Watching Olbermann or reading the HuffPost or the usual fora one would think the Petraeus testimony had any substantive meaning or impact. The usual suspects are gushing over the Crown Prince, equating him to Tiger Woods and making it a national crime to note he happens to be of mixed heritage.
All we can say as a total aside is that we are looking forward to Oliver Stone’s movie on W a great deal.
Aldershot says
Because it’s good for you (health nut=elitist)…and real, red-blooded Americans drink coffee, preferably black, no sugar.
Comment says
Since when is orange juice upscale or black? What was Tweety getting at?
Aldershot says
Ladies and gentlemen, the future Senator from Pennsylvania, Chriiisssss Tweetybird Matthewwwwws!:
SHUSTER: Well, here’s the other thing that we saw on the tape, Chris, is that, when Obama went in, he was offered coffee, and he said, “I’ll have orange juice.”
MATTHEWS: No!
Comment says
Colin Powell is taken seriously on the mainstream media — As if recent history did not occur – As if his tepid dissents leaked to Friedman and his raised eyebrow at a cocktail party made up for his UN lies.
On MTP Tim & Co still trade whispers about the latest tantalizing clues re Powell. It’s really sad –
Comment says
“The general’s testimony is forcing Bush’s hand …” (Buchanan)
This is getting maddening – reading all these pieces that say Bush is getting in line begind Petraeus, Bush supports Petraeus, Bush is loyal to Petraeus etc =
Now you have Buchanan above saying the same thing – Bush, in his thinking, is responding to Petraeus – Pat does this because he had to blame the neocons for everything – Buy you would think a man who supposedlt favors a “Republic, Not and Empire” would not indulge this Petraeus/Pompey nonsense.
Comment says
“…those who want to withdraw from Vietnam, I mean Iraq …”
That was a small slip I just caught Rove make at a panel at the 4 Seasons that was just on c-span.
No big deal – he was up there with Howell Raines and Raines just spouted drivel. Tweety was in the audience – the camera flashed on him and he looked 100 years old and tire. Maybe that was lighting.
A Random Quote says
MATTHEWS: He’s [Sen. Barack Obama] not that good at that — handshaking in a diner.
SHUSTER: No —
MATTHEWS: Barack doesn’t seem to know how to do that right.
SHUSTER: — he doesn’t do that well. But then you see him in front of 15,000 people in some of these college towns, and that’s why, Chris, we’ve seen Chelsea Clinton and Bill Clinton in Bloomington and South Bend and Terre Haute. I mean —
MATTHEWS: What’s so hard about doing a diner? I don’t get it. Why doesn’t he go in there and say, “Did you see the papers today? What do you think about that team? How did we do last night?” Just some regular connection?
SHUSTER: Well, here’s the other thing that we saw on the tape, Chris, is that, when Obama went in, he was offered coffee, and he said, “I’ll have orange juice.”
MATTHEWS: No!
Comment says
They are interested in driving a McCain narrative – It’s just a different narrative – One that includes prison in Hanoi, but not smoking – McCain was one of the Keating five, but that is not really part of his narrative – Rather, his overcoming Keating 5 is his narrative. The point was this narrative business has it’s limits – McCain used to smoke and then he quit. Same with Obama. Yet the narrative mongers like to talk about something trivial like this with Obama, but not with McCain. It’s hard to discuss this stuff without sounding like a moron, so we’ll stop. But it is a factor.
Obama does have certain narrative advantages – We tried to point this out some liberal Obama loyalists who were worried about that Rev Wright.
We tried to point out that the damaging Wright narrative was less damagining than the many other small problems that Obama had.
Do you recall that video game “Asteroids?” If you pressed “Hyperspace” it would destroy all the enemies on the screee. Wright was like Hyperspace – He dominated the media – allowed Obama to respond in his best way – Macro politics. Media types weekes later were recently puzzled that 10 percent of voters think Obama might be Muslim.
That was good news – It used to be 30-40 percent, but Wright helped Obama be introduced to voters as a Christian. Being though Muslim means not getting elected – Having a crazy Reverand is like an American politician equivalent of Prussian duelling scar. They all have crazy Reverands – The perceived double standard directed against Obama cause Hillary’s support among blacks to shrink to nothing.
