Today at 4 p.m., a rally is being held by the National Women's Political Caucus outside the NBC studios in Washington, D.C., against MSNBC Hardball anchor Chris Matthews. According to the letter they sent to Steve Capus, the president of NBC News:During an appearance on the January 9 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, Matthews said of Senator Hillary Clinton, "the reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around" and that "[s]he didn't win there [New York] on her merits." Matthews has referred to Clinton as a "she devil," compared her to a "strip-teaser" and called her "witchy." 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."
They left out his calling her "Madame Defarge" and "Nurse Ratched."
The letter also details some of the other incidents involving Matthews, like: 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.
We've always been kind of amused by Matthews's abject terror of powerful women. Our fellow News Blogger, Cenk, did a nice analysis last week of some of Matthews's comments, focusing on this one:
"I think a lot of people pick a president they figure would sort of like them if they knew them. And if you are overweight or have a problem with your diet -- and I certainly did for years -- you may figure Hillary doesn't like people like me. She's looking down on me. What do you think? Howie, she's looking down on me, that woman. She thinks she's better than me."
Paranoid, much? He probably also thought that movie Teeth was a documentary.
The future belongs to those who don't radiate castration fear. You don't see foxy Brian Williams worrying about his manhood.
Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 3)
16. i cannot stand chris matthews, but, without a shred of a doubt, his descriptions of hilary clinton COULD NOT BE more accurate. she is a stone cold man-hating robot, who is where she is today solely based on riding the coattail of bill clinton's success. typical feminist story. whine and whine about how she's such a victim and not taken seriously, then ride a MAN'S coattail to the top, all the while trashing men and boys.
f.c. at 8:31PM on Jan 17th 2008
17. The man's got his opinions. Can anyone prove him wrong?
jamie at 9:11PM on Jan 17th 2008
18. Matthews wants a big handsome man to be President...isn't it obvious?
Remember when Gore resigned and he went on and on about "exquisite mascuinity". Chris is a closet homosexual. He's thinking about that dreamboat Barak Obama or that hunky Mitt Romney.
DavidG at 10:50PM on Jan 17th 2008
19. Chris, you're undoubtedly right to worry Hillary is "looking down" on you. She IS better than you... and so is just about everybody else. Now get outta here and don't let your knuckles scrape the floor on your way out.
sandy at 11:35PM on Jan 17th 2008
20. Chris Mathews is stupid, goofy and dies his hair yellow. And, yes, he loves getting attention by making sexist remarks and then "apologizing" for them later...(Wink,wink...)
Save your (beer) breath, Chris. You middle-aged white guys are just as threatened by Hillary and Obama as your Reagan -era cronies.
You are past tense, Chris.
Joan bartos at 1:25AM on Jan 18th 2008
21. The Chriss Mathews I know is the dapper moderate conservative on the Chriss Mathews show on NBC. I guess when He as more time and less viewers he lets loose. I'm not surprised given that he is fairly conservative with a sense of male entitlement; Conservative america never really bought the post 60's gestalt as a moral imperative and invite those rebellious upstarts to their country clubs.
He's not the only media person who says one thing on broadcast and another in print or cable. I couldn't help remembering a rather veiled comment about "those clowns" in a Clarence Page peice around 1997 or so. Was he referring to those white clowns? It seemed so. I found his strong broadcast feelings around Don Imus's comments hypocritical. No apology and it went beyond Nightline's editors (ABC) radar to call him on it.
I'm not trying to shift the blame or the subject, and it is not the same as the Obama/Hillary exchange recently.(Yes, I think Hillary threatened by Obama's charisma bullied him a bit. Racist? I don't know. Why Lyndon Johnson/MLK?
Disengenuous? yes, it was a deliberate put down.
In denial about it? Hillary worries me on that tendency.)
I guess i'd like to see some/all of these people take responsibility and tell us what they really think when they think everyone is looking. That is how we take responsibility and become more sensitive and respectful. And optimistically I think all of the above, including Mathews, have that ability.
It comes with the territory, and We have seen what happens when someone who is very powerful
as Bush or Cheney, doesn't even buy into that premise (Richard Reeves sept 2001 on Bush--secrecy with the patriot act). I'm not putting any of the above in that exalted category of yes, evil.
Power applies:
Reporters respond to ratings and viewer opinion.
