Matthews Asks GOP Congressman 'Will You Resign' If Not Raising Debt Ceiling Causes Crisis?

July 19th, 2011 9:13 PM

As NewsBusters previously reported, Chris Matthews had quite a heated debate with Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) on Tuesday's "Hardball."

Amidst a series of ridiculous questions asked of the Congressman, possibly the most absurd was, "If we have a crisis in August [as a result of not raising the debt ceiling], will you resign?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: August 2nd. Let me ask you this: if we do have spiking interest rates, if we do have a drop, downgrade of our bond rating in this country, and we do have a financial crisis because we haven't done this on time, which you say is not that important, will you resign?

CONGRESSMAN JOE WALSH (R-ILLINOIS): August 2nd’s not important, Chris. Solving this debt crisis is important.

MATTHEWS: If we have a crisis in August, will you resign?

So, elected officials should resign if the positions they take end up being wrong?

If that's the case, shouldn't the President have resigned the second unemployment rose above eight percent? After all, his administration promised that if the stimulus package was passed, that wouldn't happen.

And shouldn't former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have resigned when ObamaCare didn't produce "400,000 jobs almost immediately" like she promised?

And shouldn't Vice President Biden have resigned when the economy didn't start producing up to 500,000 jobs a month like he promised last summer?

Or should only Republicans be held to Mr. Matthews' new standard?

Fortunately, Walsh was having none of this:

WALSH: Chris, hey, Chris, will you resign? Will you leave your show?

MATTHEWS: I don't hold a public office.

WALSH: Chris, what kind of a silly question is that?

MATTHEWS: I don't hold a fiduciary -- you know what? Because you're saying it doesn't matter. Because the silliness is on the part of those who say we don’t have to act.

WALSH: No, the silliness is on the questions you’re asking me.

Well, Matthews doesn't hold public office, and he doesn't have a fiduciary responsibility, but he is a so-called journalist that has been telling people for weeks that if the debt ceiling isn't raised, there's going to be a financial crisis.

If Walsh should have to resign if he's wrong, shouldn't Matthews?

Not surprisingly, one of the biggest hypocrites on television today feels he can make dire predictions to the public with total impunity whilst others should put their careers on the line when doing so.