Chris Matthews Admits: MSNBC Bosses Were "Basically Pro-War"

In a speech at Harvard's Institute of Politics on Monday, Chris Matthews admitted that MSNBC bosses were "basically pro-war during the war." The remark came in a larger discussion of top-down editorial control at the network — of which Matthews claimed there was none, citing the fact that many of his bosses supported Hillary Clinton while he has been very vocal for Obama.

His full statement, in response to a question whether MSNBC officially supports Obama (via Politico's Michael Calderone):

"Well, it's not official." (LAUGH) "Well, I don't think Joe Scarborough has. And I don't think Tucker Carlson did. And Keith does his thing. He does his thing--it's something and it's very successful. I do my thing. I don't think that's true. I think... my sense is that everybody that lives in New York is for Hillary. The people I work with--all my bosses--seem to be for Hillary. I just sense it. They don't actually say it, but there's no sense from the top I can tell you that it's pro-Obama.. by any means. That's not what I get. And it was basically pro-war during the war.. the bosses were. And I was up against that. And if there's anybody telling me to push Obama, I haven't heard it yet. And by the way, they're so fickle.... but there seems to be a New York thing about Hillary. Just the people from... it's like the Yankees and the Mets... it's their thing. You know? It's Hillary. You know? And I feel it. I find it. It's hard to figure sometimes. But I don't know who you are talking about. I know who you are talking about."

As revealed in the New York Times Magazine profile of Matthews by Mark Leibovich, Matthews idolizes NBC News Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert like an older brother:

Tim -- as in Russert, the inquisitive jackhammer host of "Meet the Press" -- is a particular obsession of Matthews's. Matthews craves Russert's approval like that of an older brother. He is often solicitous.

In her new book Right is Wrong, Arianna Huffington critiques the media for being too compliant with administration policy during the run-up to war, and she particularly lays into Russert, saying, among other things, that he helped pump up the terrorist panic:

Take Tim Russert, whose July 1, 2007, Meet the Press interview with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was about as priapic a display as you're ever likely to see outside of a porno film or the monkey cage at the zoo, with Russert desperately trying to get Chertoff to pump up the panic meter...You could almost hear the blood rushing to his loins--and the palpable sense of deflation when Chertoff refused to stroke his fantasy

Comments

[VivaZapata]

i once saw matthews in a very animated conversation with a stranger (to him) at the farmer's market in union square. at least he's willing to get out there amongst the people instead of making assumptions from an enclosed studio room with no sunlight coming in.

[digoweli]

I archived a lot of the early Matthews articles about Bush and the war. He was never anti-war on the air. Like Bill Clinton it was all in his mind but neither decided to let us in on it at the time. Some of the early interviews of women that were critical of the U.S. were even worse. His interview of the female author of the Rape of Nanking was disgraceful and ignorant. The only thing that saved him was the non-ethnic look with the blond hair and boyish demeanor. Coming from an ethnic background where the media taught us think of the blond look as some kind of superior entitlement it was a surprise to realize that Matthews suffered from the dumb blond syndrome that so many of the women escaped. He should take a lesson not from Russert but from the tenacity of the Blond Clinton. However after the Mark Penn story, what are we to think of Hillary and her hair color? My wife's a blond but she's not dumb. Could it all be about hair coloring? Humm! Digoweli

[linaya]

Hillary is a natural brunette. Her blond comes out of a bottle, and perhaps Matthews' stupidity also comes out of a bottle.

[cemlo2]

In otherwords, ratings at the expense of the lives of our brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers and sons and daughters. Good journalism and national loyalty.

[mellene]

Pro-war! Boy, this country's CEOs have gone to the dogs. When will the media be once again independent of the hideous views of these war-mongers.

[VivaZapata]

how about: not as long as the media is corporate controlled.?

[PLUMPLUM]

And the bottom line is that Matthews and the rest all work for a company - somebody pays them. They can't speak their minds. They are just a bunch of cowards; puppets on a string. I wonder how thy don't get confused - today Republican, tomorrow Democrats, today Hillary, tomorrow Obama. I guess that is why they must have the producer whispering in their ear at all times to keep them on track. That tells me that they don't even believe what is coming out of their own mouth.

