter in 2010? To a remarkable degree, speculation abounds over this possibility in the Keystone State. The indications that Matthews will run are abundant. His MSNBC contract runs out next summer, and both he and the network show signs they might be ready for a...

Newsflash: look for Chris Matthews to endorse John McCain any time now. After all, the Hardball host apparently believes that only veterans have the right to call for military action. How else can you read Matthews's mocking mention of Bill Kristol today? Here's the entirety of the Hardball host's discussion, on this evening's show, of Kristol's NY Times column of today. CHRIS MATTHEWS: Is Republican Bill Kristol showing the Republican strategy for the next few months? Here's what he writes in today's New York Times as one of their regular columnists. Quote, "we see the liberal media failing to give...

You're a member of the MSM, and you're a Barack Obama supporter. But I repeat myself. More specifically, you're Chris Matthews. What better way to promote your guy's candidacy than to claim that Republicans would really rather run against Hillary? That's just what the Hardball host did on this afternoon's show. Here's his exchange with the–in my opinion–very impressive Republican strategist Todd Harris, who worked for McCain in 2000, and with Dem strategist Michael Feldman. View video here.

During MSNBC's live coverage of Pennsylvania's Democratic presidential primary, co-anchor Chris Matthews brought up the possibility that the North Carolina Republican Party would run an "overtly racist" campaign against Barack Obama ... Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the April 22 MSNBC coverage of the Pennsylvania Democratic primary from 11:21 P.M.: ...

In Chris Matthews' mind, a bigot is someone who's "culturally conservative" on race. Matthews equated the two on this evening's Hardball in attempting to explain exit polling from yesterday's PA primary showing that 38% of white Catholic Democrats wouldn't vote for Obama in the general election. CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well, somebody who doesn't like that group of voters might call them Archie Bunkers. I'll call them Reagan Democrats, John [Baer of the Philadelphia Daily News], they're Reagan Democrats: people who are culturally conservative, maybe a little culturally conservative on the racial front, on the ethnic front. They like to think of...

Here's the problem with Chris Matthews playing footsie with the idea of running for US senator from Pennsylvania. When I hear him say something nowadays, I often can't help but wonder whether he means it, or is just trying to position himself for a possible run. Take this evening's Hardball, during which Matthews went off on Joe Lieberman, castigating him as a "terrible" running-mate for Al Gore in 2000. Kiki McLean, a senior Clinton advisor, was Chris's guest. She mentioned that she had served as an aide to Lieberman in 2000, and to Gore when he was the Veep candidate...

During Morning Joe's opening segment today, Joe Scarborough, in an apparent allusion to the ambitions Chris Matthews has expressed, facetiously wondered whether the panel should start calling the Hardball host "Senator." But just a bit later, Scarborough seized on a question Matthews posed to John McCain yesterday to illustrate a classic bit of MSM bias: the way the liberal media only speak of a "litmus test" when it comes to Republicans choosing pro-life nominees, never in regard to Dems picking pro-choicers. View video.

Stephen Colbert called it "an announcement." Chris Matthews went on the Colbert Report last night and, responding to the host's importuning to declare his candidacy for US Senator from Pennsylvania, ultimately stated: "I want to be a senator." Over on MSNBC, Morning Joe played a clip of their colleague's appearance, then chewed it over. STEPHEN COLBERT: There's a lot of talk that you might be running for Arlen Specter's seat. Matthews first played it coy.

Not that it should come as a surprise, but should Chris Matthews reveal his pro-Obama rooting interest as blatantly as he did today? On this evening's Hardball, the man who gets a thrill from Barack expressed "concern" that Hillary might have a stronger-than-expected finish in the Pennsylvania Dem primary. Matthews was reading the tea leaves with two Keystone State pros: Dick Polman of the Philadelphia Inquirer and veteran journalist Larry Kane. After Kane reported that the Obama people are more optimistic than they're letting on, and believe it's going to be a "close finish," Matthews let his Obama slip show...

