January 14, 2008 5:53 AM

When you have no ideas of your own, misogyny and sexism start to look pretty good

I don’t know if MSNBC’s Chris Matthews has a problem with women, or just a particular woman (Sen. Hillary Clinton). He does, however, seem to be showing the classic symptoms of Foot-in-Mouth Disease: the inability to shut up, compounding an abysmally stupid utterance by insisting that history proves him correct, and a penchant for bloviating to the point where he transcends mere stupidity and enters the realm of the brain-dead.

What concerns me at the moment is the roaring silence you hear emanating from other media outlets about Matthew’s aggressive sexism and overt misogyny. If a Democratic Presidential candidate had been guilty of this sort of rhetorical and intellectual excess, he would have been immediatly and thoroughly pilloried by the Mainstream Media- and deservedly so. Yet how much have we heard from the rest of the media about Matthew’s lunacy and his virulent disrespect for Sen. Clinton? The silence is deafening, ain’t it?? In fact, what Jeralyn Merritt calls the “Tweety Effect” (Yeah, in the right light, Matthews does sort of resemble Tweety Birds, doesn’t he??) has become a national phenomena. Instead of rightly condemning Matthews for his misogyny and idiocy, other media sources seem to be beginning to beat the same drum. In other words, Sen. Clinton isn’t successful because of her positions, her passion, or her rhetorcal skills. No, she’s been successful because her husband is a lying, philandering scumbag, and women are taking pity on her for it. Uh…what???

What a load of crap. First of all, Bill Clinton isn’t the evil, amoral SOB that Clinton haters make him out to be. Yes, he’s a public man with some very public flaws, but it’s not like he’s Caligula. Secondly, the idea that the distaff half of the American sheeple are taking pity on Sen. Clinton en masse is nothing if not offensive to women.

Using overtly sexist language, he has referred to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) as a “she devil” and compared her to a “strip-teaser.” He has called her “witchy” and likened her voice to “fingernails on a blackboard.” He has referred to men who support her as “castratos in the eunuch chorus.” He has suggested Clinton is not “a convincing mom” and said “modern women” like Clinton are unacceptable to “Midwest guys.” He has called her “Madame Defarge” and “Nurse Ratched.”

Had enough? Contact MSNBC to tell them what you think.

MSNBC
letters@msnbc.com
MSNBC TV
One MSNBC Plaza
Secaucus, N.J. 07094
MSNBC contacts

Chris Matthews
hardball@msnbc.com

The problem here is that Matthews is in clear violation of what I like to call Cluth’s Media Rule #1: Don’t Be A Dick. It’s not a hard rule to follow; in fact, it deliberately sets the bar pretty low. All you have to do is be respectful. Treat others in the way you hope others will treat you. You don’t have to agree with your target; you don’t even have to like that person. All you have to do is to treat the person with the respect you’d like to be afforded yourself. It’s the least a decent human being can do.

Then again, we’re talking about a sexist, misogynistic, know-it-all pundit who believes that wisdom and knowledge flow freely from his mouth and that if only more people would listen….

Get ready, because we’re going to be treated to 10 more months of this offensive. Don’tcha just LOVE democracy??

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About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on January 14, 2008 5:53 AM.

Well...it was either those folks or Governor Goodhair, right? was the previous entry in this blog.

Ah, so THAT'S how he does it...no wonder she looks so happy is the next entry in this blog.

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