Chris Matthews, Lou Dobbs and Joe Scarborough say they were always against invading Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2842/

"We're all neo-cons now."
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, 4/9/03)

"We're proud of our president. Americans love having a guy as president, a guy who has a little swagger, who's physical, who's not a complicated guy like Clinton or even like Dukakis or Mondale, all those guys, McGovern. They want a guy who's president. Women like a guy who's president. Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president. It's simple. We're not like the Brits."
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, 5/1/03)

"Why don't the damn Democrats give the president his day? He won today. He did well today."
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, 4/9/03)


"What's he going to talk about a year from now, the fact that the war went too well and it's over? I mean, don't these things sort of lose their--Isn't there a fresh date on some of these debate points?"
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, speaking about Howard Dean--4/9/03)

"He looked like an alternatively commander in chief, rock star, movie star, and one of the guys."
(CNN's Lou Dobbs, on Bush's 'Mission Accomplished' speech, 5/1/03)

"Some journalists, in my judgment, just can't stand success, especially a few liberal columnists and newspapers and a few Arab reporters."
(CNN's Lou Dobbs, 4/14/03)


"I doubt that the journalists at the New York Times and NPR or at ABC or at CNN are going to ever admit just how wrong their negative pronouncements were over the past four weeks."
(MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, 4/9/03)

"I doubt that the journalists at the New York Times and NPR or at ABC or at CNN are going to ever admit just how wrong their negative pronouncements were over the past four weeks."
(MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, 4/9/03)

"Maybe disgraced commentators and politicians alike, like Daschle, Jimmy Carter, Dennis Kucinich, and all those others, will step forward tonight and show the content of their character by simply admitting what we know already: that their wartime predictions were arrogant, they were misguided and they were dead wrong. Maybe, just maybe, these self-anointed critics will learn from their mistakes. But I doubt it. After all, we don't call them 'elitists' for nothing."
(MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, 4/10/03)

[Oceansaway]

1. they all lie out their asses too....n/t

[Echo In Light]

9. Yes. Yes they do indeed. From other orifices as well, or so I'm told

[peace frog]

2. They be some lying motherf*ckers

but no surprise - lying is what they DO.

[ixion]

3. If there are ever any war crimes trials for Iraq, and I hope that there are, these guys

should be indicted along with the rest of BushCo for their enabling.

[ThomWV]

4. Copy your post into an E-Mail and send it to the networks

They don't mind having liars working for them but they hate it when the public knows they have liars working for them.

[WinkyDink]

28. Second this suggestion.

[islandmkl]

5. thanks for the link....

i'll be sending this around...

[zanne]

6. And all they have to do is "change their opinions" on any given subject.

They never have to admit that they were wrong. They just change their tune and all is well. When called on it, they just say "Look; this is just entertainment".

[asjr]

7. And these cretins get paid for

spouting off crap.

[KharmaTrain]

8. Joey's Full Of Shit...He Voted FOR The Invasion Before He Was Against It...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Resolution

The authorization was sought by President George W. Bush. Introduced as H.J.Res. 114<2> (Public Law 107–243), it passed the House on Thursday afternoon at 3:05 PM EDT on October 10, 2002 by a vote of 296-133,<3> and passed the Senate after midnight early Friday morning at 12:50 AM EDT on October 11, 2002 by a vote of 77-23.<4> It was signed into law by President Bush on October 16, 2002.

Party Ayes Nays PRES No Vote
Republican 215-6-0-2
Democratic 81-126-0-1
Independent 0-1-0-0
TOTALS 296 133 0 3

6 of 223 Republican Representatives voted against the resolution: Reps. Duncan (R-TN), Hostettler (R-IN), Houghton (R-NY), Leach (R-IA), Morella (R-MD), Paul (R-TX).

Reps. Ortiz (D-TX), Roukema (R-NJ), and Stump (R-AZ) did not vote on the resolution.

I sure don't see Joey's name on the list of those who voted NO or Present. He sure as hell was in favor of the Iraq crap and has blood all over this hands.

BTW...extra credit to anyone who can name the Independent who voted No. (should be easy)...

[immoderate]

12. Scarborough was out of Congress September 2001.

That's why you won't see his name on either list.

