comment #1

MattMcD says ...

It's just the latest in Chris Matthew bizzare hero-worship of "Daddy" figures that doesn't in any way consider if the guy has a brain in his head.

Another Matthews quote on Thompson: "And in comes Fred Thompson, looking like the Daddy party, if there ever was a guy that looked like the Daddy party, the Republican." - http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh033007.shtml

comment #2

T. Holly says ...

Quit transcribing, you're liable to ruin the Chris Matthews show for me when I get home.

comment #3

malibugigolo says ...

Wells: That from The Hospital?

You've watched that recently haven't you?

You used axiomatic a week ago or so, and that's in George C.'s voiceover from that movie, outside of that post of yours, that's the only time I'd ever heard that word was in Paddy's script of said movie.

comment #4

christian says ...

"Sounds like a real guy talking."

more like a real gay talking.

nothing wrong with that, but coming from chris matthews teenie-weenie brain...

comment #5

Geoff says ...

Did Matthews just get done reading the book PERFUME?

comment #6

MASON says ...

Thompson's whole campaign platform seems to exist of telling everybody that the US is awesome, there are no real problems in this country, and we should just wave the flag and be happy.

It's smart and it will probably get him elected.

comment #7

BurmaShave says ...

I would encourage all to seek out Matt Taibi's piece on him in Rolling Stone. I can't find it to link it right now, but it's great. Odds are, considering the people who vote in this country, that Fred Thompson will be the next President.

comment #8

T. Holly says ...

I'm reminded of the nurse transcriber in The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.

comment #9

Walter Sobchak says ...

Hmmm. Matt Taibi's piece in Rolling Stone, eh? Sounds good. Very informative and balanced, I'm certain. While you're at it, check out Ann Coulter's piece on John Edwards in this week's issue of National Review.

comment #10

Walter Sobchak says ...

HA!

- Chris Matthews (moments ago)

comment #11

jeffmcm says ...

Let me guess: she calls him a fag, then cackles at her own outrageousness.

comment #12

George Prager says ...

Here something refreshing. Matthews and Pat Buchanan making a lot of sense in Hardball a couple of days ago:

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about a couple things. I thought -- you know, I'm not going to give him credit for anything big time, but he did score some interesting points. He said the United States backed Iraq in the war, the bloody horrible war with Iran that killed a lot of Iranians. That‘s going to help him back home, sticking it to us for backing Saddam all those years.

BUCHANAN: Right. . . .

BUCHANAN: Chris, to your point, he said two things. The Western nations invented chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. The Americans used them on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and they were used on our people in the war against Iraq, where you all supported Iraq against Iran. Now, all those are statements of fact, and they‘re very, very persuasive in the Arab and Islamic world in making his case.

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you, gentlemen, about human nature. It seems to me that the whole third world case against the first world is that we have humiliated that part of the world, manipulated their governments, used the CIA to put people like the Shah -- by the way, the Shah's not from royal blood or anything. They just created that throne for him. The CIA put him in there against the democratically elected prime minister. We have exploited that country for its cheap oil. We've taken advantage of that country. And now we say we want justice.

Is there not an Iranian case against the United States and the West, Mr. Weprin, or do you say they're dead wrong, the country's just wrong and we‘re right? . . . .

MATTHEWS: We took over their country, though, didn't we? Didn't we put the shah in power? Wasn‘t it Kermit Roosevelt and the CIA that put him in power?

BUCHANAN: No, it was Eisenhower. It was...

MATTHEWS: Yes. Eisenhower. It was under Kermit Roosevelt.

(CROSSTALK)

BUCHANAN: Yes. Yes, Chris, you‘re...

MATTHEWS: We did that.

BUCHANAN: Look, there's an Iranian case against the West and an American case against Iran. That's why we ought to sit down and put it all on both sides of the table. And I think we do have things where we disagree profoundly, but we have issues on which we agree. We both -- neither of us wants the Taliban back. Neither of us wants the Sunni Ba'athist dictatorship back. Neither of us wants an all-out war. Those are common interests.

comment #13

George Prager says ...

No one has brought up "The War" on HE. Am I the only one watching it?

comment #14

WrteStufLA says ...

