Appease Allow Me To Introduce Myself

I'm not a big fan of Chris Matthews. Actually, I don't really like him at all. His voice gives me a headache and his laugh freaks the hell out of me. But yesterday, Matthews conducted the greatest interview of his career and absolutely eviscerated right-wing hack Kevin James who came on Hardball to backup the Preznit's not very veiled claim that Barack Obama's ideas regarding diplomacy and negotiations make him comparable to Nazi appeasers. The only problem was that James had zero grasp of the facts pertaining to Nazi appeasement, particularly the actions of Neville Chamberlain back in 1938. This may be the funniest pundit video I've ever seen:



Now, I admit, I didn't know exactly what Chamberlain did either (I must have been "absent" that day in school), but I don't go around talking smack on the radio or television about stuff I don't know about. It took me less than a minute to find the information on the internet. You would think if you are going to share your "expertise" with the American public that you would at least take a few minutes to prep your talking points.

It would be fantastic if Matthews' actions became a trend on pundit television, especially during this election year (we're going to be hearing a lot of crap, and not just about appeasement, from now until November). Could you imagine how great it would be to see talking head after talking head getting completely smacked down for not doing their homework? For too long, these Rovian thugs have gotten away with bullshitting the American people. It's time our members of the press did their jobs.

For example, did you know that John McCain was in favor of talking to Hamas before he was against it? You wouldn't have if you simply read or listened to what was mostly doled out by the media yesterday. Fortunately, a reporter from the Washington Post recalled this interview with McCain from two years ago:



That's journalism. I wonder how many mainstream U.S. journalists are going to look into Bush's grandfather's dealings with the Nazis? I'm not going to hold my breath.

For more appeasement fun, let's go to our old pal Jon Stewart:



UPDATE: I meant to mention this before. One of the most hilarious aspects of the Matthews/James interview was James' attempt at a final zinger as he tried to pin 9/11 on Bill Clinton. Mark Green correctly comes back with the fact that 9/11 happened on Bush's watch and that for 9 months former members of the Clinton administration, particularly Richard Clarke, tried to warn the Bushies about bin Laden. James' retort? Watch an ABC made-for-TV movie he erroneously called "Pathway to 9/11" (he meant Path to 9/11 which TV critic Tom Shales called "Factually shaky, politically inflammatory and photographically a mess."). Why read or listen to facts when you can watch pretty pictures on the teevee?