Why do you think Chris Matthews voted for Bush in 2000?

[Eric J in MN]

I'm asking for serious speculation.

Chris Matthews is intelligent and used to write speeches for Jimmy Carter (albeit a long time ago).

What do you seriously think made him vote for Bush in 2000?

(Chris Matthew said "I've voted Republican many times, (including) George W. Bush in 2000", during an October 3, 2003 broadcast of Hardball.)

[Kahuna]

1. Because he's a be-yotch.

It's as simple as that.

[otohara]

2. The Media Whores Wanted To Cover ANYONE But

Clinton/Gore for another 4 years. That's why they pushed Bush down everyone's throats.

[unblock]

7. not sure why. tired of clinton is one thing, but gore's no clinton

and the dynamic would have been very different.

clinton was not running for re-election.


my theory is more that gore was such a straight arrow that he would have been BORING to cover. it would have forced them to write stories about policy and dull stuff like good works.

bush lets them write about drama and intrigue. much more exciting.

[Leilani]

48. Matthews always said

Gore was: the bathtub ring of the Clinton admin

I thought that was wrong, to hold Gore responsible for Clinton.

But I think some Dems & Moderates were tired of the Clinton scandals, real or perceived.

And look what they got?

[Flubadubya]

3. Didn't know he did, but can believe it...

I'm perplexed at the "crossover liberal". It's one thing to see folks like David Brock being "educated" and coming to the side of the truth, but it's just hard to imagine an erstwhile liberal becoming a Repuke (or even voting for one... Ack!).

[Eric J in MN]

5. Matthews said he did on October 3, 2003

Chris Matthew said "I've voted Republican many times, (including) George W. Bush in 2000", during an October 3, 2003 broadcast of Hardball.

I'll add it to my first post.

[chimpymustgo]

6. He admitted on C-SPAN that he voted for Bush*, his wife (DC tv anchor)

voted for Gore, his older son voted for Nader.

[Spazito]

4. I think he admitted it during one of his shows...

a while ago.

[TheFarseer]

8. I wonder if media types

want bush to win because he does lots of stupid crap whereas I predict a Kerry administration to be boring and not really do that much.

[Paradise]

9. well,

he's obviously either NOT smart, NOT perceptive, OR just your plain-old every-day-variety,
self-serving :freak:.

[Zorra]

33. I agree.

That sums up just about everyone that votes for republicans.

[Paradise]

41. hi Zorra,

first time i've seen your moniker, and love it.
(assuming the female version?) :hi:

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

10. I think he and Tim Russert

and a bunch of other ones their age have horribly boring and obvious generational father issues. That's all they ever talk about.

They don't want the younger generation to treat them the same way they treated their father's generation. They want authority and respect for themselves now that THEY are getting old. They like Republicans because they put on the phony macho act and use the military for a front.

Also, in Matthews' and Russert's case, I think their Catholic upbringing plays into it and sways them toward patriarchy. And also because it obviously makes them big bucks to shill for GE.

[immoderate]

35. I think macho is the key

Matthews has, on several occasions, expressed admiration for traits and attitudes that favor machismo over intellectual aspects. I heard him criticize people for wearing the wrong kind of pants. He has a parochial education. He is a stickler for things like proper dress.

He admires Bush's swagger and plain spokenness. He berated Gore for tunining his image.

--IMM

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

40. Yes, the Daily Howler has had some pretty funny quotes

from him concerning pants and fashion and buttons on sailor pants and such things. He's got some weird obsessions!

I thought it was very strange during the election when he kept yelling, "Whose gonna be the daddy? Whose gonna be the daddy?" meaning who was going to act responsibly, I guess. And during the impeachment when he obsessed about how Clinton lying to the country about sex had hurt him personally.

[0007]

11. I don't think he did!

Chris goes which ever way the wind blows.

