I’m not sure this hasn’t already been preempted/rescheduled in light of Mandela’s death, but Pareene’s take is amusing anyways:
Today, basic cable chat show host Chris Matthews interviewed President Barack Obama. The interview will air this evening at 7 p.m.. The president may say some interesting or newsworthy thing, but it is extremely likely that whatever airs tonight will be largely forgotten in a few months. Maybe even a few days. In nearly five years in office, all most people remember of President Obama’s various television interviews is the time he killed an insect.
In short, this interview doesn’t matter…You could claim, or try to convince the reader (or yourself), that a basic cable chat show host interviewing the president is massively important. This is what Politico’s Dylan Byers chose to do. His headline is, “Why Chris Matthews’ Obama interview matters”…
Sorry, no. Chris Matthews has served as a barometer solely of Chris Matthews, media figure (and, admittedly, an often delightful on-air presence). His politics have been inconsistent, shifting according to the mood at his channel. His main motivation has always been ensuring that Chris Matthews is on television and taken seriously. He represents, perhaps, in some small way, the intersection of the elite media and the progressive media — his debate freakout combined the Beltway obsession with the ephemeral and stylistic with a sort of progressive tendency to be operatically disappointed in the president — but that makes him even more of a sui generis figure. Not very many people in the country are remotely like Chris Matthews….
***********
Apart from pointing & mocking, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
Mustang Bobby
I wonder if they’ll bump it because of the death of Nelson Mandela. Oh, wait… this is Hardball, and Chris Matthews will never pass up a chance for self-aggrandizement even if he has to step on a grave to do it.
ranchandsyrup
Hanging out with my daughters while Mom does her Thirsty Thursday charity night. We’re gonna practice for B’s dance recital next Tues. Hanging up the “advent calendar” made of tiny socks (pic from last year) and doing some home made mac n cheese. Looking forward to it.
jeffreyw
Settling in for the snow that is now coming down at a serious rate. Mrs J made a peach pie that is cooling on the counter. I have ice cream. Ginger, the new guy, is learning that he is not to climb the cable tangle behind the credenza. He has the scare in on Katie. Jack, not so much.
Quaker in a Basement
(and, admittedly, an often delightful on-air presence).
Is there another Chris Matthews? The one on my teevee shouts and spits.
Elizabelle
Wondering if they taped this interview at George Washington U.
PBO making some good comments on healthcare; receptive audience.
Now on NSA.
ETA: It was American University in DC.
El Cid
Matthews is always so weirdly channeling his search for his latest political man-crush, his need to think he’s some sort of big picture ‘let’s all come together and do stuff’ thinker, his maudlin nostalgia for his various ‘Great Man’ encounters, and his weird sexism, I find it difficult to watch, and I fear that all will be on display here.
maya
Obama killed an insect? Wha, when, where was I?
Now, if a fly alights on Chris’ forehead – Go For It, Mr President.
feebog
Neighborhood Council meeting tonight. Since I have to chair, I have to show up. Should be a fairly easy meeting for a change. Our local gadfly will show up, try to disrupt things, and as usual, I will have to explain that he is not a board member and is therefore not entitled to make points of order, objections, or any other damn parliamentary motions. Gets tiresome, but at least I haven’t thrown a gavel at him. Yet.
Redshift
We’ve got tickets for the National Christmas Tree lighting tomorrow. I’ve never been, though I’ve lived here all my life. Should be fun as long as it doesn’t rain.
WereBear
We set up all the equipment I need for podcasting on one long table, at last, and I swear 3 year old Tristan has run his nose over every linear inch of every cable.
He’s been told he can step on the table surface, but NOT any equipment. Now he’s been showing off his ballet dancing.
shelly
Not to worry. Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow, Hayes….they all get repeated several times into the wee hours. I’m sure they’ll squeeze it in
*********
Besides for a cursory look, will not be watching Carrie Underwood in ‘Sound of Music’ tonight. ‘The Bishop’s Wife’ is on, for Lord’s sake!
different-church-lady
Are we actually sure about the second part?
NotMax
Been waiting patiently for an Open Thread.
