Chris Matthews Says No to Senate, Yes to Anchoring the Inauguration

January 8th, 2009 11:20 AM

It's official: Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz wrote Thursday that MSNBC host Chris Matthews will not run in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Arlen Specter. Matthews' journey exploring a campaign created "an awkward situation for MSNBC after a year in which Matthews, who at times openly rooted for Barack Obama, drew flak for being a Democratic partisan."  He openly rooted for Obama "at times"? No "thrill up my leg" reference?

Then there's this last paragraph. "Now his short-term future, at least, is set: Matthews and Keith Olbermann will co-anchor MSNBC's coverage of the Obama inauguration." Weren't Chris and Keith supposed to be too opinionated for "co-anchor" duties? Won't they be too overcome with emotion to play an "anchor" role? Apparently, their September demotion was only an exception, not the rule. 

MSNBC must be returning to the convention times when an anonymous "senior staff member" told the New York Times: "MSNBC is behaving like a heroin addict...They’re living from fix to fix and swearing they’ll go into rehab the next week."