Chris Matthews Thinks Health Care Reform Is Being "Hung Up By The Left"

On this evening's edition of Hardball, Chris Matthews hosted Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele, and the two men proceeded to have the following preposterous conversation:

STEELE: Excuse me. What about the left wingnuts who won't let the President get his agenda through? What about all the left wingnuts that are the reason we don't have health care right now? You have 60 votes in the Senate. You have a 78-seat majority in the House and I don't see anyone talking about the left wingnuts who are stifling the health care for my mother, my family and my community. Don't give me the name calling. That was a political process. Now we are talking real things here when you talk about the Democratic Party the division is real because we don't have health care. The division is real because we have --

MATTHEWS: Interesting. The President would be better off if he didn't have a left and he could push a more moderate health care bill.

STEELE: I don't know. That is the choice the Democrats have to make. I'm embracing my party, I'm embracing--

MATTHEWS: You are making it for me. You are saying something smart. That the President of the United States has to make a tough discerning decision to find the kind of bill that will pass and pass it instead of being hung up by his far left?

Yeah. Not only is that not "something smart" to say, it is a rivetingly dumb thing to say and Matthews has nary a fact on hand to support his cosigning of Steele's contention.

I'll concede Steele's point that the significant majorities the Democrats enjoy in both the House and the Senate make the Republicans irrelevant to the health care discussion. But there's a reason you don't hear "anyone talking about the left wingnuts who are stifling the health care." It's because there are no left wingnuts stifling the health care bill!

Just as an example, here, once again, are the Senators who are doing more than anyone else to stifle the health care reform bill. They include such luminaries as Joe Lieberman, Olympia Snowe, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Kent Conrad, and Blanche Lincoln, and there's nary a "left wingnut" among them! The facts are these: the progressive membership of both houses have been nothing but accommodating to the health care process. From Jump Street, the legislators to Obama's left willingly bargained away the single-payer health care system they favored in order to lend unified support behind a reform package that was more sellable to moderate Democrats and Republicans. They ended up uniting behind the "public option," only to discover that President Obama wasn't willing to say much in praise of that idea other than to say, "Yeah, sure, that public option thingy would be neat, I guess?"

The sum total of progressive obstructionism came when a progressive bloc in the House of Representatives briefly let it be known that they would not support a bill that did not contain a public option. Did health care reform get "stifled" in the House as a result? No! The bill that will be sent forth for a vote contains a public option! So, what has the "left" stopped from happening, exactly? Meanwhile, the Senate's reform bill waters down the public option still further, into the "opt out" version. So, once again, progressives have given ground, have done nothing but accommodate the process, and in the end they may be asked to give still more ground, to get a watered down version of the health care bill that Obama sometimes says he wants, depending on which way the wind is blowing.

And really, having given ground on the matter three or four times already, how could anyone object to "the left" refusing to bargain away anything further? Let's remember, public option supporters are reflecting the will of a vast majority of the American people. You really cannot pretend that 55-75% of the country is a "wingnut fringe."

Chris Matthews is supposed to be some sort of shrewd and meticulous chronicler of political reality, but if he really thinks Steele is offering a smart idea, he needs to have his head examined. There is not one single shred of reality to back up Matthews' contention that the "left" is gumming up the health care reform process. That is what we call a "nimrod fantasia." But let's call the ball where it lies: Chris Matthews doesn't really care about reporting political fact, he cares about pleasing Michael Steele with enough adequacy so that he'll return to his show to share more of his so-called wisdom.

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Comments

[kreardon]

I like him and understand that he, like anyone who has a weekly television show, occasionally puts his foot in his mouth.

[jackbutler5555]

When HP does a story on just about any television personality, folks here dump all over them. Nobody is live and let live here. Folks don't want to hear anything other than total congruence with their own opinion. Since that's obviously and absolutely not possible, these blogs be come meat thrown into the cages of hungry beasts. Except for Rachel, there isn't a TV person I could name on Fox, MSNBC, and CNN who most folks here aren't ready to beat up. Rachel also gets her share of bruises, just not as many.

