Chris Matthews

Robert F. Kennedy, The “Un Trump”? Two Wealthy, Privileged People, And Their Diverse Evolution

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Two NBC/MSNBC anchors, Chris Matthews and Lawrence O’Donnell, have just published books on the life of Robert F. Kennedy, and on the Presidential Election of 1968, respectively.

Both books are well worth your attention, as they bring back a half century ago, when a wealthy, privileged person, Robert F. Kennedy, united white working class and minority working class people together in a time of tumult, making him a rare political leader.

He also attracted the support of wealthier liberals, and had the capability to unite the country in a time of the civil rights movement and the war in Vietnam.

Had he not been assassinated, RFK would likely have been the Democratic Party nominee, instead of Hubert Humphrey, and would have likely defeated Richard Nixon, and there would have been no Watergate scandal.

No one is saying that RFK would have been God, but certainly, the history of the United States would have been better with him than with Richard Nixon.

Now we have a leader of similar wealth and privilege, but with a totally different bent on every issue imaginable.

Donald Trump revels in dividing people, and using race, religion, and ethnicity to cause tumult and turmoil.

Donald Trump does not have a decent bone in his body, and sees everything in terms of the dollar sign.

Donald Trump has no concern for the average American’s life and future, and instead, promotes demagoguery and hate.

The damage he has done in the year since his election tomorrow, November 8, is so long lasting, that despite no legislative accomplishments, he has set back the nation in so many ways, often to before the years of the New Deal in the 1930s.

It is as if we are in a time warp, and back in the 1920s before the Great Depression and World War II.

And it is highly likely that the damage he has perpetrated in one year will lead to another Great Depression, social turmoil, and World War III, since he has no clue or understanding of domestic or foreign affairs, and only the top one percent will benefit from his destructive agenda.

So Robert F. Kennedy is indeed the “Un Trump”, but sadly, we have no one on the horizon at this moment who seems capable of emerging with the image and agenda of Robert F. Kennedy.

If we did find such a person, we would have optimism about the long range future of the nation, so the goal must be to find the right individual to lead the Democratic Party into the future, and return to the RFK commitment to social, economic, and political change.

Myth Destroyed About Third Term Of Same Party In White House Being Historically Unlikely! How About 7 Times And 120 Years Of Our History?

Ronald 3 Comments

This blogger keeps on hearing that it is highly unlikely for a political party to hold the White House for more than two terms. Most recently, Chris Matthews said this on MSNBC on HARDBALL!

This is totally untrue, as witness the facts, a total of 7 times:

1800-1824—Democratic Republicans Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe–Six terms, 24 years

1828-1840–Democrats Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren–Three terms, 12 years

1860-1884–Republicans Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester Alan Arthur (Andrew Johnson elected with Lincoln on “Union” ticket in 1864 was a Southern Democrat, but was never elected)–Six terms, 24 years

1896-1912–Republicans William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft–Four terms, 16 years

1920-1932–Republicans Warren G. Harding. Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover–Three terms, 12 years

1932-1952–Democrats Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman–Five terms, 20 years

1980-1992–Republicans Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush–Three terms, 12 years

This adds up to 30 terms and 120 years from 1789-2008. So that means 30 terms out of 55 terms, more than half the time and 120 years out of 220 years, more than half the time!

And now in 2016, an 8th time, this time the Democrats with Barack Obama and, likely, Hillary Clinton, will add to the record, making it 33 terms out of 58, and 132 years out of 232 years!

Chris Matthews On Bill Maher Show Asks Why Money Is The Only Measure Of Success!

Ronald 3 Comments

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was on Bill Maher’s show on HBO last night, and got into a debate with conservative right wing talk show host Roger Hedgecock, formerly Mayor of San Diego, regarding how to measure “success”.

Matthews asked why we worship money so much, that only if one earns a lot of money is he or she considered a “success”.

Matthews asked about the high school teacher who is a “success” in educating the future generation, but makes only $70,000 a year at the end of his career; or the soldier in Afghanistan who sacrifices his safety to help protect America and is paid even less. Is he not a “success”?

What Matthews is saying is so true! “Success” should not be how much money you earn; how much money you avoid paying in taxes; how big your home is, or how fancy your car is; how much you cheat your workers in benefits and work conditions; how much you exploit consumers because of greed of a business owner to trick consumers into paying top price while claiming to have a “sale”; spending one’s money to gain an advantage from a politician, so as to avoid regulation in the public interest; and other examples of the worship of money for its own sake!

“Success” is not only the teacher and the soldier, but also the nurse, the police officer, the firefighter, the librarian, the social worker, and the many other occupations and fields of work where workers make our lives better. This also includes the so called ‘little people”, such as the server at a restaurant, a bartender, a maid, a sanitation worker, and numerous other fields of work, where often rich people look down on these people as the scum of the earth, because they do not earn a lot of money!