Hillary is trying demagogue Obama on his partly true, if unartfully worded, comments about bitter dispossesed voters. Yet – she personally belives what Obama said was true. That will come out – Further she will more easily smeared as elitist than Obama – as superdelegates are now being reminded. And it’s important that Obama be aware that this will be the main line of attack from McCain – This and backstab re Iraq. It’s absurd as hell for people who made millions selling the Bush dynasty to be able to get away with this kind of demagoguery, but they have been getting away with it and this will give Obama pretext to confront it.
Aldershot says
Thanks for the link. But why do you say that Tweety and Dowd are not interested in driving a McCain narrative?
Comment says
What seemed funny about the Rose exchange is that it seemed to be speaking some insider code – but it’s supposed to be a public broadcast – Charlie doesn’t elaborate at what he was getting at – It’s all just left vague and the audience is just supposed to nod along and be sophesticated about it. But what was he saying, anyway?
Comment says
That random quote you have w/ Charlie Rose and Hayden is funny – Charlie comes close to asserting something – then pauses, backs away – Let’s Hayden reply to what was unsaid – and then …. nothing.
Comment says
Another odd Matthews moment yesterday was when Matthews focused on Bush’s drinking statement – Just as Matthews managed to bungle the F Scott quote, he seemed to miss the whole point of Bush’s recent confession re drinking.
From ABC:
—-
“I quit drinking — and it wasn’t because of a government program. It required a little more powerful force than a government program in my case,” Bush said after signing the “Second Chance Act” — a government program to aide recovered substance abusers — into law.
The law is a prisoner re-entry program that helps convicted felons transition back into society and provides additional federal funding to reduce prison populations by creating job training programs, along with substance abuse and family stability support.
—–
Here Bush is denying the need for the government program, while advocating a gov program. The odd inconsistancy leaps out – But Matthews was really impressed by Bush’s supposed sincerity – Yet, if he didn’t use a gov program, why is he advocating one?
This story seems to play into the older anti Bush counter-narrative put forward by Kitty Kelley and that other guy that suggests Bush may have been under judicial supervision at some point . Who knows? It could explain one of his missing years and many missing files/
Anon says
This is sort of funny for those who know about the conservative movement media food chain. This guy thought that the Times piece was *positive* about that democrat Matthews. Does anyone besides this guy think of Matthews as someone who did not vote for Bush? Regardless of party affiliation. Anyway –
http://rsmccain.blogspot.com/2008/04/tongue-bath-for-chris-matthews.html
Anon says
Aldershot – here’s more of why Tweety asked that smoking question – It’s a question he will not ask McCain even though McCain also quit. It was done, in part – to drive the politics of narrative – which is particularl reason our politics is so bleak. He may ask McCain some embarassing questions – but ones that he and Dowd regard as having little narrative or recycle potentional.
http://mediamatters.org/columns/200804080001?f=h_column
Comment says
This is an amazing Bush trick that he continues to pull off because of the imperatives of the MSM – What Conrad would call the bourgeois media.
On Abc and NBC today – and MSNBC, achors repeatedly said Bush decided to sign up with Petraeus or line up behind the General or endore the General or to indicate that he supportes Gen. Petraeus.
It’s amazing Bush can do this –
Anon says
Pretending not to worry about something they pretend to care little about:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/04/surprise_oliver_stones_w_alrea.asp
Comment says
re JOhn Cornryn – LOL – Andrea Mitchell asks him about McCain picking her as VP and he says that’s great, but that she’s probably not interested – He says, like Colin Powell, she choses to serve in different ways.
Ofcourse Powell was not mentioned in any way – Cornrun just thought of him as someone who came to mind when he though t of Condi as some sort acceptable black Republican.
You had to see it – funny stuff. Not as funny as that good ‘ol boy for McCain who sneered , “You can have your Tiger Woods, we have John McCain!”
Advantage Obama – much better to be compared to the great Tiger, than to the hapless General Jello and Condi
Comment says
Sure sign that Mark L is that he managed to annoy and garner sympathy for Matthews from the most infantile right wing blogs and Corner types – These are the jackassses that think Matthews discussion bowling is enlightening.
Also – everyone has their favorite sections – For example, we dwell on the honorary degrees, but most people just blow past that and focus on Jonny Carson or whatever
Anon says
The reviews are in:
http://www.blogrunner.com/snapshot/D/7/0/chris_matthews_seriously_ok_not_that_seriously/
Comment says
Is it just a coincidence that Russert is the guest of Tweety on Hardball tonight? Gotta love that grape comment.
