Chris Matthews is a statesman!

[DonViejo]

The "Hardball" host becomes the MSNBC journalist conservatives most love to hate

BY DAVID BAUDER, ASSOCIATED PRESS

To his boss, Chris Matthews has become a statesman. His critics probably have other words.

The veteran MSNBC host raised his profile as much as any member of the television commentariat during the presidential campaign. His 5 p.m. “Hardball” show has seen viewership jump by 24 percent this year from 2011, 17 percent for the rerun two hours later.

Matthews symbolized MSNBC’s growing comfort in being a liberal alternative to Fox News Channel. He engaged in an uncomfortable on-air confrontation with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, seemed nearly apoplectic when President Barack Obama flubbed his first debate and had to apologize for appearing grateful that Hurricane Sandy might have helped Obama’s re-election effort. With Keith Olbermann out of sight, Matthews essentially replaced him as the commentator that most annoyed conservative viewers.

“During the run-up to the Iraq War, he just became really, really partisan and became even more so when MSNBC decided to become the anti-Fox,” said Geoff Dickens, who used to watch Matthews as a fan and now monitors him regularly as part of his job with the conservative Media Research Center.

Matthews is not afraid to say what he thinks. He’s a former newspaper columnist and one-time aide to a 1980s era Democrat, House Speaker Tip O’Neill. He seriously considered running for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania a few years back, where he probably would have been asked repeatedly to explain why he voted for George W. Bush in 2000.

-snip-

more:
http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/matthews_raises_profile_during_campaign/

[Richardo]

1. He annoys this liberal too.

No talent opportunistic hack.

[Myrina]

4. And this one.

Thank you.

[Tutonic]

2. Chameleon.

Smart enough to know when to change his colors. Otherwise useless rubble.

[AlinPA]

3. Matthews is not consistent. His style irks me. I see him as a loudmouthed fool.

[Cha]

5. Matthews can annoy everyone.. but, he has his good days.

And, that's why I recced it. lol

Article said msnbc wants to be the anti-fox.. as opposed to cnn that wants to BE fox.

[Filibuster Harry]

6. I just wish he would ask the question and get an answer instead of rambling and rambling asking

the same question over and over before his guests are allowed to answer. But I do like the confrontations.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

7. I have always liked him...BUT, I thought that was the big complaint around here - why

some people hate him.....his pro-Bush stance "during the runup to the Iraq War" In this article it claims he was always a partisan against it.

[Lil Missy]

8. He was against the war in Iraq. n/t

[Whisp]

9. hmm, not afraid to say what he thinks, eh?

what I see it as he shoots off his blurty mouth before thinking.

big difference there.

he's an actor like most of the rest of them, a bad actor.

[DeschutesRiver]

10. Not a fan

He does blurt out much of what he says without thinking and without paying attention to whether his guests are speaking at the time. He runs over the top of them with verbal diarrhea on most days. He just isn't consistently good at what he does. He isn't very bright, that's pretty apparent, but if he could quit thinking so highly of himself for no reason, and do some hard work, he could be better than, say, some runt from the lucky sperm donor's club like Lukie Russert.

Yep, he has a few days where I understand what he "could" be. But he hasn't felt the need to bother becoming better and as he ages, he is far far worse than he used to be. He gets distracted and seems to lose his train of thought, he mutters, he just isn't all there some days. The worst times are when he is nasty mean for no reason, or because he hasn't processed what a guest said or maybe just didn't hear them right. That is embarrassing to watch. Sometimes I am surprised when his MSNBC contributors bother to return for appearances on his show - the looks on their faces when he rambles off or gets all huffy/sharp without cause tell me that they are calculating whether he is so far gone that it will damage their reps to come back again.

I rarely watch him anymore.