The Irony Of Chris Matthews

[lame54]

Run time: 01:52 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4NWssVgFbE   Posted on YouTube: August 23, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: August 24, 2009 By DU Member: lame54 Views on DU: 5565

 
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/23/matthews-bloggers-fact-check/

Chris Matthews: ‘The bloggers don’t fact check.’
During a discussion on the future of newspapers and journalism on the Chris Matthews Show today, Time’s Joe Klein said that “on complicated stories, you can do this stuff on the internet.” Matthews responded by asking “who’s going to fact check?” As CNN’s Gloria Bolger began to answer that online editors would, Matthews interjected, “the bloggers don’t fact check.” “Nobody fact checks” online, added Klein. Watch it:

It’s ironic that a cable news host such as Chris Matthews would attack bloggers for supposedly not checking their facts, considering the amount of falsehoods and factually inaccurate statements he regularly utters on the air — which have all been fact-checked by bloggers.

Examples:

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/26/matthews-stimulus-china/

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200908040041

http://mediamatters.org/research/200908030025

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/31/matthews-coaches-delay/

http://mediamatters.org/research/200806160006

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/01/09/matthews-hillarys-winning-bc-her-husband-messed-around/

http://mediamatters.org/research/200704240007

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/02/matthews-suggests-african-americans-arent-regular-people/

http://mediamatters.org/research/200610120014

[grassfed]

1. Matthews gives a forum to Tom Delay, doesn't call him out on Forced Abortions in Saipan

How does Matthews sleep?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6375079&mesg_id=6375079

[SusanaMontana41]

22. Chris has had

a man-crush on DeLay for some time. He practically gushes when he interviews DeLay. Wish I had links to share, but you can probably find evidence on YouTube.

I think Matthews covets the power DeLay once had.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ima_sinnic]

30. alerted

either pay to advertise, or take it elsewhere

[plantwomyn]

34. What's the big deal about "Forced Abortions"?

"Desperate to earn money and pay back their recruitment fees, some unemployed garment workers have found themselves turning to another lucrative industry on Saipan: sex tourism. There are no reliable statistics, but an estimated 90 percent of the island’s prostitutes are former garment workers."
Once "indentured servitude - forced prostitution and labor abuses" are the accepted norm, and "U.S. Navy sailors who frequent the club" fuel this part of Saipan's economy, "Forced Abortions" are just an end product of treating these woman as slaves-property and therefore sub-human.
We should be calling our government officials to address the proplem at the root.

[SOS]

37. Matthews /Delay

Delay said he favors getting rid of Medicare and forcing seniors into 100% private insurance.
The most obvious question would have been: "Why didn't you introduce legislation to abolish Medicare while you were in the House?"
Yet that question never came...

[pretzel4gore]

2. if truth got loose, the noose media its own victim

the lies are so obvious, so incessant, that ms news media no longer pertinent- indeed it acts as blocker to really getting a clear picture...of the vast defrauding of humanity by organised criminals

[liberalmike27]

26. A-men to that

hermano.

[mustardman]

3. Matthews is an embarrasment

Used to watch his show fairly regularly but just can't handle it anymore. He has become just another out of touch old white guy stuck inside the beltway echo chamber. He loses all credibility by giving that fossil Pat Buchannan a platform on a regular basis.

[PSzymeczek]

17. The only way I'll watch Hardball

is if Lawrence O'Donnell is subbing for Tweety.

[mustardman]

21. He's good when he subs on the Ed Show too.

[PSzymeczek]

23. You're talking

O'Donnell, right?

[mustardman]

25. Yup! Subbed for Ed last week I believe, or maybe it was the week before

[pundaint]

4. Is Chris Matthews in any way relevant?

Chris is to information what the Insurers are to health

[lame54]

5. well put

[grassfed]

7. in his own mind and on the northeast cocktail circuit

[Bushknew]

6. I remember when Tiger Woods had an injury & it was the lead story on all the news.

MSM is a joke.

[Butch350]

8. He shouts over and interrupts his guests when their making a point.

He been getting really annoying over the past year or so.

[LaPera]

9. And the corporate media for decades refuse to rerport on republicans lawbreaking & lies.....

If it wasn't for some progressive bloggers and some dedicated independent journalist in the past, many of the republicans lawbreaking, killings & imperialistic endeavors would have gone unreported, unchallenged and completely ignored, swept under the carpet and still many have to this day.

