Has Matthews Really Found Religion About Truth-Telling?

Say It on Hardball, then we might believe you, Chris

Chris Matthews speaks "truth to power" 5 years too late

Don't you just love these truth tellers in American journalism like Katie Couric and Chris Matthews who are suddenly here to complain that the Bush administration has manipulated Big Media like them, and they're not going to take it anymore? At least not now that George W. Bush and Congress have a record-low approval rating, and after 3,809 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.

Here is MSNBC "Hardball" host Matthews:

In front of an audience that included such notables as Alan Greenspan, Rep. Patrick Kennedy and Sen. Ted Kennedy, Matthews began his remarks by declaring that he wanted to "make some news" and he certainly didn't disappoint. After praising the drafters of the First Amendment for allowing him to make a living, he outlined what he said was the fundamental difference between the Bush and Clinton administrations.

The Clinton camp, he said, never put pressure on his bosses to silence him.

“Not so this crowd,” he added, explaining that Bush White House officials -- especially those from Vice President Cheney's office -- called MSNBC brass to complain about the content of his show and attempted to influence its editorial content. "They will not silence me!" Matthews declared.

"They've finally been caught in their criminality," Matthews continued, although he did not specify the exact criminal behavior to which he referred. He then drew an obvious Bush-Nixon parallel by saying, “Spiro Agnew was not an American hero."

Well, they do say that the journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step, but if Matthews believes what he is saying to be true, he still has miles to go. What were these attempts by Dick Cheney and other to muzzle him -- and more importantly, did they work? Name names, if you're going to be so brave. You say they won't silence you? Great! We're listening.

And if you won't be silenced, why did you accuse Bush of "criminality" in front of handful of Beltway insiders, instead of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who watch you nightly on "Hardball"?

And if you have truly found religion on this issue, what about your bosses, who just last week were so eager to cave and bow down before an angry GOP congresswoman who didn't like how her interview on MSNBC went down?

Are you just trying to show Jon Stewart how cool you really are?

So far, all we really have from Matthews is this new one-liner:

Matthews left the throng of Washington A-listers with a parting shot at Cheney: “God help us if we had Cheney during the Cuban missile crisis. We’d all be under a parking lot.”

Now, try saying that on "Hardball" instead of in front of Ted Kennedy. Go ahead. You will not be silenced.

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The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.