Presidents are impeached/convicted in the extreme. Or at least not reelected. Although a womanizing president who manages the economy well will get reelected. But I guess impeached by a jealous rival party if he perjures himself.
Guiltily, I still watch Hardball. And I still read Clarence Page. And i'm probably going to vote for Hillary. Yes, we ARE voting for THE ClINTONS baggage and all.
Cynically, every beaurocrat is usually hiding something.
If it is the president, I reserve the right to vote against the person .
That is what these last eight years have been about at the very heart of the matter.
andrew at 6:31PM on Jun 7th 2008
22. I can't say whether or not the comments are sexist, but they are true. As a journalist, he is reporting his observations. It's apparent that the NOW gang can't handle reality. Of course they have denied that unborn children are people since 1973 (or earlier) despite scientific evidence of brain waves and a circulatory system very early in pregnancy. All of this is in the name of "choice".
Anthony Conaway at 2:06AM on Jan 18th 2008
23. Chris cannot be described as a journalist. They report unbiased facts. That's true journalism. Opinions are the province of editorialists and pundits. Please do not get journalism confused with biased opinion.
John at 9:29AM on Jan 18th 2008
24. While in the White House, Hillary Clinton secretly arranged to have Socks, the beloved White House cat, declawed. If you knew nothing else about her character, that would tell you a lot about it.
Dorothy Ellen Whitsell at 5:39AM on Jan 18th 2008
25. 22. While in the White House, Hillary Clinton secretly arranged to have Socks, the beloved White House cat, declawed. If you knew nothing else about her character, that would tell you a lot about it.
Dorothy Ellen Whitsell at 5:39AM on Jan 18th 2008
Yes, yes, yes! I'm following you here, Dorothy #22. That is absolutely an indicator of her character...that damn woman felt a deep obligation to preserve historical, irreplacable, citizen owned furniture! How dare she? Poor little "outdoor" Socks would no longer be able to protect himself from other strays, just trying to make their way on the mean streets of DC. Shocking, just shocking.
LMAO@U at 6:24AM on Jan 18th 2008
26. Yes, yes, yes! I'm following you here, Dorothy #22. That is absolutely an indicator of her character...that damn woman felt a deep obligation to preserve historical, irreplacable, citizen owned furniture! How dare she? Poor little "outdoor" Socks would no longer be able to protect himself from other strays, just trying to make their way on the mean streets of DC. Shocking, just shocking.
Yes, it is shocking and I'm so glad you agree with me which is only natural, because I'm right.
In all that vast building, or even in some of the many other buildings nearby, there somehow was not one single possible room where they could have kept this innocent cat without your precious "citizen owned furniture"? Sorry, but it doesn't make any sense at all. Many previous presidents and families including the Lincolns, T. Roosevelts, Coolidges, etc. kept cats and dogs in the White House without mutilating their claws.
For those who don't think declawing is a big deal, how would you like your fingernails ripped out, or the first joints of your fingers cut off? We don't do that to even those people who intentionally destroy precious public furniture. Then why do it to innocent animals?
Dorothy Ellen Whitsell at 6:54AM on Jan 18th 2008
27. I thought it was just me! I'd been watching all the news shows during the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, and yes, I was taken aback at Chris Matthews' unduly harsh words about Hillary. I wondered if it was something personal. He seemed to HATE her or something. Have to admit, I enjoyed the heck out of it when gentlemanly Tom Brokaw took Chris (and the others) to task over their obsession with polls, and their RUSH to anoint Obama as the Once and Future King or something. I mean, one primary does not an election make, folks. But yeah. It's about time people started asking questions about Matthews' bizarre fixations.
Kelly at 8:39AM on Jan 18th 2008
28. Well, I thought I had heard all the possible reasons before for not voting for Senator Clinton.
Declawing a cat was not one of them.
Strange times we live in...
wasabi at 1:08PM on Jan 18th 2008
29. How are we going to handle it when people talk about Hillary Clinton the same way they talk about George Bush?
CC at 8:57PM on Jan 23rd 2008
30. Yeah, Chris isn't sexist. It's his shark of a wife's fault he's ascared o' girls....
Maybe it's "female power oppositional reaction syndrome."
Some of you folks seem to be suffering from it too. Oh no, "A Woman," Maybe Hillary really IS a robot! She's ambitious!!! Scary!!!
I'd seek psychiatric or Scientology help to work on those issues, folks...
J at 5:30AM on Jan 19th 2008