(Chris)Matthews Panel Sees "Crony Capitalism" as Good Anti-Bush Issue

MRC ^ | 10:10am EST, Tuesday January 6, 2004 | BrentBaker

[fight_truth_decay]

The panel on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show over the weekend salivated about how Democrats should be able to use "crony capitalism" as an issue against President Bush with Chris Matthews regretting how Democrats are supposedly called "unpatriotic" when they raise the subject.

Time's Joe Klein recommended: "I think crony capitalism is gonna be a big issue. All of the connections between the Bush White House and companies like Haliburton and the deals on energy and the environment and so on, I think the Democrats are gonna use that."

Klein insisted this is not just bashing the rich: "This is different. This is, this is different. You know bashing the rich is one thing but bashing the corrupt rich who are cutting sweetheart deals is another thing entirely." Klein asserted that "there is a new mood out there."

Matthews wanted to know how a Democrat can "use the issue of crony capitalism which has been a weakness of the Republican party....These questions are legitimate questions but every time Democrats raise the issue of crony capitalism or corruptions they are told, 'you guys are stink bomb, don't talk like that, that's unpatriotic.'"

NBC News White House reporter Norah O'Donnell insisted: "I think you can talk to Republican and Democratic strategists and both agree one of the weak points of the Bush campaign is tying him to special interests. It does resonate."

Matthews gleefully reminded viewers: "‘Kenny Boy.'"

O'Donnell: "It is a weakness, it is a concern."

MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens took down the exchange on the program which aired on Sunday in most cities:

Gloria Borger of CNBC and U.S. News: "Well I'm, I'm shaking my head a little on the economy because while the numbers are good the people don't feel it. They feel like the jobs aren't coming back and I was out in the Midwest and people don't feel it. They say, 'Oh you folks talk about all this great growth on television but you know what? We lost 300,000 jobs in the state of Ohio or Michigan. And we don't feel that recovery. And our kids.' One woman said to me, ‘My kid can't get married because he can't afford to propose to this young woman because he lost his job.'"

Joe Klein, Time: "I think that, I think that, that's gonna be a big issue. I think crony capitalism is gonna be a big issue. All of the connections between the Bush White House and companies like Haliburton and the deals on energy and the environment and so on, I think the Democrats are gonna use that. I think it's, it's a 50/50 nation. That's a new thought huh? And this is gonna be probably be a close election. But it is very, very hard to beat an incumbent."

Chris Matthews: "How does a Democrat use the issue of crony capitalism which has been a weakness of the Republican party since, my dad's a Republican, all his life he said the one weakness of the Republican party is it's too close to big corporations. And there we have Enron, Haliburton, these questions about extra profits on buying oil for, for, in Iraq. These questions are legitimate questions but every time Democrats raise the issue of crony capitalism or corruptions they are told, ‘you guys are stink bomb, don't talk like that, that's unpatriotic.'"

Andrew Sullivan: "People don't like this message."

Matthews: "Why don't they like it?"

Sullivan: "They don't like the idea of bashing people who are making wealth and providing jobs which is what ultimately, if you couldn't make, if you couldn't make Enron stick to Bush and I know people tried very hard you can't get this stuff to stick to him."

Klein: "This is different. This is, this is different. You know bashing the rich is one thing but bashing the corrupt rich who are cutting sweetheart deals is another thing entirely. And I think that, that as Gloria said there is a new mood out there, especially in crucial states for Bush like Iowa, Ohio excuse me, excuse me, Ohio."

Matthews: "Norah, these guys, you cover the White House. These people like the Vice President who's been nailed for things that are, are not ethical exactly like the secrecy of his energy panel. Questions about whether his old firm is making too much money under this Iraqi occupation. Do they see it as a sensitivity? This point that Joe brings up. This whole question of cronyism."

Norah O'Donnell, NBC News: "I think you can talk to Republican and Democratic strategists and both agree one of the weak points of the Bush campaign is tying him to special interests. It does resonate."

Matthews: "‘Kenny Boy.'"

O'Donnell: "It is a weakness, it is a concern."

[fight_truth_decay]

We lost 300,000 jobs in the state of Ohio or Michigan.-Gloria Borger of CNBC and U.S. News

I wonder where Gloria gets her facts?
In the past year, Texas added 44,000 new net jobs while New York, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania and California lost a net total of more than 300,000 jobs.

