One Day Chris Matthews Is Going To Meet His Maker, And Not Realize It May Be a Woman.

Let me get this out of the way, first: I am a fan of MSNBC’s  Chris Matthews. At least, I was. I watch Hardball every night. I watch The Chris Matthews Show every Sunday, along with the other Sunday shows. But I’m not going to make excuses for him anymore. Over the past few months, increasingly, I might add, I have noticed Matthews more and more make overtly sexist and sexual comments to and about women. Embarrassingly overt comments, sometimes to women right on his show. And I am amazed that the powers that be at MSNBC have yet to step in and stop him.

But before I get into the nitty gritty of Matthews’ misogynistic comments, let me also remind you what he said about Barack Obama, this past Tuesday during MSNBC’s coverage of the New Hampshire primary: Matthews called Obama “clean,” in the same manner that Biden called Obama “articulate and clean-cut.” And he said Obama’s family was “attractive.” Not that there’s anything wrong with having an attractive family. But it’s not a notable news item.

Matthews is about to get hit with his own Tsunami Tuesday. Waves and waves of offended and vocal bloggers, journalists, and others whom he has pissed off are coming out of the woodwork. I’m surprised Romanesko and Editor & Publisher have yet to weight in or offer coverage; I give them til 5 PM today - I’ll bet they’ll be on it before the week is out.

During the Tuesday primary coverage, my Twitter friends and I were “chatting” about the coverage and the results. and I wrote that “Someone needs to tell Chris Matthews to not call Obama ”clean,“ his family attractive, and to lay off the sexist comments he makes re women.”

Well, it seems I am not alone in my concerns. Yesterday, over at Daily Kos, Plutonium Page wrote that Matthews has “been spewing sexist crap about Hillary Clinton for years, but this morning, he proved that he’s really trying for a spot in the Misogynist Pundit Hall of Fame.” and referred to Christy Hardin Smith’s post at Firedoglake. Go to her article, because she makes some excellent points, summing up with,

“America is sick of bullshit this year. From politicans. And especially from pundits.”

I agree. Here’s an outtake from her transcript of a Mika Brezenzski/ Chris Matthews exchange, the day after the New Hampshire Democratic primary:

“Matthews: I think the Hillary appeal has always been about the mix of toughness and sympathy. Let’s not forget, and I’ll be brutal, the reason she’s a US Senator, the reason she’s a candidate for President, the reason she may be a front runner, is that her husband messed around.

Brzezinski: Yeah, but…

Matthews: That’s how she got to be a Senator from New York. We keep forgetting it. She didn’t win it on her merit, she won because everybody felt, ”My God, this woman stood up under humiliation,“ right? That’s what happened. That’s how it happened. In 1998, she went to NY and campaigned for Chuck Schumer as almost like the grieving widow of absurdity, and she did it so well and courageously. But it was about the humilation of Bill Clinton.

Brzezinski: Um…NO, okay?”

And if you think it stops here, think again. Media Matters has jumped on this as well. Matthews is in their sights. Here’s half of their front page today:

Here are two more concerns on Matthews’ recent insulting views:

Boston Herald: Primary wrongly colored racist by Matthews
Raw Story: Amid accusations of misogyny, Matthews slams ‘View’ hosts

But this is not new. Looking back, Media Matters voiced concerns back in June. Visit Media Matters for the video. Here’s an excerpt:

“MATTHEWS: OK, let’s put the gender thing in here. I love gender politics, guys. We have two women here all the time to make sure we’re balanced on this show. But Elisabeth, I know you’re a feminist, in the best possible sense of that word. You [Parker] probably are in a more traditional word.”

Then there’s this embarassing moment, that should have been caught by MSNBC’s HR folks, at least, as it involves an exchange between two co-workers, Chris Matthews and CNBC’s Erin Burnett, titled, “Chris Matthews’ Creepy Crush On Erin Burnett”:

Visit Media Matters’ “Does Chris Matthews have a problem with women?” to contact MSNBC if you want to voice your opinion.

Tags: C-SPAN, candidates, Chris Matthews, Gender, Hardball, Hillary Clinton, Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC, News, Politics, Women