Chris Matthews Vouches For Black People's Work Ethic

On Friday's "Hardball" Chris Matthews discussed Hillary Clinton's comment about hard-working white people with Tucker Carlson and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. During it, he interjected to make a point about black people's work ethic. "Can I weigh in on this cause I'm the moderator? You get up in DC at 6 o'clock in the morning, you know who's waiting to catch the bus to go to work? Black people! They're up earlier than anyone else going to work for longer hours."

Comments

[longislandlol]

Chris means well-- do we sometimes feel a collective guilt at what happened going back to slavery?

[Alessan]

Yes, it's call white liberal guilt.

[YuryGetsin]

Would someone please tell me how it has come to be considered a bad thing?

[patmancando]

HuffPost's Pick

Personally I do not feel any guilt for what the US did decades ago to blacks. I grew up in a town in Iowa that had but one black family, whose son was elected president of his class in high school. I first met blacks, who were my peers in college...­two of them. I had black friends and met some that I didn't want to be friendly with, just as I met whites I didn't like. I have never felt they were anything but people whom I judged not on race, but as peers. One of the schools I attended was the U. of Michigan who was a leader in affirmative action, even taking it to the Supreme Court to have it continue. I do not need redemption for the treatment of blacks by my ancestors. If others do, it is perhaps because of their own interaction with them. As for Sen. Obama, I do not support his candidacy for president, not based upon his race, but because I think his resume' is very limited. He is bright and charismatic, and with time and experience he would probably make a good president, but that time is not now. He speaks of "the urgency of now", which I believe, but with the mess the Bush administration is leaving this country in both economy and world stature, he does not have the experience to restore our economy and our respect in the world,

[paganmist]

patmancando - I appreciate your response. It is to people like you that I offer this link:

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/2/20/11327/6329

Obama has less experience, but what he accomplished in that time rivals and outdoes what Hillary accomplished her entire time there.

I do not kid, I do not make this up.

If you'd like to see it for yourself, please do. There are links and resources there to verify everything. The guy you're calling "limited" in resume has accomplished more than Hillary in all of the time she has there.

Something to consider.

[xigxag]

I despise this whole "white liberal guilt" meme, something which has been conjured up by the (mostly) white liberal punditry. It's true -- this nation permitted some bad things to happen in the past to entire classes of our citizenry. It's all of our collective responsibilities to mitigate the effects of past discrimination, and to make sure it doesn't continue to happen in subtler form. It's in our own best interests going forward that there not be whole swaths of the nation that are disenfranchised from progress, that have to be supported in jail, whose minds go to waste instead of toward helping America compete. Guilt shouldn't motivate us, but our sense of justice and enlightened self-interest.

In his notorious "chickens" speech Jeremiah Wright said one thing that interested me that most people did not notice. He said, "we took Africans from their country to build our way of ease...we bombed Nagasaki..­.and we never batted an eye." Pointedly, he repeatedly said "we." He was not saying "whitey" did it -- he was speaking to an overwhelmingly black audience. He was including the blacks in his audience for bearing responsibility for the actions of this country because we (contemporary blacks) are citizens and taxpayers who benefit from America's prosperity, just as whites do. In that respect, Wright got it right. There's no white liberal guilt. Just American shame, and American responsibility to live up to the potential of a great nation.

[steamboat]

patmancando, good post !

Nor do I feel any guilt for what the US society did to many blacks. Why should I? I'm one of the 96% of American whites whose ancestors had nothing to do with the slave trade. Also, I judge everybody by their character and how they treat me. And having said that, "there are many blacks who are the biggest assholes I've ever been around. Then again, there are whites who are, also." Part of the problem, as I see it, is many of the guilt-ridden liberals in reality live in their vanilla neighborhoods. I live in a true melting-pot. As for Obama, I'm NOT for him. He's a TYPICAL Cook County democrat. Nothing more and nothing less. His resume--what resume?

[kentay305]

when will folks realize its not about race anymore...­its about the haves and the have-nots.­. they use racism to pacify stereotypes that are spewed through media of all sorts....

let me give you an example of the have and the have nots.....

the comedian paul mooney on his album masterpiece says....

its so hard for a black person to catch a cab.......­i might have to pay a white person to get one for me....

his jokes are racey but you get the picture...­.