MATTHEWS WEIGHS SENATE BID IN PA HORATIO AT THE BRIDGE FOR SPECTER MSNBC TV star Chris Matthews has been quietly sounding out Democrats across Pennsylvania about seeking the Democratic nomination to oppose Senator Arlen Specter, who shows no signs of slowing down or retiring, in 2010. Matthews has pondered a Senate bid in Pennsylvania before but deemed the water too cold. Matthews has been meeting with former Philadelphia City Comptroller Tommy Leonard and has approached Governor Ed Rendell to inquire about recruiting campaign personnel. Unfortunately, like Pat Buchanan before him, Chris Matthews has hours and hours of television tape going...

You're not losing an MSNBC host--you're gaining a Dem Senate candidate. That seems an ever-more-likely scenario, given Chris Matthews' reaction to a suggestion that he's well-positioned to make a run against Arlen Specter in 2010. Philly-based radio talk show host Michael Smerconish was Matthews' guest on this evening's Hardball, and found a way to work the suggestiion of a Matthews' senate run into his closing comments.

On yesterday's Hardball, Chris Matthews, smelling a rat, was livid when he learned that the Clintons had failed to file or release their 2007 tax return. But on today's Good Morning America, Kate Snow managed to make a silk purse out of the sow's ear of the Clinton's delay. Far from depicting it as a means to evade the promulgation of inconvenient facts, Snow painted the procrastination as proof of the Clintons' humanity. Compare and contrast . . . HARDBALL APRIL 4TH DAVID SHUSTER: As far as the details we do not have the details from last year. We don't...

Barack Obama just told MSNBC's Chris Matthews on a special "Hardball" college tour edition on Wednesday that "I fell off the wagon a couple of times" when it comes to smoking. that after lapsing he "was able to get back on" the wagon right away. Obama quit smoking when he starting running for president last year, a condition laid down by wife Michelle.

Ed Rendell is too truthful to be a good vice-presidential candidate. Just ask him. The Pennsylvania governor and Hillary supporter was a guest on this afternoon's Hardball. Wrapping up the interview, host Chris Matthews broached his availability as Veep. CHRIS MATTHEWS: Do you think the Democrats have a shot at carrying Florida on the best of conditions this year? ED RENDELL: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Particularly when the issues about Social Security are fashioned. I think this is going to be the best chance we've had to carry Florida since 2000. MATTHEWS: I think Hillary has a better chance than Barack...

After me, the deluge" (après moi, le déluge) -- popularly attributed to Louis XV Look for Chris Matthews to start calling her "Louie." The Hardball host was as roiled as Robespierre today at Hillary Clinton's threat to take the Dem party down in a convention credentials fight over the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegates. In the course of an interview with Greta Van Susteren of Fox News yesterday, Clinton made clear her intention to take things to a floor fight if necessary, and went so far as to pre-emptively undermine Barack Obama's legitimacy as a candidate if he...

Hardball had some fun at Hillary's expense this evening over the mystery of The Sniper Who Didn't Fire. Credit Politico's Roger Simon with making the panel's most devastating remark. Hillary's Heminwayesque claim has been that "we used to say in the White House that if a place is too dangerous, too small or too poor, send the First Lady." Chatting with host Chris Matthews, Bloomberg's Margaret Carlson, and Perry Bacon of WaPo, Simon observed what in retrospect might be obvious but something I hadn't previously heard anyone else remark. ROGER SIMON: She says I was there because it was too...

Salesman on train: How far you going, friend? Harold Hill: Wherever the people are as green as the money, friend. -- The Music Man, 1962 Among the many gaps in my knowledge is a broad unfamiliarity with Broadway musicals. So when Chris Matthews said that Bill Clinton would make a perfect Harold Hill in The Music Man, I scampered Googleward and discovered that the Hardball host had just called the former President of the United States . . . a con man. Appearing on today's Morning Joe, what set Matthews off was footage of Clinton making the case to a...

FNC anchor Chris Wallace was a topic of conversation during the final segment of Hardball this afternoon on MSNBC. Chris Matthews played the clip of Wallace chastising the "two hours of Obama bashing" on Fox & Friends on Friday, and complimented the anchor for speaking up. The MSNBC panel of Norah O'Donnell, Eugene Robinson and Chuck Todd were complimentary as well during the three-minute segment. "Congratulations to Chris Wallace for standing up to those around you. I always like somebody who's willing to take up others around them," Matthews concluded. Then, smiling, he said, "I sometimes try it," as O'Donnell...