[Kahuna]

14. I also heard him admit he voted for the chimperor.

:puke:

[0007]

24. 'Ya mean you believe this toad?

[cosmicdot]

12. the non-separation of state and corporate (media) america

... flow-down goals and objectives of the corporation he works for could be achieved backing the coup-side of the 'debate' ... 'mission statement' accomplished and all that corporate jazz ...

... they puffed * up during the campaign, and stuck with the lie ...

[Spazito]

13. Wasn't Tweety passed over for a position with the Clinton/Gore...

administration? If true, it looks like his constant attacks on Clinton and Gore are petty and spiteful. I could see him voting for bush just out of spite.

[Eric J in MN]

22. I never heard that he wanted to work for the Clinton Administration (nt)

nt

[onecitizen]

15. He has said so........

on air a couple of times. He also said that his father is a Repuke so that's how he grew up.

[lastknowngood]

16. Perhaps because he is a REPUBLICAN piece of SHI*. Just my

humble opinion.

[Doctor_J]

43. I agree

he's a damn whore for *, so of course he voted for him

[Philostopher]

17. Could be anything, really.

I don't know that much about Tweety's personal life, but there have been many reasons people who previously had voted for Democrats 'jumped the fence' with the Dim Son -- just like they did the same in 1980 to vote for 'King Ron' Reagan.

Some people who used to vote for Democrats when they were, themselves, not affluent switched sides when their bank accounts burgeoned. Because, as you probably have observed, Republicans are great at convincing even tattooed Steve with three kids and no medical or dental insurance, who mows lawns for the equivalent of $8 an hour in his neighborhood and pays income taxes at about a 27% rate, that someday he, too may be a billionaire and that all billionaires deserve more than their share and should only pay at a rate of 15% or less. And that estate tax is really gonna benefit him when Dad dies and leaves him that baseball card collection.

He may have been caught up in the 'cult of personality' that the whole frat boy coterie that's collected around Dim Son generates. 'All the cool kids are voting for Bush! Don't be a nerd!'

He may have, as have some others who (in my opinion) 'should have known better,' bought into the idea that Dim Son would somehow, in spite of the fact that half the U.S. saw him as stupid, inept and inarticulate, would actually manage to accidentally 'be good for the country.'

Maybe he just really, really didn't like Al Gore on a more personal level. I know some Democrats who didn't, and who didn't vote in 2000 (I have a relative who used that as an excuse not to get up off his/her ass that year; s/he is getting up off his/her ass this year, believe me!) for that reason.

There actually were some people -- and still are -- who either had little enough faith in Al Gore, and bought into all the PR messages sent around about Bush* that they voted for him then, and will vote for him again. There are some people out there who love him as if he were a religious figure or a rock star -- there were some of us who felt that way bout Bill Clinton. Though I wasn't one of them, I could certainly understand how he appealed to Democrats. It's foolish to ignore the fact that Bush* has the same effect on some Republicans, and may also have had that effect on some gullible, easily-led Democrats too.

[Cheswick2.0]

18. because he is part of the media echo chamber

you might as well wonder why they write one story line and then all a stick to it. Do you ever wonder why they all sit around interviewing each other? None of them haven enough brains to think for themselves. They must share a common brain, The story in 2000 that the media told about Gore was bullcrap. But they all bought it lock stock and barrel.

[Yavin4]

19. The Answer Is In Your Post

Chris Matthews is intelligent and used to write speeches for Jimmy Carter (albeit a long time ago).

Not only that, but he was a staffer for Tip O'Neil. IOW, Matthews had a brilliant career going for himself in Washington, until the Reagan revolution swept him out. Along comes Clinton in 1992, and Chris never got a phone call from him for a job in the White House. So, Matthews went on a personal jihad against Clinton, and he found a new medium to do it, right wing cable news networks.

