More often than not, the crew at NewsBusters come up with some manic paranoid diatribe to go after the liberal media on. Sometimes it’s comical, other times it’s just cringe-worthy, and every now and then it’s just jaw dropping. When they have one of their ridiculous freak outs, though, you can never think of the right adjective to explain its significance.
In today’s lesson of how to freak out like a NewsBuster, Executive Editor Matthew Sheffield was having one of those days and took it out on his keyboard. He angrily decided to pick on MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, of all people, because the loudmouth host dared to call himself a “centrist“. Now, mind you, there are FAR more liberal talking heads employed at MSNBC to go after, and the paranoid pansies at NewsBusters never shy away from those opportunities, but this was so petty, it was hard to read without wanting to point out some facts he conveniently left out.
He kicks off the March 27 post with a predictable scoff, while easily transitioning into paranoid attack mode:
Here’s a joke for you this Tuesday morning. Did you know that hyperpartisan Democrat Chris Matthews sees himself as a “centrist?” In an aside during a conversation with MSNBC contributor Joan Walsh, the leg-thrilling pundit emphatically claimed the moderate label for himself, stating that he could understand President Obama being criticized by both liberals and conservatives on the Keystone Pipeline.
Putting all the worn out, cheap shot, sarcasm aside (something you come to expect from supposed media critics on the right), any political observer who has been watching this President over the last 3 1/2 years would, at least partially, agree that his policies have capitulated with Republican demands and let down his Progressive base. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out, regardless which side of the political aisle you hail from. But, when you’re working at NewsBusters, you’re pushing the classic RNC talking points of attacking Obama whether he has capitulated or not, which he certainly has on the Keystone XL Pipeline, for example.
But first, after showing his disgust with Matthews’ pronouncement, Sheffield goes on to list all the reasons why Matthews is not a centrist:
- He began his career in journalism writing articles for an organization run by the very liberal Ralph Nader
- He wrote speeches for Jimmy Carter
- He worked on the Capitol Hill staffs of four Democratic members of Congress
- He ran for a U.S. House seat in 1974 as a Democrat
- He encouraged talk about the possibility of him running for Senate in 2010 as a Democrat, secretly being in communication with then-president-elect Barack Obama’s top staff, trying to recruit them
All of that is probably true, and nobody (including Matthews) would dare to deny it. But, just off top: has Sheffield ever thought that maybe Matthews was referring to himself being a “centrist” based on his policy views, not who he’s worked for or what party he ran for office under? Furthermore, using Sheffield’s logic of specific party affiliation, can’t someone choose to be a centrist Democrat or centrist Republican? Granted, Matthews didn’t use either of those labels coupled with the word “centrist” to explain himself, but there’s no hard and fast rule out there that you have to say exactly what you are politically when hosting a political program. Knowing Sheffield and his NewsBuster pals, they would probably demand it… and if they didn’t get it, Brent Bozell would probably ask for his firing.
All that aside, though, let’s go back to Matthews’ political history. A quick Wikipedia search of the MSNBC host points out some interesting details that Sheffield loves to ignore (emphasis mine):
Despite having worked for Democrats, Matthews has said, “I’m more conservative than people think I am. … I voted for George W. in 2000.” Salon.com has called him the “most conservative voice” on MSNBC’s primetime lineup. Matthews has been accused by media watchdogs of having panels of guests that skew to the right and of supporting Republicans in his own questions and comments.
Now, a lot of that can be open to interpretation and a judgement call based on how you look at it, but when he himself admits to voting for George W. Bush, why shouldn’t he have the right to call himself a centrist? He voted for the most recent Republican President in the last decade.
Just to be fair, it’s important to point out that the paragraph in the Wikipedia article (following the one posted above) points out Matthews wanting to run for office in 2010 against then-Republican Senator Arlen Specter, showing his support for Obama in the 2008 Presidential election, and so on.
While we decided to be fair in pointing out the context of what part of the Wikipedia article we used contrary to the rest of the paragraph, it’s interesting to point that the paragraph before the one we used above is awfully similar to the bullet point breakdown Sheffield made in his article. Let us compare and contrast, shall we?
NewsBusters article:
- He began his career in journalism writing articles for an organization run by the very liberal Ralph Nader
- He wrote speeches for Jimmy Carter
- He worked on the Capitol Hill staffs of four Democratic members of Congress
- He ran for a U.S. House seat in 1974 as a Democrat
- He encouraged talk about the possibility of him running for Senate in 2010 as a Democrat, secretly being in communication with then-president-elect Barack Obama’s top staff, trying to recruit them
Wikipedia article (emphasis mine):
When Matthews first arrived in Washington, D.C., he worked as a police officer with the United States Capitol Police. Subsequently, he served on the staffs of four Democratic members of Congress, including Senators Frank Moss and Edmund Muskie. In 1974, he mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Pennsylvania’s 4th congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, in which he received about 24% of the vote in the primary. Matthews was a presidential speechwriter during the Carter administration, and later worked for six years as a top aide to long-time Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O’Neill, playing a direct role in many key political battles with the Reagan administration.
We’re not saying anything, we’re just pointing out the similarities… which leads to questioning (if he also used Wikipedia to do some research) whether or not Sheffield decided to ignore the following paragraph, where Matthews is quoted as voting for Bush in 2000.
Back to the subject of what Matthews is politically, we dug up this little nugget that has been around since the 2008 Democratic primaries, where Matthews showed his complete admiration for Republican candidates Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and John McCain. All the while, he was showing his disdain for a one Hilary Rodham Clinton smearing her relentlessly, and also making some rather tepid remarks about then-Senator Obama being “fresh-faced… almost third-world in his presentation“:
Don’t tell Sheffield about this video, though. He has to ignore those clips to advance his ignorant agenda.
So, at the end of the day, Matthews may not be a “centrist” to a tee, and he certainly isn’t a Republican or a conservative… but when someone has the kind of mixed record of running for office as a Democrat nearly four decades earlier (then considering another run four decades later as a Democrat, again), praising and attacking both Democrats and Republicans, admittedly voting for our last Republican in the White House, and fawning over our current Democrat in the White House, you never know what you’re going to get with someone who is so chummy with all the Washington elites from both sides of the aisle.
