Your May 1 appearance on "Countdown" with
Keith Olbermann (available
as a transcript)
was a new low of abject, sniveling sycophancy,
even for you. Yes, Karl Rove dressed up
President AWOL in a flight suit and had
him flown with high drama onto the deck of an aircraft
carrier, tailhook and all. A wonderful
media event that you fell all over yourself to drool over.
However, there's plenty of the story that
you and your brown-nosing colleagues didn't report:
The fact that "stud aviator" GW Bush deserted
his post while in the Air National Guard and not
only isn't a qualified pilot, but dishonored
himself and his country by his cowardice when he was
called on to serve.
The fact that the USS Abraham Lincoln was
maneuvered for maximum position to make the shot
of Bush's landing as dramatic as possible
-- while the media coverage was crafted to make it appear
as if Bush were at sea, he was actually
just a mile or so off the coast. Include the fact that Bush
could have simply helicoptered in to the
carrier -- his handlers chose the more dramatic "entrance
by fighter plane" just for effect.
The fact that the Lincoln was delayed from
making port by an entire day for Bush's photo op,
forcing the sailors and their families,
many of whom had been anticipating their reunion for months,
to wait another day so President Bush could
have a media event. Contrast this actual delay, which
cost the American taxpayer hundreds of
thousands of dollars and cost the sailors and their families
to have to wait on George W's pleasure
for yet another day, to the faked story of Clinton's "airport
-delaying haircut." That story never
happened, yet is still bandied about all over the media. Bush
actually did delay the USS Lincoln an entire
day, cost the taxpayers untold dollars, and inconvenienced
the crew and families of the Lincoln, but
neither you nor any of your media cronies have bothered
to point this out.
Your job as a journalist is to ask questions
and dig under the surface of the scripted, crafted "media
events." Instead, you enthusiastically
BECAME part of the media event, even interfering with Olbermann's
attempts to do some analysis that wasn't
100% cheerleading. Let's analyze some of your words:
"Do you really think you’ve got a guy in
your casting studio, your casting director can come up with,
who can match what [Bush] did today?
Imagine Joe Lieberman in this costume, or even John Kerry.
Nobody looks right in the role Bush has
set for the presidency-commander-in-chief, medium height,
medium build, looks good in a jet pilot’s
costume-or uniform, rather-has a certain swagger, not too
literary, certainly not too verbal, but
a guy who speaks plainly and wins wars. I think that job definition
is hard to match for the Dems."
What are you saying here, Chris? That
Bush's COSTUMING as a soldier and war hero is enough?
That even though he is a fraudulent "hero"
who actually deserted his post during wartime, the fact that
he -- supposedly -- LOOKS better in "costume"
than legitimate war heroes like Kerry is a reason for
Bush to win the upcoming election?
This is pathetic, even for you. Is the Presidency to be won by
casting directors now? Are you advocating
a "wag the dog" electoral strategy?
Olbermann made a limp attempt to discuss
the staging of the event and you immediately attacked him:
"Was that your idea, that conceit, that
notion of this being like a movie? ...Your personal idea, Keith.
...You mean these aren’t your own sort
of basic human impulses to think of these brilliant movie,
cinematic references?" Of course
it was like a movie, Chris. It only lacked the "Danger Zone" theme
song from "Top Gun." What struck
me was the ominous, warning tone you took with Olbermann --
a "don't even think about criticizing this
President, don't you forget who you are and what your job is"
approach. Is that what you were trying
to do, Chris, make sure that Olbermann didn't venture out into
any area that might actually reflect negatively
on Bush? Are you one of Bush's appointed "media handlers?"
Is your job to ride herd on your media
colleagues and keep them in line?
And a moment later, when Olbermann tried
to return to the idea of this event as a staged, meaningless
PR rally, you became nothing less than
a cheerleader for the Bush Administration: "We’re proud of our
president. Americans love having a guy
as president, a guy who has a little swagger, who’s physical,
who’s not a complicated guy like Clinton
or even like Dukakis or Mondale, all those guys, McGovern.
