Occasional blogging, mostly of the long-form variety.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Matthews Grills Schlesinger

Over at TPM Café's Election Central section, there's a clip of Connecticut Republican candidate Alan Schlesinger on Hardball with Chris Matthews. Matthews is an odd bird, very ego-driven and opinionated, and has said more than his fair share of stupid, false or misleading things over the years (Media Matters for America named him their 2005 "Misinformer of the Year," beating out some stiff competition). However, at his best, he's a bulldog on getting straight answers and is not afraid to call bullshit on his guests. Many a blog commentator has observed that Matthews is much more deferential to "established" Beltway insiders (his fawning over Tom Delay here, here and here is embarrassing, and why does he no longer grill Ann Coulter with the same tenacity?). Still, interviews such as this one show what Matthews can do and should do more often.

4 comments:

Mark Prime (tpm/Confession Zero) said...

The man has no problem admitting he's a gambler. He also has no problem following the party line...of gambling with our future!

Anonymous said...

Matthews has been really stepping up of late. The Schlesinger thing and then Van Taylor's vicious flogging. But then he turns around and says s%$# like bombing Iran might be a good idea. He's a loose cannon, but when he's on, he's on.

Batocchio said...

Good points, both of you, and thanks for stopping by! I should add a link to the Van Taylor interview. Several folks at C&L called it "the clip of the month," and it's hard to see how it could be topped.

Drew, you're exactly right about Matthews being a loose cannon. And just when I thought he was making lucidity a regular habit, he made that Iran comment. Unbelievable.

I think he's finally getting over his embarrassing man-crush on Bush, though. ;-)

odanny said...

Van Taylor was about as stupid sounding as Schlesinger. Sclesinger is banned for counting cards. Already he is a lame duck. Clearly this is a two way race between Lamont and LIEberman.

As far as Tweety, he is p[laying both sides of the fence, talking out both sides of his mouth. If Iraq was a Bush win he'd be slamming Democrats. An opportunist who has come to his senses best describes Tweety.