[Marlyn]

"they don't even believe what is coming out of their own mouth."

Of course not.

[BMBTHC]

New Yorkers are for Clinton? Perhaps at MSNBC studios, but I don't feel it downtown. Even further downtown (Wall Street) she appears to have had a resurgence since Dodd dropped out. They seem to trust the Clinton name, good for profits I presume. But the financial crowd is hardly New York City... unless you see the world as the host of HardBalls. Go above 104th st.....
And it is no surprise that people who stand to profit from a big story would be for war... any war. Eisenhower's military-industrial complex includes G.E., which owns MSNBC. The entire corporation benefits from war, every branch.

[BushBites]

Love hearing Tucker Carlson referenced in the past tense.

Go away, bow tie boy.

[Nonamnesiac]

They still are. Once their cheerleading for war based on Administration arguments they knew were lies caused the quagmire we're in now, they simply changed their argument to be that "even though we oppose the war, we cannot leave irresponsibly and must remain indefinitely." And they sold that lying BS to most of the antiwar movement and even to Obama and Clinton.

We need to immediately, safely withdraw all US troops and contractors. It took us 6 weeks to march in against an actual army and government. We can get out within 6 weeks with nary a casualty. This is not Vietnam. There is no North Vietnamese army backed by Soviet bloc arms and China on the border of North Vietnam. The insurgents have no such ability to inflict casualties if we're leaving, as we have the Sixth Fleet right off of Iraq's coast.

McCain and the right will successfully argue that if we follow Clinton's and Obama's plan (they both want to keep troops in Iraq at reduced levels) US casualties will increase, as we had fewer troops in there until the surge and had greater US casualties. Only by getting out will there be peace and security.

As a result of Bush, the Democrats, the media and stupid anti-war people opposed to immediate, safe withdrawal, every US life and limb lost in Iraq has made Iran stronger and the US weaker. Every day we're there keeps that up.

[tathagat]

As John Pilger described scribes as 'functiona­ires'/func­tionaries.­.. pushing the official truth for their daily bread...

BTW GE & Microsoft so busy @ war mongering that they can't even make display screens of the Numbers Tim showed, hand written on a white board...

"The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity — much less dissent.

Of course, it is possible for any citizen with time to spare, and a canny eye, to work out what is actually going on, but for the many there is not time, and the network news is the only news even though it may not be news at all but only a series of flashing fictions..." — Gore Vidal, The Decline and Fall of the American Empire

[Ramus]

GE, owner of NBC/Universal, makes engines for warplanes. The media conglomerates need to be broken up with anti-trust legislation..again. It is insane that media companies are allowed to have connections to larger companies that profit from war. If you think about it a bit you can see why the gigantic companies that profit from wars..should be kept away from owning..the public's airwaves. But woe be to a candidate who would speak of this during a campaign (Howard Dean did and they targeted him and they got him with an enhanced "scream" that drowned out all the other voices in the room). So a candidate who holds that the MSM needs to be put back into the control of the people would be wise not to mention it..yet.

[Trinidad707]

They forgot to mention Obama is a member of CFR and the new world order corporate memberships include Haliburton of Dubai, exxon,Fox News,Merck, Chevron...­etc..etc..­etc

[nyboomer]

You also need to consider that Obama probably moved to chicago because Al Capone used to live in the area and he was hoping to channel him in his quest for world domination.

[Durango]

Al Capone was a Muslim?

[Antacid]

I love it how RP fans just assume everyone knows what CFR stands for, and that it's something bad. I have no idea.

[Marlyn]

What's RP?

[rcpmac]

Gaud daaamn Tim Russert

[CAPTAINSKIPPY]

Pro-War as in "aren't we good patriots" or as in "war is good for the economy"? Might help to have the details in place so history doesn't repeat this disaster soon (think Iran).

[dax49]

this story assumes that matthews still has any relevance

[Rog49Thomas]

Wow, what a revelation!

I never would have guessed from the pre-war coverage in the MSM that there was even a scintilla of pro war bias.

[AdamND]

I can see why the msm only cover wright and totally ignores and has a hard on for john mccain.