Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Softball w/ Chris Matthews
Tonight's Hardball disappointed me. Chris Matthews' segment with John Kerry resembled a fan club president doting over some celeb, moreso than a serious interview.
I am a Matthews fan, and even when I disagree with him, I respect his positions and the element of professionalism that he brings to his work. But the softballs that he lobbed at Kerry all night made me cringe. Matthews seemed intent on painting the Democratic candidate as a a noble victim, standing up for his convictions in the face of right-wing persecution.
Hugh Hewitt has a review of his own (thanks to Instapundit for the link), which offers the same criticism, while analyzing the poor job that Kerry did in taking advantage of Matthews' generous questioning.
Hewitt cites three key Kerry miscues:
First, Kerry admitted that WMD may yet be found in Iraq, then realized he can't really do that, and tried to backpeddle by arguing that if the WMD aren't on artillery shells, they don't count, missing the entire significance of the WMD debate.
Then he referred darkly to the "neocons," widely understood as the left's code for Jews.
And he concluded with an absolutely incomprehensible reference to the White House being worried over Karen Hughes having been born in Paris. This followed a warning from Chris that the Republicans would savage Theresa Heinz Kerry for having been born in Mozambique. Go figure.
Kerry just can't seem to get any traction lately. At his current rate, he could very well go down as having run one of the worst campaigns in the past half century. The only that comes out of his mouth these days is empty rhetoric criticizing George Bush and the Republican Party. Now maybe he thinks that's his ticket to get elected, but furthering the partisan divide in this country is not an effective way to govern.
Despite the pitfalls that Bush has endured in the past month or so, his numbers have gone up in most polls, and remained stable at the very least. Kerry's, meanwhile, have slightly eroded. And twice this week he has bumbled national TV appearances.
And apparently I'm not the only one who thinks Kerry is losing steam. Instapundit addressed that notion earlier this afternoon. It's a piece worth reading.
ADDED: More Hardball fallout.
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I am a Matthews fan, and even when I disagree with him, I respect his positions and the element of professionalism that he brings to his work. But the softballs that he lobbed at Kerry all night made me cringe. Matthews seemed intent on painting the Democratic candidate as a a noble victim, standing up for his convictions in the face of right-wing persecution.
Hugh Hewitt has a review of his own (thanks to Instapundit for the link), which offers the same criticism, while analyzing the poor job that Kerry did in taking advantage of Matthews' generous questioning.
Hewitt cites three key Kerry miscues:
First, Kerry admitted that WMD may yet be found in Iraq, then realized he can't really do that, and tried to backpeddle by arguing that if the WMD aren't on artillery shells, they don't count, missing the entire significance of the WMD debate.
Then he referred darkly to the "neocons," widely understood as the left's code for Jews.
And he concluded with an absolutely incomprehensible reference to the White House being worried over Karen Hughes having been born in Paris. This followed a warning from Chris that the Republicans would savage Theresa Heinz Kerry for having been born in Mozambique. Go figure.
Kerry just can't seem to get any traction lately. At his current rate, he could very well go down as having run one of the worst campaigns in the past half century. The only that comes out of his mouth these days is empty rhetoric criticizing George Bush and the Republican Party. Now maybe he thinks that's his ticket to get elected, but furthering the partisan divide in this country is not an effective way to govern.
Despite the pitfalls that Bush has endured in the past month or so, his numbers have gone up in most polls, and remained stable at the very least. Kerry's, meanwhile, have slightly eroded. And twice this week he has bumbled national TV appearances.
And apparently I'm not the only one who thinks Kerry is losing steam. Instapundit addressed that notion earlier this afternoon. It's a piece worth reading.
ADDED: More Hardball fallout.
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