Chris Matthews strayed from the liberal talking points today. But don’t worry, it only happened for a little while. Two hours, in fact, before he was back to his old self, lashing out irrationally at conservatives. We’re not sure where Matthews’ original bout of intellectual honesty came from, but we’re pretty sure that some sort of JournoListy Intervention occurred to get him back on message.
For those of you who don’t know (and according to the latest ratings, that’s most of you), Matthews does a 5pm “Hardball” on MSNBC that repeats at 7pm. Today, during the 5pm hour, Matthews had as his guests hardcore leftists Joan Walsh of Salon.com and former Governor Howard Dean. The issue at hand was Shirley Sherrod’s promise to sue Andrew Breitbart. Well, that wasn’t the real issue at hand. The idea was to beat holy hell out of Breitbart, but things didn’t exactly go according to the JournoListy Playbook.
Believe it or not, Matthews defended Breitbart.
In the early part of the 5pm segment with Walsh and Dean, there appears to be some confusion over whether or not Matthews was aware of the fact that Breitbart posted two excerpts of Sherrod’s speech as opposed to the whole 35-plus minutes. But later in the segment — and this is important — after this discrepancy is cleared up and the full excerpt in question has been aired for Matthews and the “Hardball” audience (this, according to Newsbusters), a fully informed Matthews still defends Breitbart making the crucial and oft-ignored point that…
Well, there you go. [Quoting Ms. Sherrod] “I opened my eyes. I realized it wasn’t about black and white. It was, but it was about other things, about poverty.” So, Joan, that part, that part in there about redemptive revelation was actually in the initial tape.
Watch this part of the exchange below, and remember that this occurs after Matthews has seen the full excerpt in question. Whatever confusion there might have been earlier, is completely cleared up by this time:
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Well, obviously this couldn’t have sat well with the left-wing Journolistas who are now in full Destroy Breitbart mode and therefore in no mood for independent thinkers not fully on board with today’s talking points.
So rather than accept the fact that a fully informed Matthews was still intellectually honest enough to make the point that the rest of the MSM is willfully ignoring — that Ms. Sherrod’s redemptive revelation was not cut from the excerpted video — something inexplicable happened between the 5pm and 7pm broadcast, and it’s not crazy to speculate that this something was probably a whole lot of angry phone calls, a flood of scathing emails, and a producer meeting or two that included any and all variations of the word apostate.
An international story that’s grabbed thousands of headlines over the last week, and Matthews did a 180… between shows? Someone got to him. The MSNBC Thought Police? The JournoList Thought Police? (Did I just repeat myself?)
What else could it have been? Something happened. Something so effectively transforming that it spun Matthews completely around enough that sometime before the 7pm “Hardball” rerun was set to air, he magically decided he wanted a redo. And so for what might have been the first time in the show’s history, Matthews re-taped an entirely new program for the 7pm hour — a program that would allow him to make up for his short but near fatal bout of intellectual honesty and put him safely back in line and on the record with his left-wing pals. See for yourself…
Remember, the video above represents Matthews’ 5pm opinion of the Sherrod excerpt Breitbart posted. The video below represents Matthews’ 7pm opinion of that very same excerpt:
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What a difference a couple of hours makes! And oh, yes, Joan Walsh was much, much happier with this Chris Matthews. And so was Mediaite. I’m sure a big teddy bear bouquet from Media Matters is already on the way.
As you can see from the 7pm clip, Governor Dean wasn’t able to return for the magic redo, so another hardcore left-winger, Politico “reporter” Ken Vogel, was brought in to complete the left-wing echo chamber.
My favorite part of Vogel’s reportering analysis is his having to finally face the unhappy fact that Ms. Sherrod’s redemptive moment was indeed included in the Breitbart excerpt. Grief-stricken that this fact is now out there for the world to see, Mr. Vogel enters the first stage of grief — denial — and writes this inconvenient fact off as a mistake, as though Breitbart would’ve removed the moment of redemption if only he had seen it.
Well, the one person who removed that moment of redemption was Vogel himself when he declined to mention its existence in this Politico piece (co-authored with Keach Hagey) from the 22nd:
[Breitbart posted] a video misleadingly edited to make it appear that a black Agriculture Department employee named Shirley Sherrod was boasting of discriminating against a white farmer.
Big Government’s Mike Flynn addressed this wildly incorrect statement later that very same day:
At the very end of one of the video excerpt’s, Ms. Sherrod begins to explain how she later realized her initial discrimination of the white farmer was wrong. In Andrew’s article about the speech he noted
Eventually, her basic humanity informs that this white man is poor and needs help.