And it's correctly spelled C-H-A-Y-E-F-S-K-Y

comment #15

George Prager says ...

Thanks, WrteStufLA. Now back on the floor and make that frappucino.

comment #16

Walter Sobchak says ...

I'm watching "The War". I like it quite a bit, though I wish he had used David McCullough for the narration... he was so damned good on "The Civil War". I like Keith David as an actor, but when I hear his voice it just reminds me of him.... like he's about to say "Woogie never would have gotten his balls stuck in his zipper"

A more accurate transcribing of Chris Matthews would be like this:

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you, gentlemen, about human nature. It seems to me that the whole third world case against the first world is that we have humiliated that part of the world, manipulated their governments, used the CIA to put people like the Shah -- by the way, the Shah's not from royal blood or anything. They just created that throne for him.

BUCHANAN: If in fact they-

MATTHEWS: The CIA put him in there against the democratically elected prime minister. We have exploited that country for its cheap oil.

HOWARD FINEMAN: You bring up a-

MATTHEWS: We've taken advantage of that country. And now we say we want justice. Am I right, Katty?

KATTY KAY: When you-

MATTHEWS: Howard, let me ask you about a couple things. I thought -- you know, I'm not going to give him credit for anything big time, but he did score some interesting points, didn't he?

FINEMAN: Well-

MATTHEWS: He said the United States backed Iraq in the war, the bloody horrible war with Iran that killed a lot of Iranians. That's going to help him back home, sticking it to us for backing Saddam all those years. Don't you think, Katrina?

KATRINA VANDEN HUEVEL: Blood for oil, Halibur-

MATTHEWS: When we come back, how will this speech play in Europe, and should we even care? This is Hardball.

comment #17

Gus Petch says ...

I watched the first episode of "The War" and pieces of the others. I'm not overwhelmed, although I admit that may be because I'm unfairly comparing it to Burns' brilliant "The Civil War." With the new series, because the war in question was so much more complex, Burns has stripped out all of the political backdrop as well as military strategy and tactics, and what's left is essentially a bunch of veterans telling war stories. To me, the individual soldiers' war stories angle was done much more compellingly in reenactments like "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers." Also, the music in the new series is an absolute catastrophe, so awful in places that it's almost impossible to pay attention to the words and images.

comment #18

Edward says ...

I've watched much of "The War" (some even in HD) and I find it reviting. Burns has not stripped out the political backdrop or strategy and tactics; although his focus is on the personal stories.

I must have seen a different film, other than the first 20 min, I found "Private Ryan" to be less than compelling.

comment #19

George Prager says ...

You've nailed Chris Matthews, Sobchak. They should do a split screen like in DEAD RINGER and have him talk to himself.

I'm confused by your post Gus Petch. I guess I value the eyewitness accounts of real soldiers. As an adult with an I.Q. of over 60, I think we're lucky to have them. I guess that's not entertaining enough for you? And for the music being an absolute catastrophe???? What..the music of the period? The soundtrack music? The Norah Jones song? I think its all great. What were you hoping for, anyway, some Emerson, Lake and Palmer?

comment #20

BurmaShave says ...

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/16546031/makebelieve_reagan/print

There we go. Point taken on objectivity Sobchak, but good writing is good writing and the atmosphere is the atmosphere.

comment #21

Wrecktum says ...

That Aqua Velva quote is months old, in case anyone thought it was a new statement by Matthews.

comment #22

George Prager says ...

And Coulter doesn't report. She's not a reporter. She is a "pundit." She snorts some crystal meth and then screams into a tape recorder. The right is lucky to have her. When most wingnut women are home cooking dinner, putting their kids to bed, etc. Coulter is in a studio somewhere performing for the honky amusements.

comment #23

Gus Petch says ...

I valued the eyewitness accounts highly in Band Of Brothers. Here they're less valuable because (a) we've heard similar stories before, and (b) there are 14 hours of them.