[liberalmike27]

27. Obfuscation is the biggest tool for deception

Well, that and the fact that the social issues are an area where they just don't give a shit. They'll show abortions, guys kissing, or anti-religionists, if it'll get them called liberal.

But on economic issues, even in the huge wave of unemployment we have now, not a hint of talk about rolling back some of the insane globalization, trade agreements, H1B visas, or a good immigration policy to stop lowering wages. In fact, they are trying to figure out ways to drive down the higher end segments, now that they've nearly destroyed the working class, middle class jobs.

And God, the MIC, the Pentagon deception is mind-boggling. There is such a chasm of non-information on the massive waste of the complex, the spending of the military, and the things we are missing out on when we spend a trillion a year on weapons. The Pentagon feeds them stories, and they repeat them.

Who made it our fucking job to blow up the world, to stop idiots from killing one-another, or for that matter, more accurately, to do the corporate oil companies bidding?

They never talk about how the money-changers influence our policies, how they thwart good progress of green businesses, to promote old technologies, like nuclear, and oil.

There is so much, so, so much they just simply leave undiscussed, quietly hidden. But, thank God, there is still the Internet, Hartmann, Rhodes, Miller, and Schultz, and a few other good eggs, though you have to look under some rocks to find them. Even Schultz is more liberal on the radio, and even liberal radio rarely discusses the MIC negatively anymore.

[Karenina]

10. Tweety (and I find his nickname an insult to the REAL Tweety)

Is playing you for FOOLS and making a handsome living doing so. His "style" is emblematic of what's FUCKED in AmiHomeland. You LOVE HIM when he champions a cause near and dear. You HATE HIM when you feel he's busy drowning facts with his Schreierei. I can hardly bear to hear his voice.

The ironic thing is that so many who have been weaned on the Amurikan Way are so led around by the nose by Matthews and his ilk.
It's a visceral thang. I do hope some understand. ;-)

[JDPriestly]

11. Chris Matthews makes a point.

Some bloggers do original investigative reporting mostly in the U.S. One example is FireDog Lake. They have live-blogged a number of news stories, especially on various trials and investigations that didn't make the newspapers. But generally, bloggers rely on the same news sources that newspapers do.

And there is the rub. Once we were able to read AP, Bloomberg and other originating sources and newswires on the internet, many of us began to notice how often the stories in our local newspapers were copied nearly verbatim from the wires. So, we learned that the newspaper was sort of cheating: selling us warmed-over news.

Then, there was the seeming manipulation of the press during the Bush administration. The worst example of that was probably the Iraq War. Massive protests were not reported. Critical information on the fantasies that the Bush administration was trying to pass off as truth was not mentioned in major newspapers. And don't claim it was not available. The U.N. report gave Saddam Hussein pretty much a clean slate insofar as WMDs were concerned before the war started.

(Further, days before we started bombing, Dan Rather interviewed Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and Hussein credibly denied having WMDS. When that embarrassing fact turned out to be true, Dan Rather was fired. I have always believed that he was actually fired in order to discredit that interview.)

The problem for newspapers is lack of money. And that is not due to lack of readers. Rather it is due to systemic changes in our economy. In L.A. the big department stores used to vie for advertising space in the first section of the newspaper. The one or two stores that are still in business continue to advertise, but the revenue cannot possibly be anywhere near what it was before the late 1980s when the cannibalism of department stores by mega-corporations began.

Chris Matthews should not waste his time remembering the good old days. He should be asking where we are going in the future. And he should remember the story of the sons of tradesmen who, stirred by passion and equipped mostly with talent and the willingness to work hard and adjust to a new society, created not just good journalism and writing but helped create a great nation: Benjamin Franklin (newspapers) and Thomas Paine (news/opinion writing).

He makes a good point about fact-checking. Most of us here have not even finished reading the health care bills that are available to us. We read secondary sources and base our opinions on those. Ironically, most of those sources rely on newspapers for their information.

The fundamental problem is a rapidly changing economy. No one knows yet just what kind of economy we will have, but the free-for-all capitalism that was the dream of so many beginning with Reagan has completely failed. It has failed to provide opportunities for most Americans, and without opportunity and good-paying jobs, Americans won't buy newspapers -- or subscribe to cable for that matter. They seem like luxuries we don't need. The post office is suffering for the loss of first class mail. So it isn't just newspapers, we are entering an era of a different kind of economic organization. It won't be socialism. It won't be the kind of capitalism we have known. We are still just putting our toes in the water, but change is coming, like it or not.