I count Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace among the fairest and most incisive interviewers in the business, and hope his tenure at Fox News is a long one. Anyone who can relentlessly cross-exam Mitt Romney on his changed position on abortion the way Wallace did a while back, then turn around and provoke Bill Clinton to near the point of taking a poke at him, is doing his job and playing no favorites. But should Wallace ever wish a change of venue, never fear: MSNBC apparently can find a place for him. Wallace made some news when, appearing on...

Good thing Chris Matthews was down in DC and Mika Brzezinski in NYC this morning. Had they been in the same studio, it might have taken Springer-show security guys to pry them apart. Such was the level of bad vibes that cropped up between the MSNBC pair during Matthews' appearance on Morning Joe today. The first incident to incite Matthews' ire was Mika's suggestion, after an impassioned Matthews plea for the country to rally around Obama, that the Hardball host had done what it certainly sounded as if he had: endorsed the junior senator from Illinois. That drew a denial...

Somebody better break it to the New York Times: they might still be the paper of record in their own minds, but to the rest of the world, they're just one more dead-tree joint struggling for attention. The Old Grey Lady's unjustified conceit was on display during this afternoon's Hardball, when one of its reporters was aghast that Chris Matthews had had the audacity not to have read her oeuvre. NYT reporter Deborah Solomon had interviewed the Rev. John Hagee, a minister who has endorsed McCain and has made a number of controversial statements. I would mention in passing that...

It wasn't quite a "thrill up up my leg" moment, but Chris Matthews clearly hasn't gotten over his love affair with the candidacy of Barack Obama. It was a discussion of NM Gov. Bill Richardson's endorsement of Obama on today's Morning Joe that inspired an outpouring of emotion in which among other things Matthews acknowledged Obama "gets to me." CHRIS MATTHEWS: I think [Richardson's] a gutsy guy, his own man, and I think it's a powerful endorsement. It certainly would have been powerful if it had gone the other way to Senator Clinton. I think it'll be a prized endorsement...

<p>Never in the history of American oratory has such soaring rhetoric been deployed so majestically in the service of campaign damage control.</p> <p>That’s why Chris Matthews’ Leg felt “it” again today. That electric surge of hope-change-love-peace running from his toes up his sciatic nerve. “I am healed,” The Leg declared serenely.</p>

Touchy, touchy, Chris! Palpably stung by Ken Blackwell's observation that Republicans had lost their way by running like Reagan but governing like Carter, Chris Matthews -- former speechwriter to the president from Plains -- cracked back by playing the Abramoff card and claiming Republicans are more corrupt than Dems. Blackwell, the very impressive former Secretary of State of Ohio and past candidate for Buckeye state governor, was Matthews' guest on this evening's MSNBC election coverage. Blackwell was discussing what it would take for Republicans to win in 2008. KEN BLACKWELL: My view is this, Chris, that we got off track....

In the course of offering a tribute to William F. Buckley, Jr. on this afternoon's Hardball, Chris Matthews made a surprising revelation: that he came to political consciousness as a WFB conservative. You'll find the transcript of the Hardball host's remarks below, but I'd encourage you to view the video, here. See if, like me, you're struck by the heartfelt nature of his comments. CHRIS MATTHEWS: If you want to influence someone, get to him or her in high school. It's my experience that people at that age are the most impressionable, the most searching for guidance, for example, for...

The airwaves have been filled today with the clip of an angry Hillary saying "shame on you, Barack Obama," and another of Clinton mocking the notion that, to believe Barack, "celestial choirs will be singing." But on this evening's Hardball, Chris Matthews unearthed yet another clip of Hillary at her harshest. And after playing it, a butter-wouldn't-melt-in-his-mouth Matthews ripped the Clinton campaign strategy. Words don't do justice to the fingernails-on-blackboard tone, but here's what a raspy-voiced Hillary said in the video Matthews played. HILLARY CLINTON: Quit misleading people about what I do. [Ed.: shades of Bob Dole's unsuccessful line to...

