As Not Seen On TV

Last month it was Tom Brokaw.  This month (12/8), Chris Matthews appeared at Westminster Presbyterian Church's Town Hall Forum series.  He also was promoting his new book, "Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero."  Unlike the pedantic Brokaw who really had nothing to say, I found Matthews quite entertaining, the experience actually educational.

For the Chris Matthews I saw bore little resemblence to the cartoon character he plays on his MSNBC "Hardball" show.  Sure, he said some dumb things, like that the Tea Party has no ears.  But he also made some good points, particularly on foreign policy.  I agree with him that we on the right often oversimplify.  Now if we could only get him to admit that his side is often naive.

Matthews characterized himself as, yes, left of center, but like on the 40 yard line or so.  I thought it was a laugh line but the heavily liberal audience (standing room only) quietly agreed.  And he certainly talked that way, especially when describing his hero JFK.  But is that the real Chris Matthews, or is it the Chris Matthews we see on "Hardball" saying we don't know if the Fort Hood shooting was religiously motivated?

If Matthews ever wants to raise his cable TV ratings off the basement floor, he might consider being more like the man I saw last week.  That man says a lot of stupid things but he also says some interesting things and can present some challenging ideas.  I can learn from that Chris Matthews, not the hard left hack he plays on TV.

Comments

[anonymous]

I listened to this on MPR yesterday and thought he was funny and very interesting. I've never seen his show, but I do watch Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO and Matthews is a great occasional guest/panelist. That show is well worth a viewing--pundits/politicians from across the spectrum every week.

As far as his TV persona being more partisan--I suspect they're all deliberately provocative for the sake of ratings.

--Annie

[Hiram]

I have always thought of Chris Matthews' as Jack Welch's poodle, and a symbol and embodiment of media corruption. He says what he is paid to say, and what he thinks his paymasters want him to say.

He is a bad guy.