Either Relevant or True » “No, this is not ‘Hardball’”

“No, this is not ‘Hardball’”

I slogged through the entire NYT Mag profile of Chris Matthews last night, all 8,000 words. For those of you unwilling to do the same, I’ve pulled the the paragraphs that are germane to our interests here at ERT because this is not to be missed!

Matthews is also aware that little brother Keith Olbermann has become the signature talent of MSNBC. Matthews seems less than thrilled with “co-anchoring” MSNBC’s election coverage with him, as he has done on many nights during this campaign. When Olbermann is on the same set, Matthews appears different — restrained, even shrinking at times. According to people at NBC, Matthews has not been shy in voicing his resentment of Olbermann. Nor, according to network sources, has Olbermann bothered to hide his low regard for Matthews, although when I spoke to him, Olbermann denied any personal animosity toward Matthews and told me that he appreciates his “John Madden-like enthusiasm for politics.”

But Olbermann does acknowledge that their on-air marriage has been rocky. Stylistically, Olbermann is scripted and disciplined while Matthews is free-form. While Olbermann is a natural anchor, Matthews struggles with its basic mechanics — staying on time, not talking into breaks. “There is a sense at times that we are always joining Chris Matthews already in progress,” Olbermann told me. Matthews has been on 10 years, he went on to say, “and he has no idea when it stops and starts. My responsibility sometimes is to grab the wheel when he doesn’t hold it.” Matthews has also called their joint appearances “Hardball,” which annoys Olbermann and which he has not been shy about correcting on the air. “No, this is not ‘Hardball,’ I will say, and in those instances, a correction is appropriate.”

Sometimes during commercial breaks, Matthews will boast to Olbermann of having restrained himself during the prior segment. “And I reward him with a grape,” Olbermann says.

There is nothing I can add to that last paragraph that is either… You know. Except perhaps that I will probably giggle madly when I see grapes for the next week or so.

GOSH, and here I am with both green and black seedless grapes in my fridge. Mentally imagining stuffing several fist fulls into Matthew’s mouth in order to both shut him up and to block out the slave girl with grapes scenario that presents itself to my imagination..

Becky, you do such a great job of running this blog. Thanks for finding this article and selecting the good parts, so the rest of us do not have to make the effort.

I well remember one of those THIS IS NOT HARDBALL moments as Chris had suddenly asked a “when did you stop beating your wife” type question in what was supposed to be post election coverage and then laughed when the guest protested about the question, with one of his This is Hardball, we ask the tough questions blustering responses. (Specifically, he asked some poor Texas legislator who had come on to discuss Obama’s chances for winning Texas about Obama’s legislative accomplishments instead, and the poor man’s mind went blank as he had not expected the question, and Matthews would not change the subject but kept needling the man, making his mind freeze even worse. It was both cruel and unfair.)

It is the kind of thing that causes people not to want to come on their post election coverage. Keith was right to try to remind him that they were not on Hardball. The next day Chris was still flying high on the issue and kept referring to it on his own show as a Hardball moment.

While it might have been fun to see, it is no wonder that Zell Miller (And I will not add what an idiot I think he is) tried to challenge Matthews to a duel.

I used to like Chris, but over a year ago he disappeared for a few weeks and came back much thinner and bizarrely aggressive, and I have wondered a number of times if he had not had a slight stroke.

He often sets up false arguments and will put his positions forward as truth and then challenge anyone who disagrees.

He has been turning himself into a parody of O’Reilly, and I can see why many people no longer want to come on his show.

intersting article, and of course, Countdown is mentioned.

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/81912/

Rachel Maddow: Progressive Media’s Next Mainstream Star

I think the “grape” comment is snark at its slyest: what popped into my head is what one commonly feeds parrots.

Enough said.

Sometimes during commercial breaks, Matthews will boast to Olbermann of having restrained himself during the prior segment. “And I reward him with a grape,” Olbermann says.

I fell over laughing — for a couple of reasons.
First, I’m a student of animal behavior and training and the “I reward him with a grape” sounds like KO’s operantly conditioning Tweety to be quiet, rewarding him for proper behavior like a dog.