My recollection is that Matthews and Dobbs did oppose the war. Maybe not vociferously, but they were against it at the time if the IWR vote. I don't recall what Scarborough said at the time. Indeed, most of the media was mildly against the war, considering it a bluff.

Shortly after, many became cheerleaders, perhaps because they thought that was patriotic. It certainly was the safer play.

--IMM

[KharmaTrain]

13. I Thought He Resigned in '02

From wiki: In late May 2001, Scarborough announced that he would resign from Congress on September 6 to spend more time with his children. In his announcement, Scarborough also speculated about possible future presidential appointments and legal and television work.<20> He officially resigned on September 5, 2001.<1>

Yes...you are correct...he bailed JUST BEFORE the vote. That was also right after Lori Klautis. But I think we both know where his vote would have been.

CHeers...

[immoderate]

22. It's possible that he was ducking that vote too.

I cannot be sure that he was personally in favor of the war. A lot of conservatives, like Buchanan and Buckley were against it.

--IMM

[KharmaTrain]

24. I Remember Buchanan At The Time...

And yes, he opposed the war...so did Bob Novak...but I remember Pitchfork Pat's angle was that he felt it was defending Israel. Pat's hate for neo-cons almost rivals ours...but for different reasons...they stole his thunder.

One more thing about Joey...wasn't that about the time he was hoping to get slated for a Senate run...we never really quite found out why he bailed on that.

[immoderate]

30. I think of Pat as an isolationist. Classical.

I don't remember Scarborough aiming for the Senate. Is that consistent with resigning his house seat? I remember him speaking one time about how he was advised to get out of the political jungle.

--IMM

[KharmaTrain]

31. He Started At MSNBC In April, 2003

I'd have to dig, but I recall reading that he wanted to be slated, but Jebbie wanted Mel Martinez instead. It seemed like Joey's political career was on the rise...a strong DeLay foot solider during the Clinton inquisition during that got him the face time that led to his current career. IRC, he only got as far as an exploratory committee...never formally announced.

I think he's had a complicated relationship with the boooosh family...a constant conflict of his partisanism and a strong dislike for the BFEE.

[immoderate]

33. I think there was a time or two that Joe didn't toe the line.

That's political death for Republicans in this era. Mostly he was a conservative scum bag.

--IMM

[KharmaTrain]

34. That's For "Street Cred"...

I know what you mean. I remember him being critical of boooshie in 2004...IRC, it was about the David Kay report...but then the next night he was at a boooosh rally leading the cheers.

I've had a love/hate feeling about Joey. While I hate his politics, the dude sure knows his Rock 'n Roll...including Frank Zappa references...and isn't too bad of a player, either.

[immoderate]

38. Amazing the lines that Zappa crosses.

I've met several conservative Zappa fans. I always think, "Don't they know?"

--IMM

[simmonsj811]

10. k&r

1 2 3 kick :kick:

[kristopher]

11. After the war there were very few people who had been members of the Nazi party also

People don't like having to vase that they were part of a lynch mob.

[laststeamtrain]

14. K&R--Good collection of quotes. n/t

[PA Democrat]

15. Chris Matthews would have his days when he asked some semi-tough questions,

but then the next day he would do nothing but allow the pro-war talking heads to take complete control of his show. Once the first bombs were dropped he might as well have joined FOX News.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. Just goes to show you how he covers his bases.

But it also means, you can't believe a word he says.

[PA Democrat]

18. Yep. He's always been consistent in how he flip flops on issues.

Of course, back then, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I assumed he was getting warned by senior management at MSNBC that he would get fired like Phil Donahue was if he was too anti-war. Now I know he was being his usual grovelling self.

[guitar man]

16. ...

[hadrons]

19. In fairness to nitwit Tweety, he was against from the start ....

in his articles (which far far less Repuke shilling takes place) he wrote being against the invasion and even the comments posted were said AFTER the invasion.

Yeah he's a suck up little troll keeping his corporate masters at MSNBC happy and his "reporting" on the Saddam statue falling was a disgrace (he acted like it was a real event and not the fake it was) ... but I can't slam him as a flip-flopper over this.

[UTUSN]

23. Tweety don't need no fairness. He don't give none. He's a PIG (apologies to pigs).

The o.p. has laid it out. The fairness-to-Tweety group here has always said he was against the war in his more Lib columns than on his wingnut showcase. Even fewer people ever read his birdcage liner than watch his shows. In the run-up to the physical war, he was at the forefront of drumbeating and was attacking Libs like DONAHUE for "being negative about America."

