MSNBC's Chris Matthews was the moderator and, in his usual bumbling fashion, made an inartful comment that was quite insulting to the President of Brazil. President Obama diplomatically came to the rescue and essentially explained to his host that certain American pundits are trouble makers.
Once again the President demonstrates his ability to keep his cool and deal with the bumbling idiots around him, while scoring points with the international community.
I would not look for Matthews to be invited to any more summits anytime soon.
So glad our President put Chris Matthews in his place. My husband and I agree on almost everything (lucky me), but he likes to watch Chris Matthews and Joe Scarborough though he watches them only to laugh at them. They are indeed bumblers.
ReplyDeleteJust came back from our Democratic precinct caucus where 100 percent of the attendees were for Obama! That tells you something! We were a diverse group - all ages, several different races, and different economic levels.
Even though we are in Kansas, Democrats are organizing to have a positive impact.
Hurray for President Obama!
I live in Kansas too. Overland Park Kansas. I have been a Mathews fan for years. Years. Sometimes he is over the top but by and large he's great so I will cut him some slack here. Same with Morning Joe. The driest wit on the TV tubes. Great show everyday. And a Palin skeptic as well!
DeleteMatthews hits a home run about every 20 to 30 shows -- all the others, he sounds like a buffoon.
DeleteHe overspeaks - doesn't listen and believes his shit don't smell.
In the setting he was in - an international setting to moderate -- he came off as the total asshole.
I hope Maddow et al at MSNBC finally see him for what he is - a bumbling buffoon. The stunned and stupid execs have 'proped him up' for years as the one who is has the historical knowledge. Yea - well so do those with alzheimer's. Their short term memory goes first yet they can remember the history.
Time for MSNBC to replace the buffoon.
Romney would have just laughed, and of course, the moderator would have been a stellar 'journalist' like dropout Hannity.
ReplyDeleteOur President is not perfect, but he is a wonderful articulate mature man.
I think Chris Matthews is a fair journalist who almost always holds his guests to account, no matter who they are. i think he respects the POTUS and had a misunderstanding about what passes as decent political commentary down in SA. They aren't like us here. They don't have these vitriolic political matches and they are bewildered about our system and the animosity among americans towards each other. They can't comprehend it. In many ways, they are doing a much better job of governing than we are because they don't stay stuck. Matthews was inarticulate and the POTUS did a good job of saving face in a foreign country while not degrading Matthews. He once again, worked some diplomatic ninja moves. Matthews isn't a spoiled sport and will let it roll off his back. This isn't an issue. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteNice comment.
DeleteChris Matthews just likes to hear himself talk. And for some reason he is obsessed with Sarah Palin. What a maroon!
ReplyDeleteWhat is this with so many people spelling "moron" as "maroon"?!
DeleteIs it some sort of inside joke or is it simply one of those deliciously ironic slips that reveals the writer to be "a pot calling the kettle black"?
I believe its more of an 'inside joke,' or way of being ironic. most people who make that statement ("What a maroon") know the correct spelling. at least, JIMO.
Delete"Maroon" is used by Bugs Bunny aficionados.
DeleteI have always considered Chris Matthews to be MSNBC's answer to Bill O'Reilly...both of them rude and obnoxious, and for me at least, totally unwatchable.
ReplyDeleteI pretty much agree. When he's on his meds and can stop himself talking over his guests, he's less obnoxious, but mostly I find him very hard to watch. It's a pity, I think, because he's intelligent.
DeleteIn this situation in Colombia, he was just plain rude.
BAM, right in the kisser, I love the President. He is right about the media, they love to create their own news stories by saying things controversial. It always amazes me that we have 24 hours news but they all cover the same stories and never go into depth on any topic. They start to talk about a topic and then it's...oh, sorry we have to go to a break, sorry we don't have time, we will have you back another time to talk more about this. I'm always WTF?
ReplyDelete-Alicat
Can't pressure the average Murkin's attention span.
DeleteOr ask them to (Horrors!) think. Quickest way to lose viewers.
I've always thought of Matthews as just another loudmouth.
Agree 100% with you about our 24 hour news pandering to the shallow attentions of USA viewers. I LOVE being in the UK and listening to the news on BBC. They tell the WHOLE story, in detail, completely, with big words and long sentences. (And they spend 30 seconds on the weather - none of this "twelve hours ago it was 67 degrees, yesterday there was fog, 3 days ago it rained" business - It's down and dirty: Tomorrow it will rain and be chilly, end of story)
DeleteUS 24 hour news stations pander to the lowest denomination, "short attention span theater," viewers who wouldn't know a real news story if it bit them in the bazoom.
It's what has made us all less tenacious, less curious, easier to distract.
I watch CBC news now and then. The Canadians have no choice but to keep an eye on their large, noisy neighbor to the south and they pay attention to our politics. They don't assemble a panel and then give them 3 minutes to cover a story in depth. They assemble a panel and they cover a story in the time it takes to tell it properly.
DeleteClassy is as classy does. Mr. President-1 Chris Matthews-0
ReplyDeleteC'mon Gryphen, cut Matthews some slack, So what he ridiculed an entire group of people, in their own country? It's no big deal, and of course he's right, just look at all the people from India, Japan, Russia, and Europe who come here for a world class education, only to turn around and use their degrees.
ReplyDeleteOf course he'll be invited back to a summit in South America, or how about North Korea? - either as a coat room attendant or shoe shine expert.