[lizziethe3]

I was very disapointed in Hillary talking about the hard working class white american what a dumb thing to say.If Bill Clinton hasn't signed the Trade Bill that took my job and thousands of others left going to China/Mexico it would be a lot more working class american of all race.I think every vote is a hard working vote no matter what class your are in.And if Unite State think Hillary going to give us everything we want on a silver platter you can forget it.Hillary just want the White House back.
Liz North Carolina

[Alessan]

I thought the illegal immigrants were the hardest working, isn't that why the employers in this country
risk hiring them, and pretend they didn't know they were here illegally. Well, the real reason they are
hired isn't because they harder working but will do the job less than an american citizen will.

The AP story that Hillary was quoting about her chances of winning the general with the white working class, was just to let them know she realizes they work as hard as anyone else to make ends meet.
The group of people she was talking about, are usually ignored in this country, because they are
the working poor. The only candidate that spoke to that and went to talk to these people was John Edwards. I am sure if and when his highness Obama decides to grace them with his presence, he
will say the same thing. Are you Democrats here or not, find problems with McSame and move
on.

[dct1999]

The working poor are not exclusively white. Blacks, latinos, asians, native americans, recent immigrants of all background­s...it's a diverse group.

[deecee22]

Nice Try Chris (a show i rarely missed) until you joyously trashed Obama.
A lot, I mean a lot of the trashing and unequal time toward Obama, we will never forget.
Now you must call Hillary some of the same foul things you said about Rev. Wright. Hate is Hate Right?
We know you had to turn on Obama, but you didn't have to enjoy it so much.
We don't hear you saying; (Hillary has some explaining to do)

Chris we know racist statements when we hear them, weather it's Clinton or you

[maxwellinformed]

I too noticed a kind of FoxNews joy in Chris Mathews during the whole Rev. Wright/bitter period of Hardball. I was really disappointed.

[patmancando]

Actually I think CM, KO and others on MSM were trying to defuse the Rev. Wright issue, by discussing it in positive terms for Obama. They certainly weren't trying to help Hillary; MSM is infamous for its Hillary bashing pro Obama agenda.

[hank48188]

Obama is getting over 90% of the black vote. Hillary cannot say she is getting the working-class vote, the blacks all vote for Obama. However she does seem to get the working-class white vote. Make sure you also discount Obama's early wins when people still thought he was Tiger Woods, after they watch Rev. Wright in action they will be asking themselves how someone could go to this place for 20 years and give Rev. Wright $20,000 a year to help him poison his community.

[PTTY]

It was not Rev Wright, It was people like Hillary Clinton telling the World that American White People will not vote for another American because of the Color of His skin.

It was Slavery,
CONSTANTLY BEING CALLED THE N--WORD
LYNCHING OF BLACK PEOPLE,
CASTRATING OF BLACK MEN,
BURnING OF BLACK CHURCHES
KILLING OF BLACK CHILDREN IN THOSE BURING CHURCHES
BURNING OF CROSSES TO INTIMIDATE
WHITE MEN IN WHITE SHEETS, HOODS KILLING BLACK PEOPLE
SIGNS SAYING WHITE'S ONLY
ADS SAYING WHITE'S NEED ONLY APPLY FOR JOBS
HAVING TO SIT AT THE BACK OF THE BUS
CALLED BOY, GAL, UPPITY, KNOW YOUR PLACE
CALLED EMPTY SUIT, EMPTY HEADED, NO BRAINS STUPID, DUMB LAZY
ETC. THEY STILLED LOVE AMERICA.

Hillary PROVED Wright's point racism in America and Hillary SAYS White Americans will not vote for Obama'S SKIN COLOR

Have the Catholics left the Catholic Church due to the MOLESTATION OF OUR YOUNG BOYS?

DID THE AMERICANS LEAVE AMERICA Due to the Racist Hate? White people will not VOTE for a Black Man. Blacks have voted for WHITE MEN and did not vote for JESSE JACKSON, SHIRLEY CHISHOLM, REV, SHARPTON, ETC.

Blacks were not voting for Obama until Bill Clinton played the CODED Race Card IN SC

Blacks know our Code words

Please tell the truth about Rev. Wright Blacks did not learn this from him, OBAMA IS TRYING TO CHANGE AMERICA FOR THE BETTER FOR ALL.

