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Mr. Matthews repeatedly interrupted his guest, Johnathan Turley, to the point that viewers could barely hear Turley's arguments. In addition, Matthews used the words - "Point of View" as a pejorative to in effect label Mr. Turley as someone whose opinion was somehow suspect or not serious because he had a POV. This term was not used by Matthews when he talked with his other guest, Pat Buchanan, about Buchanan's point of view, nor was it used when Matthews introduced a video clip of John McCain where McCain made a statement about his own point of view with regard to torture prosecutions.
Mr. Matthews did, however, use the term again when he read a snippet from a recent piece written by Paul Krugman, who also happens to share Mr. Turley's view. So for Matthews, anyone who disagrees with those who don't want to have prosecutions (Matthews himself) is automatically suspect or should not be taken seriously because they have a "Point of View".
This disgusting episode was just another version of the media's characterization that only those on the "left" want prosecutions and therefore their opinion is suspect because they have a POV that differs from our establishment media personalities.
I guess Mr. Matthews just conveniently forgot that Johnathan Turley also argued for impeachment during President Clinton's impeachment. I guess he also conveniently forgot that Bruce Fein, a former Reagan official and no "lefty," who also argued for Clinton's impeachment, supports Mr. Turley's POV and did so while Bush was still president.
No, you can bet that Matthews didn't forget any of this information. What Matthews was doing was to deliberately create the impression in the viewer's mind that Mr. Turley's views on this subject can be dismissed out of hand because he's a member of the "left" who has a POV that the serious people in the media don't take very seriously.
If you find what Matthews did tonight absolutely outrageous behavior, like I did, I hope that you will contact both Matthews and MSNBC and let them know that we won't stand for this kind of blatant manipulation.
Update: Jason Linkins at Huffington Post wrote a piece commenting on what Buchanan says in this same Hardball segment.
Update 2: I'm sure this won't happen but I sent an email to Keith Olbermann to nominate Chris Matthews for today's worst person in the world.
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