Sunday, January 13, 2008
On Matthews
Chris Matthews a target for Clinton fans - Yahoo! News: "However, she also said Matthews is the best political analyst on television for his knowledge, quickness and ability to be critical while anchoring a broadcast.
'Chris is relatively impervious to criticism,' she said. 'I think Chris does what he wants.'"
David Bauder, the writer of this article, seems surprised at Matthews strong comments. Uh why? He is a pol. Outside the election cycle, he can seem impartial and is indeed very, very intelligent. Inside the election cycle, however, he is never impartial and you always know what he thinks.
And the comment I linked above is wrong. He does care. He is a pretty sensitive guy. I watched him pretty much every day for a couple of years and I have read all of his books. One thing that is clear is that he does care how people think of him. He does say things that suggest otherwise, but I think it is errant to think he is that confident. I think they are mistaking confidence for ego in Matthews. It is easy for someone to make that mistake, but they should pay a little more attention.
He gets flustered when he has someone around that he respects. He gushes over those people in a very obvious way. He prides himself on asking tough questions but doesn't have the confidence to ask those types of questions when these heroes of his come on the show. You can go back years and see that.
It also doesn't take much to see his slumped shoulders, his reaching body language when he wants to convince someone that he respects, and any number of other obvious signs for those of us that watched him closely. I could not have been a bigger fan when I thought of him as a thinker. When the 2004 election cycle got into swing, however, I realized that I had really misjudged him. I was actually devastated, as you can read back on this blog and see. I wished that I was wrong, but knew that he was just another pol like the rest. I stopped watching for the most part. Occasionally, I will channel surf and listen for a few minutes, but he is not programmed on the DVR. He let me down, and I really never went back. And as it turns out, he is not the best analyst on television. I think she just wanted to be able to get booked after she criticized him.
'Chris is relatively impervious to criticism,' she said. 'I think Chris does what he wants.'"
David Bauder, the writer of this article, seems surprised at Matthews strong comments. Uh why? He is a pol. Outside the election cycle, he can seem impartial and is indeed very, very intelligent. Inside the election cycle, however, he is never impartial and you always know what he thinks.
And the comment I linked above is wrong. He does care. He is a pretty sensitive guy. I watched him pretty much every day for a couple of years and I have read all of his books. One thing that is clear is that he does care how people think of him. He does say things that suggest otherwise, but I think it is errant to think he is that confident. I think they are mistaking confidence for ego in Matthews. It is easy for someone to make that mistake, but they should pay a little more attention.
He gets flustered when he has someone around that he respects. He gushes over those people in a very obvious way. He prides himself on asking tough questions but doesn't have the confidence to ask those types of questions when these heroes of his come on the show. You can go back years and see that.
It also doesn't take much to see his slumped shoulders, his reaching body language when he wants to convince someone that he respects, and any number of other obvious signs for those of us that watched him closely. I could not have been a bigger fan when I thought of him as a thinker. When the 2004 election cycle got into swing, however, I realized that I had really misjudged him. I was actually devastated, as you can read back on this blog and see. I wished that I was wrong, but knew that he was just another pol like the rest. I stopped watching for the most part. Occasionally, I will channel surf and listen for a few minutes, but he is not programmed on the DVR. He let me down, and I really never went back. And as it turns out, he is not the best analyst on television. I think she just wanted to be able to get booked after she criticized him.