Hillary is living in the Old School of racism. It is sad to see.

[Charmed]

I wonder how people are still Cahtolics.­...after all those sex scandals there is NOWAY I would stay in a church that protects people who abuse kids. How could someone still be in Rev. Hagee's church....­...he felt no sympathy for the people in New Orleans because it was god's punishment to the gays.

[JuniorBug]

Who knows. Maybe that was good for some segment of his audience to hear.

[gladys46]

this is the "stuff" Hillary needs to get votes?? Gee, Africans were drug here in chains by very evil white men -- our ancestors were physically removed from their own homelands to WORK HARD, YES HARD for white women, their children and their men -- we were the LABOR -- FREE LABOR!!

Hillary, deployed her husband to rual america, beneath radar to polarize once again this nation rationally - this was working for her for awhile -- African Americans knew it all along -- you see, we've grown, we know all the codes - Hillary and Bubba should have watched more intently "roots" - specifically "chicken George"!

We know - and we must tell our children the whole story - it's painful but we are given no choice - Racism albeit demonstrated by a former President of the free world - his wife!!

[patmancando]

Do you really believe the Clintons are racist? Or is it merely the reality that she, as a woman.
might prevent you from having the first black nominated to run for president? I can understand the feeling of the 'urgency of now' and the pride felt by blacks in this country. I don't understand why you all feel you must destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton, who have a history of being sensitive to black problems and have tried to help them. If Sen Obama is as great as you and the MSM think he is, he could have earned and won the nomination on his own merits. His surrogates did not have to play the race card and blame it on the Clintons.

[TheSecularist]

Let's put a stop to this notion that ALL black people loved the Clintons. This one did not. They were simply the lesser of evils. I don't know if the Clintons are racist and don't care. What matters is ones actions. Hill and Bill proved themselves to be selfish a long time ago. I'm sick and tired of hearing that Bill and Hill did a lot for black people. What? What did they do specifically for blacks? Come on... Name it! What did they do?

[clyde44]

Dear patmancando, the real question isn't wether or not the C's are racists, the issue is that they are willing to split the country in pieces, hoping to pick enough pieces to win the nomination. I personally think that ALL AMERICANS harbor some racism as a result of our society. What we should expect from our "leaders" is an effort to bridge gaps, not attempt to exploit them for political gain, only to later say"I didn't mean it that way". Once the seeds of racism are planted, they don't need attending to grow. The Clintons play subtle race cards on the very people who put them in power in the first place. We all see how easy it is for them to throw someone under the bus when they no longer serve a purpose(Rev. Wright was good enough to consel Bill after Monica) not they are throwing the black race under the bus...Even if by some miracle she won the nom, no sane black person would vote for her after she so easily dismissed them...Ple­ase go away now, while some people still respect you.

[Syco]

just when i was just starting to respect him

[Namtillaku]

You were?

[brooklyncitizen]

His intentions were honorable and we cannot dissect everything to find a bad intention. It's a little wack, but wo what. What is disconcerting is Hillary's statement.­..it's like she and Bill have come out of the closet and finally announced what they REALLY think of black Americans. All this time, closetted bigots.

[filo]

That was mighty white of him.

[robXdion]

Yes it was considering most media pundits find ways to take shots at blacks every news cycle under the guise of being informative.

[proletariatprincess]

Why is this news? Common, Huffpo...y­ou can do better.

[agandia]

The implication is that black people are all up early to work service jobs... bottom line is we have to stop making comparisons about people in relation to race.

[txfriend]

Agreed! I haven't seen real news on Huffpo since the end of the Scooter Libby trial. Recently, Dick Cheney's chief of staff was subpoenaed to testify in the torture investigation- of course you won't hear about that here since it has nothing to do with bashing clinton or celebrities.

[ilias]

why? because it's true in a way that's revealing about the racism in this country?

this entire pandering to hard-working middle class _white_ america isn't identity politics, it's racist

[foufou]

Huffpo could of course tell us about Rob Lowe's legal probems or Star Jone's feud with Barbara Walters. From my perspective, this comment was newsworthy and I'm glad that Huffpo captured it. I am also glad that Matthews attempted to debunk the notion that only white americans are hardworking.

[Nommo]

Thank god for small favors.