This new “Gilded Age” we are in, which makes one “worship” people whose job is to enrich themselves at the expense of “average” people, and brag about it; and have parties in Boca Raton, where they disparage half the citizenry; and pay as much for seeing a politician speak as the average annual salary of a family of four, who pays more tax percentage wise they they do, must be made out to be what it is—a white collar crime which should be exposed and prosecuted under the laws, and condemned as unpatriotic and selfish!

The Tragedy Of The Republican Party: A Split Personality Outside The Mainstream!

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Chris Matthews on MSNBC this evening summarized the tragedy of the Republican Party: that it has been “hijacked” by disparate groups that cause the party grief!

First, we have what Matthews calls the “Dixiecrats”, the Southern segregationists, who left the Democratic Party after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 under President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Then, due to the school prayer decision (Engle V Vitale) and abortion rights decision (Roe V Wade) of the Supreme Court, the “Moral Majority” or “Christian Coalition” or “Evangelical Right” went over to the Republican Party in the 1970s.

Finally, conservative “hawkish” Democrats, dissatisfied with the nomination of George McGovern in 1972 and President Jimmy Carter in 1976 also went over to the Republicans as the “neoconservatives”.

The result has been a “split personality” party which has marginalized itself more and more over the years, and moved away from the mainstream of America, as the Republican Party was until the mid 1970s.

Unless Jon Huntsman can, somehow, gain a surge and make a major fight for the GOP nomination, the Republican Party is going to remain outside the mainstream of America!

A Celebratory Day In The Cable Media World: MSNBC 15th Anniversary And Fox News Channel-Rupert Murdoch Crisis!

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Today, 15 years ago, MSNBC went online as the competitor of CNN, which had begun June 1, 1980. Within a few months, on October 7, Fox News Channel came along as a third competitor in the 24 hour news channel industry!

MSNBC has gone through rough times over its 15 years, but now it is thriving by having emerged as the strong progressive news channel, compared to the moderate approach of CNN and the right wing conservative views of Fox News Channel.

MSNBC has become a station with outstanding talk show hosts, including Chris Matthews, Lawrence O’Donnell, Rachel Maddow, and Ed Schultz, as well as outstanding coverage during the day by other anchor people.

It is a source of much what the author writes about, and it gives us a progressive view of events, which is sorely needed, so Happy 15th to MSNBC!

At the same time, Fox News Channel has misled, lied, deceived, propagandized, and become a Republican propaganda channel, including hiring many of the Republican Presidential field at some point of time.

Fox News Channel has NEVER been willing to cover the news fairly, and has made life miserable for Barack Obama, and has convinced an ignorant portion of the population to believe their myths, half truths, and distortions!

Its talk show hosts are disgraceful, having included Glenn Beck in the recent past, and still including Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, along with a whole group of unsavory characters who have questionable ethics, but end up on Fox News Channel!

Their employer, Rupert Murdoch, known world wide as one of the most despicable people in the news business, has now become involved in a hacking scandal that threatens to bring him and his news corporation to their knees, symbolically!

Nothing would be more contributing to the future of journalism than to have the downfall of Rupert Murdoch and Fox News Channel, but in reality, that is not likely! That channel is refusing to report the scandal in detail, part of their “managed” and distorted news coverage, figuring that their audience might remain unaware because they lean so much on the manipulated manner of news reporting on their channel!

Even if Fox News Channel survives, seeing Rupert Murdoch and the channel squirm is victory in itself!

Can The Ideological Divide In America Be Overcome To Avoid Incitement Of More Violence? Highly Doubtful! :(

Ronald 3 Comments

The attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and the murder and wounding of twenty other victims in Tucson, Arizona, should be a wake up call for the country at large, and the political leaders and media personalities in particular, but don’t bet on it! 🙁

The right wing is trying to deflect blame for the use of incendiary language, and trying to compare it to left wing criticisms that may ridicule and mock the opposition.

But it is the specific use of language of the right that is at issue, not the concept of criticism itself!

There can be a healthy, vigorous debate over ideas without promoting rhetoric that calls for revolution, asking citizens to be armed and dangerous, calling for direct action against a tyrannical government, and putting online a map with cross hairs targeting particular congressional district representatives.

There is absolutely no excuse for the rhetoric employed by Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and others on the right.

To compare it to the rhetoric of Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC requires a mentality that makes one wonder about the moral virtues of the listeners. These talk show hosts have never called for any of the above concepts that the right wing is infamous for.

The sad truth is that any possibility of change is remote, and tragically, we are on the road to greater bloodshed and violence on others, including the horrible thought of danger to our national leaders in the executive branch! 🙁

How can we tolerate this, and how can we even think of anyone backing any of these characters in public office, or supporting the continuation of talk show hosts who are only concerned about enriching themselves, and don’t give any concern about public safety or what is good for the national interest? 🙁

The answer is if violence escalates, lawsuits will have to be instituted against right wing talk radio hosts as having contributed to and incited the bloodshed, forcing them off the air and impoverishing them, to shut them up!

