MATTHEWS: The way we keep score in American politics is the party that`s in power for eight years and runs the White House and three quarters of the time ran the Congress and the White House takes the heat when things go bad. Congressman Cantor, you`re trying to change the rules now and saying, Oh, if we take off our uniforms and don`t say we`re Republicans this week, the people will be fooled.People have had enough GOPBS. Oh, and good job "declaring war" on the media, Senator McCain.
CANTOR: Absolutely not.
MATTHEWS: I`ve never heard of that happening in politics!
CANTOR: Absolutely not, Chris. What...
MATTHEWS: You`re taking off your uniforms!
CANTOR: Absolutely not, Chris.
MATTHEWS: You`re saying you`re not Republicans!
CANTOR: Chris, absolutely now. What I tell you is there is a...
MATTHEWS: Are you a Republican?
CANTOR: Absolutely.
...
MATTHEWS: Congressman Cantor, we`re in a national crisis right now. I`m looking at the market every day, and it`s scary. And we have a president of the United States who`s still in office, he still lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The normal president at this time of a crisis would be on national television at 9:00 o`clock at night talking to the American people about the problems we face.
Do you still take -- have confidence in this president you`ve elected? You voted for Bush the last time. You supported him. Does your party still support President Bush and the way he`s leading this country economically? Do you like the job he`s doing?
CANTOR: Listen, no one...
MATTHEWS: Do you like the job that Bush is doing?
CANTOR: Chris -- Chris, no one likes an economic crisis. We have, as I said before...
MATTHEWS: Do you like the job the president is doing leading this country?
CANTOR: We have a crisis of confidence. What this president has done through his secretary of the treasury has reached out and tried to make a situation right itself so that...
...
MATTHEWS: The problem you have is that your colleague from Virginia, Tom Davis, who once ran your campaign committee, said if the Republican Party was a dog food, they`d take it off the shelves. And you haven`t used the word Republican tonight. Your party didn`t use it in the acceptance speech. John McCain never said the word Republican. He never said the word Bush. You`re trying to take off your uniforms and run from the field of political battle and claim you`re not Republicans.
You`re claiming you`re running against this administration, and I`m not going to let anybody get away with that kind of foolery! You have...
CANTOR: Absolutely not.
MATTHEWS: ... to take responsibility, sir, for the policies of this administration that has gotten us into this mess. You can`t walk away and say, Oh, we had nothing to do with it. Can you? Say it if you want to.
CANTOR: No. Listen...
...
MATTHEWS: I have never in my life seen a party run from its own record like the Republicans have. Sir, I like the way John McCain the other day said the fundamentals are strong because at least he was playing defense honestly. He was admitting that he had to play defense. You, sir, say you don`t have to defend the status quo. You can simply run for office, back Bush for two terms in a row, when he blows it, then you can run somebody else and claim, Oh, he was wearing a different uniform. You got to defend your party, sir, don`t you?
...
MATTHEWS: I know Harry Truman`s one of your heroes, sir, because he`s a hero of every Republican. And he said, "The buck stops here." I`m just asking you, where`s the president of the United States tonight? You had Paulson out there. Where`s the president? He`s pulling one of these Katrinas again! Where is he? The country`s worried like hell. When you lose this amount of value in the wealth of this country in a matter of days, you`d think the president would come on television to explain the situation to the American people. I`m just asking where he is.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Chris Matthews Goes After GOP Hack: "Republicans Trying to Claim They're Not Republicans"
Watch Chris Matthews verbally dismember the sneering, dishonest GOP hack Eric Cantor, showing a rare glimpse of the real "hardball" that his show is supposed to represent. Excerpts:
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4 comments:
While I enjoyed that part of the interview, I thought Matthews' calling Bush's hiding from the media in the context of Wall Street's collapse another "Katrina moment" was even stronger.
Great work, by the way!
OK, so let's analyze this. Chris Matthews says he looks at the market every day and he's scared. He thinks that President Bush should be on TV to address the nation. So how bad is the market?
Yes, we've got a crisis in the financial sector of the economy -- mostly due to hedge funds short selling the financial securities. We need some new regulations here. But how bad is it?
This week (the past four trading days), the major indices have dropped as follows:
NASDAQ - down 2.7%
DOW JONES - down 3.5%
S&P 500 - down 3.6%
NYSE - down 3.9%
RUSSELL 2000 - UP 0.5%
The major indices just this week entered Bear Market Territory, defined as a drop of 20% from the market high. For example, the DOW JONES is down 22.2% from its market high back on October 9, 2008. The other major indices are down similarly. Bear Markets are a normal occurrence in the economic cycle. They occur under democratic administrations and republican administrations.
For some historical perspective, there have been 23 bear markets since 1928, and the average drop in a bear market is 33%. As far as what happened this week, we've had far worse: the DOW dropped over 19% on October 19, 1987. It dropped 7.18% on October 27, 1997. It dropped 7.13% on September 17, 2001 (the first trading day after 9/11). In a 6 week period ending August 21, 1998, the DOW dropped 19.26%.
So while Chris Matthews and Charles Kozierok scream "Chicken Little," it's because they want you to believe that the sky is actually falling. It's not. We've been in this situation before (much worse, in fact), and things will improve no matter who is elected in November.
Relax. Take a deep breath. And look at the facts.
"The major indices just this week entered Bear Market Territory, defined as a drop of 20% from the market high."
This isn't about bear markets. In fact, as far as I am concerned, it isn't about the DJIA or stock levels at all. It is about the underpinnings of our financial system. They are in a mess, and it is directly a result of mismanagement.
The only reason the stock market hasn't gone lower anyway is because of massive intervention. That alone proves that we have serious problems.
"So while Chris Matthews and Charles Kozierok scream "Chicken Little," it's because they want you to believe that the sky is actually falling."
I've never said the sky was falling. But this is about major structural problems with the entire way our nation conducts itself. And bailouts are just temporary fixes that do nothing to solve the underlying problems.
I'm fine with you taking a contrarian role on my blog -- I believe in free speech and when everyone agrees, things get boring. But please don't mischaracterize my positions.
"I'm fine with you taking a contrarian role on my blog -- I believe in free speech and when everyone agrees, things get boring. But please don't mischaracterize my positions."
My apologies. Chris Matthews is clearly crying "Chicken Little," and I incorrectly assumed you agreed with his position.
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