Angered by the fact that he, and other members of the media, could not get Clinton to resign over Monica, they went after Gore in 2000. They did everything in their power to promote Bush and tear down Gore. It was personal, petty jealousy and revenge, which has resulted in a lousy economy, 9/11, and thousands of Iraqis and over 800 soldiers dead in Iraq.

All of that because Clinton would not give Chris Matthews a job.

[peacetalksforall]

20. Claiming he has a Democratic background is NBCs idea of

creating a fair and balanced fraud.

He is a right wing mouthpiece and facilitator working for a right wing corporation.

[Eric J in MN]

26. Matthews really did work for Jimmy Carter and Tip O'Neill, (nt)

nt

[peacetalksforall]

30. Yes, it's true as he continuously tells us...

but it's what he's doing now.

[Southsideirish]

21. Tip O'Neil would be cartwheeling in his grave if he could see him !

[readmylips]

23. M.O.N.E.Y ....the Rich Republican Party...

Pundits are freelancers. They go where the money is. TV Networks go where the money is; rich republicans. Matthews just like O'Reilly, are paid by the rich republicans. They don't hold any loyalty to the Constitution or the country. Their loyalty is to their own pockets.

[Shopaholic]

25. My guess is that the promise of tax cuts didn't hurt---

remember most of these guys make the big bucks and a Bush presidency offered them a substantial tax savings.

[still_one]

27. Cause he's a wolf in sheep's clothing

and has been a shrill for ages...

Just watch how he treats Democrats verses republicans.

The guy is a total bias PIG!

The only news on TV that I watch now is CBS and Lou Dobbs, the rest are media whores, who I don't waste any time on

[librechik]

28. for some reason, if you were media &didn't hate and ridicule Al Gore

you just weren't cool. It was a very strange and irrational reponse, but EVERYBODY including at least one of my colleagues (I work in broadcast news) hated him and I still don't get why. And this guy is extremely trustworthy in every other way. He wouldn't explain it himself. At the time I thought it was surprisingly vicious and personal--I thought reporters were supposed to pretend to be be non-partisan, but what do I know? It was quite shocking.

So if you hate Gore you had to love Bush, and the lying suckers in the media did. Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler has written reams on this hate-Gore phenom. Matthews developed a schoolboy crush on the Shrub and went into long embarrassing rants about the cowboy's delicious tush in those rugged jeans.

I still don't get why they had to hate Gore. He was even taller and better looking! And nobody will tell me what awful thing he did to deserve it and I get treated like a silly child for asking!

But I overheard a conversation not long ago among the crew: they went to Iowa to cover Kerry and they loved him. That gave me a little hope.

And while the whores aren't rushing to jump on the Kerry bandwagon, at least they haven't succeeded in any of their stupid "paint him black" gambits.

[babzilla]

29. so he could feel intellectually superior to the POTUS?

Gore's brain threatened him, having a stupid president makes Tweety's job just that much easier.

[Oddman]

31. It was as stupid a vote as

when Bill Maher voted for Nader!

Why do these supposedly "gifted intellectuals" make such idiotic moves?

Intelligence does not guarantee common sense!

[seabeyond]

32. his catholic upbringing deprived self

and softening of the male, grab crotch kinda dude.........matthews to me fell in love with the maly texan struttin dude. he hasnt shaken that texas male thing adn seems to have a love for it, though or because it is not him. has been repressed in him.

[Cleita]

34. DH and I used to watch Matthews that summer of Monica Lewinsky,

because it was the only show among reruns at that time that was current and live. It was a real frothing at the mouth about Clinton's morals trashathon, wherein he paraded every right wing political fundy, giving them a forum to trash Clinton every way they could. Top guests were Orrin Hatch, Ann Coulter, Lucienne Goldberg, and the then conservative and so high and mighty Arianna Huffington as well as various other hypocrites like Jerry Fallwell, Trent Lott and Bob Barr.

