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Today on MSNBC’s Hardball, Chris Matthews thought it might be fun to trot out the Obama administration’s talking point du jour, that Democratic critics of the Senate health care bill are really just a bunch of irrational cheeto-eating surrender monkeys.
MATTHEWS: I don’t consider them Democrats, I consider them netroots, and they’re different. And if I see that they vote in every election or most elections, I’ll be worried. But I’m not sure that they’re regular grown-up Democrats. I think that a lot of those people are troublemakers who love to sit in the backseat and complain. They’re not interested in governing this country. They never ran for office, they’re not interested in working for somebody in public office. They get their giggles from sitting in the backseat and bitching.
Chris Matthews, surely you don’t mean me? Of course, I do blog, and yes, I do get most of my news and information from blogs. Mostly because of pundits like you – who may or may not eat cheetos, but who surrendered their journalistic integrity a long, long time ago.
But Chris, if you’re laughing at me, the joke’s on you.
See, if you had been paying even the slightest attention, you’d understand that some of the most vocal critics of the Senate health care reform bill worked the hardest to get Barack Obama elected last year. We are Progressives, Independents, Decline-to-State, and Centrists. We vote religiously. We give generously. And we’re scared to death that the health care bills making their way ever so slowly through congress are going to end up making the system worse rather than better.
At first we were patient. We held out hope that our President knew what he was doing, that he would keep up his end of the implied contract we entered into when we helped get him elected. We expected Change, we expected to be respected, empowered and included, we expected him to fight, and we expected to join him in that fight.
None of this has happened. And so we’re going to speak truth to power. You may not like it, the White House may not like it, but you both underestimate our power at your peril. Because we’re not troublemakers, we’re organizers.
We know how to bypass the main steam media and the DSCC, co-opt OFA’s resources for activism we believe in, raise money-bombs for Alan Grayson and to go after Blue Dog Dems who oppose real health care reform. We know how to canvass and how to phone bank. We can, and will, support a multitude of primary challengers against the entrenched corporate interests that just happen to call themselves Democrats.
The White House may not be afraid of us like they are big Pharma and the health insurance industry, but maybe, just maybe they should be.
148 Comments
Thank you for taking on this ridiculous, self-important, little man.
Yes “Thank You”….. Poor old Tip ONeil is turning over in his grave
when it comes to that moron Chris Matthews opening his big mouth! He has long ago jumped the shark”………………..
It is just astounding to listen to Chris direct his tweety bird brain to the issue of what polls mean. His matery of one-dimensional thinking is a tribute to how even idiots can make big bucks in this country.
Marta, great diary!
Maybe Rahm and Obama unintentionally did Howard Dean a great favor when they froze him out of the Obama administration. Howard can now speak openly on the ills of the administration and watch as the S.S. Titanic-Obama takes on more water.
Howard Dean is perfectly positioned to primary Obama in 2012. He already has name recognition; he has a huge group of progressives-liberals who will support him and whose defection from Obama will cost him Democratic primaries; he has enthusiastic supporters whereas Obama is either losing supporters or disillusioning and dispiriting those people who still back him; he can easily crank up a campaign team; he has political supporters around the country; he’s a Washington,D.C. outsider unlike Obama; AND he can use the “change” mantra on Obama. Indeed, in 2012 Dean will play Obama’s role in 2008 while Obama will be left with W’s role. Guess who will win?
My how the times have changed.
Opposing Obama in favor of an old white guy would have got you labeled a racist a year ago.
I’m hoping you’re right that Howard Dean will primary Obama or better start a 3rd party I can vote for because I certainly will.
His show is so boring and predictable. msnbc should dump him. Unless he has good ratings,and brings in the $$$$ to support msnbc.
well having said that it’s beer30 gtgo.
chris has two rectums one he speaks out of and one he uses for???? maybe sex
Most people have these things called filters that act as barriers between their foot and its insertion in their mouth. Chris Matthews never had these. He says the first thing that comes into his head, often because it is the only thing in his head. His day is a neverending series of foot meet mouth.
Every once in a great while he will say something which may actually look and sound intelligent but it is really just like the monkeys who occasionally type out a phrase or two of Shakespeare, a random act.
But that is what Matthews is paid for: to blather at length day after day after day. He is the man Upton Sinclair described whose job it is not to understand. Is his inanity real or a pose? Does he understand his great purpose in life is to be a horse’s ass for the agendas of others? Perhaps that is the wrong question. The better one might be would he care either way, and to that I think the answer is no. He will be whatever his paycheck says he is.
Oh goody. A trash-Tweety thread.
I’ve had several bosses with no edit function in their brains.
Tweety’s lack of an edit function is exacerbated by his extreme narcissism, evident every time he demands an answer to a second question before a guest can even begin trying his answer the first one. It’s like he has a involuntary reflex action that kicks in whenever the camera is off him for more than a few seconds.
Good diary. This is similar to the attacks on Dean, where they pronounce he’s irrelevant, delusional.
They want others to believe that there is no real threat, but they can’t make real opposition into strawmen.
For just a bunch of powerless bitchers, they sure are listening, aren’t they?
On November 28, 2005, Chris Matthews of MSNBC’s Hardball, said that: “Everybody sort of likes the president, (Bush) except for the real whack-jobs, maybe on the left,” adding, “I mean, like him personally.”
This is typical Matthews claptrap.