Comment says
As an aside – It’s troubling that McCain knows he can brush off occupying a peacful Iraq as of the mere presence of perm bases isn’t controversial.
But it is true that many war critics like Tweety and others don’t seem to think it’s wrong, in principle, to have useless bases in parts of the world where we think they should not be.
Why borrow money from China to guard Chinese oil supplies? Why be mercenaries to the world?
Comment says
Just another small observation – One failing that Mark L. made was letting Russert come off unscathed – when Russert was really revealed to be a fool during the Libby thing.
Russert just is not as smart as he think he is and he is not exactly a thorough analyst – He thinks he is smart in that stereotypical parochial way of memorizing misstatements or gotcha. But his deference to authority and his obvious love of power made sure that the far more intelligent people in the Bush administration were able to take advantage of his ‘off the record’ policy and ply him with lies and seduce him into selling a war without him being aware of his own dupe role.
This was one are where Matthews was superior – Even though he was the one who played a small role in motivating Scooter to seek relief via Tim.
Anon says
Notice how gets the Thomas Wolfe quote wrong at the end – A great job for the Timesman
“‘She was doing peek-a-boo style,’ he said of Burnett”
HA!
Anon says
Really lasy note:
“. “Am I part of the winner’s circle in American life? I don’t think so.”
My God – he has 19 honorary degrees and makes 5 a year and he thinks he is deprived.
That Hemingway quote just amazes
Anon says
Last note – Roger Simon is correct – Matthews does matter – he is a force. He may be fading in the near to long term, but he matters – But that’s the problem – our culture is such that people like Tweety get honorary degrees from (sometimes) good universities and he drives debate. Its a demented PT Barnum inversal of the clown-serious equation.
Anon says
” Matthews was essentially his media and message guru, such as they were in those days. He would help the lumbering, untelegenic speaker do battle with Ronald Reagan. …”
Gee any wonder why ONeil got his ass handed to him more than was necessary? Tweety was probably leaking against him and playing both sides of the fense re Contra aid
Anon says
Matthews has also called their joint appearances “Hardball,” which annoys Olbermann and which he has not been shy about correcting on the air. “No, this is not ‘Hardball,’ I will say, and in those instances, a correction is appropriate.”
Sometimes during commercial breaks, Matthews will boast to Olbermann of having restrained himself during the prior segment. “And I reward him with a grape,” Olbermann says.
—
Great stuff
Anon says
Ha – we had heard this from political people who had heard it from people there – But we immediately sensed it and we were very amused by the bad chem on air:
“According to people at NBC, Matthews has not been shy in voicing his resentment of Olbermann. Nor, according to network sources, has Olbermann bothered to hide his low regard for Matthews”
Anon says
Matthews would really love to kneecap Gregory, eh? Gregory has vulnerability – He has an inability to see outside his insider bias.
You know what would great – if Ailes or somewhat at FNC put word out that were looking to sigh Tweet for 1.5 million a year to host a nostalgia show with McCourt brothers.
Anon says
Comparing Russert to JFK – amazing,
Anon says
God that’s a great article – He even got that Libby stuff in the paper of record – Ha!
Anon says
Wo! Amazing – Recall just a while ago, on this blog – we all pointed out that Tweety was just about the only person who used F Scott Fitz’s “no second acts” quote improperly!
The actual quote was not contextualized – it was a jotting, so it’s up to interpretation, but Tweety managed to apply to someome who actually was having a second act in an American life. But ….
“Did you see me on the ‘Today’ show?” Matthews asked when I called him one afternoon in early March. “I quoted F. Scott Fitzgerald. I think I’m the only guy around who quotes F. Scott Fitzgerald on the ‘Today’ show.”
Anon says
Great doofus quote from the Times article:
“At one point, Matthews suddenly became hypnotized by a TV over the bar set to a rebroadcast of “Hardball.” “Hey, there I am — it’s me,” he said, staring at himself on the screen. “It’s me.”
—-
God – what an ass!
Another LOL moment after he ethnic stereotypes that woman in Cleveland is when he points out the honorary degrees – It’s an absolute disgrace , IMO, that Tweety has receieved any honorary degrees – For what? 19?