Updates:

Oil-services company Halliburton (NYSE:HAL.N) is in decline mode today after reports that the U.S. Defense Department's Energy Support Center began importing fuel to assist with the reconstruction of Iraq. This new designation of responsibility portends the ultimate end of HAL's management of this program. HAL shares have dropped solidly below previous support at their 10-day moving average and are approaching the 25.50 mark.----(Business Wire)Dec 31, 2003.

The head of the Army Corps of Engineers exonerated Halliburton of any wrongdoing in a Kuwait fuel-delivery contract that Pentagon auditors said had overcharged the U.S. government by more than $100 million, The Wall Street Journal said.
06 Jan 08:50 DowJonesNewswires

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[OldPossum]

How pathetic. The Dems are reduced to using this as an issue. And it won't fly, as Sullivan tried to point out to them. But when you're delusional, everything seems possible.

[capydick]

It's amazing that Wussy Matthews believes that he is non-partisan,straight down the middle. I've heard him say so on Imus a few times and laughed my ass after hearing it. One of the things that I used to notice on Hardball is that when he is interviewing a RAT - He always smiles and looks like he is going to pee himself with excitement. When he interviews a Republican - he looks like he just bit into a lemon. I don't notice this anymore because I dont put his show on in my house anymore.

Klein: "This is different. This is, this is different.

Yea Joe - keep saying that to you and your cocktail party friends.

[Mr. Bird]

The idea of "crony capitalism" is a legitimate concern, and should always be monitored under any administration (see: Clinton, Travel Office). The problem with hounding Bush with it is that it plays on a general public ignorance of realities. Services rendered by Haliburton are not services readily available from a wide swath of the corporate world.

It's like criticizing a president (or VP) who knows the CEO of Boeing for buying airplanes from them. The bottom line is that Bush, Cheney, and their "cronies" are already filthy rich; they do business because that's what they do.

[kellynla]

The Dimwits have been looking for someone to carry their water on cable...I think they have found him...I used to tape Soft Ball but since Matthews has become such a liberal fanatic I don't even bother. It must be contagious because the McLaughlin Group has caught the "anti-war peacnik hate-Bush flu" too! Thank goodness for some sanity with Brit Hume.

[AngieGOP]

Brit Hume is a real man whereas Chris Matthews is a real "sissy Mary".

[sarasota]

A girly boy, as it were.

[Tallguy]

Somebody ask Chris Matthews if it was 'Crony Capitalism' when Clinton's people were selling slots on trade missions to certain CEO's while refusing them no non-contributors. Oh forget it, Chris Matthews is a fully-evolved occupant of the alternative universe that is the Democratic Party.

[Conservomax]

I believe the word crony has only been around since January of '01.

[skinkinthegrass]

...Horse Hockey!...the 'Rats are desperate.

[Tallguy]

no = to

[princess leah]

As long as the business is legitimate, where is the problem? We have to do business with SOMEONE, I can surely see where they would want to have TRUST in those companies they do business with!

[Poincare]

The appeal is to those who envision crony apparatchiks running the dictatorship of the proles. The Deanoids are anti-capitalist, pure and simple if what I hear from left wing radio and Deanoid callers to conservative programs is any indication.

[JimSEA]

Real "crony capitalism" is alive and well in Malaysia, Thailand, France, China, etc. It is a big problem as it restricts the growth of new industry by restricting competition. To apply it in our situation is absurd.

[fight_truth_decay]

To name just one: GLOBAL CROSSING - Chairman Gary Winnick, a top Democrat donor who helped DNC head McAuliffe turn a $100,000 stock investment -- into $18,000,000! Winnick then gave a million dollars to help build Clinton's presidential library.
A major fundraising dinner for Senator Tom Daschle was bought and paid for by GLOBAL CROSSING.

[Bluntpoint]

All of Chrissy's analysis is of the "hopeful" variety.

He predicts not from any empirical basis, but what he hopes will happen.

Usually, detrimental to the GOP.

[Graymatter]

Unbelievable. Just when people are starting to take a good hard look at the skeletons in Dean's closet, Matthews thinks the Dems can run with rants against "crony capitalism."
Bring it on.

[TRY ONE]

"Real "crony capitalism" is alive and well in Malaysia, Thailand, France, China, etc. It is a big problem as it restricts the growth of new industry by restricting competition."

Dittos!

Crony Capitalism is an Oxymoron!

Crony Liberalism is a better definition to Crisy Matthews examples!