Great diary.
I’d be reinvigorated and very enthusiastic if Dean were to run against Obama along with a whole shitload of new, progressive, REAL democratic Democrats.
“I’d be reinvigorated and very enthusiastic if Dean were to run”
Hear hear!
Didnt watch video but fantastic Diary! Someone should write some new lyrics to “Santa Claus is coming to town”. THEY better watch out!
When I heard him, part of me wondered if he wanted to get his name smeared all over the internet. He also seemed to like scoring points with Axelrod in the previous segment. He might be trying to get on the Dem sell-outs’ good side.
Frankly, I’m happy he said it. I’m happy Rockefeller and Gibbs are attacking Howard Dean and all Progressives.
The more they fight us publicly to pass this crap, the more they damage themselves for 2010 midterms.
Chris Matthews hate on the left netroots tonight was astonishing.
Chris Matthews views liberals who criticize Obama as backseaters, ya know those awful netroots types whom only have a vested interest in complaining, and Harold Ford, Jr., agreed with Matthews on this score. Matthews attacks on the netrots tonight was done in an ugly fashion and he tried his level best to delegitimize any opposition to Obama’s healthcare bill. For Matthews, those on the left, the netroots most specfically, whom criticize Obama cannot be viewed as having legitimate criticism. Instead Matthews slurs the netroots as nothing but back benchers who really do not count in the larger equation because they are less likely, according to his thinking, to ever participate in the everyday political process, from
Washington.
I bet Chris Matthews could not name 50 Real Leftists if you asked him and this goes for many others in the media who say “left this” and “left that” yet never actually identify precisely whom they are referring to, and they get away with it.
Washington-Inside the Beltway claptrap these days regarding this healthcare sham is the following according to big mouth Chris Matthews:
“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good”
Yeah right. As if the healthcare bill is close to being “perfect” let alone “good.”
Matthews is out of touch.
Thanks Marta, I just sputter when I think of this. Vote religiously, check. Send money, check. Write and call and register people to vote, I do that.
What does he do? Gets thrills up his leg. Checks out Bush’s “packages.” All the while he’s snickering.
We should show Chris just how POWERFUL the Netroots can be. I was never Amazed how power it could be. We almost benched that Minnesota Nut Job with a last second “Money Bomb” to her challenger.
Go Netroots!
Media BS. If it improves the ratings, they’ll say anything.
I never cared much fo Matthews anyhow. His ego rivals O’Riley’s on the other side.
You should also post his tirade at Wiener about how “you don’t know anything about Ben Nelson’s electorate”
I watched this particular tirade and marveled at Weiner’s self restraint. Weiner has obvviously forgotten more about anything important than Matthews could ever know.
Thank you, Marta.
Did Chris say this before or after the Lanny Davis vs. Jane Hamsher bit on the Ed Show?
I vote. I don’t eat cheetos. I was patient, until I couldn’t any more.
And, the some bodies must be afraid of something if they are calling us hate speeching circular firing squads.
Both, he’s on before and after.
What was your take on that talk over? If you saw it.
My take is that Tweety is a fucking moron and why not one has jumped his ass when he pulls that shit is beyond belief.
Right. But, I meant the video of Jane and Lanny Davis.
Oh, I saw it live and I just wish she hadn’t posted that stupid picture. He’s obviously a scumbag but nobody changed any minds IMHO.
I must have missed the “black face”, because I don’t know what they were referring to. Who did she black face?
A picture of Leibershitz and Clinton on Huff Post, it’s easy to find with the google.
Polo. Found it.
Not everyone appreciates her sense of humor.
Yeah, but that stupid picture had nothing to do with the question, which was “who’s paying you?”. It was obvious that Lanny was accusing Jane of not addressing the issue and instead resorting to name calling and then in the same breath he engaged in name calling and did not address the issue. It was obvious to any sentient being that the lobbying accusations Jane was leveling were relevant and the blackface issue was not.
So your point that he’s obviously a scumbag is spot on, and Jane made that even more obvious.
You think I don’t know that?
Well, you said nobody changed any minds. I’m just saying I think she may have changed the minds of some of the viewers.
And “some” of his viewers shut down when they hear the blackface shit, so it’s a push. I didn’t like the Betrayus stuff by moveon either but I was in the minority on that too.
Hey, we agree. I thought the Betrayus ad was a public relations disaster.
Betrayus ad was stuupid then instead of admitting the error, they tried to defend it which was what turned me away from them.
What turned me away from them was that they backed Obama in the primaries.
FWIW I don’t like the Hadassah Lieberman campaign much either.
And, isn’t it nice that we don’t all have to like the same things?
Yeah, it is a big tent here, and the dialog gets spirited and informative a lot, which is educational. And I agree much more often than I disagree…but this is one of the latter.
I hear you. There are some issues where I can say I see both sides.
I wasn’t around FDL for the blackface incident, and with 20/20 hindsight I react very negatively to it, and to the “apology” that followed, “if they were offended.” But I fail to see why dragging that up 3+ years later has any relevance at all to the health care topic Jane and that lobbyist were discussing. It was a clear attempt to derail the conversation, and Jane didn’t let it succeed. Props to her for that.
Heya Tweety you useless putz, just remember this:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever does.”
