I am going to be attending the 2009 Speaker Series in Chicago tomorrow featuring Chris Matthews, Tucker Carlson, Ariana Huffington, and Paul Begala.
I got the tickets for free from a friend. (Woot Woot! thanks Renee!) And I may have an extra. Calling all Chicagoans- tune in to my twitter to check for a FREE ticket that MAY be up for grabs: @allthingshill Or just tune in for live tweeting during the show!
Sooo, I was trying to think of some questions to ask this group if I can make it to the VIP aftershow. Any thoughts??
As you may or may not know, I have a great distaste for Chris Matthews. But I do admit, it is one of those things where... it's like a drug. I know it's bad for me, he's bad for me, but I'm addicted. I can't turn off Hardball sometimes! Rarrr!
Here's a vid of Hillary and Chris. Interesting stuff.
7 comments:
yes. Ask Chris Matthews and Tucker Carlson why they are such PIGS and why they were so verbally abusive to Hillary during the primary. Why is it that obama gave matthews a "thrill up his leg", but all he could say about hillary were negative male chavenist things.
and for ariana - same thing - why would a progressive WOMAN not support a progressive WOMAN.
they should all be ashamed of themselves (except for Paul Begala).
You could ask Chris Mathews if he has learned where the fine line between so-called journalism and advocacy is and if he regrets using his show to advocate for certain politicians over others under the guise of objective journalism ;)
I have three questions:
1)I would ask each of them to offer an objective assessment about the others' coverage (and bias in the media generally) during the 2008 campaign. Was there a kind of ethical double standard applied to the two candidates? It seemed to me that Hillary's every statement -- most famously, her rather innocuous comment about MLK & LBJ, and the 60 mins interview in which she was asked if she thought Obama was Muslim -- was parsed, picked apart, and turned over and over for hidden racist implications or evidence of "dirty" politics, then endlessly replayed in the media, whereas Obama got a free pass on his underhanded tactics (as when his operatives sent a memo to select journalists before the SC primary -- the one Tim Russert produced, to his ever-lasting credit, during the SC debate -- insinuating recent statements by Hillary and Bill were racist, and causing her approval ratings among the black electorate to plummet from 80% to 7% in three days, just before the SC primary).
2) I would also like to hear each of them comment on whether they believe there was evidence of sexism in the media coverage. I would calmly "go to the videotape" and read back to Tucker Carlson a few of his choice remarks; I would ask Paul Begala what went through his mind when his colleague Jammal Simmons on CNN, asked if Hillary had a valid argument to make to the superdelegates that she would be a stronger candidate in the fall election, scoffed, "Well, yeah, if my aunt grew a male appendage, she'd be my uncle, but [looking into the camera, grinning], it ain't happening, Hillary." Ask Ariana to comment on Chris Matthews' infamous statement, the night of the Iowa caucuses, that a "new wind was blowing around the world," and that Hillary's candidacy had gone from "inevitable to improbable" overnight [mind you, at that point Obama was ahead by one pledged delegate, while Hillary still held a lead of 100 superdelegates], and his equally infamous statement, after the New Hampshire primary, that "I'll be brutal: The reason she's a U.S. senator, the reason she's a candidate for president, the reason she may be a front-runner, is her husband messed around." This was merely the latest in a series of similarly outrageous statements made by Matthews about her:
In 1999, amid speculation that she might seek a Senate seat, Matthews told viewers: "No man would say, 'Make me a U.S. senator because my wife's been cheating on me.' "
In 2000, he said: "Hillary Clinton bugs a lot of guys, I mean, really bugs people — like maybe me on occasion. ... She drives some of us absolutely nuts."
In 2005, when Clinton criticized the administration on homeland security the day after terrorist bombings in London, Matthews said: "It's a fact: You look more witchy when you're doing it like this."
During the campaign, he asked whether Clinton's criticism of Obama makes her "look like Nurse Ratched." He has said that "Hillary's loyal lieutenants are ready to scratch the eyes out of the opposition" and likened her to former Argentine first lady Evita Perón, "the one who gives gifts to the little people, and then they come and bring me flowers and they worship at me because I am the great Evita."
3) I would ask a more general question about whether the panelists think that the media helps shape the narrative of an election and thereby influences voters.
Wow Mahlers5th- I should just read your entire thing to them.. GREAT questions!
I got my tickets just now and it looks like I am right in the front, but they are not VIP :( but we'll see if I can catch them on their way out
How'd this turn out Sarah? Just curious.
it was really good actually! it was like watching a live version of Hardball, except way less annoying!
Chris Matthews was the moderator of course... His first question was on Hillary as SOS. A knot formed in my stomach because I was so worried this was gonna be really bad...
But everyone said just how great they thought she was and intelligent and complimented her and Obama for picking her. They were basically saying that Obama needed her and needed her intelligence and experience and that they completed eachother in a way...
Tucker Carlson said that he thought Hillary was the "toughest person in the world." The crowd laughed but he was being serious and told the crowd it wasn't a joke.
He said if there was ONE person in the world today that he would want sitting across from Ahmadinejad, it was Hillary. I thought that was pretty cool.
They talked a lot about different issues and I learned that Tucker Carlson is also pro-Gay Marriage! who woulda thought, right?
It's amazing that these media people criticize Hillary when she ran for president. Yet they all praise her as SOS. I guess as long as she's not running for the Nation's #1 job, she is likable.
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