Let's See If Chris Matthews Can Really Play Hardball

... no pun intended, of course. Political campaigns should involve debate and critical analysis of the issues and not devolve into popularity contests. Of course the character of a candidate is going to be a deciding factor with voters but discussions of character should be based on a candidate's voting record and public statements. That should be the guiding rule for the candidates as well as the media, especially the media.

When candidates, PACs and the media cross the line of political civility they ALL need to be called on it, not just the Neocons. So Americans who are really interested in "change" and "bipartisanship" should be no more tolerant of the obvious bias of MSNBC's Chris Matthews than they are of the swift boat veterans, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly.

From Media Matters:

Using overtly sexist language, he has referred to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) as a "she devil" and compared her to a "strip-teaser." He has called her "witchy" and likened her voice to "fingernails on a blackboard." He has referred to men who support her as "castratos in the eunuch chorus." He has suggested Clinton is not "a convincing mom" and said "modern women" like Clinton are unacceptable to "Midwest guys." He has called her "Madame Defarge" and "Nurse Ratched."

Had enough? Contact MSNBC to tell them what you think.

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After Clinton won the New Hampshire Democratic primary, Matthews asserted: "[T]he reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around." He described her performance at a debate last Saturday as apparently "good enough to seem good enough here for women who wanted to root for her anyway."

His sexism is hardly limited to comments about Clinton. During coverage of the New Hampshire primary, he said that Clinton is the only viable woman presidential candidate "on the horizon." He couldn't think of a single female governor eligible to run: "Where are the big-state women governors?" he asked. "Where are they? Name one." In fact, several of the states that currently have women governors are comparable in population to the states in which the male presidential candidates serve or have served as governor.

In November 2006, shortly after the Democrats took the majority in Congress, Matthews asked a guest if then-presumptive speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was "going to castrate Steny Hoyer" if Hoyer (D-MD) were elected House majority leader.

During coverage of a presidential debate last spring, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell was compelled to remind Matthews that Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) wife, Michelle, is a Harvard-educated lawyer after he focused obsessively on her physical appearance.

Don't take their word for it. Watch and listen

Related posts:

It Makes You Wonder If Everyone Is Really Listening

Misogyny in Media