One couldn't help but feel that Matthews felt betrayed and was more than willing to help the right wing bring Clinton down because of a misguided Catholic view of Presidential morals. Not being able to separate the public Bill from the private Bill, I believe this is why he wouldn't vote for Gore because he felt Gore didn't do his part to condemn Clinton's moral behavior, never mind that Gore couldn't do anything.

I have no respect for Chris Matthews from that day forward. He alone has done irreparable damage to our country because of his actions and because he was able to use public forums to do so.

[Leilani]

49. I agree with you

There was something about the Clinton/Lewinsky matter that drove Matthews nuts. He was obsessed with it, & took out his anger on Gore.

[Jim__]

36. Because he's a dummy.

That's the only way he could have voted for Bush in 2000. The media trashed Clinton for just about his entire presidency; but anybody paying attention knew that soem of the charges were absolutely ridiculous - Clinton murdered thousands of people - or, symptomatic of human failings of the type we all suffer from - Clinton had sex outside of his marriage. Only a fool could have been misled by this media assault.

Then there's junior. No one with a modicum of sense could look at junior's record and not know that he was not qualified to be president.

So, Matthews fails a test for basic intelligence on 2 counts: he fell for the media attack; and he couldn't look at Bush's record and see that he was completely unqualified.

[kentuck]

37. Hard to believe he worked for Tip O'Neil ?

Probably a spy for Ronald Reagan? But, I think Tweety goes wherever the wind is blowing and he tries to get on the winning side. He's not sure this time around, so he's pretending to be favorable to Kerry one day and to Bush the next. IF the polls show Kerry consistently ahead near election time, he will be a Kerry man. It's all about Tweety.

[OKNancy]

38. One of those gossipy columns

a while back explained it like this. There are a group of so-called "Catholic- mafia" they call them "the blonds" who socialize often. Most of them are Democrats and to a one, they were very offend by Clinton's blow-job and his womanizing. In Matthews case, as he grew older and had a family he got more conservative.

[Hamlette]

39. he HATES Gore

I know someone who was an intern in DC the same time Chris was. Thinks he's okay but doesn't watch his show. I told him I hated Chris because of his irrational behavior towards Clinton and Gore. My friend said "Chris really hates Gore. Always has. I don't get it." Of course he had no answer to why Chris was so hard on Clinton.

There was a part of me that hated Clinton for the dream lost. We finally get a Dem in the Whitehouse again and he falls all over himself compromising positions we held sacred and have a stupid affair. (There are smart affairs.)

[The Backlash Cometh]

42. He said it was because the Democrats were in control long enough and

it was time for a change. Do you like what you've helped do to
America, Matthews, you butt boy? You helped make this happen.

I have to believe there's a special place in hell for people who call themselves Democrats, and then use their influence to help the other party get into office.

[Zinfandel]

44. He's rich, milk toast, hates paying taxes, lying greedy asshole!

[SoCalDem]

45. Because Chris thought he looked good in jeans

and because Chris hated Al Gore..

[bullimiami]

46. because he is a stupid ass

its not just that he plays on on tv

[mitchum]

47. The tax cuts (and because he thinks * is "sassy")

[troublemaker]

50. Excellent Question!

I have decided he probably voted for Bush, but it's a very close call.

I would guess starting with 1980-- Carter, Reagan, Dukakis, Clinton, Dole, Bush, with Dukakis and Bush II being the ones I'm least sure of.

The one thing I am most sure of is that he will vote for Kerry in 2004.

[TexasSissy]

51. He did? Maybe same reason he likes "Ahnuld"

He and others in the media are at least partially responsible for putting Ahnuld in the gov. mansion in CA. Matthews had Ahnuld's face on TV every night, even when he was discussing Gov. Davis. Matthews was positively giddy like a blushing pre-teen with a huge crush, when he talked about Ahnuld.

But I didn't know he'd voted for Bush. Maybe because he's a rich guy, and Bush promised tax cuts? Bribes are very effective, I hear. "Liberal media" yeah, right.