For the music, I'm specifically talking about the original music composed by Wynton Marsalis and (presumably) set to the images by Burns. While the music itself is generic and inoffensive, the matching of music to scene is unbelievable. We see images of piles of dead German soldiers set to an Irish jig, and images of Americans at home reading newspaper accounts of D-Day set to a creepy atonal dirge. Just about anything else would have been preferable -- popular, classical, and jazz music of the period (Burns mercifully interrupts the Marsalis soundtrack for a 40s song on rare occasion); a piano-dominated score similar to "The Civil War"'s; a score stolen from a 50's war movie; you name it.

comment #24

George Prager says ...

Ladies and Gentleman: Gus Petch, the dorkiest person ever to post on HE.

comment #25

BurmaShave says ...

Dorkiest is a bit of a stretch. You must not have been there when I was slobbering about Dwayne Johnson's charisma about a week ago.

comment #26

Gus Petch says ...

C'mon... I've never replied to my own post to fix a typo. That alone takes me out of contention for dorkiest.

comment #27

SpinDozer says ...

On 'The War'...

Is it my imagination, or did they leave out Doolittle's raid?

Any thoughts on the Hispanic/Amerind tack-ons?

It's a Largish subject, in some ways, I wish Burns would've stuck with the Home Front (since it, unlike the battles, has not been the focus of a major doc series before...that I know of), think the doc would've flowed just a bit smoother, and may well have been half-as watched.

comment #28

Walter Sobchak says ...

I'm still a little peeved for Burn's "Baseball".... which should have been called, "The History of Baseball in New York, Boston and The Negro Leagues".
He spent more time talking about the baseball career of Mario Cuomo than on Stan Musial and Warren Spahn combined.

But I like "The War".

comment #29

Gus Petch says ...

Is it my imagination, or did they leave out Doolittle's raid?

Yeah, but who can blame them? There's no way the real-life Doolittle could compare to Alec Baldwin.

comment #30

George Prager says ...

Sorry Gus, you've been topped.

Ladies and Gentleman: SpinDozer, the dorkiest person ever to post on HE.

I haven't seen Band of Brothers, I guess I should. But something tells me that most people haven't and don't think they should and anyway, documentaries are better than docudramas.

comment #31

DavidF says ...

Everyone should see Band of Brothers. It basically makes up for everything people often feel is lacking in Saving Private Ryan, even if it trades the intense violence of those two battle scenes.

Across the board great acting - even from Donnie Walberg - and if you don't tear up during the final episode (in which the people who have been giving you first-person narration are identified after you've spent 10 hours with the actors portraying them) you might not be human.

comment #32

GonePostal says ...

"The War" is pretty riviting, but ever since "The Civil War" I've been a major Burns enthusiast, watching just about all the Docs he's made.

As to Band of Brothers, it is possibly the most honest and brutal series on WWII out there. There's not any spin to the story. It's just the tale of these ordinary guys, and the horror and triumph they experienced. It has no agenda other than to tell their story.

As to Chirs Matthews, he's capable of moments of insight, but he's talking so much he speeds right over them until he gets back on his "daddy" fixation.

comment #33

Nan says ...

Chris Matthews gets all homoerotic talking about GOP politicians. He looks aroused when he talks about Bush/McCain/Rudy/Ahnuld/Romney/Thompson. He looks like he is about to have an on air orgasm.

The guy has serious issues.

comment #34

Bocephus says ...

I don't think the quote is disturbing. It's quite funny in fact, because it is such a gay thing to say(I'm gay, when you talk about imagining how a dude smells through the TV screen, that's very gay). I'm sure it made Thompson incredibly uncomfortable to hear Matthews' drooling praise. And the intrinsic homophobia of the conservative condition makes it that much funnier.

Jeff c'mon, you wouldn't be the slightest bit creeped out if someone breathlessly described their daydreams of your odor on TV?

comment #35

SpinDozer says ...

'But something tells me that most people haven't and don't think they should and anyway, documentaries are better than docudramas.'

Normally, I, the 'dorkiest person to Ever post on HE', would agree with you. Docudramas generally send me running in the opposite direction, but Brothers is great. DavidF is correct.

comment #36

christian says ...

i just wish these hollywood cocktail liberals would stop making all these anti-soldier hit pieces like BAND OF BROTHERS and THE WAR.

as for matthews:

– “We’re proud of our president. Americans love having a guy as president, a guy who has a little swagger, who’s physical.” [5/1/03]

as ann coulter might say, total fag.