If we were trying to show that Ms. Sherrod was “boasting” of discrimination and were prone to editing the tape as evidence, wouldn’t we have cut that part out?
And yet this “journalist” has yet to correct the record.
Or should I call him a “JournoListo“?
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45 Comments
Journolisto!!! Now that's funny! Don't let anyone tell you it isn't.
From now on, any and all trolls should be connected to Journolist.
Amazing!!! This is getting ridiculous. Sherrod is a racist, she is a federal official, and she got busted with her own words. Her actions, and that of her husband, show she did not have that so called redifining moment. These Progressive/Socialist are downplaying the Black Panther incident, the racism and sexism against whites in the fianancial bill, the racism in the health care bill, and a return to blaming black crime on social circumstances clearly shows a clear trend towards discrimination against whites and men in particular. We ignore these incidences and signals because we dont want to be accused of racism, meanwhile they use racism to undermine the majority population's opinion and position.
Also, off point. This latest call by Dept of Education for more school hours and summer attendence. I smell a "Hitler Youth" type of indoctrination going on, after all the Progrosive/Socialist know the youth are sponges who will turn on parents if taught well. Time to take back the country.
Matthews is the epitome of a tool.
(I don't get to use "epitome" often enough. The late, great Howard Cosell once called Joe Namath, "The epitome of masculinity." Always thought that was a coolly phrased compliment).
Expose this charade (Sherrod) for what it is. I believe crimes have been commited and this is no time to let this women "Rangle" out of it. Time for her to be patriotic as Biden would say and do her part by admitting she has commited fraud. Bring on the sunlight.Lets see whats at the bottom of the well.
Sherrod will lose her case, but before she does the liberal media will use every opportunity to attack Brietbart, Fox and conservatives in general. When the truth comes out in the trial and the entire world sees this women for who she really is, then the liberal media will have no choice but to turn on Mrs. Sherrod like a pack of hungry dogs. Her day of reckoning will be brought on by her own actions.
You are right that Sherrod is a racist. However, the thrust of the video posting was to expose the reaction of the NAACP to her racist statements. This came about because the NAACP had just recently issued a resolution accusing the Tea Party of racism. Let us not get distracted by the original intention of Breitbarts posting.
I can't help but wonder what MSLSD must think of their viewers, to perpetrate such a blatant fraud in broad daylight, as it were.
Do they just figure, Hey – nobody sticks around for the repeat, so they'll never know we pulled a switcheroo anyway?
Or do they simply realize their audience is so miniscule that it wouldn't matter?
Or – and this is probably closest to the truth – do they know that their audience will all just nod their heads approvingly, and breathe a sigh of relief that Chrissy has come around to their way of thinking?
I think what we're seeing is that Matthews is not a, "true believer," is not in denial about the upcoming power-shift, and simply wants to be on the winning side when the dust settles.
Matthews is pathetic. Again, what makes him worse than others is that despite his left-wing partisanship, he can at rare moments be intellectually honest. But he epitomizes, as pointed out above, a tool. I hate to mention it, but the man is a dry drunk and likely needs this job desperately. He whored for John Kerry, I was told by someone who would know, because he thought he would be the senator's press secretary if he got elected to the White House.
It is sad to see someone this degraded by their own hand regardless of their politics.
Who got to Matthews?
Shouldn't the question be "what" got to Matthews? The answer: the truth.
The "full" video is not 35+ minutes, it is 43+ minutes. If you are looking at a 35 minute version, then you are looking at one that has had a lot removed. Among her more interesting assertions is that slavery ("servants for life") was deliberately instituted by "people with money" to discourage mysogination between indentured servants of different races. I always choke when I hear that, because the first recorded case of indenture for life in this country involves a black man, John Casor, enslaved by Anthony Johnson, another black man. Even more ironic, the Johnsons married white.
OK Chris…I take back the nice things I said about you last nite…
The shape shifting and water-muddy-ing by you and MSLSD, are making my head spin
In order to win, Shirley would need to show AB intentionally tried to harm her and she was damaged..
Good luck, Shirley…
and you are a racist….
Chris Matthews' re-taped his show to fall in line with "the narrative"? wow. unfortunately for MSNBC, both tapes exist. these two tapes will be analyzed, piece by piece, the differences will be analyzed, timelines will verify the truth of the original piece.
this could've actually been a positive for MSNBC if the videos were taped in reverse order…it would've shown some intellectual honesty. instead, it confirms how disingenuous these people are.
Maybe true. Maybe he just lacks the fortitude to be 100% intellectually dishonest all the time, like any other democratic political consultant.
who got to mathews?