–Margaret Mead
I didn’t know Chris Matthews was empowered with the ability to ordain “real” Democrats or responsible liberals. I thought that in this country we could decide for ourselves what party affiliation we have and how we choose to exercise our ability for free speech. Fuck him his big head and loud voice aren’t any more important than mine, at least I can back up my ideals and don’t get “chills in my leg” for both Obama and the Dubs. The guy is like a weathervein, just changes with the party in power.
I think this is just an interesting way of seeing who gets talking points from the White House and who’s willing to parrot them on air.
We need more journalists like Helen Thomas, who don’t care what the WH thinks of them.
Chris Matthews is a TV personality, who is a front-running, rudely yelping, constantly interrupting people who THOUGHT CM was really asking them a question, boor.
He will suck up to anyone in current power. (My friend Tom DeLay)
One thing his Catholic education did not teach him, at least not successfully, was manners. I endure a few minutes of his interruptions so I won’t miss the intro to Countdown.
Chris Matthews is strutting little self-righteous moron. For years he absolutely loved George Bush and his multiple wars now he acts like he opposed him and them all along. Now he likes Obama – who knows how long that will last but we, the folks that knock on the doors, make the phone calls, put up the signs and do everything else for the Democratic Party are just winers that can only complain and never vote. What an ass – bet I vote more often than he does!
How does one get a job as a pundit? My guess is the first question they ask is can you be a pompous jack ass and spout nonsense at a moments notice? If so you’ve got the job. Forget him – he’s a joke.
Ah, Chris, many of us in the Netroots actually have worked for soembody in public office; worked to get them elected that is.
In my case, I have worked in government, I have worked within my party, I have been a Democratic County Committeewoman ad am currently invovled with a organ of the DNC, and I have run (briefly) for office.
So, I meet all of your critera for getting out of the back seat.
Now can I tell you what a piece of shit the Senate bill is?
That’s enough with the back seat giggling, Cynthia!
Matthews belongs to that stinking pile of crap known for their fortitude in the face of truthiness.
Pop quiz who on network TeeVee news is trustworthy? Yeah didn’t think there was a candidate.
Public television..Jim Lehrer, Margaret Warner (the best interviewer in television) et al.
Maybe I’m just to critical but I’ve seen them fold over and over in the face of reality…hear no evil see no evil.
and to think he wanted to run for Congress and may still harbor political ambitions. Yep, Chris, if you ever do decide to
take the plunge, I’m sure the netroots will be there for you… /s
Bwa-hahahahahahahah!!!!
Tweety doesn’t realize he just pants’d himself, completely exposed his ignorance — says the elected party official who helped retake the local party and seat all progressives in leadership.
Oh, and a DFH blogger, too.
Pass the Cheetohs, please. Can’t wait to leave a little orange hand print on Tweety’s tie and on the shoulder of that jacket.
Chris must keep the big corporations happy!!!
Dylan Ratigan practically kicked Debbie Wasserman-Schultz off his show just now. She was saying this bill going to shift focus. “From insurance-oriented to consumer-oriented” was how she put it. Ratigan went off on her. I’m wondering, after Krugman’s and Bernie Sanders’ and Sherrod Brown’s defections, if Dylan might not be the hero on healthcare.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz knows nothing. Robert Lowry will be taking her place for Florida’s US Congressional District 20 in 2010.
I am not crazy about the way Ratigan handled it, but DWZero continues to make facial contortions and sputter in betwixt his rantings and her own ramblings…Will be so glad to see Robert Lowry in her seat in the 112th Congress.
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is finished. Be gone, Debbie, be gone!
I certainly do, in more ways than one. I also worked on my first campaign (Paul Simon for Congress) before I was old enough to vote.
I think Chris may be feeling the heat from folks like Jane who know how to ask tough questions of those in front of them.
Folks, if you missed this last night, check it out — truly a thing of beauty. Of course, it is just proof that Jane is not a Very Serious Person like Chris.
Like those bow ties did ya?
Funny how the netroots left is shrill and ineffective but the same kinds of folks on the right apparently are, by implication, rational and skilled. Yep, nothing shrill about the teabaggers, birthers or the wingers who want to get rid of the federal government. Nope, calm and rational. Except for the occasional death threat anyway.
What Matthews and the defenders of this health insurance company bonanza labeled as a compromise really mean is that adults make huge amounts of money carrying corporate water. Peons that imagine they have the right to speak up don’t understand that only people without ethics should be allowed to decide the important things. The adults understand that corporate rights are much more important than human rights.
What is needed, they seem to argue, is politics dominated by the motivated middle who are happy with the world as it is and want to maintain the status quo.
What do we want? Whatever happens.
When do we want it? Whenever it’s convenient.
Why do we want it? Because we can profit from the deal.
Say it again!
The trick for the shrill left is finding people that actually keep their promises. Lately that hasn’t worked out very well.
And then there is his regular rant about abortion!
You notice those too? Yeah he occasionally let’s slip some real pro-life gem out of nowhere. Like “that was an interesting discussion a lot of passion on both sides. we have to stop killing babies though…” *awkward turtle*
FWIW, I was standing next to Chris in the men’s room one night a few years ago. He has a very small “you-know-what.” (Hey, c’mon, we all peek.)
I did not need to know that. Not all men over compensate. And, it ain’t the meat, it’s the motion.
I’m 57 and I haven’t peeked yet, but then I don’t see genetics as a competition.