[unapatriciated]

32. but he is guilty of his own complaint

[chasitynola]

12. Just a small comment

but every time I watch Matthews, I always think about how frightened I would be to get into a heated discussion with him. Reason being, he always looks so 'spitty' around the lips that I would be afraid that he would spray it...not say it! Am I the only one who notices his ample saliva production?

:spray:

[zbdent]

13. I find it funny that bloggers are the ones who are getting the facts to "investigative reporters"

or that the "investigative reporters" routinely fail to check snopes ...

[butterfly77]

14. This simple minded man..

he still believes we are living in the sixties. Matthews know nothing about the internet. There are so many ways to fact check on the net.

That is what is wrong with him he thinks everyone on the left is nuts,thinks liberal on every issue and we are all put in one box. Then he portrays the right as the upstand,righteous and informed.

[burning rain]

15. Tweety never makes any sense when Tina Brown's around.

I think the diversion of blood flow from his noggin causes it.

[VPStoltz]

16. Matthew's should be treated for bi-polar disorder, schiz., multiple personality, etc.

Maybe a comprehensible human would emerge.

[vaberella]

18. Let's be honest guys.

I don't count Tweety as worth much at times although I like him but I have to give him credit there. Overall bloggers don't fact check. More often than note. Yes I'd say thinkprogress and medimatters are better at it. But take for example Huffingtonpost who have at times failed. Most other bloggers are utter failures and they are pimped out by Foxnews. DailyKos and even Salon or Wonkette have failed in factchecking their information or putting out lousy stories. If we're honest we know he's right just as mainstream media has failed mor often than not.

[lame54]

33. the point is HE shouldn't be the one saying it because HE Doesn't check facts...

but he wants you to believe he does

[vaberella]

35. Oh okay. I agree on that point. It is hypocritical. n/t

[TankLV]

36. Huffpost, DailyKos and Salon? Really? NAME ONE INSTANCE where they were wrong.

Just one will do...

I Have NEVER seen them make a wrong claim or report, NEVER.

[vaberella]

38. YOU may NEVER have seen them wrong...that doesn't mean they haven't been.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8570132
Link to an article in huffpostin which the write is fairly misleading to the point of outright lieing.

DailyKos: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x556833#556986
Check out posts 19, 18 and the such. However their reporting on Palin and her 5th Child---of course through an unknown blogger also got them in trouble to the point where they were even called out by mainstream media.

Salon: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4042732
I was an Obama supporter, however I can respect when there are voting problems especially since I'm from a State with a dated form of voting which needs to be sorely replaced.

This s Wonkette: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8601142

Reporting a non-sense story.

--------------------------------------------

The point being is that, even if you've never seen it...it's happeend. Also all forms of news media get things wrong and no one is right. However, Bloggers tend to have no incentive to keep things truthful or accurate. My point is that Tweety is right in his assessment and in a lot of cases in many different blogs---bloggers are more on the getting it wrong side and in some cases not through any fault of their own but due to lack of access. In other cases they just get it wrong. But then, and I've said this before---mainstream media has gotten it wrong more often than not.

[KyleA]

19. Lets not forget Iraq 2003

Matthews was a huge cheerleader for the occupation and predicted a cakewalk. Now he is much more progressive. He seems to favor which ever party is in power.

[FrenchieCat]

20. Matthews wouldn't know a fact, if it hit him in the face!

[Stellar]

24. Matthews only to listens to Matthews.

There is no other view point but his. I don't understand why he bothers having guests on his show.

I've gotten to the point where I can't stand to listen to any of the MSM. And the newspapers are only good for wrapping garbage. When I do listen to some of the MSM/newspapers, I find I have to fact check them. Isn't that supposed to be their job too?

[Quantess]

28. I will be sure to never watch Think Progress again if I can avoid it.

That was annoying, with everyone talking over each other and interrupting each other.

[cartach]

31. " He's the kind of guy you'd like to have a beer with"

When I first heard Chris Matthews utter those words about George W. Bush I just about puked. I thought at the time that Matthews was a typical brown nosing groupie whose admiration was based on people's star power rather than character,achievements,whatever. I had not watched the talking heads much prior to 9/11 but after that tragedy I started regularly watching them and soon formed an opinion about Matthews which hasn't changed in the years since. I have never felt any urge to put people on pedestals just for the sake of having hero figures in my life and those that do turn me off. I figure that people have to earn my respect and that will only come from the type of people they really are.I might be fooled some of the time but not often. If someone wants to slobber over some high profile person they shouldn't be doing it on the type of program Hardball is supposed to be.