Nobody he was taking a shower when that shiver started runing up his leg uncontrollably he fell and hit his head, he then relised like everyone else that has seen the video that she is a racist. She says it herself she didnt help the guy because he was white and took him to his own people, it wasnt until later that she decided that hey maybe i shouldnt be a racist and do my job.
Probably the third option. In my opinion, it isn't what "MSLSD" (good one!) thinks of their viewers, it's what they know about them.
What I take away from this and the original interview was two points conveniently left out by all three parties.
1) the original clip here, which btw DID include the end comment by Sherrod about realizing she was being racist too was NOT, I believe, posted to portray a black woman admitting she realized she was acting like a racist. WHAT THE CLIP INTENDED, AND WHY I BELIEVE IT WAS CUT WHERE IT WAS CUT WAS BECAUSE WHEN SHE FIRST SAID SHE PRACTICED RACISM, REJECTED THE WHITE FARMER BECAUSE OF HIS COLOR….THE AUDIENCE, AN NAACP AUDIENCE ATTENDING AN NAACP MEETING…..APPLAUDED HER INITIAL STATEMENT THAT SHE DENIED THE FARMER THE LOAN SOLELY ON THE BASIS OF HIS SKIN COLOR.
Sherrod in the original short tape even went on to say she realized this was wrong.
Breitbart's point, I think, was THE NAACP AUDIENCE APPLAUDED HER RACISM. THEY LAUGHED, CLAPPED, AGREED WITH HER INITIAL ADMISSION OF RACISM.
This was ONLY TO DEMONSTRATE THERE IS RACISM IN THE NAACP. THEY ACCUSE THE TEA PARTY OF IT, NOW HERE'S PROOF OF IT IN THEIR OWN ORGANIZATION. The tape had NOTHING TO DO WITH SHERROD. It was about the NAACP AUDIENCE. After their applause and laughter….there was no need to play more tape. His point was clearly made.
2) I do not believe even Chris's original interview was truly framed to DEFEND BREITBART. Chris only got heated, mad, and defended Breitbart's original tape when Dean, like the idiot he is, challenged Chris on MSNBC'S video copy of the original Breitbart tape. Chris was angry but only because, in his words, Dean was questioning Chris and MSNBC'S version of the facts.
He wasn't interested in defending Breitbart's tape, and NEVER CHALLENGED THE WOMAN WHEN SHE SAID BREITBART'S SITE ACCUSED SHERROD OF BEING A RACIST. HE LET THAT ONE TOTALLY SLIDE WHEN IN FACT BREITBART IS THE ONLY PERSON IN THIS MESS WHO NEVER CALLED SHERROD A RACIST OR SAID ANYTHING NEGATIVE ABOUT SHERROD.
Chris was angry at Dean for an IMAGINED, BTW, SLIGHT OF MSNBC AND HIMSELF AND THE ACCURACY AND VALIDITY OF THEIR COMMENTARY AND THEIR COPY OF THE TAPE. HE COULD HAVE CARED LESS ABOUT BREITBART….AS IS EVIDENT IN HIS NEVER ONCE CALLING THE WOMAN ON SEVERAL BLATANT ERRORS AND CLAIMS SHE MADE ABOUT THE TAPE POSTED HERE, BREITBART'S COMMENTS MADE ABOUT SHERROD…WHICH WHEN THE TAPE FIRST AIRED WERE LIKE….UH ZERO OTHER THAN TO SAY WHO SHE WAS AND WHAT JOB SHE HELD.
So Cris is no hero defending either Breitbart nor the facts. He just got pist cause Dean contradicted him. JMO
I think it's worth wondering if maybe all that derision for the "tingle up my leg" comment got to him, after all, and he was trying to prove he's capable of being an objective journalist. Of course, if he was, with the 7 p.m. "do-over," he disproved it for everyone to see.
Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately, hardly anyone with sense watches MSNBC and Matthews, so his honest behavior and his dishonest correction will both disappear without leaving a trace.
FLASH: Chris what Dean was really saying is he doesn't watch you or MSNBC he watches Fox.
Creepy. I think all it would have taken was one phone call after the show for him to realize how close he was coming to the blacklist. Even an MSNBC correspondent has a career to save. He's a potroon who grew a spine for a few short seconds and regretted it moments later.
I grew up in Baker county Georgia, where Ms Sherrod is from, and if anyone has any sense they will do a background (perhaps Chris has) and will run in the other direction. I suspect that the WH nor anyone else who decides to look into things wants to stir this steaming pile too much.