Matthews is no more than a talking points shill. He was for the Bush people and now he is for the ObamaRahmas. I do watch him because he seems to get the talking points early. I am prepared to hear much more of this strategy of attempting to marginalize the solid liberal wings of the Democratic party. And yes it will be to their peril.
I thought Weiner was magnificent. I hope to model his moral toughness.
Somehow Mathews delight in meeting college students seems to stop after they get college degrees and begin to publish. Damn those English grads, they dare to be useful citizens! Shouldn’t they be talking Chaucer?
chris just phoned down to the front desk for his wake up call.
OT: (and for Selise in previous thread) regarding interstate compact:
Obama said: “Everybody goes to Delaware, because they’ve got very — pretty loose laws when it comes to things like credit cards. And in that situation, what happens is, is that the protections you have, the consumer protections that you need, you’re not going to have available to you.”
This is from early campaign debate with McCain. Somebody should YouTube it as you said, except I can’t hear. The transcript is:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/08/politics/2008debates/main4508405.shtml
I’m not sure why everyone is whinning so badly here! Obama is doing exactly what he said he was going to do way back in the primaries. Apparantly, you all were too rapped up in the Obama worship mode to listen to what he was saying.
And another thing, the corporate media rammed him down our throats!Tthat should have been CLUE number ONE! Instead, the NUTROOTS croud continued to rap themselves in racial absolution, rather than seeing the corporate whore that they were selling you.
Apparantly, you all were too rapped up in the Obama worship mode to listen to what he was saying.
Apparently, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Apparently, you found one of the tell-tale clues. “You all” and “you people” are classic tools.
:)
And, then they go bye-bye.
All kinds of people were fooled. We had the audacity to hope and I don’t apologize for believing or blogging.
Probably Obama’s best friends were the right wingunuts who kept/keep painting him as left of Lenin.
Bush got away with betraying his base Obama believes he can do the same. We will see.
I forget who said it, but this cracked me up. Someone commented here that Obama is to audacity like Phil Collins is to rock and roll.
Now, that is what we need more of around here – good humor.
I’m keeping that clip of Franken saying No to Joe on my desk top. It makes me smile.
At first, when I see you cry
It makes me smile,
Yeah it makes me smile.
Seems to me that Barry Manilow would be a bit more on target. Collins was a part of Genesis and all that.
Real rock and roll vs. soft rock.
You could dance to some of the Collins stuff. Manilow not so much.
Manilow can be kind of sappy but at least he’s a real musician. Collins is just a rock and roll douchebag.
You could slow dance to
some of the Collins stuff.Manilownot so much.I’d love to see Howard “Carter” him.
I don’t remember him saying he would escalate war in the middle east or waste trillions in welfare to the too-big-to-bail. Nor that he would do nothing about the fraud that brought the economy down. Nor did he actually say that his idea of health care reform was to force people who couldn’t currently buy insurance to join and pay whatever price the companies asked. For that matter I missed the part about making the IRS into a collection agency for private insurers.
Yes, I knew he was ethically compromised but I have these vague recollections of him disparaging the Bush administration and promising change. While some people may have expected no positive changes I guess some of us were just being foolish.
Yeah, hey I’ve got another idea Barack and Conservadems. Let’s end poverty by making it illegal to be poor. There – problem solved!
Stupid, neo-liberal guano heads.
“For that matter I missed the part about making the IRS into a collection agency for private insurers.”
Now there is a talking point I can believe in, thanks.
I was never wrapped up in any “Obama worship,” or the worship of anyone else. Regardless of what he may have said, which in actuality seems to have been constantly changing, I really don’t like what he’s doing now, and I have the responsibility to try to prevent him from doing it. Worshiping Obama would be abdicating your responsibility and blindly subjugating yourself to his will. When he spoke against mandates in the debates he made sense. Now he doesn’t.
Corporate media didn’t jam anything down our throats. Did you notice the alternative in the general election?
Obama is doing exactly what he said he was going to do way back in the primaries.
On the mandate, you mean?
Chris Matthews dissing netroots is like the guy at the beach cursing the sunami, right before it washes over him. Print journalism is dead. Network ratings are dropping like a rock. And netroots are exploding. How DOES it feel, Chris, to be the last dynosaur on earth?
And, it ain’t the meat, it’s the motion.
Did you see him dance on Ellen?
Nope.
I’m just grateful he’s not running for the senate in PA next year. Last thing we need is another non-progressive running for the senate as a Democrat.
Heh. Tweety does less harm as a foolish talking head than he would do if he were a foolish sentaor. I like the thought.
I think Matthews real value as a “journalist” is to feed the corporate line to his listeners. He, and others like him will occasionally advocate a populist viewpoint to re-establish his connection to some demographic, but this is just to retain his audience. When it’s a matter of big money and power, I think you can count on him to represent the corporate interests.
This was a good piece yesterday by Steve Benen on the relative substance and quality of debate on the right and left.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_12/021506.php
Okay I know I should be mortally wounded by criticism from areal grown-up journalist like Chris Matthews, but screw him. I’ve run for state office, I’m active with my local democratic party, I’ve worked hard for important issues including getting Obama elected.
We, on the left, are the grown-ups who have been willing to compromise and compromise and assure ourselves that even a watered-down bill that still helps some people is better than nothing. We finally drew the line at a bill that will hurt more people than it helps.
