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Tuesday, March 3, 2020

NO MORE “MR. TINGLES?” PLEASE, SAY IT ISN’T SO!!!


Well, we won’t have Chris Matthews to kick around anymore.  And it’s in a weird sort of way that I think I might actually miss him.  But with that said, I must admit that I ALWAYS derive a certain amount of pleasure whenever I see one of these political mouthpieces get swallowed up by the very ones that they spend so much of their time trying to defend.  And so it would now seem that Matthews becomes yet another victim of those whom he always seemed more than quite content to sic upon others.

And so it was on this past Monday that a less than stellar ‘career’ came to a rather unceremonious end, not with a bang but with a bit of a thud when MSDNC host Chris Matthews announced his ‘retirement,’ following what had apparently been quite the number of negative stories about him over the course of just the last month.  Matthews opened his last show by saying, “Let me start with my headline tonight, I’m retiring.”  Retiring?  Or was it, perhaps, more like being put out to pasture?

Matthews then went on to say, “This is the last Hardball on NBC, and obviously this isn’t for lack of interest in politics. As you can tell, I have loved every minute of my 20 years as host of ‘Hardball.’”  Now I’m not sure what sort of ratings Matthews was managing to pull down every night, but I can’t imagine that he had that wide of an audience.  So it’s unlikely his departure from the airwaves will have that much of an impact there at MSDNC.  But I’m sure that there will be those who will miss him.

Anyway, Matthews then went on to address some of the controversies and allegations circling around him, even offering up an apology.  He said, “After my conversation with NBC, I decided tonight will be my last ‘Hardball.’ So let me tell you why. The younger generations out there are ready to take the reins. We see them in politics, in the media, in fighting for their causes, they are improving the workplace. We’re talking here about better standards than we grew up with—fair standards.”

Matthews said, “A lot of it has to do with how we talk to each other. Compliments on a woman’s appearance that some men, including me, might have once incorrectly thought were okay, were never okay. Not then and certainly not today, and for making such comments in the past, I’m sorry.”  The latest controversy for Matthews came last week as journalist Laura Bassett claimed that he made rather suggestive comments to her while she was preparing for an appearance on the network.

I seem to recall that it was back in 2017 that news first broke regarding Matthews’ alleged inappropriate behavior around women.   And more recently Matthews got himself into hot water for comparing Bernie Sanders’ performance in the Nevada caucuses to the invasion of France by Nazi Germany, something he later apologized for.  So perhaps it was his tendency to go off halfcocked that played a contributing factor to his being told that his services were no longer required.  Who knows?

But whether it was his inappropriateness around women that earned him his walking papers, or something else, it’s doubtful that we’ll ever know the real reason.  And quite frankly, I couldn’t care less.  But since roughly two-thirds of those who regularly tune into to MSDNC tend to be more to the left than even Bernie Sanders, perhaps it was Matthews’ outspoken opposition to Sanders, and the socialism which he so enthusiastically supports, that might have at least played a part in his departure.   

I mean who’s to say that his ‘alleged’ impropriety with female colleagues was simply used as the necessary, and quite convenient, leverage to convince Matthews that his time had come.  After all, I think there is little question that it had likely been tolerated, for God knows how long.  And censorious as they are, leftists tend not to tolerate pundits who stray from approved and reliably partisan talking points.  And perhaps Matthews thought himself immune from any potential retaliatory actions. 

Matthews said, “We’re talking here about better standards than we grew up with—fair standards.”  A rather interesting statement, I thought, to hear coming from Mathews.  Is he implying that his standards were not fair?   While I never was one that I would describe as a regular viewer of the guy, I did happen to catch a segment of his show just last week when he had Dr. Zeke Emmanuel on who, of course, proceeded to bash President Trump for being ignorant in his response to the Corvid-19 spread.

The entire segment amounted to nothing more than a bout of disgusting fear mongering, but then most of what I’ve been hearing on every network, including Fox News, has sounded pretty much the same.  Personally, I’m don’t believe any of the numbers being bandied about.  We’ve had 18,000 deaths from the flu this season alone and yet I’m supposed to be terrified of something that has thus far resulted in 9 deaths. The hysteria being generated, and directed at the president, is out of control.

But in getting back to Matthews, I’m quite sure that MSDNC will have little or no trouble when it comes to filling the void that Matthews leaves behind.  After all, there is no doubt a plethora of leftwing political hacks waiting in the wings, hungry for their opportunity to be in the ‘spotlight’, and who laughably view themselves as ‘journalists’ but who, in actuality, are anything but.  And they will likely be told to be more cognizant of the rules, than was Matthews, regarding sticking to the script.   

And I think we sometimes forget to step back and realize this is what “draining the swamp” looks like.  Think of all those who have gone after President Trump only to end up punching themselves out or taken out by their own (un)friendly fire. Chris Matthews was a jack-leg who got what he rightfully deserved.  President Trump beat you Chris. You thought you’d help take him out and you got taken out from behind. We need to pause and take this in and savor it, as another is made to bite the dust!

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