Chris Matthews on The Daily Show: "This Is The Worst Interview I've Ever Had In My Life!"

We're getting into a bit of a Chris Matthews habit, we admit it, but how are we supposed to resist when he insists on wearing his special pink tie? That's what he wore to last night's guest spot on "The Daily Show," where he chatted with John about his new book,"Life's A Campaign. Jon, as it turns out, is not a fan of the book's central conceit: That you should treat your life and the people in it as though you were running for office. Jon called it a "self-hurt book" but clarified to Matthews that "I'm not trashing your book, I'm trashing your philosophy of life." Well then, that clears that up! He also called it "a recipe for sadness." Viewing audience, rush out and buy it! Here's the full clip:

To his credit, Matthews remained cheerful and steadfast in his defense of his book, and its underlying message: That getting ahead takes more than just being a nice person and working hard (though that, one would hope, is part of it). Here's a snip from the book's Amazon page:

The big payoff in Life's a Campaign is what you'll learn about human nature:
• People would rather be listened to than listen.
  
• People don't mind being used; what they mind is being discarded.
  
• People are more loyal to the people they've helped than the people they've helped are loyal to them.
  
• Not everyone's going to like you.
  
• No matter what anybody says, nobody wants a level playing field.

Let Chris Matthews use you tomorrow night at the Hardball 10th Anniversary party in DC! It's at Decatur House.

Comments

[Balzac]

That's what Chris Matthew gets.

[DaisyZimmerly]

Matthews in unwatchable. He asks a question and then interrupts the guests reply before they can get more than four words out of their mouth. He does this constantly and he appears to be on speed. Rude son of a bitch.

[mamacat]

Any one else notice how the intelligent, decent people are turning away from the people who defend Bush and Co.?

[DaisyZimmerly]

I a couple of months you'll be able to find his book at your local flea market in the 25 cents bargain bin, and that will be overpriced.

[felixtkatz]

of course its the worst interview of his life. someone actually read his book before interviewing him and asked REAL and PROBING questions rather than bullshit nonsense. long live Mr. Stewart.

[Tiran]

Jon Stewart is just smart and asks the right questions. He can stand with very smartest of people and knock them dead. When he stands with lightweights like Chris Matthews, well, they get cut down to their puny size. That's all that happened here. Jon asked a very elemental question about Matthews' thesis, and he couldn't respond. Thank god someone is going to maintain standards. Matthews thought the show was going to be a lay-up, a powder-puff piece to bump sales for his book; he didn't realize that Jon and his audience actually insists on some substance -- which is apparently quite lacking in this book.

I remember when Jon KO'd William Kristol (who's no lightweight.) Kristol was trying to defend Iraq War II. Jon said we should have kept our army in Kuwait and never invaded. Kristol said, "You can't just keep an army there forever." Jon replied, "Yeah, that would have been expensive." Blink. That's all Kristol could do. He had no response. And in my book, case closed.

Thank you, Jon Stewart, for being the most effective member of the 4th estate.

[ang4ever]

I am trashing Matthew's book and his life's philosophy.
.
I hope this will be his last interview, and should teach him not to pursue writing books. Matthew's genre is a "has been".

.
Jon Stewart proved it so.

[givemycountryback]

Believe it or not, I used to Like Hardball a few years ago. But something happened and he fell in love with Bush Cheney and Rove. I really think he had a mental breakdown and is not quite balanced now. He comes up with off the wall questions and comments that have nothing to do with the topic. His guest just stare at him like what is he talking about. I can't watch him anymore. And he certainly is not a liberal or democrat.

[deedrdo]

this happened on monday or tuesday. huffpo is running a little slow today.

[MrsWakely]

I got news for matthew's "I won" take on the interview: he got his ass handed to him. He seemed stunned that stewart wasn't a "friendly" and gave matthews heaps of shit for espousing such a hollow, craven philosophy of life. I'm a matthews watcher because he gives it to bush with both barrels, but david shuster is the real deal: tough, but without the mathews nuttiness and occaisional WAY off the reservation head scratchers. they should dump tucker shit-bag ( is that too strong?) and give shuster his slot.

[Dandrea]

I too, MrsW, like to watch( as in to clinically observe) ChrisM. He's so unconscious that he doesn't know how awful he is.In his world he always wins.

I also think that David Schuster is a great thinker and a brilliant debater. And...
HE DOES NOT LIE. I only trust KO and Schuster.

[Tom95134]

I don't know what Matthews is bitching about. That segment on The Daily Show will sell more books for him that all the ads he could ever pay for in the NY Times.

[Nuzzy]

The ironic thing is that Stewart played 'harball' with Matthews the way Matthews *wishes* he could play it with the guests on his own show.

That would be 'check' and then 'mate.'

[longislandlol]

Happy 10th Anniversary Chris- Yeah Chris has undergone a metamorphosis- he seemed very pro-bush for a while- from hawkish- he now is completely a dove- he knows real politics means re-inventing yourself at times- to be more affable- he's O.K. - he gives as good as he gets--

[richw23]

When I actually saw the show, I noticed that when Jon pointed out it had all been said in "The Prince", Matthews says "Oh, it's better", the implication being, yes, it's like "The Prince", only better.

Then when not having values is a bad thing suddenly the book had values. So now, it's not better than "The Prince", it's different than "The Prince".

If confronted I'm sure he'd just blow it off with "It's different, and it's better", which is not the same as on the show.

I think the guy is de-evolving into a sex crazed lump of 'pudada'. Everytime he interviews an attractive woman it's innuendo-city. I wish at least one of the would go "eeew".

Maybe he thinks megalomania combined with cynicism (but with values) is attractive.

And that laugh. It's like if he doesn't have a reaction he just brays out a laugh. My 3 year old granddaughter does exactly the same thing when we tell her we like to hear her laugh. She does a fake laugh and we all think it's funny. With him not so much.

Does he even know it's fake. Is he that self-aware?

[serenegeezer]

richw23 is right on. Matthews is the King of Shallow.

[PaulDonaldson]

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