Monday, March 2, 2020

Taking His Hardball and Going Home

In a bit of a surprise move, NBC's Chris Matthews quit his Hardball show at the beginning of tonight's broadcast:



To me, it has a real 'you can't fire me, I quit' vibe, as he faced public outrage over comparing Bernie Sanders' Nevada win to the Nazi invasion of France and criticizing Elizabeth Warren for believing a woman's allegation of sexual harassment by Michael Bloomberg. In my estimation, this day of reckoning for Matthews has been a long time coming. I mean, he has said engaged in some extremely problematic behavior toward his female colleagues:





The sexual harassment demonstrated in this clip isn't even the creepiest thing about it... the gaslighting is what gets my hackles up, the insinuation that there was a technical glitch which caused Erin Burnett to do a double-take, doubting her own perception of the circumstances of the exchange: "I'm going to have to look at the tape."

By leaving, Chris Matthews opens up a programming slot which could be occupied by a woman, or a person of color. He's made his pile of money... hell, NBC could hire a bunch of straight news reporters for what they were paying him. I'm a not-so-young straight white guy, and I can say that it's time to put the old guard out to pasture, and to let some younger, better-behaved folks have a chance to fix the broken aspects of our society. The fact that three septuagenarian white men seem to be the ones vying for the presidency doesn't exactly make me happy... Warren is seventy herself, but she seems like a product of a different age entirely.

2 comments:

M. Bouffant said...

Ain't that the troofe about Sen. Warren compared to the ancients. Sanders would be 79, Bloomie & Biden 78 on Inauguration Day. Eight or nine yrs. can make a hell of a difference. Or being born female & not moneyed, I s'pose.

Betcha Nicolle Wallace will get Tweety's slot, & maybe a person of color will get her slot.

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

Wallace would be a great upgrade. Just about anybody would be better. I'd prefer more reporters, not another 'personality'.