Chris Matthews: Still an Idiot

I'm watching Chris Matthews question some Illinois state legislators about the Blagojevich ouster. It's amazing such an utter fuckup is on a national cable network.

Matthews apparently can't compute what quid pro quo means. I realize he'll say he's playing devil's advocate, but he's not elucidating anything himself nor is he allowing others to elucidate. He repeats the same question to guest after guest for the whole program and never tries to understand the distinctions that each guest makes repeatedly. He listens then repeats the same question to a guest later, again ignoring any distinctions and not even trying to think through what they are saying. It's obvious he doesn't know what he's talking about and doesn't really care: the contempt for the viewer is pretty palpable ("The rubes will eat this "pox on pols" grandstanding!")

He interrupts constantly without adding anything, just to hear his own voice it seems. Interrupting is bad enough but it's even worse when it's done with remote interviewees, as Matthews does routinely. Chris, you friggin' idiot, people you are interviewing via satellite-- especially standing in an boomy government lobby of some sort--can't process your time-shifted echoe crosstalk as one can in person. I'm astounded people will appear via remote on Matthew's program, so incompetent is he.

Matthews does that kind of mechanical time-wasting shit CONSTANTLY, after years of broadcasting. Many episodes he wastes five or ten minutes of airtime with sloppiness an average community-college communications major would iron out in the first 2 video lab sessions. Matthews: don't interrupt people every second sentence, especially during a remote! (If they're filibustering that's one thing, but usually these people can't even finish a friggin' sentence.) If you occasionally have to interrupt, don't just rephrase your lame question du jour for the umpteenth time.

Clinically, Matthews is an idiot. He doesn't know the current politics of this country. He relies on his seriously out-of-date gut for analysis that was tiredly erroneous decades ago. He views politics almost solely as theater. He's incompetent as a broadcaster. He is lazy, apparently doing zero preparation for his shows, sometimes stumbling over the intros that others have written for him. (Calling your friends for gossip and chat you can't repeat on air is not preparation for a show-- it's just calling your coffee klatch for a pick-me-up.) He's politically juvenile. He's a puerile little twit.

Anyone who watches Matthews comes away knowing less about politics and policy than they did before.

Please, MSNBC, get rid of this guy. BBC America is stealing eyeballs from you with their national news broadcast because they don't radiate contempt for their viewers.

This is another in an ongoing series of screams about how awful Chris Matthews is.