After Comparing Christie to Nixon for Nine Days, Chris Matthews

NewsBusters.org ^ | January 21, 2014 | Scott Whitlock

[Kaslin]

Chris Matthews really doesn’t listen when he speaks.  On every program since Chris Christie’s bridge scandal broke on January 8, the MSNBC anchor has smeared the Republican governor as just like Richard Nixon in Watergate. Matthews has done this for nine straight shows, including the January 20 edition.

However, on the same program, with no sense of self awareness, a thought occurred to the anchor.  He announced that if “it is discovered that Governor Christie did not encourage political revenge, did not signal that this is the way he wanted political business conducted, then he will be exonerated before the eyes of the country. The facts will decide it. And that`s the way it should be.”  [See video below.]

After Smearing Christie as Nixon During Watergate, Matthews Discovers 'Facts' Should Decide

The facts will decide this case? Christie will be “exonerated before the eyes of the country? Matthews has done everything in his power to poison the minds of the American public.

On the same show, while talking to Mark Halperin, he compared, “It`s very hard for a politician, and Nixon is always a great example, because it was very hard for him in June of 1972 to pull back and say, ‘Okay.  I`m not going to have the plumbers, I`m not going to have all that stuff.” Assuming guilt, the host linked, “How does Christie say ‘I`m not going to change my team, my M.O. I`m going to go a much different approach to getting things done from the tough guy way I have been doing it’”?

On January 8, the day the scandal erupted, Matthews immediately jumped to the comparison. Without knowing any real facts, he muttered, "Nixonian. It's so Nixonian." On January 9, while talking about Christie's innocence or guilt, the host connected, "...When people say they feel sorry for the Watergate people....Their lives were ruined. I always say I got a worse one for you -- they got away with it."

On January 17, Matthews convicted Christie:  “Now when he`s caught in this web, he says, I`m going to be the one investigating my whole team. It smacks of Nixon and the so-called Dean investigation.”

(For more Nixon and Watergate comparisons from Matthews, go here.)

If Christie’s BridgeGate case is decided on facts, it will be despite Matthews’s best efforts to make it about innuendo and smears.

A partial transcript from Monday is below:

1/20/14

CHRIS MATTHEWS: It`s very hard for a politician. And Nixon is always a great example, because it was very hard for him in June of 1972 to pull back and say, ‘Okay. I`m not going to have the plumbers, I`m not going to have all that stuff. I`m not going to think paranoically all my life. I`m not going to back to Helen Gahagan Douglas and Alger Hiss. I can`t rewrite history, but I got to go forward. And it`s very hard for a guy like Governor -- I`m asking you, how does Christie say I`m not going to change my team, my M.O., I`m going to go a much different approach to getting things done from the tough guy way I have been doing it.

...

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with this: The story from Hoboken promises to ignite a far wider investigation into the current politics of New Jersey. I think people want to know how powers are being used in that state, how federal money is being guarded, how state money is being used, how the government in that state deals with development projects. One powerful reason is that the governor of New Jersey still sits atop the Republican possibilities for president in 2016. People often complain about presidents, then and only then go back to how they conducted themselves before their election to the presidency.

This is a good time, by the way, this being 2014, to study the practices of the leading Republican candidate for 2016. The fact of the matter is that this case will proceed and will be judged not by the politics, but by the facts as they come to light. If it is found that the governor has set up a political operation that turned on punishing rivals and holdouts while favoring friends, the question then will be whether the tough-guy tactics crossed the line into criminality.

If, on the other hand, it is discovered that Governor Christie did not encourage political revenge, did not signal that this is the way he wanted political business conducted, then he will be exonerated before the eyes of the country. The facts will decide it. And that`s the way it should be.

[Kaslin]

The rest of the title is: Discovers That ‘Facts’ Should Decide Case

[2ndDivisionVet]

I have little interest in Democrats eating one of their own. Let me know when Chrissy attacks a conservative.

[lee martell]

OOPS! Every so often, Chris Mathews training as a news reporter makes him state what is both impartial and obvious. He is usually able to surpress that truth stating part of his persona, and stay in attack mode against all that is right wing or un-communist, since that is what the viewers say they want.

[ColdOne]

Geeze he still has a TV show?

[skeeter]

The idiot Matthews probably just realized that the plan is to keep Christie in the race long enough to make certain no populist conservatives are nominated to the republican ticket.

[Sooth2222]

The Hoboken story isn't working out for Chrissie. The mayor asked for $125 million out of a $300 million fund that was intended to help the entire state -- including barrier islands that were breached. I read there were $18 *billion* in requests from that fund.

So $125 million was not too likely -- if she had received the $125 million for Hoboken -- with a population of 50k and a land area of a little over a square mile -- the hundreds of other mayors would rightfully have gone ballistic. Hoboken received a reasonable share of the aid, and even Hoboken's planning commission felt the Rockefeller properties should be developed.

[RIghtwardHo]

I don’t envy the people that “have” to watch his program. One of the truly great idiots of our time.

[RginTN]

Does Matthew know that this is hugely entertaining for some Conservatives!!!! Leftists took out their Republican saving Conservatives the time and money.

[Kaslin]

I sure am glad you put “have” in quotation marks :)

[ZULU]

Mathews is a mental case.

In 2002, Matthews was hospitalized with malaria, which he evidently contracted on one of his visits that year to Africa.[40] He has also had other health problems, including diabetes (which he acknowledged having on the Hardball broadcast of December 7, 2009) and pneumonia.[41]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Matthews

Can malaria effect your brain?

[a fool in paradise]

However, on the same program, with no sense of self awareness, a thought occurred to the anchor. He announced that if “it is discovered that Governor Christie did not encourage political revenge, did not signal that this is the way he wanted political business conducted, then he will be exonerated before the eyes of the country. The facts will decide it. And that`s the way it should be.” [See video below.]

What was the whole story behind those GM dealerships that were closed where the owners had contributed to GOP and conservative political groups?

What was the whole story behind NYC getting a space shuttle and Johnson Space Center in Texas getting a model?

[a fool in paradise]

Maybe he has maggots in his brain from snorting crushed Smarties.

[Kaslin]

Malaria Effects on Brain

Does malaria affect your brain?

I was 18months when I had it and I almost died. I didn’t talk until I was 3 years old and have always had troubles with schooling. Now I’m 23 and for at least 3/4 years I’ve had problems with my memory and speech. I don’t know if its new or I have just been noticing it more since I’m older and I’m still experiencing my learning troubles. So can this be a result of my malaria?

ANSWER

In fact, cerebral malaria (one of the most severe and deadly manifestations) is linked to mental and developmental issues later in life. In sub-Saharan Africa, where the vast majority of cases of cerebral malaria in children are found, malaria is actually a leading cause of neuro-disability. As such, it could well be that some of the difficulties you have experienced with memory, speech and learning could have been at least partially caused by infection with malaria as a young child. It may be that certain forms of neuro-therapy may assist in improving some of your difficulties, though you would have to talk to a specialist in neurodisabilities.

---

Something definitely affected his brain

[Terry L Smith]

Nixon, for all of his history, was a WW2 Naval veteran.

Christie, were he to step onbaoard a U.S. Navy craft, would wither be asked to be part of “the trim team”, or watch it capsize, for being top-heavy, under his feet.