Leave it to MSNBC host Chris Matthews to inject an absurd political angle into a completely apolitical story involving international soccer. In the midst of a panel discussion about today's revelations regarding a Justice Department case against FIFA corruption, the Hardball host wondered why on Earth former Attorney General Eric Holder didn't stick around at the DOJ long enough to bask in the glow of the klieg lights at the press conference announcing the corruption indictments.
Hardball
By Geoffrey Dickens | May 27, 2015 | 10:49 AM EDT
Social conservative-haters in the liberal media are sharpening their knives today as Rick Santorum is set to announce his 2016 presidential ambitions. From his arrival to the Senate in 1995 through his 2012 presidential run the media have attacked the former Pennsylvania Republican Senator as a “terrifying” “theocrat” who wants to impose a “Christian version of Sharia law.”
By Ken Shepherd | May 26, 2015 | 9:25 PM EDT
Irish voters' approval of same-sex marriage via ballot referendum on Friday proved the perfect excuse for Hardball host Chris Matthews to bash Republican presidential contenders for their steadfast support for traditional marriage and criticism of judicial activism in redefining the institution.
For what it's worth, Matthews and his panelists all but smeared Ireland as, well, backwards for having held on to socially conservative policy positions while much of the rest of Europe was far more socially liberal.
By Ken Shepherd | May 21, 2015 | 8:46 PM EDT
Wrapping up a segment dealing with fresh revelations from newly-released Hillary Clinton emails, MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews on Thursday night dutifully spun that Hillary's "secretive" nature was not a drawback but may in fact be a net positive: "Franklin Roosevelt, probably the best president we ever had, certainly in the 20th century, was very secretive and manipulative."
By Ken Shepherd | May 20, 2015 | 8:25 PM EDT
U.S. News & World Report's Susan Milligan wildly spun for Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton on the May 20 edition of Hardball when she insisted that the fact that her supporters cannot name a single accomplishment of hers as Secretary of State is, well, "unfair."
By Mark Finkelstein | May 15, 2015 | 8:53 PM EDT
It's easy for people--with the possible exception of Jeb Bush--to say that they would not have supported the invasion of Iraq knowing what we know now about WMD there.
But Chris Matthews took things a foolish step further on this evening's Hardball, actually claiming that "there was no intelligence they had a weapon. Never was." Really? So Hillary, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Al Gore, Ted Kennedy et al. were collective fabricators when they issued dire warnings, based on the intelligence they had seen, about Saddam's WMD?
By Scott Whitlock | May 12, 2015 | 11:57 AM EDT
An angry Chris Matthews on Monday flipped on Jeb Bush, abandoning the man he'd previously cheered for having the "guts" to stand up to conservatives. Matthews raged against the potential Republican candidate for insisting he would make the same decision on Iraq as his brother, George W. Bush. The cable anchor fumed over "this strange, weird, desperate behavior of Jeb Bush."
By Ken Shepherd | May 7, 2015 | 8:29 PM EDT
MSNBC terrorism expert Evan Kohlmann insisted on tonight's Hardball program that Pam Geller was dangerously close to committing "hate crimes" with her "draw Muhammad" events. Kohlmann also compared the Jewish co-founder of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) to the Nazis by way of invoking the Reichstag fire that the Nazis set as in February 1933 as a pretext to seizing power.
For his part, host Chris Matthews failed to rebuke Kohlmann for his incendiary comparison.
By Ken Shepherd | May 6, 2015 | 9:55 PM EDT
In an interview this evening with former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-Maine), Hardball host Chris Matthews offered his conspiracy theory regarding Republican opposition to the nuclear deal President Obama is brokering with Iran. For his part, Mitchell gently demurred and brushed off Matthews's allegation, as well as his query as to whether his voicing it made him an "extremist."
Sexist Matthews: Is Fiorina Hiding Behind Her Gender In Order to Launch 'Scurrilous' Attacks on Hillary?
By Ken Shepherd | May 5, 2015 | 8:44 PM EDT In a shockingly candid moment betraying his sexist view of Republican female politicians, Hardball host Chris Matthews mused Tuesday night that Carly Fiorina may lob "scurrilous" attacks at Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton while banking on her gender to shield her from scrutiny. He also envisioned Republican suburban housewives sneaking out of the house to vote for Hillary without "telling hubby."
By Ken Shepherd | May 4, 2015 | 8:47 PM EDT
According to MSNBC pundit Michelle Bernard -- best known at NewsBusters perhaps because of her insistence that there is a "war on black boys" in America -- savaged newly-announced GOP presidential aspirant Dr. Ben Carson tonight by alleging his success is all owed to "affirmative action." She also suggested that he's a disgrace to his enslaved ancestors and to the black community in Baltimore, where he's lived throughout his career as an acclaimed neurosurgeon.
By Geoffrey Dickens | April 29, 2015 | 12:59 PM EDT
The Baltimore riots surrounding the death of Freddie Gray became a moment for liberal reporters and commentators to take the blame off those who destroyed cars, looted businesses, burned a church senior center and hurled objects at police officers.