(Washington, DC) Medical authorities have failed to explain why MSNBC’s Chris Matthews’s leg hasn’t stopped tingling since the evening hours of February 13 during an acceptance speech given by Democratic candidate Barack Obama. Matthews first reported his condition in an on-air exchange with Keith Olberman about an hour after Obama swept the so-called Potomac primaries in Virginia, Maryland and DC. According to MSNBC transcripts: “I have to tell you, you know, it’s part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama’s speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I...

Appearing on Thursday's 1pm hour of MSNBC News Live, "Hardball" host Chris Matthews couldn't resist taking a few swipes at Rush Limbaugh. After anchor Peter Alexander played a clip of the conservative talk show host discussing the New York Times story on John McCain, Matthews irritably claimed, "Rush Limbaugh is irrelevant here. Irrelevant. He doesn't know anything more than what he read in the New York Times." The radio clip, from todays edition of Limbaugh's program, featured the host urging the presidential candidate to learn a lesson from the front-page New York Times story speculating about a improper relationship with...

Someone should tell Chris Matthews to go pick on someone his own size . . . Matthews enjoyed himself at the expense of a local legislator during last night's MSNBC coverage of the primaries. Kirk Watson [shown in a clip from today's Morning Joe] is a state senator from Texas and an Obama supporter. Matthews cornered Watson at length over his inability to name specific accomplishments by Obama. Credit Kirk for keeping a smile on his face, but there's no denying he was put badly on the spot. View the exchange here, via HuffPo.

Chris Matthews on this afternoon's Hardball, speaking with Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.). CHRIS MATTHEWS: Congressman Burton, why do you think Cubans on the island still support the Castro brothers? What is it that allows that lock on those people to continue?

Slip of the tongue, or was the man who gets a thrill up his leg from Barack Obama's rhetoric voicing his innermost apprehension at the prospect of Hillary Clinton regaining the upper hand? On this afternoon's Hardball, host Chris Matthews was discussing the March 4th Texas primary with Wayne Slater of the Dallas Morning News, John Heilemann of New York magazine, and Norah O'Donnell. The MSNBCer made the point that under the arcane Texas rules in which the race is a hybrid of caucus and primary, it's possible for one candidate to win the popular vote and the other to...

Chris Matthews has spent the primary cycle alternately opining and apologizing for his remarks about Hillary Clinton. It looks like he may have either tired of the cycle, or wants another round of YouTubed capitulation to make the blogospheric rounds. Sam Stein at the Huffington Post notes that Matthews erupted on Joe Scarborough's morning show at MS-NBC, calling Hillary's media-response team "knee-cappers": Chris Matthews fired a salvo at the Clinton campaign this morning after both he and his MSNBC colleague were privately rebuked for recent comments deemed misogynistic or inappropriate. Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe, the Hardball host went off...

As fellow NewsBuster Brad Wilmouth has documented, last night an inspired Chris Matthews exclaimed that in watching Barack Obama speak, "I felt this thrill going up my leg." Joe Scarborough has offered a graphic variation on the metaphor to depict how the Clinton folks might be feeling this morning. It came at 7:05 AM ET during today's Morning Joe, subsequent to a discussion of Matthews' thrill-up-his-leg line. JOE SCARBOROUGH: Look at these numbers; the percentages of victories. You're talking about feelings? If I were running Hillary Clinton's campaign right now, if I were Howard Wolfson, I might have a feeling...

During MSNBC's live coverage of Tuesday's presidential primary elections, after the speeches of Barack Obama and John McCain had aired, Chris Matthews expressed his latest over the top admiration for Obama's speaking skills as the MSNBC anchor admitted that Obama's speech created a "thrill" in his leg:

Chris Matthews went off on one of his patented tirades on today's Morning Joe, imagining how conservatives would relish going after a President Hillary Clinton with a vengeance. Might Matthews, understandably, be short on sleep? He also bit Mika Brzezinski's head off for a harmless statement. CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well you know a lot of Republican talk show people like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, I think authors, successful authors, I must say, like Ann Coulter, they wouldn't be so unhappy to have Hillary Clinton to beat up for four or eight years, especially four years. And Mr. DeLay would probably love...

