Stop him before he shills again

June 28, 2007

Chris Matthews may go out of his way to help promote Ann Coulter’s bile, but it apparently makes him feel all icky.

Concluding an hour-long interview with right-wing pundit Ann Coulter on the June 26 edition of MSNBC’s Hardball, host Chris Matthews said: “We have sold a lot of her books tonight. I don’t know if I can go to confession fast enough.” […]

During a separate appearance on MSNBC Live that day, Matthews noted that the Hardball interview had been “very well timed” because Coulter’s “paperback just came out the other day.” Anchor Chris Jansing then asked Matthews if he was “feeling used,” and he answered, “No, because we invited her on the show.”

Yes, exactly. Matthews invited her on the show, and now he feels the need to go to church seeks absolution for his sins. Here’s a radical idea: stop putting her hate speech on the air.

This may sound counter-intuitive, but Matthews and his colleagues are making decisions that are about as offensive as Coulter’s. She’s a vile circus clown who has a lucrative act — show up, spew sociopathic hate, sell books, get paid. Matthews and his colleagues offer her a venue for her act, knowing full well exactly what kind of performance they’re going to get.

So what’s with the “I don’t know if I can go to confession fast enough” nonsense? It’s Matthews’ show. He has clout at the network and hosts multiple programs. If he doesn’t want a disgusting conservative guest on the air, he can have some respectable conservative guest on.

This stop-me-before-I-shill-again routine is ridiculous. Either Matthews is proud of his work (“We have sold a lot of her books tonight”) or he’s ashamed of himself (“I don’t know if I can go to confession fast enough”). Trying to have it both ways is cowardly.

Post Script: On a related note, Coulter was on MSNBC today, and apparently she’s feeling a little overwhelmed at the reaction to her latest tirades.

Take a look at this clip and notice how upset she is at all the recent criticism. Think the pressure is getting to her?

As Aravosis put it, “She walks around calling people ‘fags,’ mocking their dead children, wishing that they were murdered, then when people respond by saying ‘uh, you’re kind of mean,’ Ann flips out over the level of venom that’s directed against her.”

Ironic, isn’t it?

“sold a few of her books”…and probably gotten themselves higher ratings. So, regrettably, the bookings will probably continue.

  • “Can you smell the Oil of Olay on this gal, the Ponds anti-aging cream, the sort of mature woman’s douchebag, or whatever, you know, after she douched? Do you smell that sort of — a little bit of smoked salmon?”

  • JKap, I was thinking more of a line from “The Wizard of Oz”

    “Such a smell of sulfur!”

  • Coulter is classless. And Tweety is a rating whore who exploits “the politics of personal destruction”–rather than discuss issues!

    No amount of time in the confessional booth will absolve Matthews from the sin of debasing the American democracy and its politics.

  • JRS Jr:
    I think the point of JKap’s post (correct me if I’m wrong, JKap) was exactly that — that here’s an example of what the corresponding rebuttal of AC’s (I can’t even bring myself to type in the whole name) vitriol *would* look like if we were on the same level. Note the quotes around the entire text. If emulation is the sincerest form of flattery, this is a vastly mocking sort of tribute.

    And — just for fun — consider how spastic she’d get if such a comment actually were directed at her. 🙂

  • Matthews says Coulter is “a brilliant writer” then goes on to say how horrible it is for her to mock the Edwards’ grief for their dead son.

    I’m not sure he deserves any more respect than Coulter at this point.

  • Gosh, JRS, and here I was thinking that “coming down to Coultergeist’s level” would include a boisterous discussion of skinning her alive with the electric hedge-shears, stretching her hide out in the sun to cure it, using her cured hide as a door-mat for the pack porch, and leaving the bloody carcass in a nearby roadside ditch for the skunks and opossums to feast upon. This would, of course, need to include a YouTube clip of the sales receipt for the hedge-shears, a Mapquest page showing the exact location of the ditch, and some nice video of the skunks and opossums running playfully up and down the roadside ditch.

    Now, THAT would definitely be “stooping to her level….”

  • Matthews wasn’t “used” because they “invited her on the show.” Exactly. He was a consenting adult in that dirty transaction, and knew what he was getting into. She got sell books, he got to sell eyeballs, everyone made money. If Matthews feels bad about making money by rolling around in the gutter, the answer is obvious: stand up. And don’t go crawling down there anymore.

    Of course, he’d need a new job, since so much of his shtick is doing that in greater or lesser degree.