It’s Republicans who have taken their ball and gone home and ConservaDems who will hold their breath ’till they turn blue if they don’t get enough attention who are acting like petulant children.
Chris Matthews can lick the bottom of my boots after I’ve done my barn chores!
I’d like to know who Tweetty really works for?
He may do what he does reflexively, just to stay in good favor with people he admires. Your average frikken sycophant. He’s reliable, like a good wind-up toy.
Everyone knows, I’m sure by now, that ratings are dependent on the feeds from our TEEVEEs, not polls anymore, right?
Matthews has never been one of my faves ( he used to be a republican, you know how that goes these days)
So, after he gave Howard Dean his drubbing the other night, I’m just turning MSNBC off when he comes on. Sorta a silent protest.
Matthews is an ass. I always think of his “tingling leg” when I see him anymore. Bleh
This is smoke and mirrors.
He’s trying to get us to focus our anger on him and take it off Obama and the Senate.
Don’t fall for it. This is all Obama’s fault, we must stay mad at him.
No, it’s not all Obama’s fault.
It’s our fault because we focused so much on winning the White House for the last 6 years that we forgot the Senate is far more powerful and must be won, no matter who’s in office.
The Senate is the key to the judiciary, to the cabinet, to the passage of key legislation. And it’s the backstop against an out of control Executive office.
If we had taken back Lieberman’s seat back in ’06, for example, the jackass would not be the chair of the Government Affairs/Homeland Security Committee where he has done nothing but obstruct investigation. That’s just one example.
You want someone to blame, look in the mirror first.
You might also ask yourself why we didn’t have a better field of candidates in 2008 — who’s fault is that?
And would we really be in any different situation had any of the other presidential candidates won? We wouldn’t be arguing at all about health care if McGeezer had won. We’d still be mired in Iraq and Afghanistan if either Hillary or Edwards had managed to win the primary and the election, and we’d be dealing with really ugly baggage.
I just love it when you come in and speak da truff.
Right on. IMO control of both Houses of Congress is much more important than the WH. The House has control of the purse strings, the Senate all the stuff you named. I put a lot more energy into House and Senate races than prez races.
I’ve stopped listening to Chris Matthews a long time ago…couldn’t take his over inflated ego. Never saw anyone who could ask the longest question, than proceed to answer it at the same time while his guest sits quietly stunned. He really is a Macy’s Thanksgiving blowup doll in real life!
ROTFL!!!!
It’s been done. And, you might not be suprised, got stuck. Play the video.
Benen: “We expected the fight of the generation to occur between the right and left, when the more relevant and interesting dispute was between left and left.”
Benen is kissing BHO’s ass again. This is a talking point that is utter bullshit. Most Americans are against this fucking health care bill care. Not only the so-called “left.”
This whole health care fiasco is really BHO, kissing the right’s ass, against the middle.
Chris Matthews along with the rest of the corporate media blowhards is one reason the Obama administration refused to investigate or prosecute the criminality of the Bush administration. Matthews and his ilk would have been on 24/7 saying it was nothing more than a political witch hunt. That and the realization that many of the tactics and/or crimes of the previous administration might be helpful to their administration.
My back would hurt after carrying all the water for the powers that be, you have to admire both his constitution and his inability to have principles.
what’s mathews and the bush’s 3rd term team gonna say and do when all the cheetos-eater backseaters decline to spend all their spare time working feverishly and donating every last spare nickel to elect democrats in 2010 and mr. bush wannbe in 2012?
It’s been a great 24 hours. Jane pwned Lanny Davis; the netroots blogger session with dah Axe causes Axe to call out Cornhusker Ben (even if Axe was more talk than arm-twisting), and we get to snicker at Tweety again. And the Sestak-Scraple race is dead even.
The establishment is expecting to rid itself of the healthcare issue by passing a half-a-loaf bill (hoping for a crumb really) of have it killed without its fingerprints on it. The appropriate use of netroots power is to not let the healthcare issue disappear after whatever the crappy denouement of this debate turns out to be.
We must not cede criticism of the healthcare bill to the teabaggers; we must capture the populist anger that is likely to arise. And Jane’s calling out Lanny Davis is only the first step in the direction of creating the “who really sold you out” narrative that can help us win progressive seats (even as Democrats) in what might be a disaster year for the Democratic establishment.
There are some people who deserve our support. Tom Perriello (VA-05) is one of them. The Republican internal civil war is making it difficult for them to find a challenger to a guy whose center-right constituents see as a “straight-shooter” even though he supports progressive legislation. Alan Grayson is in a similar position in Florida. These are the types of folks we need to recruit as challengers both to Blue Dogs and to Republicans.
Doing that and winning will not be easy. But the result of watching Tweety’s head explode when we demonstrate our mastery of electoral politics will be priceless.
The magic number for a member of the House is 175,000 votes. Where is it that we can turn out that number of voters who are angry at establishment Democrats and Republicans and not ready to sign up with the teabaggers? NC-05 (Republican Virginia Foxx), NC-06 (78-year-old Republican Howard Coble), NC-07 (Blue Dog Mike McIntyre), NC-08 (Blue Dog netroots traitor “pseudopopulist” Larry Kissell), NC-09 (Republican Sue Myrick), NC-10 (Republican Patrick McHenry), NC-11 (Blue Dog Heath Shuler) would be good opportunities to counter conventional wisdom about what is possible.
