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MSNBC's fast-talking Chris Matthews went off the deep end last week over those who question the constitutional eligibility of the one who sends thrills up his leg.
You've got to see it to believe it.
I don't normally recommend anyone watch MSNBC or Matthews, but the beauty of the YouTube age is that gems like this are saved for future generations who may want to redeem the profession of journalism some day and need reminders of how far the standards of the news industry plummeted early in the 21st century.
Matthews took it very, very personally when commenting on the latest CNN poll showing only 42 percent of Americans believe Barack Obama's birth story.
In the world of Chris Matthews, when Americans want proof that politicians are telling them the truth this means they "harbor a suspicion that he was not born here and that the president is an illegal alien, never went through the naturalization process and therefore is a potential subject for deportation."
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"Do people really mean it when they tell pollsters that they do not believe President Obama was definitely born in the U.S.?" he asked rhetorically. "Do people really believe he was born in Kenya and if so to a Kenyan mother or in Indonesia?"
Of course, if Chris Matthews really wanted answers to those questions, there are any number of people he could have invited on the air – about 174 million of them, if the CNN poll is right. But he didn't want a dialogue. He doesn't want to know what these people really think. He wanted only to make a caricature of what now represents the majority opinion in the U.S.
You know what's so funny about this?
Matthews' caricature, especially about the Indonesia birth possibility, doesn't fit me. It doesn't fit any "birthers" I know. I've never even heard any speculation about him being born in Indonesia. But it does fit public statements made by none other than … Chris Matthews.
I take you back to the Dec. 18, 2007, edition of "Hardball with Chris Matthews." Check out the official MSNBC transcript for yourself. It was Chris Matthews back then stating as fact that Obama was born in Indonesia – and explaining it as a plus!
On his program that night, Matthews played a video clip of former Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, a Hillary Clinton supporter, defending Obama against accusations that he was some kind of "Islamic Manchurian Candidate
Here's what Matthews said after the clip: "So, is Hillary backer Bob Kerrey pretending to sell Obama, but clearly putting the shiv in? Here is Hillary Clinton defending him and Bob Kerrey: 'I think the remarks were very positive. I know Bob. He was being very complimentary of Senator Obama. He was making a point that Senator Obama makes himself all the time, that, because of his upbringing and his heritage, he is, in his view' – in his view, catch that line, 'very well-suited to communicate with the rest of the world. And he has [said] himself that he wants to have a particular outreach to the Islamic world. So, I think Senator Kerrey was being, you know, very generous in what he said.'"
Matthews continued: "But didn't Hillary dump on Obama a few days ago for playing up his Indonesian roots? So, what is she up to here? Is she pushing how great he is for having been born in Indonesia, or what, or simply reminding everybody about his background, his Islamic background?"
Last week Matthews accused people like me of assassinating Obama with lies. Yet Matthews impugns the motives of people who actually say nice things about Obama. You can't win with people like this. He demands 100 percent loyalty or you're a racist, anti-American presidential assassin.
To my knowledge, Matthews has never corrected his own verbal gaffe in alleging Obama was born in Indonesia. Now he is apoplectic because some Americans apparently believed him!
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