March 2, 2020

Chris Matthews has abruptly resigned from his long-running "Hardball" show.

The NYT reports.
Mr. Matthews, 74, has faced mounting criticism in recent days over a spate of embarrassing on-air moments, including a comparison of Senator Bernie Sanders’s campaign to the Nazi invasion of France and an interview with Senator Elizabeth Warren in which the anchor was criticized for a condescending and disbelieving tone.

On Saturday, the journalist Laura Bassett published an article on the website of GQ magazine describing a series of episodes where, she wrote, Mr. Matthews made inappropriate comments about her appearance in the makeup room of his studio before she was a guest on his program.
ADDED: From NBC:
After MSNBC aired a commercial following the announcement, Matthews did not return to the program. Steve Kornacki, a political reporter for the network, took over the rest of the hour, and seemed shocked by the news. “That was a lot to take in,” he said, saying it had been an honor to work with Matthews, and then beginning a discussion about the coronavirus response.

99 comments:

Unknown said...

No more leg tingles... MSNBC viewers mourn.

gilbar said...

but, isn't he (wasn't he?) a democrat? what did he DO, that lost him his gold card?

Gilbert Pinfold said...

Saw him waiting in NY Penn Station waiting for the Acela back to DC, very obviously intoxicated and garrulous. Nasty piece of work.

tim in vermont said...

He was much watch during the Clinton impeachment for conservatives. I never missed his show. Had a lot to do with me being so Repubican today.

tim in vermont said...

"Must watch"

Inga said...

“MSNBC viewers mourn.”

Doubtful. I’m glad he’s gone, he was getting on my last nerve.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

How could you not be condescending and disbelieving when talking to Warren? The only alternative would be to guffaw in her face.

tcrosse said...

One time he was on with Christopher Hitchens, and they were both fucked up. Happy days.

rhhardin said...

Asking a co-host off-air if her tits are real is a sly way of saying she dresses like a slut. It's mean and it's clever, hence a good joke. It does not express interest in her tits, quite the opposite.

Dressing like a slut may or may not be required for the show, and so it's a comment on her or the convention, respectively. It's still mean and clever, a joke.

chuck said...

I don't watch him, so won't miss him, but leaving seems premature unless there is really damning stuff about to come out.

Arashi said...

Well that just made the day brighter!

Goodbye Tingles, so sad to see you go.

rhhardin said...

Like the Rebus script, detective inspector to his female boss, boss met in the hall dressed up for a party, "I thought you gave up undercover work." Suggesting she looks like a prostitute. It's a joke, the competition being can she think of a cleverer reply.

Rory said...

I saw him doing a book signing at a Costco. It was the Costco I usually went to, so I'm having trouble keeping straight if I saw him in person and recognized him or saw a picture on the internet and recognized the Costco.

JaimeRoberto said...

Comparing Sanders' campaign to Hitler's invasion of France was just plain stupid. It's more like Stalin's invasion of Finland.

rhhardin said...

Naughty, mean and clever. A three-fer, jokewise.

Bay Area Guy said...

Well, the guy was terrible about current politics, who spent his time loudly bloviating on a terrible cable news show.

But, he was spot on about The Cold War, and how Bernie's socialism and love for Fidel, would not work for America.

rhhardin said...

Another part of the joke is that it pretends that other people won't understand the joke, so it affirms between you that you're smarter than those other people.

The meta-joke is that these are women and not interested in getting it. They're after revenge against the clever.

FullMoon said...

He was much watch during the Clinton impeachment for conservatives. I never missed his show.

I watched and liked him a lot but could not remember when. Might have been same time frame. He asked questions and interrupted guests trying to answer. Seemed pretty smart but kinda rude to me.

tim in vermont said...

Mathews at the time was actually scandalized by what Bill Clinton had done to those various women. Believe it or not. There was once a time when Democrats were decent people who just had a different set of preferred solutions to problems on which we mostly agreed as a nation.

rcocean said...

Chris Matthews was a typical boomer liberal. He'd always be upset or scandalized by some Democrat left-wing piece of craziness or the Clinton's corruption but then time would go bye and he'd defend it.

He also loved to call conservatives racists/bigots/homophobes/sexists, etc. whenever it was to the democrats advantage. So no, don't care that he got hoisted on his own PC Petard. In any case, the guy was 74 and needed to put out to pasture. CBS for years had a mandatory 65 retirement age, and its too bad MSBNC didn't have the same. Chris should have quit when Kieth Olbermann was foisted on him as the co-host for Election nights/Conventions.

Achilles said...

Trump wins again.

readering said...

74 years old. About time.

rcocean said...

