Politics, TV
Harry Shearer has a video clip of Chris Matthews talking with Tom DeLay just seconds before they went on the air on “Hardball” earlier this week. See the tape here.
Watch DeLay’s body language. In contrast to his smiling mug shot and high-fivin’ public demeanor, he is clearly a doomed and defeated man.
I typed up a rough transcript:
MATTHEWS: Thank you for calling me.
DELAY: Well…
MATTHEWS: It was a good thing for me.
DELAY: Was it?
MATTHEWS: Oh, of course it was. We got it on the air as fast as we could.
DELAY: Yeah, well…
(Cross talk.)
MATTHEWS: If Shannon had told me there was an embargo, I would have honored it, but I didn’t
DELAY: Well, she’s mad at me now because I told you. I didn’t tell you that.
(Indistinct female voice off-camera.)
MATTHEWS: I didn’t.. I didn’t get an embargo. But ah… You just said to me, if you’re on the morning news tomorrow morning, this is something you can use, which is fine. But she called me and said, “Don’t worry. He’s not calling to complain.” (Laughter.)
[Tape is edited. Continues...]
MATTHEWS: Have you seen this new, ah, new focus group stuff on the {Democratic] candidates?
DELAY: No, I haven’t.
MATTHEWS: (Indistinct.)
DELAY: Really?
MATTHEWS: I’ll send it to ya. It’s great… It’s great stuff.
DELAY: Really?
MATTHEWS: Hillary, John Kerry… all these guys. All Democrats. How they do…
VOICE off camera: Thirty seconds, everybody.
MATTHEWS: It’s [Republican pollster] Frank Luntz who did it. And ah…
DELAY: Ooh, I like Luntz…
MATTHEWS: Hillary did not do well.
DELAY: Really?
MATTHEWS: Kerry did well.
DELAY: You’re kidding?
MATTHEWS: I am not kidding. They didn’t like Edwards. They thought he was a rich lawyer pretending to care about poor people. Hillary was “know it all.”
DELAY: Nothing worse than a woman know it all.
[Tape is edited. Continues...]
MATTHEWS: Thanks. I owe you one. I owe you two!
DELAY: No, you don’t.
MATTHEWS: Today and last night. No, I do.
DELAY: I appreciate it…
What a jerk. Reminds me of George Will and his political favors. Did you now he stole President Carter’s speech the night before he and Reagan were to debate. I heard President Carter tell this about G. Will on a television interview a year ago.
Now we know why Chris Matthews is still on MSNBC and Phil Donahue is not. “Tweety” performs falatio on all his male guests before the show starts. This is fucking disgusting, as this prick (Delay) will probably be indicted on federal charges shortly. If he’s indicted on fed chges, he’ll have to pay to be on Michael Savage’s radio program.
I always thought Matthews was a suck up, this just proves it….
Delay is a disgusting male that thinks he going to move to VA and be a lobbyist….he’s going to jail which is where he belongs….then Matthews can visit him and talk about what went wrong .
Mathews just missed a chance to remind all when he worked for Carter and O’Neil and also his “working class” up-bringing.
I wondered how long it took Tweety to unlock his lips off of DeLays ass.
Disgusting interview.
CHRIS NO BALLS MATTHEWS always a suck-up lap-dog to the REPUBLICAN PARTY ASK TIP O-NEALS DAUGHTER HOW SHE FELLS ABOUT NO-BALLS MATTHEWS, HE IS A COWARD, NO GUTS LOUD MOUTH REPUBLICAN. H.D. COLE
Sometimes a hardcore republican will “work for” or “intern” with a Democrat and when they spend the next 40 years of their lives being a hard core RW Republican, they use the “I once worked for so and so” as camouflage for their truly repulsive views to make them seem more independent. Matthews is a RW tool
Could Chris Matthews suck any harder on Tom Delay’s anus?
I am so happy that this confirms my fears that Mathews was such a suck up its so clear to anyone who is honest with himself which most conservatives aren’t since they don’t really want to know the truth about what the Republicans are doing so wrong to the middle class of this country and you don’t hear a peep out of them so sad
republican tool—yes. but more a REPUBLICAN FOOL.
Mathews is a blow hard and a fool.
ANYONE who still supports the Republican crime family is a moron or guily of corruption. There is NO other reason a human being could support the cancer on the world that IS the Republican GOP.
REPUGS INVITE LARD ASS TO ALL THIER PARTIES,SINCE HE IS ONE MORE MORON THAT KISSES ASS AND THINKS HE IS ONE OF THE ELITE.WHAT A DUMB ASS !!!
Matthews is a tool. Fact, proven here.
It’s generally understood that the people you spend your time probably have the same sort of values as you do. It’s also generally understood that poweful politicians are surrounded by fawning sychophants. So now we know another lap dog that belongs to DeLay. As the game unravels in the fullness of time, each will pay the price for playing.
Mathews shows why we need more unbiased, hard-hitting journalists like… Katie Couric!
I actually used to watch Mathews until 911, and then he did a HARD right turn so I turned him off… I hate his guts. I hate myself for having watched him.
Don
I,too, felt that Matthews was sucking up major during the Delay interview, but think that maybe he was just giddy over getting the scoop on the story, and felt that he had to ingratiate himself in order to get Delay to talk. Kind of like Felicity Shagwell having to sleep with Fat Bastard in order to plant the homing device–just a (very) unpleasant part of the job. At least I hope it was unpleasant! Come to think of it, many Washington insiders have been in bed with Tom Delay!
The mention of Luntz’s focus group(s) is significant. The Hardball program is an instrument of the Luntz organization to create “research” for the Repuglican cause. I participated in a number of “Town Meetings” where Luntz provided a cross-section of Republican boosters from LA and OC Counties, broadcast live with the program out of DC. There was heavy investment in Luntz/Hardball during the RECALL CAMPAIGN of CA Gov. Gray Davis. Matthews is a danger to us ALL as he helped ARNOLD run my state…INTO THE GROUND!!!