Ari Fleischer Battles Chris Matthews, Calls Him "Shameful" And "Disingenuous" (VIDEO)

In a clash between two of the loudest and most intrusive political talkers in the business, neither Chris Matthews nor former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer endeared themselves very well on Wednesday evening.

The segment on MSNBC's Hardball seemed to extend well beyond its allotted time, and there was no shortage of notable fireworks. Fleischer called Matthews "shameful" for suggesting that the Bush administration "blew it" on 9/11 -- because the attacks occurred under "your watch." He called MSNBC "disingenuous," ridiculed Matthews for asking only partisan questions, and asked whether the cable host twisted every guest's words.

Matthews, for his part, ridiculed George W. Bush for leaving office with one of the lowest presidential approval ratings in the nation's history, for creating an economic mess that President Obama had to clean up, and for leading a foreign policy based on "truly frightening" rationales.

Among the notable whoppers: Fleischer claimed that Obama should thank his predecessor for "inherit[ing] a world without Saddam in it."

But the final exchange may have been best:

Fleischer: "After September 11th having been hit once how could we take a chance that Saddam might strike again? And that's the threat that has been removed and I think we are all safer with that threat removed."

Matthews: "I'm proud that we no longer have an administration that uses that kind argument...and the American people are too."

Fleischer: "Well, Chris, we all know where you stand.

Matthews: "And you as well sir."

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Comments

[Akat1973]

I wonder if Ari Fleischer ever thinks about how many American soldiers we lost in Iraq. I wonder if he thinks about their families,their children. Well he is in an obvious state of denial and/or has no soul- so probably not.The way that he defends the bush-cheney admn.is offensive,sickening,and wrong.

[pfrogger]

Chris Matthews, who I think is a fairly average TV personality, completely missed the obvious question and this interview was nothing more than a ridiculous farce of opinion-based reporting.

What I would have asked: "Mr. Fleischer, you continue to repeat that the Bush administration has made America safer through their actions. How then do you respond to the National Intelligence Estimate on Trends in Global Terrorism: implications for the United States, circulated within the government in April 2006, which asserts that Islamic radicalism, rather than being in retreat, has metastasized and spread across the globe, cites the Iraq war as a reason for the diffusion of jihad ideology, and says that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse. In addition, certain actions by the United States government have stoked the jihad movement, like the indefinite detention of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.
(Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat - http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/world/middleeast/24terror.html)

Really, is it that hard? Is Chris Matthews just slow? Why is it that when real reporting must be done, we have to go to comedians like Jon Stewart and the the Daily Show take-downs?
MSM - Ridiculous, disgusting, and essentially useless.

[Jared15]

News should be better than just getting someone on air and shouting over them. Can anyone tell me one redeeming quality of today's "news" shows? I don't want to hear an interview about Bush, I want to hear one WITH Bush. Until that happens, stop dragging these clowns on air and screaming at them.

[ktal]

There *aren't* "two sides to every issue," and I'm pretty sick of hearing people attempt to defend entirely insupportable viewpoints by pretending that there are.

[R2D2-51]

I never gave much lip-service to programs intended to provide credible information, yet rengage in talking on top of each other ad infinitum. Its nothing more than silly prattle.

[sixx]

I believe the answer as to why Ari Fleischer continues to lie, can be found by finding out who Ari works for and who pays him to lie.

[Earthmover08]

The most disturbing parts of the dialogue were the arrogant and bellicose attitude of Fleischer. The manipulation of foreign policy by fear-mongering is sad. It was prevalent to some degree with every administration, but the Bush "policy" was reckless 1.) in making Russians to be villains and 2.) in preoccupation with Saddam. Those extremists in the Middle East who want to bring about an ultimate conflict welcome the opportunity to show the aggression and "weakness" of the West. George W. was a comforter, but mostly to the aims of those like Dick Chaney. Fleischer is attempting a revisionist campaign like they did for the Clinton Administration, but even Matthews has tried to resurrect the weak administration of Carter who gains some points because he picked up a hammer in retirement. (That might make him a good person to some people, but it has no bearing on his micromanagement, poor judgment in the Olympics decision, and misplaced decision on keeping the Iranian Embassy staff in country too long. He even manipulated the concept of lust to his own means.)

[Billpoch]

Ari worked for one of the biggest all time liar and cheats in history. What else would come out of his mouth but a pre-programmed distortion of the truth.

[knucklesmack]

Um, what exactly did Ari mean by "Saddam might strike 'again'?"

[ob4meor]

The way he spins his lies makes me dizzy! As I always say about the Bush administration - SHAME!!

[M1]

Chris was soooo nice and polite to Mr. Fletcher. Chris must have been feeling generous.

[William Sinister]

yes, he suppressed the rage.

Seriously during the 3 full seconds of silence and..."What?" after Ari drops the reflected insult...I seriously thought Chris was about to end the conversation there...afterwards, not so much.

Ari Fleischer is a spin twisting tool.

Yeah, he can talk, and Matthews and him can talk over each other back and forth until it gives me a headache, but at least Matthews recognizes the public interest and the immoral posing as moral stance that Ari and the Bush administration took.

Okay, Saddam and sons were evil bastards...but what does that make you Ari for saying Obama should be thankful that Bush and Co. had them (and thousands of others) killed?

[notanicegirl]

The Bush Goonies are on the move - sent out to set the stupid American public straight about their leader. It's called The Ship of Fools and they're headed to a talk show near you. The only thing shameful about Chris Mathews is that he didn't cut the feed three minutes into the show and send Ari on his way.

[oobatzcattlecall]

"Fleischer: "After September 11th having been hit once how could we take a chance that Saddam might strike again? "

Saddam didn't attack us on 9/11. To say so is a blatant lie that even bush recanted.

[greenmonk]

Seriously, why didn't Mathews call him on this?
Fleischer actually thinks he is still back in 2001 and the Big Lie is still working on Americans.

[William Sinister]

Yeah, Matthews should have been more on the ball, and hit back hard.

I think he was caught up in all the spin.

The 3 seconds of silence and "...What?" he did were an eternity in comparison to how much those two guys talked.

[DarwinAtWork]

So many lies... it's so hard to keep track of the mystical connections from A to B to C.

[Samalabear]

Watched five minutes and my blood pressure was rising, so I switched it off. I had the same experience watching Real Time with Bill Maher last night. Two talking heads -- one black and Democrat, a Dr. Dyson, and a Bushbot Republican named Breit-something, a real Rush wannabee, if I ever saw one. It was ugly, ugly, ugly. It's the first Maher Real Time broadcast that I never want to see again.

This is not news. It's not intelligent discourse. It's not even debate. It's just a grudge match -- the type of thing that people tune into Jerry Springer for, or Faux News. On the other hand I had watched Jon Stewart right before this and I laughed my ass off while hearing intelligent discourse.

Maher's show should be back to intelligent territory next week -- Keith Olbermann and Madeleine Albright will be on. No grudge matches.

[dawlishgal]

I had to shut off Maher too......It is especially difficult to watch a conservative hack come off about as well as a liberal who ought to have had something substantial to say.

[firelord5000]

Ya it was pretty bad, Dyson kept pretending how sweet and above rest of us he was since he went to PRINCETON and made Breit look normal, battle of the tools.