That’s just amazing – He is not someone who should be honored that way. It says something about out society – Conservatives always point the figure at some left leaning black lady who they thinks gets undeserved honors degrees – What about Tweety.
Also – Damascus – One of the safest cities in the Mid East – Its an effing police state and Tweety is scared of kidnappers.LOL!
Anon says
“Matthews’s bombast is radically at odds with the wry, antipolitical style fashioned by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert or the cutting and finely tuned cynicism of Matthews’s MSNBC co-worker Keith Olbermann.”
re NYT on Tweety – we think the above quote is totally wrong in the sense that Olberman is not really fine tuned – He is often just a different bombast with moments of . And we are somewhat tuned into familiar with Stewart and Colbert’s setup a while back – It’s very political and everyone is well read and up on the news. Wry? Sort of dated word …
Anon says
re Tweety – “…. spewing tiny pellets of chewed nuts across the table while comparing Obama to Mozart and Clinton to Salieri.”
Good God – this stupid comparison – which he used to ill efefct in his Kennedy & Nixon book, is just awful. Symbolic too – Tweety knows nothing about classical music or composers (but this does fool writers from a number elite papers for some reason) – He just picked it up from that middlebrow flick.
Anon says
Matthews is such an ogre – Did you see him on tonight telling Joe Biden how great he is for thinking up the idea of smashing Iraq into three pieces. What a clown.
DrLeoStrauss says
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/magazine/13matthews-t.html?hp
The NYT takes note of what we all have been saying about Tweety for 5 years now.
Anon says
That link failed – this works:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200804/iraq-movies
Anon says
Leo, be interested in your thoughts about this piece about movie culture – IMO Douthat spreads himself too thin and what few good points he makes gets lost in the cacophony of titles and cheap political point scoring. He fails to get the fact that the people in power now – are worse than the 70s era – He is correct that there is lots of incoherence to the oppositional thrust and PC pivoting screws up much s
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200804/iraq-moviestorytelling. Birth pangs maybe –
Comment says
Aldershot – for what it’s worth, imo – much to much ink was spilled about Bush’s drinking in 2000 and alleged drug use – Though he was no routinely embarassed by MSM reporters with questions about the latter. The boomer media is self indulgent in its late stage – These questions are about them – Tweety was insincere and dishonest when he gave his reasons for asking that question and the fact that he was so pleased with himself was annoying.
Comment says
The problemw with Tweetys question was its irrelevance – prompted to ask it by his friend Dowd. He could ask the same question of McCain – Afterall, McCain once had the habit too. Will he ask it? No, because he decided that its not something he figures to be part of McCains narrative – so it would be disrespectful to ask. You are correct, Aldershot – it won’t hurt him. But we think it was disrespectful because everyone who knows Obama knows that it is something he finds personally embarassing. We every much doubt Tweety will ask McCain the same thing – He will also refrain from comparing McCain to Tsongas, another cancer survivor.
Aldershot says
TBH, I had no problem with Tweet’s Obama interview. Basically a Larry King-style softball session, and the smoking questions only served to make Obama seem even more likeable and down-to-earth than ever. Hillary is shooting herself in the foot if she doesn’t go on. I’m looking forward to McCain’s.
As far as Nixon, IIRC, somewhere a few months ago, I saw that a play(?) had been done recreating David Frost’s interviews with Nixon. It looked fascinating.
Comment says
We did not come close to agreeing with Stone’s JFK – but we were glad he made it because it exposed the fact that 65 percent of country believed their own government killed JFK and many had no real problem with believing that – It was important for the ruling class to be made aware of this masssive level of paranoia and to know that it exists for a reason – even if it is ill informed.
The Stone movie forced a massive declassification of politically embarassing files that should never have been secret at that point, if ever.
The Nixon movie had much going for it to = Tweety attacked it several times, but it was probably more truthfull and respectful to Nixon than Tweety is with anyone – Tweety may like th Crown Price (though he will vote for McCain), but he is disrespectful with his stupid and embarassing questions about smoking etc.
Problem with Dubya – Not as interesting man as JFK or Nixon and Stone is getting old and losing some edge. But we were pleased to see Mort Kondracke make that smelling rotten eggs look on his face when Oliver Stone’s name came up.