Via Bob Somerby, from The Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine 6/3/01
In 1994, [Roger] Ailes hired Matthews for a show on NBC’s "America’s Talking" network. Ailes later moved him to CNBC, where Hardball was born.
"He had a natural sense of moral outrage," said Ailes, now chairman of Fox News.
The outrage is no put-on. Aboard a recent shuttle flight to Washington, Matthews spotted New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. Earlier in the day, he’d been complaining privately that, as first lady, she’d rejected a health-care plan that would allow nurses to give care to public school students because it was "too narrow-bore."
"In other words, ‘I’m not going to get enough credit for this,’ " Matthews told a colleague in the cafeteria of MSNBC headquarters in North Jersey. "Madonna won’t get flowers brought to her. I hate her. I hate her. All that she stands for."
Remember, fair and balanced.
“Earlier in the day, he’d been complaining privately…”
“…Matthews told a colleague in the cafeteria…”
Seems to me you can’t really point to comments a person is making in private, or in casual conversation and use them as a basis for complaining that he’s not “fair and balanced.”
I know I certainly express opinions in private about, say, the relative worth of my employees, that I certainly wouldn’t express publicly. Not because of hypocrisy, but because I know when venting in private I don’t have to be fair.
Frankly, my first reaction to the excerpt isn’t “He’s being unfair.” so much as “Does he have a point?” Did Clinton in fact reject a plan because she wouldn’t get sufficient credit for it, or is Matthews complaint on that inaccurate?
I think that a news anchor/analyst saying he hates a politician that he reports on is relevant – whether they say it in private or not.
Venting is one thing, but saying, “I hate her. I hate her. All that she stands for.” is going overboard. It is could explain some of his behavior since then. It’s not like he’s been a big Clinton booster all these years.
I don’t trust the sourcing on this. “Chris said something in the cafeteria? to somebody?” Colonel Mustard with the Lead Pipe in the Library? Not biting.