It's revealing how one of his quotes in the o.p. lists his version of Democratic leaders as failures, including McGOVERN. Just in this campaign while OBAMA was still the underdog, he was yapping about how the Dem "establishment ALWAYS DISAPPOINTS," how the "idealistic" wing of the party is always sabotaged by the Dem establishment, and he cited Eugene McCARTHY and possibly McGOVERN. So his bottom line is always to move the goal line like Lucy------for Dems, that is.

It's like that Shrub-licker, Ruben NAVARRETTE, the alumnus of Affirmative Action, who now despises "White Liberal males," and is always giving advice to the Dems that would make it impossible for us to win anything, while he is an unswerving Shrub-licker.


Thanks to the o.p. for that compilation of quotes. I'm sending it to MSRNC.

[hadrons]

37. My defense was more on a technicality ...

he was a cheerleader and an enabler (and a complete asshole,) but technically he wasn't flip-flopping

[DeeDeeNY]

20. Excellent summation

They should be made to eat their words. What a loathsome bunch of phonies.

[TacticalPeek]

21. Chris Matthews, September 1, 2002

So I'll say it: I hate this war that's coming in Iraq. I don't think we'll be proud of it. Oppose this war because it will create a millennium of hatred and the suicidal terrorism that comes with it. You talk about Bush trying to avenge his father. What about the tens of millions of Arab sons who will want to finish a fight we start next spring in Baghdad?

Well, that's it for now. You know where I stand.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/09/01/IN133269.DTL

[Jacobin]

25. Looks like he's having it both ways

He was having an orgasm reporting on the invasion, spittle flying, worshipping Bush in his flight suit, laughing at any naysayers and having as guests, every fucking neo-con that ever slithered out from under a rock to talk about how great it was going to be.

I don't buy it for one fucking second

[TacticalPeek]

29. The OP quotes are about Bush worship, which is a different thing from supporting the war.

He is the only person in the mainstream corporate media who expressed unequivocal public opposition to the Iraq war before it started, so far as I know. I'd like to see a link that shows otherwise if it exists.

There was a brief period during Operation Cobra II, the initial invasion, when almost all public critics toned down for a few weeks. However, I don't recall any time that Matthews ever came out in support of the Iraq war. The OP quotes certainly are not such.

This is not to be confused with his Bush worship, for which the evidence is plentiful, just like his Clinton hatred, which is also quite popular here at DU you may have noticed. Politics makes strange bedfellows.

[NNN0LHI]

32. "We're all neo-cons now."

Try splainen away that one.

Don

[TacticalPeek]

36. Cheap imitation of Reagan's ER doctor.

And I'm not splainen anything away.

[0007]

26. Goddamn it!! Its time to have a big fucking parade. Coast to coast

A Wagon train type with all who want to join along the way, CAN. junior's number would rocket as high as Roger Clements. The world would love the show, The french would claim it as their creation. We'd have everything in the big parade. I mean everything ; I
want rustlers, cut-throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperadoes, old past presidents,mugs, pugs,
thugs, nit-wits, half-wits, dim-wits, vipers, snipers, con-men, Indian agents,
Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bush-whackers, sex starved Governors, horn-swagglers,
horse-thieves, bull-dykes, train-robbers, Saving & LOan thieves, bank-robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers,
and Methodists! Ronald Reagan and family may attend, providing pope benedict kept his big brown eyes on him. Coffee Joe can play like John Wayne and pistol whip any illegal immigration or persons riding donkeys as long as he doesn't kill em!

Pappy bush and Mark Foley, along with Larry Craig can ride shotgun to protect the stage coach carring the split tails.

And if this Parade is a big hit, We'll do it again and again every two weeks, just to show the world our gratitude toward humanity and the colors of men. Ward Bond will be the Wagon Train Master.

[WinkyDink]

27. THIS? Is THE SINGLE most DISGUSTING thing Matthews has ever said:

"The women like this war."

P.S. Can we send this OP to MSNBC??

[peace frog]

35. Better yet

send Tweety to a long overdue and well deserved OBSCURITY.