  • Sound and fury signifying nothing save raw opportunism: tis the folly of modern journalism – that which Matthews proudly professes to practice! What tripe! Turn him off, and use Ms. Coulter’s opined products where they would do the best – next to the toilet to assist in necessary paperwork. -Kevo

  • I thought his show yesterday was almost worse than the Coulter show. He spent the part of the show that I saw denouncing her and her message with various guests. No one mentioned Mathews’ enabling her spew in the first place or his inability to confront her to her face. She bullied him and he took it. No mention of that (which I understand but don’t respect — then again, I only saw most but not all of the show).

  • Let’s see. A few months ago, Ann used the “F-word” to characterize Edwards at a private political function. Since then, the ultra-left has climbed on a bandwagon that loudly blares out that Ann has hurt herself and the Repubs—the Edwards camp is vociferous in making these statements, saying that Ann is raising funds for JE and his ubiquitous spouse. But RCP notes:

    “Back in mid-April Edwards peaked in the RCP Average at 17.8%, while Clinton held a 12.8% advantage over Obama, 35.8% to 23.0%. Today, the Clinton – Obama race is virtually unchanged, with the New York Senator holding a 12.4% edge, 36.0% to 23.6%. Edwards, on the other hand, has lost over 30% of his support and has seen his national numbers fall to 12.4% in the latest RCP Average. The most recent Washington Post and Los Angeles Times polls have his national numbers in single digits at 8%. In the InTrade prediction markets Edwards’ odds to be the Democratic nominee have plunged from 25% at the beginning of the year to only 5% today.”

    Part of his decline is JE’s tendency to spend more time and money on hair-and-makeup—but David Gregory is administering some tough-love medicine to the yapping bloggers who think that hiring Amanda “I hate God and especially Catholics” Marcotte, calling the Edwards’ neighbor “hateful” for putting a Giuliani sign on his property, and refusing to go on Fox Debates.

    JE has been pulling the discourse leftward, and RCP has the results. With more successes like the fever-swamp nutroots proclaim, Edwards should be out of the race soon.

    Of course, the Silk Pony has been living in Iowa for the last six months, so he might get a bump out of the Ames & straw poll caucuses. But he is a one-trick pony, and it looks like we’ve had enough.

  • No, it’s not ironic.**** It’s called insulting for profit and it is all planned media manipulation. Coulter has no feelings to be hurt and that’s what gives her away. She only knows anger. She sat back and said, “they will be calling me so how should I act and what should I say to sell more books, get my name out there and make more money. I’ll act just all upset and hurt. That should really throw them off and pique their interest. Get ’em talking for awhile.”

    It’s called “face time” when it gets you any visual attention. The idea is to keep the attention going for as long as possible because any attention is better than none at all. There are hundreds of good authors and interviews to be had so why Ann Coulter?
    Mathews is such a hypocrite and is trying for ratings himself. He needs to come to understand the word “integrity”. What would he say in the confessional? “I’ve become everything I hate?” Agents try to book a tour to make money and call in favors and then comes Mathews with hands out knowing full well what Coulter is all about yet invites her on. Now he’s trying to live it down, the rep. of being a slime. Maybe that’s the audience he wants, the kind of audience that would buy a Coulter book. Now he becomes even more irrelevant. He knew exactly what he was doing to have EE call during the interview and yes he was willing to be that slimy.
    Yes Mathews, becoming everything you hate only means you now hate what you used to be, so now it’s:…
    …what’s the difference between Mathews and a lab rat?…there’s some things you can’t get a lab rat to do. Integrity Mathews, integrity. Just keep saying it…integrity.

  • “We have sold a lot of her books tonight. I don’t know if I can go to confession fast enough.”

    Shorter CM: “I’m a cheap whore but I feel bad about it.”

    Please go away and take the blonde cadaver with you.

  • Chris Matthews is an entertainer. Ann Coulter is an entertainer. They don’t elucidate – they promote emotions.

    If we consistently refer to them as entertainers, then their words are devalued, as they should be.

  • Sometimes Matthews reminds me of people I’ve shared laughs with over the years and whose quirkiness I’ve enjoyed in casual, social settings. They didn’t belong on TV either.

  • Ordinarily, I not only radically oppose violence toward women, and the swift punishment of those guilty of such crimes, but in Annie’s case, I think I would make an exception. On the grounds that those laws apply only to human beings, not to pond slime.

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