Truly an awesome holiday wish list at Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Snowball’s chance, it must be acknowledged, but even one or two would be so welcome.
shelly
Not to nitpick, but whenever I’ve seen pix of the National Xmas tree, it always looks, well, not like a real tree at all. More like this perfect geometric cone. Maybe it’s the way they decorate it.
ranchandsyrup
Good piece on how Jonathan Martin did not fit the locker room stereotype for black athletes (but Richie Incognito did). Comments are derp-filled.
Roger Moore
Not much on the agenda tonight for me except for dinner and maybe some TV. My work has a big symposium on Antibody Engineering tomorrow, which should be interesting.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I had to turn it off when Tweety asked Obama to account for the decline in trust in the federal government.
Since 1964.
MomSense
My little guy just said “if it’s not going to snow I just wish it would be summer”. Snow pants and sleds and skis are ready to go but no snow.
After the rest of the interview with PBO we are going to drink hot cocoa and watch some Doctor Who.
Mike in NC
I look forward to hearing Tweety muse about the time Nelson Mandela met with the Gipper and they enjoyed a beer together.
Suffern ACE
@Roger Moore: hmmm. “Passive immunity: the overlooked benefit of the Solyent Green craze” could be interesting.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
At least Tweety isn’t rude like Chuck Todd.
Mnemosyne
Continuing my own personal sweatshop, making stuff for the holiday craft fair at work next week. Luckily (?), I ended up being sick the day of the fair last year, so I don’t have all that much to make. Still, I have lots of sewing in ends and other finishing work to do. Sigh.
Hal
@shelly:
Does Underwood have the musical chops to pull this off? Seems like there could have been better choices out there.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
I meant to ask you the other night what you are knitting.
RE: the interview. THANK FSM for Joy Reid. Can we just give her her own darned show already.
Josie
@Mnemosyne: There is always a point in a project like that when you ask yourself why in the hell you ever volunteered to do that.
Baud
@MomSense:
I hate the whole panel thing they’re doing.
Betty Cracker
Okay, I’m kinda drunk because the mister and I had a drinking game for Hardball involving 2 shots for every mention of JFK, etc. Thank dog they didn’t get to Tip O, or I’d be curled up in the fetal position clutching my liver! But PBO was awesome. Even my firebaggy hubby is re-convinced
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Listened more than watched, but the couple of times I turned around, it did seem that Obama, looking at Matthews, was thinking “What a putz.”
WereBear
Lawzy, how many did ya’ll have when you agreed to these rules?
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
What did you do when they showed the video clip of JFK’s speech?
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Shots of this?
MomSense
@Baud:
Would have been better to give the pres the full hour or let the students ask him questions directly.
@Betty Cracker:
It was probably a wise decision on my part to make tea my drink of choice tonight.
I always think that when we just respect the president enough to listen to him directly we hear a thoughtful, moral person with a strong sense of history and purpose. I don’t even recognize the president that the pundits portray. Obviously it is much worse on the right because they are vile and ridiculous.
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
Tiny mittens (gift card holder size) and sweater ornaments, mostly from Berroco’s Minutia patterns. I also made a whole mess of gift tags using scrapbook paper.
I could have sworn I had a stash of tiny mittens that I’d made last year, but I can’t find them.
@Josie:
Well, I do get to keep the cash I make selling them, but I’ll probably get about 5 cents an hour for my labor.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
Oh my goodness. I made a bunch of mini letter sweaters and stockings last Christmas so now I understand why you were complaining about dpns. I would rather knit giant sized cabled and seed stitch shawl collar cardigans than make more of those minis.
NotMax
@Mnemosyne
Roving trios of kittens sneak in during the night to steal them, as they are forever losing theirs.
Litlebritdiftrnt
Having weird electrical issues in my house, it appears that the two outlets that house the lights at the end of the house and the heater keeping the bird warm have blown. The rest of the house is fine, and no fuses have tripped so it is really baffling. Other than that I am pretty much fed up and getting ready to quit my job because my boss is being an ass. Of course I can’t quit my job because I can’t live without a paycheck for a week just kills me. I am screwed.
Villago Delenda Est
@different-church-lady:
Well, there was the comment about “delightful on-air presence” which is also utter crap, but Parreene is so utterly dead on target before the “and” in that sentence that I’m willing to overlook everything after it.
Tweety is another one of those icons of the Village that make destroying it, salting the earth where it sits, so necessary.