BTW, I remember when Chris Matthews lied about Ann Coulter on the NBC Today show. Had her on the his show, then lied about what she said. Nasty stuff. He got away with it, because Youtube/twitter etc. wasn't around back in 2003-2004. Nope Good riddance. Matthews wasn't Joe Stalin evil, more like Tito evil.

MountainJohn said...

But, he was spot on about The Cold War, and how Bernie's socialism and love for Fidel, would not work for America.

This is why he was "resigned."

readering said...

Lou Dobbs should be next. Same age.

Laslo Spatula said...

Old Python bit comes to mind:

"Those responsible have been sacked.. ... We apologise again for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked...The directors of the firm hired to continue the credits after the other people had been sacked, wish it to be known that they have just been sacked."

We're gonna need a bigger guillotine.

I am Laslo.

AllenS said...

Chris Matthews needs to take a pistol and shoot himself in the groin. He'll feel that tingle again. Loser.

Hopefully, all of Trump's enemies will check out. It must be all of that winning.

daskol said...

Sounds like he was offered his job or his dignity.

daskol said...

Well, what was left of his dignity.

tim in vermont said...

Hoisted by his own retards.

rcocean said...

Maybe Chris can go work for ESPN. Does it work in reverse?

daskol said...

Be funny if he turned up on Fox.

tim in vermont said...

It’s important to get rid of people who are old enough to know that these warmed over ideas have always failed in the past. Better to focus on the young, given that brain development is not complete until the mid twenties.

Mark said...

So did Chuck Matthews quit mid-show? Just get up and leave?

bagoh20 said...

"Lou Dobbs should be next. Same age."

He's not leaving due to age, he's leaving due to being an asshole. Lou Dobbs is just old, but the job does not entail feats of strength.

paminwi said...

I actually like Steve Kornacki. About the only person on MSNBC I can tolerate.
He will last through the election because he loves numbers and polls.
That will be something MSNBC can manipulate - anyone can find numbers to support their philosophy
After the election he will go back to be a support person/occasional sub.

Ken B said...

He dissed socialism. That's the reason. The Ingas of this world don’t want to hear dissent.

Drago said...

readering: "Lou Dobbs should be next. Same age."

Uh, yeah, that's not really how any of this works.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Matthews crossed someone in the deep state.

Big no no

rcocean said...

Compliments on a woman’s appearance that some men, including me, might have once incorrectly thought were OK, were never OK,” he said. “Not then and certainly not today, and for making such comments in the past, I’m sorry.”

Chris Grovels.

daskol said...

He looks outstanding for 74.

Beasts of England said...

Seventy-four years old?! I would have guessed mid-fifties...

daskol said...

Oof so it was his dignity and his job.

Ken B said...

He was kinda like able at times but his effect on our politics was pernicious. He was a pioneer of the shout show. He never encouraged discussion or understanding.

Drago said...

paminwi: "I actually like Steve Kornacki. About the only person on MSNBC I can tolerate."

In Oct of 2016 I enjoyed Steve explaining to me how Hillary was poised to give us the first true landslide victory since 1988.

Enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zerWCVpXTr8

rcocean said...

"Seventy-four years old?! I would have guessed mid-fifties..."

You need to take camera angles, lighting, and makeup into account. But yes, he's not bad for 74 year old.

rehajm said...

...to a nicer guy.

Like those of his ilk he'll surface somewhere else.

Limited blogger said...

Scott Adams says don't use analogies

David Begley said...

Good for him. He wasn’t going to censored about his opinion.

Take this job and shove it. Walking off the show was cool.

William said...

I watched him occasionally. His crimes don't seem that awful. After twenty years, he should have been allowed a more graceful exit.

David Begley said...

No mention of Trump.

William said...

I think his brand was being spontaneous and genuine. There's a knack to pretending to be spontaneous and genuine.

Lazarus said...

His earlier NBC show wasn't terrible. He was a jerk, but in a benign way: a boomer doofus who couldn't stop talking about JFK and Tip O'Neill. MSNBC made him get more pointed and ideological - or at least try to.

I remember on the old show he was always promoting somebody called "Katty Kay." I wondered what was going on there. It's not wholly surprising that a woman has made allegations against him.

Gk1 said...

Must be more skirts ready to fall, as it were. By the time the public has an inkling of any of these harassment disputes it's already being chattered around the MSNBC water coolers and hashed over by lawyers over cocktails. Matthews was already damaged goods after the Nazi comparison to Sanders, so the easiest thing is to give him the old heave ho. Maybe he can show up an appear with those other sad sacks, Mark Shields and David Brooks on the PBS news hour?

Gunner said...

Very non-JFK-like, Chris. For shame.

James K said...

He also mistook Tim Scott for another bald black guy in one of those "Well, they all look alike" moments. Really awkward.

paminwi said...

