Matthews and Clinton

As I have written before, and no doubt will write again, Chris Matthews has his good days and bad days. There are the days he is a crusader not taking bull and pressing interviewees to the wall, and then you have days where a smile, a claim, and being on a first name basis with him gets you through just fine. But there are also the times where I wonder what his own history has done to define him and his thinking.

In the past he has blasely declared that Hispanics make good and should be Republicans, as they create bodegas, etc. Talk to socially liberal Hispanics, or libertarians, and they wold say he was full of it. Then there was the glee he had in going through every nasty false claim about Al Gore. He has since admitted he voted for Bush in that election, so I just wonder where his head was? Doesn't help, the joy he has being around McCain and Thompson, wonder which way he's leaning for next year?

But this stuff almost seems to pale in comparison to what has been going on the last week, as Clinton has begun to get renewed support and numbers. He seems livid, and understated livid.

From Crooks and Liars:

Chris Matthews dismisses Carol Hunter of the Des Moines Register because of Hillary Clinton endorsement

...

Matthews: ….she may have gotten the Des Moines Register’s endorsement the other day thanks to her husband’s lobbying, with its female editors and publisher, but voters have spotted the dagger. They don’t like what it looks like.

C&Lers may disagree with Hunter’s pick, I leave that for you to decide (I like the Democratic field), but Matthews owes Carol Hunter an immediate on-air apology for his misogynistic outlook and very feeble view. The way the media has treated Hillary has been disgraceful since she has been ahead in the national polls, but Matthews couldn’t contain his hatred of Hillary to her alone this time. What does Carol know anyway, right Tweety? She’s just a female, probably with a shrill voice too… Chris should just announce his support for the cop on the street or the Aqua Velva man already and be done with it.

...

And this has been followed by shots at her supporters.

Hardball: Chris Matthews Calls Hillary Clinton Supporters “Castratos”

We’ve documented and made fun of Chris Matthews’ man-crushes before. How many times have we seen him get starry-eyed and gushy over Bush’s raw manliness, Fred Thompson’s manly smell or Mitt Romney’s broad shoulders? But his misogyny–especially as it applies to Hillary Clinton–is really offensive. And his blindness to it is astonishing, especially for a man to whom politics and campaigning is everything in life.

Case in point: we’re about to have the first primaries of the 2008 presidential race in less than three weeks. So naturally, candidates are lining up and trumpeting their endorsements. But for Tweety, having someone like Joe Lieberman cross purported party lines to endorse John McCain and break his promise to help elect Democrats isn’t nearly as outrageous as Democrats (and fairly moderate ones at that) backing the candidate at the top of the Democratic polls:

MATTHEWS: I’m talking about the moral weight on these people who are willing to do anything now. You got Vilsack out there now, Strickland, Evan Bayh. Everyday I pick up a paper, there’s another quote from some wannabe, saying whatever the Clinton people told him to say apparently. Do these lines look like they’re being fed?

CILIZZA: It’s politics, Chris!

MATTHEWS: Let me find some outrage here, can I get some from Chrystia? I’m not getting any from you. Chrystia, aren’t you appalled at the willingness of these people to become castratos in the eunuch chorus here, or whatever they are? What do you call them? I don’t know what they are. What do you think of these people?

Castratos, Chris? Eunuch chorus? Really nicely loaded imagery of Hillary as a literal emasculator. I’m not in any way endorsing Hillary, but I can’t see how having supporters and endorsements from them should be looked upon as some ball-busting anomaly. Taylor Marsh has more on the insulting double standards of the Presidential Beauty Pageants.

Methinks that Chris Matthews has some very serious issues with women in powerful positions.

And he owes Hillary–and her supporters–an apology.

So, I guess we can look forward to Matthews playing with every Clinton rumor, if she gets the nomination.