NC-01 (Black Caucus G.K. Butterfield), NC-02 (New Democrat Bob Etheridge), NC-03 (“maverick” Freedom Fries Democrat-turned-Republican representing Camp Lejeune, Walter Jones), NC-04 (New Democrat “progressive” David Price), NC-12 (Progressive Caucus, Mel Watt), NC-13 (“progressive” unaffiliated, Brad Miller) all need a bit of a scare and a challenge to the conventional wisdom that progressives will not be held accountable.
The California delegation can be analyzed the same way (and has been informally in the list of which progressives need to be held accountable). At the other end of the spectrum, there are some long shots. To do Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, the Dakotas, or Nebraska, you pretty much have to be born there. Mobile, Huntsville, and Birmingham are doable. As is the Mississippi Delta. We have to hold TN-09 (Steve Cohen). In TN-02 (Knoxville), Republican John “Jimmy” Duncan in unopposed. There is no Democrat in TN-01 (Bristol-Johnson City-Kingsport), demographically similar to VA-09 (maverick, Rick Boucher, voted against House healthcare reform but considered “liberal”).
If you look at the details, there are more pickup opportunities or opportunities to shift the position of existing officials than the conventional wisdom holds. Basically, most people are practical not ideological, which is why the same people who voted for FDR also voted for Ronald Reagan or Jesse Helms. It’s the details.
Excellent WORK! Delighted to see such a thougtful, thorough analysis with clearcut direction for action. This work should be part of Dean’s DFA web materials.
karen
I get my giggles from sitting in the backseat and bitching while real men praise other real men in flight suits.
You want someone to blame, look in the mirror first.
You talking to me?
Note to whom my comment was a reply.
But if the shoe fits, we should be wearing it.
I personally blame myself for not becoming politically active until after Bush took office and a family member was mustering off to Iraq. I should have done it years ago.
Oh, I thought that was a take-off on the title of this thread.
So should we all. I hope it’s not too late.
It’s never too late.
Here’s the most important things I discovered after becoming politically active:
– I used to believe there were adults in charge and they didn’t need my help. I could not have been more wrong, and I was one of the adults missing in action. (Example: see Tweety — this is an example of a so-called adult left in charge of media. It’s like this in politics, too, if you are not involved.)
– A single individual or a handful of like-minded people can make a lot of change in a very short time.
– But change happens both incrementally over time and rapidly through paradigm shifts; expect to generate both kinds of change. And both kinds of change will run into roadblocks. If haven’t run into one, you will. Watch your back. Have a posse to help.
– It’s going to take a lifetime. Settle in. Pick your battles. Think big, but watch the small stuff, too. The American Revolution took years and didn’t end with the last of musket fire. It ended when the Constitution was a foregone conclusion decades later. Ditto for taking back our democracy.
– It’s a journey, not a destination. Participatory democracy is about participation. Just do it.
And it’s never too late to learn these things.
And, the ever trusty, Think Globally. Act Locally.
I like to say Each One, Reach One.
Here’s some more from the backseat Cheetos eaters.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/17/AR2009121704799.html
I think many districts in the South join with these folks. Bye Bye Blue Dogs.
Matthews seems to think that this is just a bunch of “left wing bloggers”. He doesn’t seem to realize that the Unions are pissed, the retirees are angry, and the folks between 55-65 feel sold down the river. With mandates without a public option the young, healthy individuals who don’t feel they get “service for cost” are angry, and Pro-Choice women are also upset.
So Chris – you are attacking a medium of communication- the messenger…not the people sending the message.
But since the MSM stopped listening to real people some time ago it’s not surprising that you missed this.
It seems like when the format for FireDogLake went “modern,” it lost something. It became more about witty writing than anything else.
And then when I read that woefully uninformed screed about the LCROSS mission being “wrong on so many levels,” I sighed and said goodbye to an old friend.
I have watched Hardball for years. Do not always agree with Matthews but find his questions, knowledge and history in politics a plus when listening to his program. Before the invasion of Iraq he was one of the only mainstreamers asking the warmongers challenging questions. He had Bill Kristol, Gaffney, Gerecht and others on and asked tough challenging questions. He did not have Leverett, Ritter, Cole other folks who were questioning the validity of the intelligence. But he did question the warmongers. I heard him on many occasions. Before the invasion
So for years I have stuck up for him in the blogosphere when folks generalize about his coverage and where he stands. I have found over and over again that people throw him into the same “groupthink” media that did not do their jobs in the run up to the illegal and immoral war in Iraq.
I have talked with Chris Matthews directly on two occasions. Once at the Libby trial. I approached him let him know I was a blue collar “bitch” and if he would not mind I would like to ask him some questions. He was totally open and actually listened. Which most of you know is not generally the case with folks in those types of positions. I asked him about his statement “Katrina had ripped the scab off of racism and poverty in our country” I asked “so why have you stopped covering what was going on in regard to recovery, gentrification in New Orleans, etc” I let him know that I thought MSNBC and his program were assisting putting the scab back on the issue. Also asked him an obvious but needs to be talked about issue as to why he seldom , if ever addresses the critical nature of the Israeli Palestinian issue. A bit of his response “I do not control programming at MSNBC” I also mentioned that I thought he was missing the boat not reading Emptywheel’s in depth research having to do with the Plame investigation
In Denver at the Dem Convention he came down off the stage and mixed it up with the peasants (neither Keith nor Rachel mixed it up) and asked questions of the crowd. I got in a question and statement “when are you going to bring Marcy Wheeler, Flynt Leverett, Scott Ritter, Juan Cole on your program” We talked for a minute about who these folks were.