BOOM!
Drago, you got me!

Francisco D said...

I remember Chris from The McLaughlin Group in the 80's.

He was sort of a centrist Democrat then and he was not particularly deranged about Republicans.

Gusty Winds said...

I’m stunned. All the good looking chicks are on Fox News.

Michael K said...

readering said...
74 years old. About time.


Just a kid compared to the candidates,.

A jerk but a realistic jerk.

Achilles said...

Does Chris seem suicidal to you all?

Fernandinande said...

criticism in recent days over a spate of embarrassing[sic]

Says whom?

a comparison of Senator Bernie Sanders’s campaign to the Nazi invasion of France

They both couldn't be beat! Oh teh horror.

a condescending and disbelieving tone

Oh teh horror.

Laura Bassett ... inappropriate comments about her appearance

And she's not even black.

Gusty Winds said...

Are we supposed to believe Maddow hasn’t made a pass at anyone in the green room?

Readering said...

Amazing Trump youngest man in the race.

daskol said...

I remember Chris from The McLaughlin Group in the 80's.

He was sort of a centrist Democrat then and he was not particularly deranged about Republicans.


We had a school trip to a taping of McLaughlin group at a studio out near the Meadowlands in Jersey, probably 9h grade. Old McLaugkin was very genial and even warm with the teachers and kids, avuncular. He was also a giant of a man. He came in while I was taking a piss, and I had to take a peak—timing was right. It was as long as the bus ride home we spent laughing about it. Don’t recall seeing Matthews.

Aggie said...

Yes, I agree: He crossed somebody in the Lizard Elite and was getting off-message too frequently, mostly about Bernie being a credible Socialist candidate in the Democratic Party. Somebody high up decided and he got wind of it, and probably figured he would exit on his own terms instead of as a sacrificial dummy with no agency in the matter.

JAORE said...

I saw Erin Burnett on Chris' show via satellite a few years ago. He asked her to lean in for the camera. She hesitated with a look like, "Is there something in my teeth?". Nope,old Chris just wanted to drool on the monitor.

Pathetic.

James K said...

Don’t recall seeing Matthews.

I don't remember him being on the show for very long. Most of the time, as I recall, the Dems were represented by Germond, Clift, and/or Kondracke. Clift was unbearable, but Kondracke and Germond were likable and reasonable.

Gahrie said...

Poor Tingles got put up against the wall a lot sooner than he thought he would...

Matt Sablan said...

"So did Chuck Matthews quit mid-show?"

-- Apparently, like, at the start of his show. He made a brief, "Yo, I'm leaving, Matthews -- out," the dropped the microphone, forcing them to cut to commercial.

There might have been some slight editorializing there.

effinayright said...

Gilbert Pinfold said...
Saw him waiting in NY Penn Station waiting for the Acela back to DC, very obviously intoxicated and garrulous. Nasty piece of work.
****************

Interesting, because twenty years ago or so, I saw him on TV bragging that his success was due to laying off the Irish Happy Sauce.

mockturtle said...

Maybe his ball was a little too hard?

MountainJohn said...

I remember Chris from The McLaughlin Group in the 80's.

I think it was Crossfire.

Skeptical Voter said...

Well he supposedly made "inappropriate comments" to Ms. Bassett in 2017 when she was probably earl mid 30s--and "Tingles" was 71. Look you can enjoy the view of an attractive young woman 35 or 40 years your junior. But unless your wallet is as big as Mike Bloomberg's you keep your mouth shut. Telling her makeup artist to put some more makeup on her "so I can fall in love" or telling the makeup artist to remove the makeup before she leaves because, "we can't have some guy in a bar hitting on her" is stupid. But no more stupid than looking at a young woman and calling her a lying dogface pony soldier. This is what passes for hearty har har humor among alte kokkers.

Gk1 said...

Liberals have got to hate this like a toothache. The man they despise routinely having fun, his followers are all having fun at the expense of their inflated self-esteem and preferred policy outcomes. Should they be successful in unseating Trump, neither of their candidates will have the ability to even finish out their first term. Sad!

Terry Ott said...

Okay, friends, the next step is obvious. We must scour the internet to see if we can find evidence that his buddies at MSNBC once (after many beverages) said words to the effect of, “We are truly such a wonderful close-knit team here that if ONE of us goes, we ALL go away, promptly and with no advance notification."

Ralph L said...

Didn't he have a lot about the OJ trial, or am I thinking of someone else?

Paul Ciotti said...

It's already a settled truth that Matthews compared Sanders's quick early victories to the Nazi army in France. He didn't. People, I think, are deliberately misconstruing Matthews's point, which was rather Churchill's total amazement upon being informed of the French army's stunningly fast collapse.