Jeremy
@Mike in NC: Actually he pointed out that Reagan supported the apartheid regime on Rev. Al’s show.
Josie
@Mnemosyne: I used to make soaps and lotions to sell at Saturday vegetable markets. I tried not to think about the hours that went into making, packaging and labeling. I just felt good if I covered my materials cost and made a small profit. You never make what your craft or art is worth, if you think of time spent.
Roger Moore
@Suffern ACE:
I’m actually looking forward to “Engineered Antibodies for Molecular Imaging in Oncology and Beyond” and “Cancer Therapy by T Cell-engaging Bispecific Antibodies”.
Elizabelle
@Hal:
I’m watching The Sound of Music and no embarrassments so far.
Really like the score. They’re sequencing some songs differently.
MomSense
@Litlebritdiftrnt:
Damn, I feel your pain on the job thing. I wanted to punch my boss in the nose today but I too need the paycheck.
cmorenc
How many times did Matthews interrupt or try to talk over the President, not letting the President finish a thought or sentence completely because Matthews thought he had something to start yapping about was so much more important than what his guests and interviewees were saying?
Matthews often provokes an urge in me to reach into the teevee or radio and slap the shit out of his mouth with a piece of rubber hose to make him shut up and quit interrupting his guests so rudely.
Elizabelle
@MomSense:
Maybe Joy Reid will get Martin Bashir’s slot?
I do wish he’d been suspended rather than resigned. Oh well …
Raindrops on roses and mittens on kittens …
Baud
@cmorenc:
He let the President speak. Say what you will about Matthews, he’s not going to be rude directly to the president.
NotMax
@Josie
True that.
Many moons ago, used to get booze money via a sideline refilling these candles for restaurants and bars too cheap to buy fresh ones.
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
The Berroco patterns are actually pretty good — for most of them, you knit flat and then sew them up. One year, I gave them to all of my co-workers and one co-worker’s wife was trying to reverse engineer them in very complicated ways. She was very relieved when I forwarded the patterns to her and she saw how (relatively) un-complicated most of them actually are.
@NotMax:
Mitten thieves! Actually, knowing me, I stashed them in a safe place that I was totally sure I would remember, even though that never works for me.
Mnemosyne
@Josie:
I’m re-using a lot of yarn from previous years and old recycled yarn, so at least I feel like most of my expense is the time, not the materials. I have semi-ambitious plans to make gift enclosures, but we’ll see if I get around to them.
Josie
@Mnemosyne: Well, I’ll think good thoughts for you for the week, hoping that you finish all that you want and that they sell out. I admire anyone who makes and sells their own crafts. It is not easy.
Josie
@NotMax: That is a creative idea for a sideline business.
NotMax
(spoiler alert)
In real life, the von Trapps fled by foot over no mountains. They went into the city, bought tickets and took the day train to Italy. The husband held claim to Italian citizenship by way of having been born there.
Baud
He shoots, he scores.
Mustang Bobby
The last time I saw “The Sound of Music” on stage was when I worked on it at the University of Miami in 1974. Ray Liotta played one of the Von Trapp boys.
It’s holding up pretty well.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@ranchandsyrup:
Link fail. I get an invitation to sign in to Yahoo.
MomSense
@Elizabelle:
Let’s hope.
CaseyL
I didn’t watch the interview. Did anyone say anything “interesting or newsworthy”?
Cain
I’m sorry that Martin Bashir got kicked out. Breitbart.com is celebrating it seemed there was a concentrated effort to kick him out by them. It seems really sad that a site that is currently throwing all kinds of bile about Mandela has the influence to kick out a reporter. MSNBC you suck.
danielx
Watching the snow come down…supposed to get nine inches by Saturday morning, looks like maybe three on the ground now.
@Villago Delenda Est:
This is true. Still recall Tweety practically drooling over W’s, um, package during that Mission Accomplished bullshit. Talk about plummeting to his knees in awe…disgusting.
ranchandsyrup
@Steeplejack (tablet): I forgot that I’m sponsored by yahoo. Or am a yahoo. Or don’t know how to link.
ruemara
@Litlebritdiftrnt: I feel your pain. All of it.
BD of MN
@Litlebritdiftrnt:
Sounds like your GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) could be tripped or bad, check the outlet and then check the wiring to your birdbath heater…