This week’s Mainstream Media Scream features a regular, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, host of Hardball. This time our focus on his comments during a “Last Word” segment last week.
In it he ridiculed those warning about a crisis with ISIS, suggesting it is a conservative campaign, not one actually led by President Obama and his administration.
“I’ll admit that it bothers me deeply to hear people worry aloud about ISIS coming to get them personally. Do you really believe — I’m talking to the 14 percent who told pollsters they are seriously afraid of getting hit by the terrorist group themselves – do they really believe these characters over there in Syria and Iraq have their own personal number? Do they? That there’s a reasonable chance that your number is up because of what’s going on in the desert of Arabia right now?
“I know the political hucksters love pushing the fear button. They exalt in the word ‘Homeland’ – that ominous term, cooked up by the neocons to drive us off to the stupidest war decision in history to go into Iraq with the bugles blowing and the ideologues brimming with talk of converting the Arab Mideast into pleasant members of the United Nations, friendly neighbors of Israel and, oh yeah, moderate democracies. But that talk was for a purpose of getting us into a stupid war.
“What’s the purpose now? Why push the armageddon button now? Could it be that scaring people is one way to justify just about anything right wing, anything that exploits military force, anything that turns the United States into a relentless military presence, a machine really, in the Middle East, an endless adversary and killer of Arabs and other Muslims. People who do this can call themselves anything, neocons, hawks, whatever, what they are not are reliable stewards of American foreign policy. They ain’t taking us anywhere good.”
Media Research Center Vice President of Research Brent Baker explains our pick: “Bad timing for Matthews, who looks especially clueless. His ridiculing of fear of ISIS came the night before news of an ISIS plot to behead random people on the streets of Australia. So maybe Matthews shouldn’t be so quick to deride those who recognize the threat and think it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
Rating: Four out of five screams.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