I'm sorry, but Obama was actually rather patronizing to Chris. What was wrong with asking a world leader a blunt question? That's what the press is supposed to do. I would have liked to have heard the president of Brazil answer the question right after Chris asked it.
ReplyDeleteIf it was just blunt, that would be one thing. It was snide. For a commentator to make a snide remark to a world leader, in their own country no less, is disrespectful and embarrassing.
DeletePresident Obama was patronizing? Not harldy. And, its not like Chris Matthews has never told a falsehood, or asked a stupid queston to get a rise out of someone before. President Obama is right. Pundits, like Chris Matthews are nothing but shit-stirrers. It was disgusting the way they fanned the flames over that phony "outrage" over Ann Romney.
DeleteObama is trying to reestablish a relationship with South America that was largely ignored during the Bush years, allowing China to gain a toe-hold in that market.
DeleteSorry guys, I still disagree. I like Obama, but he does have a tendency to always try to smooth things over that he takes too far. From trying to "bridge differences" with Republicans who are maniacs, and now this. I'm pretty sure the president of Brazil was capable of fielding the question, and if need be, putting Chris in his place for asking it.
DeleteI think it's entirely appropriate for the president to slap down an attention-seeking hack who thinks it's cool to try to provoke a diplomatic conflict.
DeleteMatthews is still playing American election campaign games instead of thinking about international relationships.
Anon @ 7:35: "Pundits, like Chris Matthews are nothing but shit-stirrers. It was disgusting the way they fanned the flames over that phony "outrage" over Ann Romney."
DeleteHelped by people in Obama's own circle who jumped all over Hilary Rosen for being "offensive"! Again, a perfect example of his tendency to try and smooth things over. Hilary Rosen made a blunt observation, Chris Matthews asked a blunt question, and both got smacked down for it by Obama.
Ah, the "ugly American" rears his/her head. It is much more appealing if Americans treat people IN other countries with respect and honor their ways of interacting with others instead of being so culture-blind. Thankfully, there are many Americans who do act with tact and understanding of cultural mores and who represent our country with class. President Obama is such a man.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I am ambivalent about Chris Matthews but I am positive that he did not mean any disrespect in his questioning. I believe he just didn't think it through and didn't remember that what he can get away with in America does not work as well in other cultures. He was not intentionally rude - and that is the sad side of our interactions with other countries.
I disagree. Chris Matthews was trying to interject some sass into the show. He was good natured about saying it and he was good natured about taking the President's remarks. It's just his style, and I doubt that the president of Brazil was offended.
ReplyDeleteSometimes Matthews is just an overexcited retriever and has to be told to Sit!
ReplyDeleteHe tends to get on my nerves.
M from MD
Palin Mounts Her Stripper Pole and Shakes It for Big Oil
ReplyDeleteLike any desperate has been who is seeing it all fade away, Sarah Palin hit a new low by shaking her 2008 moneymaker in an infomercial for Big Oil.
Just in case you were wondering if Sarah Palin could sink any lower than being forced to go hang out at the mall next to the Republican convention instead of being at the convention, there’s this. In one of the most obvious, we just have to justify paying this person moves in cable news history, Fox News paired up Sarah Palin and Eric Bolling to host an informerical for the oil industry called Paying At the Pump.
There really is no need for a recap of Palin’s remarks during the special, because she said the exact same things that she has been saying for almost four years now. Blame Obama, bitter attack on Obama, drill baby drill, energy independence, rinse wash, and repeat.
What made this informercial stand out was that Fox didn’t even try to pretend that this was a news special. The network got Glenn Beck’s studio audience stuff out of mothballs, loaded up their panel of experts with people from Big Oil, had Palin and Bolling say lots of nasty things about President Obama, then threw in some drill baby drill, and closed with Eric Bolling claiming that our energy problems would be solved if energy speculators would be allowed to trade more on margin.
The real kicker is that while she was governor of Alaska, Socialist Sarah Palin signed a major tax increase on the oil industry and then redistributed the wealth back to every Alaskan. Fast forward a few years, and here is Palin today surrounded by shills for Big Oil trying to sell the Friday Night Fox News shut ins on the myth that there is millions and millions of barrels of oil waiting to solve our energy woes if only that mean old Barack Obama would let us get at it.
Sarah Palin could have been selling ab rollers, get rich quick real estate schemes, or George Foreman grills, and the pitch would have been the same. Obama is a socialist, drill baby drill, God, and energy independence. The words are the same as they have always been. The gimmick is old and tired, and the stripper has gone from 2008’s high class call girl to bumping and grinding on the sticky floor hoping to make a buck.
In a few months Sarah Palin’s only claim to fame will be gone when Mitt Romney selects his running mate, and when that running mate accepts the nomination, she won’t even be in the building to see it. Her recent feud with Fox News honcho Roger Ailes has made her grasp on the last thing that keeps her relevant very tenuous.
The news isn’t that Sarah Palin co-hosted a cheesy Big Oil infomercial on Fox News, but that in just a few short months, the bitter taste of Sarah Palin will finally be cleansed from our national palates.
Sarah better keep giving those political lap dances. Time is ticking, and unless she shows some skill at something she won’t even be allowed to shimmy for quarters at the slummiest Fox Business truck stop.
http://www.politicususa.com/sarah-palin-big-oil-fox/
Time for MSNBC to replace Mathews with Smerconish.
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of surprised at Matthews, though then again, he does try to play a centrist from time to time.
ReplyDeleteClass vs. Crass.
ReplyDelete