And second…speaking of rewarding grapes to primates, here’s what would have been a totally off-topic announcement had it not been for Keith’s comment. So, thanks, KO!!

I’ve had two dreams in my life. The first, to work at NASA to promote human spaceflight. I did that for almost 10 years and can check it off my “bucket list.”

My new dream is to communicate directly with another species. No, not the New Age, psychic “animal communicators” garbage…but really to be able to Dr. Doolittle it. Birds do it — check out the work of the late, great Alex the parrot. Koko the gorilla converses with humans via American Sign Language (and is a great big fan of romantic comedy movies, I’ve been told).

I’m finishing up a research article on creative canine-to-human communications (yes, they do it if we are smart enough to catch it) based on dogs’ evolution in the human pack which will be published in a professional journal next fall.

And…I’ve just been accepted for a summer apprenticeship at the Chimpanzee and Human Communications Institute at Central Washington University outside Seattle. That’s the home of the late Washoe and her family who communicate with humans via ASL. Washoe was the first non-human to learn to converse using a human language. She also taught, without human assistance, ASL to her adopted son, Loulis — the first cultural transmission of a human language by nonhuman species. Loulis still resides at the CHCI.

I’ll be volunteering there all summer — and living in a dorm for the first time in 30+ years. So another of my life dreams is soon to come true.
Poor hubby gets to stay home in Houston and care for my critters, whom I’ll miss terribly.

The only hassle will be is whether I can view Countdown in the dorm. I might need to get some ERT pals to DVD the newscasts and send them to me!!

So, my ERT friends, you are are the first to know. I’ll keep you posted on my adventures!

You can check out the CHCI at
http://www.friendsofwashoe.org/

I’ll be giving lots of grapes and other goodies to primates, not including Tweety, this summer. Thank again, KO for the excuse to post this.

I have this wonderful mental image of Keith tossing grapes at Tweety who, of course, catches them in his mouth.

Oh, here we gooooooo…

Weinersavage calls Tweety “Straw Hair” and his show “Softball”.

How’d you like to defend HIM at a sanity hearing? No, forget the sanity hearing, put Weinersavage into the rubber room now and toss away the key.

Congrats, Houstonian. Sounds like a wonderful opportunity!

Rafismom, the absolute worst thing about the “Hardball moment” that Matthews patted himself on the back about was this: while Matthews pinned the Texas legislator to the wall asking him about what Obama had accomplished in the Senate, and the legislator was drawing a blank, he did NOT pin the Ohio legislator who was backing Hillary to the wall in a similar way about HER achievements. On the contrary, he allowed her to step in and essentially say, “See? You ask him what Obama has accomplished and he can’t even tell you!” That would have been the PERFECT moment for Matthews to say “OK, so, you tell me, what has Hillary Clinton accomplished?” Put HER on the spot, let HER be forced to talk off the cuff. But it never happened. It was two against one, and I think Keith saw that. He tried to call Matthews on it, and his response was, ‘Well, that’s why we call it Hardball!” And Keith said, and rightly so, uh, no, this ISN’T Hardball.

But if it WAS Hardball, it should have been Hardball for EVERYONE. Not just the Obama supporters.

Everyone should really read the whole article, not just the parts about Keith. It’s a very insightful and completely unflattering portrait of Chris Matthews, and it confirms every bad thing I’ve ever suspected about him based on how he comes across on TV.

And Keith’s “reward him with a grape” is spot-on. Matthews comes across as the kind of man who wants to be rewarded with a grape for everything he does and says–so he makes sure he tells you about it, hoping you will give him his grape. And, of course, the biggest grape you can give him is to fawn over him, ask for his autograph, and treat him like the savviest political observer who ever walked the earth. Oh, and don’t forget to give him an honorary degree. He just can’t get enough of those honorary degrees. I bet if you get invited to his house, he has a special room where he hangs all his honorary degrees and pictures taken of himself with famous people, and you have to tour the room and pretend to be very, very impressed.

Sad.

[…] - After Chris Matthews sneezes, Keith asks him if he’s ok, if he needs a grape (oy). Chris says, “I’ve had enough grapes, […]

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