Again, speech matters, and if one shouts “fire in a crowded theater”, they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, whether they are ordinary citizens, political leaders, or media personalities!

The Conflict Over Barack Obama At MSNBC! :(

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MSNBC is seen as the “liberal” and “progressive” cable channel, the rival of “conservative” and “Republican” Fox News Channel.

But these are not happy days at MSNBC, with a big split developing among the evening talk show hosts, regarding Barack Obama’s tax compromise with the Republican Party!

Chris Matthews fully backs Obama’s compromise as necessary and unavoidable under the circumstances, and makes it clear that there is no real alternative to Obama for progressives!

Lawrence O’Donnell also has concluded much the same thing, so therefore, two of the five talk show hosts stand together in support of Barack Obama!

But Ed Schultz, Keith Olbermann, and Rachel Maddow are all highly critical of Obama for “caving in” to the Republicans, and demonstrating weakness and a lack of “spine”!

The angry base of progressives and liberals, however, really have no place to go, as there are no strong alternative candidates, although Russ Feingold has been suggested, and today, Howard Dean, a “blast from the past”, has also been mentioned!

The prospects of either of these gentleman or any other, more obscure, candidate stopping Obama dead in his tracks, and keeping the Democratic Party united for the Presidential campaign, is close to zero!

Again, it is not pleasant that this tax deal had to be agreed to, but there is simply no real alternative than to “bite the bullet”, and plan for a major fight on the part of Obama to change the direction of the nation in the Presidential election campaign of 2012!

The fight against the GOP agenda is not over by any means! It is just beginning, and it would be helpful if the three MSNBC hosts understood that, and came back to support of Barack Obama!

A Horrifying Scenario: Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin! :(

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Chris Matthews on MSNBC today described a possible horrifying scenario in 2012: Presidential nominee Sarah Palin! 🙁

Matthews’ reasoning was that Sarah Palin has a positive image among 76 percent of Republicans, and as the only woman likely to run for President, and with views that place her on the “hard” right of all men who might run, that she would have a decent chance to do well in early primaries and caucuses in 2012! 🙁

The argument is that Palin could win the Iowa caucuses because of the strong evangelical influence in that state! While the theory is that Mitt Romney, as a ‘favorite son” New Englander in the Boston TV market, would win the New Hampshire primary, it would be dismissed as insignificant!

Then, the theory is that Palin would go to South Carolina, a strong evangelical Christian state, and would win over Romney, who is a Mormon (not considered Christian by many evangelicals)!

Then, she would go to Michigan, the home of Romney’s father, who was a potential Presidential candidate in the 1960s, and where Mitt Romney grew up, and in a multi candidate race, in a state with high unemployment and a terrible economy, would pull out a fraction of the vote large enough to be seen as the winner!

If all this happened, the argument of Matthews is that Palin would have “momentum” to win the GOP nomination! 🙁

This scenario is a nightmare, but to believe it would actually happen in a time of disillusionment and bad economic times, is seen as an extremist action of Tea Party Movement types, which could present the country with the most extreme GOP candidate since Barry Goldwater in 1964!

And actually, Barry Goldwater, being intelligent and knowledgeable, and ultimately a social liberal in future years, and a libertarian of substance as compared to Rand Paul, would be preferable to a woman who has no substance, no knowledge, and is truly an example of a KNOW NOTHING mediocrity rising to the top! 🙁

Of course, even if Sarah Palin were to win the GOP nomination, is there any scenario that can imagine her defeating President Barack Obama?

ONLY if one believes that the nation is ready to go down the drain completely, and elect the most incompetent, idiotic candidate that would ever have been selected by a major political party in the history of the United States!

If that happens, the nation is truly doomed in a complex world that requires a person of brilliance and insight, which Sarah Palin has inability to be! And if that were to happen, it would condemn John McCain forever in history for having given us this woman as a legitimate candidate for national authority! 🙁

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour’s View Of Sarah Palin

Ronald 1 Comment

What an hysterically funny moment on Chris Matthews’ HARDBALL, when Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, head of the Republican Governors Conference, and former Republican National Chairman, was asked if Sarah Palin is qualified to be President.

He hemmed and hawed FOUR times, and said there was nothing constitutionally that disqualified her! He seemed very hesitant and uncomfortable being asked the question. It was extremely funny to watch this moment of truth coming out! 🙂

Haley Barbour is a smart gentleman, and he KNOWS in his heart that Sarah Palin is a total joke, a monster created by the bad judgment of John McCain, and it is obvious, although he will not say so and is a gentleman, that John McCain also KNOWS that Sarah is a nightmare, who has no appreciation of what the Arizona senator did for her, and shows lack of gratefulness by her bitter attack on McCain’s staff for having the “gall” to try to control an inept, moronic woman who was then and is still a “prima donna” who needs her ego stroked, because she in her heart knows just how inadequate and incompetent she is.

When will the American people realize she is a disaster area? Hopefully, before we are stupid enough to elect her leader of the free world and give her control over nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons!