Chris Matthews Hammers Vets For Freedom Rep Over Iraq Withdrawal

MSNBC's Chris Matthews hammered Vets For Freedom representative Pete Hegseth over Iraq PM Nouri al-Maliki's call for a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq. Echoing comments that In 2004 McCain said that he would leave Iraq if the Iraqis asked the Americans to leave. Watch Hegseth hemm and haw over the issue today:

Comments

[VivaZapata]

although justification for staying is indefensible, the most interesting part of this segment is how obvious the right wing is with regards to reliance on talking points. the reason pete falters is that his thinking depends on the repetitious nature of what's been fed to the media over and over. not a big fan, but kudos to matthews.

[swift goat pet for truth]

This Vets for Freedom group.

I did not notice any minorities. No Blacks, No Hispanics. No Asians. Just Caucasians.

I can think of several messages from this, none of which I find appealing.

[robiform]

You are correct--I was wondering if this was the same group that made the McCain ad? You know, the one about "the surge is working, stay the course, blah, blah, blah".

Last night's "Hardball" was right up there with the Kevin "I don't know what the word 'appeasement' means" Jackson show! Very well done, Chris, and PLEASE--next time you have ANY of the so-called pundits on the show (especially the Bush apologists), call them out on their "facts"!!

[ROBOT8]

CHRIS HAS NEVER BEEN IN THE MILITARY.....HE NEEDS TO SHUT UP!!!!

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

So then Bush and Cheney should shut up.

[PLUMPLUM]

Thank you KQSK. Condoleeza too.

[rabbi79]

You seem to forget that Bush heroically volunteered to defend Texas from the Vietcong.

[aznurse]

So, only citizens who have been in the military have a right to voicing their opinion?

[vinny]

Chris is kind of an idiot. Would have liked to have heard more about the status of troops negotiation that Pete probably didnt know that much about. Maybe if Chris had a conversation with his guest rather than acting like a blathering nimrod he'd uncover some insights about what Bush is trying to do here at the end of his reign.

[oberon123]

Why dont you go enlist and take the place of one of our soldiers in Iraq. He/she gets to come back home, we get rid of an idiot. Win win situation. Darn, I FORGOT TO TYPE IN CAPS. AH WELL.

[Tommygun264]

Chris Matthews is an irritating sexist boob, but even a broken clock is correct twice a day - this is one of those times.

[chronic]

He's irritating when he calls out the lies of the right wing liars? Yeh right!

[Tropiholic]

same goes for all you right wing loud mouthed chickenhawks !

[TrueIndy08]

awesome show today... Hegseth looked like the complete and utter idiot that he is!

[LiberTLover]

Every time that guy mentioned how the surge was working, I was waiting for CM to mention that the lower violence level is far more likely attributable to the $30 million a month the military is paying the 100,000 former insurgents now fighting alongside the US troops. The very same insurgents who were responsible for maiming and killing the friends of those US soldiers before the payola from BushCo every month. And just recently, we found out that the Iraqis are so trustworthy that the US military has to spy on them. What a terrible position the poor troops have been put in, they are fighting alonside men who are being paid by their own military that they cannot even trust to have their back. Yeah, the surge is working like a charm. The $30 million surging every month, that is.

[mamacat]

Paying the Iraqis not to kill our soldiers, and each other, seems to be working.
By the way, $30 million/month, for ten years, comes to $3.6 billion, or less than what we are throwing away every two weeks right now.
The next president needs to keep up the bribes to the Iraqi militias, so we can take Blackwater, our troops, and our money out. We would still be way ahead monetarily from where we are today, and there would be no more troops coming home in body bags, hidden away from public view by executive order.

[Marlyn]

Republicans don't want to provide welfare to poor Americans, while at the same time they propose keeping the entire nation of Iraq on welfare? WTF?

[BayAreaResident]

Getting the job done is when the last drop of Iraqi oil is sucked out of their ground and sent to the west. Fool, i should add :) But essentially that's what it is all about, and we all know that.

[scouserinlondon]

In a nutshell

[markkraft]

All this shouldn't be news... Iraq's Parliament told us they wanted us to leave last year. Maliki has actually tried doing an end run around Iraq's fragile democracy by trying to avoid formal treaties that the Parliament would have to approve, but parliament put its foot down on this issue. As a result, Maliki knows that he has to pay attention to them for a change, or risk losing power.

Here's the link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/10/AR2007051000387.html

[markkraft]

Truth is, Iraq's parliament told us to leave last year.

... and Maliki, anti-democratic little toad that he is, has been bypassing them, playing games with the new Iraqi constitution, and trying to avoid any formal treaties with the US, as *ALL* such treaties must be approved by the parliament, who he knows would insist upon US withdrawl.

For Maliki, his ideal treaty is one that his own parliament doesn't get the choice to ratify or not... so it tells you something about how much trouble he is in politically if he suddenly starts acting like parliament actually matters.

[CalGoldenBear]

Under our battered-by-Repubs Constitution, The Shrub would be required to submit any U.S.-Iraq treaty to the Senate for ratification.

That's probably why the Bushies have been trying to avoid entering into a formal treaty by going in the backdoor with a Status of Forces Agreement or SOFA instead.

So it's not only Maliki playing games with the Iraqi constitution. BOTH The Shrub and Maliki are playing games with their respective constitutions.

[inthecolour]

Good stuff.

[neesy08]

i saw this show today. reminded me of when he had kevin "appeasement" james on his program

[LettuceB1]

I want to live in McBushland too.

Weeeeeeeeeeeee, look at me I'm spinning...weeeeeeeeee

LOL

[Kimberly46]

LOL gotta love Chris ...

But what gets me is Malaki started talking about US troupes leaving about 2 weeks after some people in the US Senate started asking questions about when Irak would start paying for their own stuff.

I remember this being asked a lot around the time General Petreaus came to answer some questions.

They are asking that we leave, imagine that ...

Feels like we did so much for them, they have what they want so now get out.

Guess I'm being paranoiac.

In any case, Senator Obama has always been right on this subject.

Kimberly

[TheAdviceWeAllNeed]

After I watched this earlier I just knew this would make it on the Huffington Post.

[YenNguyen]

Seems like Pete is profiting (like Halliburton) from having our military in Iraq. This is the most plausible explanation for why he's willing to sacrifice more soldier's lives and livelihood. It helps him get rich. He had an opinion piece in the Wall St Journal several months ago supporting the Iraq war.

[jamrck]

This is Chris at his finest. If only the rest of the media would wake up and stop treating the American people like we are morons. Time to start holding McCain accountable.