I ran into him once again outside the “Tattered Cover” Bookstore near all the Dem action where he was once again engaging with the peasants, no cameras, no microphones seemed genuinely interested in what folks on the streets were thinking. Again very accessible. I mentioned the same folks again and he handed me his card with direct phone number. (lost it)
So to have him generalize in a clueless way about folks in the netroots is pathetic and demonstrates his willingness to throw folks into one basket because he does not like that we are pushing, questioning.
Many of the people I know involved in netroots actions are completely the opposite of how Chris Matthews described them. So involved with working for candidates, petitioning, emailing, calling, visiting their Reps. Raising funds. (I have been doing this for 40 years) Basically working their tails off for their beliefs. Just what we have been told that is the public’s responsibility in this supposed Democracy. Extremely disappointed in Chris Matthews generalization. Just the issue that I have challenged the netroots for doing to him.
i saw the matthews comments and y’all this is a bit over-reactive. he is always hyperbolic but i did not take what he said as a broad generalization. limited to a specific constituency, he has a point. the same could be said of an element of the right.
sometimes chris matthews gets ahead of himself, so does everybody. that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a point.
He has his head up where the sun does not shine on this one. What a gross generalization of the people involved in the netroots. This guy does not have a clue about the diverse makeup of the netroots. The depth of investigation and involvement. He knows the blogosphere is putting the squeeze on the MSM.
Tweety likes to call himself “a liberal”, puffing himself up in the process by demeaning those who call themselves progressives, saying he can’t understand why they prefer that term.
He has so internalized the Village narrative that it doesn’t occur to him that the wingers have spent the last 30 years and hundreds of millions of think tank dollars redefining “liberal” as someone whose policies low information voters could and should never support.
Tweety is the prime example of the “gelded” liberal that Grover Norquist bragged he had help created in DC, one of those “fixed” farm animals that won’t make trouble for The Ruling Class.
Matthews was in government and now he wants back in via the Obama White House, thus his unconditional love for Obama and anything the President does, right or wrong.
An indication of this fawning is Chris’ use of the name “Barack” in talking about the President, instead of the correct Mr. Obama or the President. In a way it is disgusting, as is his reference to his service with Jimmy Carter – that weak-kneed phoney who hurt unions and initiated this whole deregulation disgrace that is destroying the nation’s economy and the public weal.
Gee, I wish I could be a “serious” Democrat — one who chuckles it up at press dinners and meekly accepts being called a traitor on the floor of the Senate and goes along to get along and is utterly controlled by lobbyist money… you know what? On second thought, I’ll keep my soul. F U, Chris Matthews.
Ha! I admit to enjoying Cheetos, so sue me. However, Tweety’s a useless twattie, and I rarely ever watch his infotainment. The fact that he ENJOYS interviewing racist, ugly jerks like “Unca” Pat Buchanon, and felons who should be in jail, like Tom “Dancing around” DeLay says enough about where Tweety’s at.
No surprises that he’d diss the netroots left; he’s never supported us or our point of view. His snout is firmly embedded in the corporate trough when it’s not firmly embedded up the butt of some rightwing pol that he wishes to curry favor with.
Meh: good post, but (no offense) tell me something I didn’t already know. Tweety’s a rightwing tool; always has been; always will be. Don’t like his purported “interview” style, which essentially boils down to Tweety shouting over everyone. He should go back to drooling over Mission Accomplished codpiece and be done with it.
MATTHEWS: I consider them netroots … different. … not sure that they’re regular grown-up … troublemakers who love to … complain. … not interested in working … get their giggles … bitching.
This guy is one sick asshole. A dry drunk.
If you think about it, except for the namecalling of “netroots”, it’s a perfect description of Matthews himself!
I stopped watching Chris Matthews a couple of months ago.
To me, he is clueless about the netroots community. I guess he’s missed how we financially support candidates. I guess he’s missed how much the netroots community meant to the President’s campaign.
Progressives and netroots on both sides of the aisle are probably the best informed people in this country.
We give money, time, and vote. Get a clue Mr. Matthews. Although, I won’t know if you do because I’ll be eating Cheetos and watching someone else.
He is truly out of the loop on this one, or feels threatened and trying to get under the netroots skin.
Hey Chris are you talking to me?
A 57 year old politically obsessed activist for four decades, Civil rights actions, arrest, Vietnam activist, Apartheid petitions, calling, many many visits to Reps offices, protest, Central American issues, did my fucking very very best along with millions of others to stop the fucking filthy invasion of IRaq. Worked on campaigns for McCarthy,(first campaign I ever worked on) Humphrey, McGovern, Carter, Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Edwards (damn he fucked himself) Obama. Endless hours for Ohio Dems. What the fuck is Matthews talking about?
There are millions in the netroots who put in endless hours participating in a positive and constructive way. “Being vigilant” trying to work within the system. Some obsessed with the idea of truth, justice and equality
I, too, worked tirelessly to get a Democrat back into the White House, and that’s not the first campaign I’ve worked on. Those credentials make me a tried and true “grown up Democrat.” By its nature, only a minority of voters are actively involved in the campaign process.