Maybe Tingles should change his name from Chris Mathews to Chris Asschewed because apperrently thats what happened between shows that day.
I agree completely. Good Point.
Hey, Breitbart did not call Ms Sherrod a racist buuut…..if SHE wants to sue, and she want's to roll the dice that Breitbart doesn't have MORE tape, evidence of her "conflict of interest" vis a vis her job offer after the Pigford settlement, and her husband's job vis a vis that same settlement, OR of other RACIST remarks she may have made…..uh….she needs to think twice, shut up, take the job offer, and run WAAAAAY under the radar for a long time.
If she gets goaded by BIG CHIEF "THROWS FRIENDS UNDER THE BUS" into a suit against Breitbart….she will lose her case and she and her husband will lose both their jobs and spend the rest of their lives pickin tire rubber out of each others teeth.
One point about the video is we have no idea who posted the text at the start of the video. Breitbart has posted many videos that others have created that include introductory text. Why is the starting text supposedly from BB? Did Chrissy confirm this information?
Secondly, the Salon leftist liar left out the part that there were quite a few more racist statements that she made later in the clip. I counted a minimum of five additional racist statements she made later. Why have none of these additional racist statements she made not been shown in any of the liberal reporting?
You give the media too much credit. If things start to swing Breitbart's way, then POOF! all coverage magically goes away. No more coverage, no more info, just gone. That is the Old Medias way of handling unpleasant situations.
Funny, did politico, Salon or MSNBC vet Obama before supporting him during the elections?
Did these three bozos vet the Jeremiah Wright story?
Did these morons vet the vast socialist connections of Barry Obama?
Politico, one of the most amateurish non news sites claiming that others must be amateurs. What a dope.
This story need an injection of life , maybe a new video.
Exactly right, Tex. The MSM and the O Administration made it about Sherrod. This was to show that the group who drafted a formal proclamation accusing the Tea Party of racism was and is itself, racist. The other good thing that came out of this was it proved beyond doubt that the MSM does not report on facts but immediately jumps to conclusions and reports things as fact that really weren't factual at all. A major coup by Breitbart.
MSM is all one big journolista and it's been going on for years. That's why Chuck Todd is now sweating bullets and can't sleep at night!
MSNBC's Chuck Todd's wife was an operative for the John Edwards campaign, and the entire MSM knew and they all covered it up! Remember the bizarre NYT fake John McCain 25 yo scandal? — it was to deflect from the expected John Edwards scandal explosion which never happened.
It's all prosecutable under RICO if you ask me.
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My God, who WATCHES this garbage?
"That was from the Breitbart blog."
"It's not what I saw on Fox."
Right, Stomp. And the "do-over" was because Chrissy realized that the altercation with Dean in the 5:00 version didn't look good for either of them, or for the "cause." Can't you just hear someone saying, "get those wagons back in the circle, Chris…we can't be seen as cannibalizing our own idiot emeriti." (or something to that effect)
Just a tiny point of order here…that whole "no daylight savings time" thing confuses a lot of Arizonans, but I once worked where we did deliveries to the reservations (which DO DST, because they are "federal") so I had to learn it: When the rest of the world is on DST, we are on the SAME time as California, and 3 hrs earlier than the East Coast. Standard time is one hour later than CA, and 2 hrs earlier than NYC.
"Wittle Cwwwis", along with most of these morons, "needs a vacation", preferably in a rubber room !
The Ministry of Truth at work
Breitbart lied and edited the video. He claimed that Shirley Sherrod, while a member of the Obama administration, discriminated against a white farmer. None of it was true. He is a liar and now has a proven record of racism.
I've been saying essentially what you're saying – although I admit I know nothing about Baker County. Ol' race baiters like the Sherrods live to shakedown the government; having Breitbarts's lawyers dig into her past will shine an unflattering like on her past AND present I'd bet,
You can't ever hide this one. Once it is on tape, it is forever…
His name is Keith Olbermann – NO ONE at MSNBC gets to go against his wishes
courtesy Keith Olbermann
Who got to Chris Matthews? His name is Keith Olbermann…
My wife used to tell my kids a story about a frog that gave a scorpion a ride on its back across a pond. Halfway there the scorpion stings the frog. The frog says, "Why did you sting me? Now, I will die and you will drown." The scorpion says, "You knew what I was when you allowed me on your back." (Or some endings have it as "I can't help it, it's my nature.") Don't believe for a minute that Chris Matthews is anything but a water carrying, dyed-in-the-wool, Obama loving, leg-tingling and butt kissing liberal.
Do you think Obamugabe calls him the next day after they have sex?
Still going for the repetition method of changing reality?
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