Hardball Celebrates Ten Years Onscreen (But Not Online)

Happy Anniversary, Hardball! Chris Matthews looked pleased as punch last night talking about the show's last decade and introducing the memory-lane clip reel. Aw! In spite of the fact that he told the ladies on The View that he thinks the biggest election issue is the fact that a woman is running (really? Not, say, the Iraq war?), I couldn't help but feel myself come around to him a bit, just as he said he couldn't help finally coming around to respecting Hillary after all these years (hey, Leon Weiseltier, that nagging housewife thing DOES work!).

The clip reel was fun — lots of lively moments featuring people like Al Gore, George Bush, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Al Sharpton, Donald Rumsfeld (actually smiling!),
Ahnold Shcwartzenegger, John Kerry (it was a clip of him speaking - as long as any other clip, but still, it was cut off), Robin Williams, Mike Gravel, the famous Ann Coulter-Elizabeth Edwards phone showdown, and Zell Miller lookin' mad ("I wish we lived in the days when you could challenge a person to a duel"). There were also a few (sorta random) "happy anniversary" wishes — Sam Waterson, Mia Farrow, Michael Moore, Bill Richardson — plus two impressions: Ben Affleck's (whose was pretty good), and Darrell Hammond's gold standard ("Stick around, I'm gonna go outside and shout at cars! You're watching hardball"). All sorts of fun.

So! Ten years! A big deal, right? You'd think it would occur to them to mention it on, oh, THE HARDBALL WEBSITE. Which at the time of this writing shows absolutely zero evidence of any sort of anniversary anything at all. The Hardball video clips from last night's show are on the site, but sadly I can't direct your attention to the lovely anniversary mélange shown last night because that's not online, either. Matthews' last "Hardblogger" entry was last Wednesday. People, show some pride! Ten years! Don't make Chris celebrate alone.

By the way, I should note that I DVR'd Hardball last night not because I knew that it was such a big week on the show, but because I wanted to see Matthew's treatement of the Hillary Laugh story. I thought David Shuster's segment was very fairly done and thought Mike Allen and Drew Westen were good and illuminating guests to have. Chris disagrees with me that "cackle" has feminine connotations; Allen preferred the more gender-neutral "guffaw." But Chris really did say on The View that the biggest issue in the upcoming presidential campaign was the fact that a woman was running. Hopefully it won't take ten more years to bring him up to speed. Happy anniversary, buddy!

Related:
Chris Matthews Is So Evolved! "Do You Find It Difficult To Debate A Woman?" [ETP]

Comments

[kroses98]

Although Chris Matthews has been almost pleasantly tolerable these past few months, we do have to remember that he is partly responsible for the cabal presently in the White House. Through 2 elections, he continuously reminded us how wonderful it would be to have Bush to our homes for a beer, and he let us know how horrible Gore and Kerry were. Is he having "second thoughts," or is he jealous of Keith Olbermann's ratings and salary? You be the judge of that, but I still do not trust a man who invited Laura Ingram as his guest only a few weeks ago, and who devoted an entire show to Ms. "Bitch Coulter!" "Trust" must be earned, and Matthews has not yet earned mine!

[PKSSK]

Ditto!