But, I don’t have to have worked on a campaign, and I don’t have to have run for office, and I don’t have to have worked for someone in public office to be qualified to voice my opinion.
Netrooters are self selected and their habits make them (generally) well informed. As you say, Marta, we’re activists and we’re organizers. And we rock in a very grown-up way!
Let’s see if this works for the other side:
Gee, that’s funny. All summer, Chris had nothing but indulgent and compassionate things to say about people ‘bitching’ who didn’t even have good information at their disposal but who were instead blatant tools of the rich and powerful. Hypocrisy much, Drinky?
CM is a real dck head. Instead of reporting and finding out why the left is discontent with Obama he attacks us for not going along with Obama wants. It is this kind of journalism that allowed our country to go into a war based on lies. No interest in facts, no objectivity, just happy to have access to power and in order to keep it abdicates his responsibility as a journalist. Real patriots are people who protest the actions of its government if they believe they are not being represented. CM is a prime example of what is wrong with the media, too embedded with power to be worth a damn to the citizens of this country. If he thinks that excersizing our rights as citizens makes us cheeto eating monkeys then maybe we shld boycott his show and his sponsors.
Matthews has always been the face of corporate whoredom. He giggles over examples of political incivility and thinks it’s all good fun. Good fun for pro wrestling fans like Chrissie, but not for a population crying out for honesty and integrity in government.
These people no longer see themselves as servants of the people. To Chris Matthews and the politico professionals he defends, government service is not a sacrifice. Government service to them is “take everything you can get by any means available because it’s there for the taking.”
Tweety has an email link at hardball@msnbc.com. Shall we see how many of us can send him the link to this diary?
Matthews was telling us that he’s a playa….and we’re not.
Oh my. Late to the toobz again as usual.
I do hope some of you gigglers thot to spotlight this gem to trash-talkin’ tweetie.
oh. if all else fails, i guess i could read. d’oh!
The Obama/Rahm/Geithner et al.corporate shill neoliberals are just an updated version of the opportunistic, triangluating, compromising, free-trade loving Clintons of the 90s. As we’re seeing every day, Obama/Rahm/Geithner et al. have no compunctions seeking to make alliances with other fellow, bought-out, corporate travelers — be they “moderate”-conservative Republicans, Conservadems or mongrels like Lieberman.
These alliances, of course, extend to the MSM and an endless set of other types of media in order to disseminate their trickle down, neoliberal ideology that maximizing freedom/profits for multinationals is not only in their interest, but also in the interests of all the the rest of us — in this case the multinational interests are big Health Insurance and big Pharma).
Well-paid commentators like Chris O’Donnell (MSM), by pressure or inclination, are more than willing to be one of their media shills — this time by attempting to demonize,trash,and isolate progressives standing on principle and common sense; while the stubborness, obstinancy, and sabotaging actions of Liberman/Nelson types are conveniently excused and uncritisized.
Chris Matthews, of course, is just following the tactical and strategic line laid out by the White House and many in the the Democratic leadership.It’s becoming a little boring and unimaginative for Obama/Rahm/Reed/Axelrod and company to trot out another round of Sister Souljuh scapegoating of progressives at a time when an increasing majority of Americans happens to agree with the position and stand of progressives.
White House/Democratic leadership beware. Not only progressives, and now labor unions, as well as growing numbers of rank-and-file Democrats, and for many months now an increasing majority of Independents won’t forget both the multi-trillion dollar bail-outs of Wall Street that enriched your friends and backers with taxpayer dollars, and now, shamelessly, your strong-arm attempt to further enrich big Insurance and big Pharma with mandated insurance premiums with no cost controls
Don’t forget this is the same guy who went down on his knees for Tom Delay, who has a “man crush” on that nice smelling Fred Thompson, and now has his nose up the rump of the current elected establishment.
The guy’s an embarrassment. His job is to protect the powerful. He knows that.
I wonder if Matthews learned his crap when he worked for Tip O’Neill? My daughter, who is in her second her at college in Philly, tells me that she has never met so many racists in her life – and we’re from Texas – she can’t understand why Matthews continues to have Buchanan on the program so he can spout his hate – and frankly, I can’t either -
Seems like Buchanan has a deal with MSNBC because Pat’s on throughout the day, to MSNBC’s disgrace.
Yeah, that’s the really interesting backstory to this whole “Democrats vs. progressives” fight.
The idea that the Democrats can live without the progressives and are somehow better off without us is simply laughable.
We were the ones who GOT OBAMA ELECTED. We carried out the 50-state strategy. We manned the phone banks. We marched door-to-door. We started rallies. We’re the activists, the beating heart of the Democratic party.
If the Democrats use this bill as the excuse to jettison progressives, they will literally be cutting their own throats. The Democratic party cannot live without liberals and progressives, because without us, the Democrats are just Republicans without a backbone. At least the crazy Republican teabagger types stand up for what they believe in (crazy as it is). DLC-type Democrats just sell out to the highest bidder.
So yeah, Chris Matthews. Yeah, Rahm. Piss off and jettison the progressives and liberals, and see how that works for you in future elections. The Republicans have learned the hard lessons about what it means when you ditch your base; maybe now it’s time for the Democrats to learn the same lessons.
kos speaks in our defense