Matthews Mad at Mexicans Who Mocked Miss USA

NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Yes he leans left. But MSNBC host Chris Matthews was manifestly offended by the Mexican audience at the Miss Universe pageant that booed Miss USA. The Mexicans were adding insult to injury, since the lovely and gracious Rachel Smith of Tennessee had earlier slipped onto her derrière during the evening gown segment of the competititon.

Discussing the matter on this afternoon's Hardball with his panel of NBC political director Chuck Todd, Howard Fineman of Newsweek, and Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Tribune, Matthews unleashed on the Mexicans:

• That's about the worst PR I can think of for this Mexican immigration bill which is mainly helping Mexicans become legal Americans. . . This young woman smiled right through it. That's class, but [the booing] wasn't very classy.
• What is it about immigration though that bothers Mexicans? I mean there are 12 million here illegally. That's fairly benign, even if it is passive, policy. It's hardly predatory. What other country in the world let's 12 million come in there, live there illegally? How can you be mad at that?
• I'll tell you one thing. If an American audience in New York or Washington or L.A. had booed a Mexican woman after she had made a mistake like that by tripping, and mocked her the whole week, we'd be talking, the PC-dispensers of the major newspapers and the media would be going all over it, saying how terrible a country we are. I'm serious, I don't know why they do it. They want to have good relations with us. This is not Vicente Fox, this is not the PAN politics that gets people elected down there. It must be a minority of elite or angry people. But this is the kind of thing that people do remember. . . They didn't feel much for her, did they? They saw it as a chance to dump on us.

When the producers showed, yet again, the footage of Rachel Smith tripping, a miffed Matthews interjected:

I think MSNBC ran this 4,000 times today. Let's not us do it again. Can we stop this joke? Let's stop now. Let's stop doing that picture. Somebody seems to get a kick out of that, somebody who doesn't like women or something.

ASIDE: During a subsequent panel, Patrick Buchanan described the Mexicans who booed as "a bunch of bums."

Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net

[Sam Ketcham]

Leans LEFT?! He cried on TV when Gore lost... the last time I watched him, to see which way the left was flip flopping.

[LdSentinal]

Chrissy is not at all patriotic.

He's just concerned that since this is a woman, Hillary will be getting boos next year. So, he is forced to defend Miss USA.

[silentreignofheroes]

Spellin’’

[ronnie raygun]

Don’t let Chris fool you he’s hoping he can get a date with her! Chris you ol’ dog.... I mean fool!

[ronnie raygun]

Don’t let Chris fool you he’s hoping he can get a date with her! Chris you ol’ dog.... I mean fool!

[dennisw]

Actually, I do. Of course we know he was a Tip O’Neill and Jimmy Carter staffer, and is a big opponent of the war, etc. But there’s something kind of old-school about Matthews. I do think he’s a proud and patriotic American, although I obviously disagree with him on most things political.

Everyone Chrissy's age has their old school moments. Chrissy is feinting to the right the same way Bill O' feints to the left. To widen their appeal and boost ratings. I saw the segment and good for Chrissy but he's hopeless on illegal immigration no matter what happens to Miss USA

The incident did show how low uncultured and crude they can be down Mexico way

[Captainpaintball]

I used to qualify my anti-ILLEGAL immigration stance by saying "I like the Mexican people..." But no more. Make no mistake, on the micro level, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who treats individuals better than me. From Armando at the Burrito Loco, to Bernardo who I used to drive to the train station, and even 10 miles away to his apartment in Camden, I have real experience with real people. And they were great. But even i learned what reconquista was from one of them. he was joking around, but there was a glimmer of hope in his eyes and voice.

The point is the Mexican people, like the Mooselimbs, must be smacked around and put in their place. In the case of Mexico, it is more proverbial than literal. But enough is enough with these humanoid ingrates.

As for these liberals in CONgress and in the media...their only experience with Mexicans is Taco Bell, and administering Dirty Sanchezes to a Beltway prostitute.

[devane617]

“So far port...” I get it, and it is funny!

[Grateful One]

It must be a minority of elite or angry people..............

Yeah, I guess they all just happened to congregate in the same place at the same time.

[umgud]

Somebody has already put Chrissy’s testicles in a lock-box, but the joke is that the box didn’t have a bottom and now they’re lost forever.

[daler]

And, unfortunately, Americans will show their disdain for this type of rude behavior by booking two-week vacations in Mazatlan.

Right?

[Michael.SF.]

When Mathews, among other leftists, disrespect the President as they do, why should others treat any American with respect? And why would Mathews be upset that an American was booed?

[rovenstinez]

I wonder if any of the OLYMPIC people are watching this. This won’t go over well when Monterrey is working real hard for sometime in the future to get the Olympic games to come to their part of town. This kind of unsportsmanship conduct will drive away the CUPS. I bet it’s a few decades before Miss Universe will come back to Mexico City.

[apro]

From BBC article:

"But critics said the use of such images was in poor taste and inappropriate. "It would be like Miss USA wearing a dress showing images of the Ku Klux Klan in the Deep South, with their hoods, their burning crosses and beer cans," wrote a columnist for La Jornada, Jorge Camil, in a recent article."

He's comparing apples to bananas with that analysis. The Cristero War was a popular uprising against the anti-Catholic Mexican government, set off specifically by the anti-clerical provisions of the Mexican Constitution of 1917. It was thanks to U.S. Ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow that a diplomatic means and an end to this conflict was reached and it was with this agreement that many Cristeros emigrated to the USA, particularly Los Angeles in 1929.. and yet they still feel the need to boo us at events. There's gratitude for ya.

[jwalsh07]

Well heck Chris, at least they weren’t chanting OSAMA!OSAMA! like they did during the World Cup. I mean, let’s give credit where credit is due. 12 mllion, 20 million, 40 million. It will never be enough in their view. La Raza has other plans for the good ole US of A.

[Osage Orange]

Afraid..you and I are of a rare breed.

FRegards,

[guitfiddlist]

What other country in the world let's 12 million come in there, live there illegally? How can you be mad at that?

Idiots like Matthews don't understand that appeasement invites disrespect.

[nickcarraway]

I doubt the people in the audience are the same one coming to the U.S. Remember, Mexico is the 9th wealthiest country in the world.

[ErnBatavia]