Can a picture be worth a thousand tears? Behold Chris Matthews in the depths of despair, reacting to Joe Scarborough's suggestion that Obama the dreamer has lost to Hillary the machine candidate. Schmoozing with Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on today's Morning Joe, Matthews had analogized Obama to Mozart the genius while casting Hillary in the role of the workmanlike but uninspired Salieri. View video here.

Living in the DC area, Chris Matthews has surely been stuck in traffic more than once behind someone sporting the classic NRA bumper sticker: "If Guns Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Have Guns." Was Chris was listening too intently to NPR to consider the the truth of that pithy aphorism? You might think so, considering his anti-gun rant that seemed to assume that criminals, rather than law-abiding citizens, will obey restrictions on gun ownership. On this evening's Hardball, riffing off Mitt Romney's Second Amendment defense during last night's GOP debate, Chris took aim at National Review's Deroy Murdock, a Giuliani...

The biggest news out of last night's GOP debate could be the hit taken by John McCain's reputation for straight talk. For whatever reason, McCain chose to deny the undeniable: that on more than one occasion he has admitted not understanding the economy as well as he should. When the debate ended it took MSNBC no time to document the record. And a bit later, in the post-debate coffee klatsch, Chris Matthews and Howard Fineman unloaded on the Arizona senator for his fudging. View video here.

On Hardball With Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz responds to a series of attacks Bill Clinton has leveled at Barack Obama.

"...the reason she's a U.S. senator, the reason she's a candidate for president, the reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around." -MSNBC Hardball Host, Chris Matthews Chris Matthews is in trouble. His typically clumsy and ill-informed news analysis cut left for once. The socialist progressives are now accusing him of being part of the dreaded vast right wing conspiracy, a terrible insult in their world, and the far left is calling him all sorts of nasty names. The retribution they demand ranges from an apology, which he has already given, to firing, to drawing and quartering....

The MSNBC "Hardball" host had more explaining to do after Clinton's victory when he said that the reason Clinton is a candidate for president "is that her husband messed around." Matthews was the focal point for the anger many women felt at how Clinton's candidacy seemed to be written off with lightning speed following a loss in Iowa and foreboding poll numbers in New Hampshire. He is a man and he is ever sure of himself. He also had a history: The liberal watchdog Media Matters for America counted more than eight negative remarks Matthews made about Clinton for every...

There were THREE losers in last night's New Hampshire primary: pollsters, "independent" voters, and Chris Matthews. The pollsters were losers because they were massively wrong about predicting a double digit win for Obama when he ended up losing by 3 percent. The pollsters were as wrong on this as they were on their prediction of a 2004 landslide based on the exit polls. Back then many conservatives were completely distraught when they heard the news about the exit poll results and didn't consider the possibility that not only could the exit polls be wrong but spectacularly wrong. Meanwhile, liberals...

Could the great irony be that the feminist icon won because . . . people felt sorry for the girl? That's not just some right-wing media critic talking. It's a view emerging from left-wing circles. Apparently the libs are angry that the MSM was too biased towards Obama, so much so that it drove people to Hillary out of spite or sympathy. Take the comments of Air America host Rachel Maddow during last night's MSNBC election coverage, during a remarkable exchange with Pat Buchanan and Chris Matthews. Who has been singled out for blame by the lefty blogosphere? None other...

Credit Chuck Todd for candor. The NBC News Political Director has acknowledged that the media is poised to take a third-place finish by John McCain in Iowa, declare him the winner and catapult him to victory in New Hampshire. Todd appeared with the Politico's Roger Simon on this afternoon's Hardball. View video here.

Any man who is under 30 and is not a liberal has no heart; and any man who is over 30 and not a conservative has no brains. - Winston Churchill I guess we know what old Winston would think of Chris Matthews, then. Appearing on Morning Joe today, the Hardball host turned the Churchillian maxim upside down, claiming his gut leans right but his head pulls him left.