So nice to see MSNBC's anchors have learned something from, uh, the last 48 hours. There was the Scarborough "shovel" incident, the Scarborough v. David Shuster incident, and yesterday, leading up to Hillary Clinton's powerful speech, a Chris Matthews v. Keith Olbermann incident, shown here. Trying to do something to resuscitate his sexist image, Matthews doesn't appreciate Olbermann signaling to him to wrap things up. This is now the third such on-air spat between MSNBC talent, and competitors and closely watching to see just how much chatter this week is about the DNC, and how much is about the fact that nobody on 30 Rock's pay roll actually likes each other.
Rumor has it that MSNBC newsman Chris Matthews will run for senate once his contract runs out.
Seizing on those rumors, Philadelphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal asked Matthews about his stance on gay marriage. After eschewing the question - what would Matthews do about the defense of marriage act - Matthews went into a valid tirade about freedom, which could come across as support.
Segal, however, wanted specifics. What he received were expletives:
Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann, who are not exactly friends, have been tag-teaming the DNC coverage, while folks like David Gregory, Andrea Mitchell, Brian Williams, and, here, Joe Scarborough, have been relegated to remote fill-ins. Even Tom Brokaw has been treated like a second-class citizen, though we love his white pop star mic. But it's here, in the Scarborough interview, where viewers are treated to what's really going on behind the scenes: An on-going power struggle where Olbermann reigns supreme, Matthews accepts he's become MSNBC's No. 2, and everybody else remains in disbelief that things have unfolded this way. [via]
With just a couple months to go before November's presidential election, NBC News must be narrowing in on its selection of a permanent Meet The Press host. Various names have floated about, from David Gregory to staff favorite Gwen Ifill. But there's another staffer "trickling down" as a likely possibility. He's Hardball's David Shuster, who's spent the past two weeks filling in for Chris Matthews, who's battling a bout of pneumonia. Ratings have been quite healthy, even after taking the Olympics lead-in into account, we're told, while on-lookers like his aggressive interview style. The only problem? CONTINUED »
A group of women calling themselves The New Agenda — which does not mean they are lesbians, but maybe — is so fed up with MSNBC host Chris Matthews and his anti-womyn ways, they're calling for his ouster. This would be mildly newsworthy if, say, The New Agenda got its act together while Hillary Clinton was still running. Or if they weren't stating the obvious.
That Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann continue playing both hard news anchor and opinionated talking heads is of no consequence to NBC News president Steve Capus. Responding to taunts from Fox News' Chris Wallace made earlier this week at the Television Critics Association annual event, Capus told MSNBC's audience he has no plans to change the formula, where his star power pundits anchor news coverage like elections while going on the air every night to deride the right wing. Says Olbermann: "We know there are different rules for us, and the viewers — I think based on how many of them have turned out — know there are different rules."
And Capus agrees: "The audience gets it, and that’s the single biggest factor that I see."
Hey, remember when a certain other left-leaning institution thought their audience would "get it"? CONTINUED »
Fox News has long found itself defending its "Fair & Balanced" slogan. And rightfully so: Everyday there are endless examples of Roger Ailes' minions schilling for conservatives. Not exactly the straight and narrow its mantra would have you believe. But at the same time, MSNBC's liberal slant has floated on by with less criticism than Fox News has suffered. That's been changing recently; Chris Matthews and, in particular, Keith Olbermann have been fingered in recent months for driving the network's progressive bias, from its opinion shows to its hard news daytime broadcasts. And now Chris Wallace, who managed to stuff endless opportunities for meta media coverage into his Television Critics Association appearance, HE'S NOT GOING TO TAKE IT! CONTINUED »
Peter Funt, who "can be reached at www.candidcamera.com," has built a career on his sirname's reputation for trying to pull the modestly amusing out of the banally amusing. Perhaps, then, he's best suited to explain the power behind one simple little expression of comedic acknowledgment: "Ha."
"Thanks to Chris Matthews, the engaging yet often bombastic host of Hardball on MSNBC, this laughable little term has popped into the media lexicon. Every time Matthews shouts 'Ha!' his guests seem genuinely startled, much as they would if the host inadvertently let out a loud belch."
But does Matthews really get to own "ha"? CONTINUED »
Chris Matthews, a man who cannot even shower colleague Keith Olbermann with much praise, doesn't have many pleasantries to hand out, then, for Howard Wolfson, the former Hillary Clinton strategist who just signed with Fox News. Wolfson's deal with the devil might be a quick payday in the near-term, but to Matthews, it will also be his undoing. Cue scary haunted house music. CONTINUED »
How was GQ's Tom Carson's supposed to know Tim Russert was going to die this month? Perhaps if he had 20/20 foresight, he might not have taken down the late Meet The Press moderator while laying some smack on Chris Matthews. CONTINUED »
Yesterday morning, MSNBC was running a spot for last night's Hardball, with background artwork showing female silhouetted dancers with the phrase "HER NEW OUTLOOK?" as the headline. It was a promo for Matthews' talking point that evening, about Michelle Obama's image makeover, which is taking place on the cover of Us Weekly and The View. It was also deemed, by eagle-eyed critics, as a sexist ad, what with those three silhouetted dancers. So MSNBC pulled the ad, after it ran "once or twice." This is very bad for Mr. Matthews, who's weathered through weeks of endless accusations of sexism, many of them well-founded. It's unfortunate, then, to have this ad pop up now — when his punching bag Hillary Clinton is officially out of the race, and the most prominent lady right now among the Democrats, Ms. Obama, appearing to be his new target. It's also unfortunate that he'll take most of the blame for this, when it was probably the graphics department that's entirely to blame. Watch the clip here.
Between rumors of Chris Matthews leaving MSNBC to run for the Senate (in Pennsylvania against Arlen Spector in 2010) and Lou Dobbs leaving CNN to run for governor of New Jersey (when Jon Corzine steps down), we need only one more professional talking head to throw into the mix to make this an official trend. Hey, Kiran Chetry, got four years to kill?
Now that Hillary Clinton has finally fulfilled Chris Matthews' year-long dream of exiting the race, it's time to make sense of all that was the 24-hour primary news cycle during the 16-month Barack v. Hillary battle. New York Knicks ticket policy violator and former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw has some thoughts: CONTINUED »
The "Students, Adjunct Faculty, [and] Policy Committee of the Women and Gender Studies Program" at Hunter College aren't exactly thrilled with who their school picked for its commencement address, which took place Wednesday.
That would be a one Chris Matthews, noted cable news talking head and woman-hater.
In a public letter published Sunday, the aforementioned write, in grandiose terms, "It is, in our view, disgraceful for Hunter College, for all of us who love this institution and most of all for our present and future students who look to Hunter as a bastion of women’s empowerment, to confer this honor on someone whose words in public so contradict the most basic feminist and civic values. Inviting him to be our speaker is asking him to represent Hunter College on this important occasion, and this should never have happened. We are outraged."
Worth noting: Hunter College originally invited Keith Olbermann, noted ratings machine and ire of his colleagues, to speak. But he backed out, and Matthews filled the spot.
Also worth noting: Hunter College junior Yin Chang was cast in Gossip Girl as the recurring character Nelly Yuki, which, we're pretty sure, is written into the script as "one of the Asian girls." And if that isn't an achievement for all women to celebrate, what is?
The full letter, below. CONTINUED »
How to explain that gesture Barack Obama made with his wife Michelle last night, after clinching the Democratic nomination?
Irish Catholic Chris Matthews is here to explain what happened, for those of you trapped in I'm An Old White Man status.
Did you know it was also known as a "dap"?
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