I think what really pissed off MSNBC was Matthews saying a week ago if socialism ever came to America people like him "would be shot in Central Park." And he was right. That is how revolutions work. First you shoot your enemies. Then you shoot your friends.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Did NBC suddenly notice that Matthews has been senile for the past 15 years?

narciso said...

Thats jeffrey toobin of cnn, blithely impregnating his coworkers daughters

glenn said...

Bu-Bye Boomer Dude.

JAORE said...

Me no missy Chrissy

gadfly said...

I never liked Chris Mathews with his permanent facial scowl but the interview with Lizzie about her attempt to incriminate Mike Bloomberg on #METOO charges was totally dishonest and Mathews just blew the questioning because he failed to investigate details.

The investigation into Bloomberg LP discovered complaints and a couple of payments to two female employees when they parted ways with the company - but the claims were illegal touching by Editor Al Hunt who ran the Bloomberg Washington operation from 2005 until sometime in 2012 when Hunt was demoted to opinion columnist until he was let go in 2018.

Mike Bloomberg spent 12 years as NYC mayor until 2013, so he was not running the company when Hunt was hired nor when the demotion occurred. Obviously Hunt's power shtick was gone when Mike Bloomberg came back to the company. So Mathews' inference that the liar was a woman was correct since Lizzie continues to blame the guy with the money,

tim in vermont said...

"beginning a discussion about the coronavirus response.”

You mean “Then beginning one more anti Trump rant based on half truths and outright lies.”

I didn’t watch it, did I miss anything?

RMc said...

From the NBC article:

"Matthews (...) has hosted “Hardball” on MSNBC since 1999 and remained a centrist voice on the cable news channel’s prime-time programming"

Centrist by MSNBC standards, of course. Kind of like being the world's tallest midget.

tim in vermont said...

His last prediction was right, that they were going to come for him.

Breezy said...

I am no fan of Chris Matthews, but I am also frustrated that women don’t blast these guys that say these things in the moment. Or slap them! Instead you write about it, not naming them, months later, and then name them months after that? WTH?

In the moment she was about to go on air, so she sold herself for that. I have no sympathy for the so-called victims in these episodes that are about rude comments.

Big Mike said...

Isn’t his wife Kathleen still the head of the Democrat Party in Maryland? She’s a powerful person to piss off.

Fernandinande said...

but I am also frustrated that women don’t blast these guys that say these things in the moment.

The fundamental rule of the Junior Anti-Sex League is to play along until it's convenient and profitable to do otherwise, as with Weinstein.

Robert Cook said...

"He dissed socialism. That's the reason."

No, he hysterically described a mole hill as a Matterhorn. He had obviously lost it.

Clyde said...

Is it a good thing that a bad man was forced out, or is it a bad thing that bad people forced the bad man out? As always, whenever I see blue-on-blue action, I just say, "Confusion to the enemy!"

zipity said...



Help me out here. Is this the correct spelling for schadenfreude.....?

JAORE said...

Years ago I found Mathews interesting and fairly mainstream. But he's (one of) the father(s) of interrupt the guest and shout interviews.

Adios.

Static Ping said...

Years ago I watched Hardball and my opinion was Matthews was fairly middle of the road host who managed to make things interesting. Over time he went from middle to the road to consistently left and then started to make repeated gaffes like he was Joe Biden. I stopped watching about then.

Jupiter said...

"This man didn’t sexually assault me, or masturbate in front of me, or text an unsolicited dick pic. But his behavior affected me; it undermined my ability to do my job well."

I am woman. Hear me roar.

Silly Calabrese said...

The list of types of people who really ought to change sides if they want to be treated decently grows ever longer: Old white men are basically treated like slave-owner rapists these days, regardless of actual views or proclivities. But then also women should really move over to the right, if they don't want their rights to be subsumed to women-with-penises. The left is really not the place to be for men and women.

Nichevo said...


rhhardin said...
Asking a co-host off-air if her tits are real is a sly way of saying she dresses like a slut. It's mean and it's clever, hence a good joke. It does not express interest in her tits, quite the opposite.

Dressing like a slut may or may not be required for the show, and so it's a comment on her or the convention, respectively. It's still mean and clever, a joke.

3/2/20, 6:24 PM


Who's laughing now? You and Howard should get a room.

Nichevo said...


rhhardin said...
Another part of the joke is that it pretends that other people won't understand the joke, so it affirms between you that you're smarter than those other people.

The meta-joke is that these are women and not interested in getting it. They're after revenge against the clever.

3/2/20, 6:36 PM


This is more of your programming fail. If I want a mean bitch, I find me a woman.

Bilwick said...

I knew my leg was tingling for a reason!