They want a guy who’s president. Women
like a guy who’s president. Check it out. The women like
this war." My Christ, Chris, this
could have been written word for word by Karl Rove or Karen Hughes.
Was it? Are you accepting money from
the Bush administration to shill for him on MSNBC? If you
aren't, you should be. What a bunch
of testosterone-soaked drivel -- and like your boss's, the testosterone
is fake. Let me also point out that
unlike GW the Coward, George McGovern, a classic "limp-wristed
liberal," is a legitimate Air Force hero,
flying mission after mission during WWII. McGovern is a real hero.
George W. Bush is a real coward.
A real deserter. A real traitor.
"This guy joined the Air Guard back when
he was out of college. This guy flew these kinds of planes.
This guy is used to wearing this uniform
because he did it for a living for a while."
Aren't you leaving out a key set of facts
here? GW did, indeed, join the TANG out of college --
vaulting over thousands of other earlier
and better qualified applicants because of his family connections.
Someone else should have had that slot;
instead, that poor bastard had to serve in Vietnam while GW
took his cushy berth. To add insult
to injury, GW deserted his post instead of serving his country.
But instead of pointing out this incredible
fraud perpetuated on the American people, you participated in it!
Even when Olbermann tried to allude to
it, you immediately began "liberal-bashing" the Boston Globe for
-- gasp! -- DOING THEIR JOBS AS JOURNALISTS
and trying to bring the President's desertion into
the public discussion.
And don't make me laugh about Bush flying
"for a living." Let's not forget that the little yellowbelly was
a billionaire from birth. Unlike
the poor slobs who joined him, Bush didn't have to live on his military
earnings. And there's another difference
between those poor slobs and GW. THEY served their
terms out or died in the attempt.
George never even set foot overseas, YET HE DESERTED HIS POST.
"Democrats for years have made fun of Republicans,
like Ike, who defeated the Nazis and received the
Nazi surrender, and Ronald Reagan, who
was probably the most evocative person for the World War II
generation, and this guy."
Eisenhower was rightly a war hero, the supreme
commander of the Allied forces in Europe. Reagan
served his military term of service in
Hollywood making training films. Bush Jr. deserted his post --
a capital offense during wartime because
it is so heinous. Did you bother mentioning either of these facts?
And then this final, shameful exchange:
MATTHEWS: ...They always win two terms,
and they’re always right. (Republicans are ALWAYS RIGHT?
Thanks for the objectivity, Chris.
And did the last GOP president win two terms? I think not.
The last
two-termer was a Democrat.) OLBERMANN:
And this one won something today.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
OLBERMANN: We’re not sure what.
MATTHEWS: Looks like a winner to me. (Lot
of slobbering for an "objective journalist. You sure
GW's name isn't on your paycheck?)
OLBERMANN: Chris Matthews...
MATTHEWS: I just can’t see Joe Lieberman
or even John Kerry in that uniform today. Can’t see it.
(Hammer it home, Chris! Tote the
Bush administration's bale for them!)
OLBERMANN: It would evoke memories of Mike Dukakis would it not, in the helmet.
MATTHEWS: Unfortunately for the D’s. (Clever.
Now it's Stud Rambo Bush vs. Doofy Dukakis.
Again, though, the difference is that Dukakis
served his term of service honorably, if uneventfully.
He didn't tuck his tail and run.)
Summation: another ball-slobbering exchange
straight from the pen of Karl Rove. They couldn't have done
better had they paid you. In fact,
they might as well put you on the payroll. Your public licking of
the
Presidential nutsack is worth some money,
and you ought to be paid for your efforts.
You have dishonored yourself and your profession.
You have nothing left. Your prestige as a "famous
journalist" is a hollow lie. You
have given your integrity away. As a so-called "professional," you
have nothing that is not a sham and a fraud.
Are you proud of yourself? For myself,
I'm disgusted with you and your sycophantic, knob-slobbering
colleagues. You have soiled the profession
of journalist by scrambling to get on your knees and
"worship" this fraud, this coward of a President.
Matthews, you are not worthy to call yourself
a journalist, or even a reporter. Just call yourself
what you are: "Chris Matthews, Bush administration
whore."
Max Black