[Raul Garcia]

Jason, the majority of these political talking heads are members of the establishment they are supposedly reporting on, this is why rarely watch them, and I am thankful for your Sunday morning round up.

Now it's time to get back on the phone and hound my representatives. If I had dog and lived in their neighborhood it would pooping on their lawns at least once a day.

[diablo08]

I have, for a long time, wondered at Chris Mathews's views on issues that affect the daily lives of people. He seems more right of center and has conflicting philosphies. It was disgusting watching him suck up to Tom Delay when that neo-con decided to quit and Mathews grovelled for his appearance on his show. Since then he has got steadily worse and even his show makes no sense as he is constantly interrupting his guests, as if only he knows it all and everybody else is dumb. Boy!! does he have an ego?? His ego is so big he is still fretting from the time Jon Stewart correectly told him that he (Mathews) had a problem with the philosophy of life. Of course Mathews was trying to advertise his ridiculous book at the time. Thank God for the likes of Ed Schultz, Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow, not forgetting Lawrence Odonnell who tell it like it is and don't have a problem calling Republicans out for distorting the truth, which is constant these days.

[elp37]

Not only have the Democrats in the house, not held up the bill, they've thrown everything in the Republicans wanted.

The scariest so far - because no one has been talking about it - that about half of those the house bill extends coverage to (20,000,000) will be forced into Medicaid. That's right Medicaid - Not Medicare. And Medicaid has forced enrollment. Read the bill. The language says Mandatory Enrollment for all eligible.

Thus if you don't make more than 150% of the poverty rate - more than $25,000 per person - theoretically you can be auto-assigned a medicaid managed care plan and doctor : ) yippee

You know Medicaid is run by the private insurance industry - they are paid per person by the state for each enrollee. This was a gift to AHIP - and you won't hear one Republican complain.

Medicare - for - all (who choose it) is the only possible way to go. THe public option is an extension of Medicare. It is a single payer system. And it does have a chance at getting through both houses - still.

I agree with someone below about the Matthews/Steele interview - sarcasm? maybe - giving-in? probably not. Chris, is a gullible guy. He is often easily swayed - and then somehow over night seems to right himself.

Still, I did write him yesterday to say he'd not been prepared for Steele.

[cornelison]

I don't watch his show that much. His voice is not only annoying but his show has an outdated tone. He's a windbag who deserves to be replaced. Why not put him on MSNBC earlier in the day and replace him in prime time by someone else???

[christopherflynn]

I agree totally. I believe he thinks his "fecal material" doesn't stink...

[JerryAguy]

He seems like a fast talker to me so I don't watch the show too much. I heard somewhere he was talking about his tingly leg and it would be hard to watch the show and not think about that. I mean you don't say that about another man, at least not some years ago, now maybe I'm a little old fashioned but I don't no way see Walter Cronkite saying that kind of thing.

[dbailey]

Sorry, I have to agree. The only ones really stalling healthcare is our very own blue dogs. If it weren't for them, we could have passed anything we wanted. If their job to legislate. If they would have put a single payer bill on Obama's desk that fit his most important parameters, he would have signed it. The Dems have had nothing to get behind for eight years and we have just a couple of "us" who just can't get behind it. I could understand if their constituents were against it, it's their job to represent them. But they're not. They're in the pockets of the ins industry

[MicheleCA]

Blue dogs aren't what I consider the Left.

[pissedmichael]

I watch Matthews, but I am not a Matthews fan. I watch his show for the same reason I watch Olberman intermittently: to glean as much truth as I possibly can from the diatribes. It's my opinion that there is more fact supported truth than on many other programs, with the outstanding exception of Rachel Maddow, who is in a class by herself. But, Matthews? Frankly, I find his guests more informative and relevant than he is. He drives me crazy with the 'endless' question style of interview with which he so often indulges himself. I can't remember who the individual was he questioned the other day, but that person's reply was illustrative of Matthew's self-important view of himself: 'Was that a question Chris? Or, were you telling a story?' Words to that effect anyway. And, as if that weren't bad enough, after bombarding a guest with one of these epic queries, he has the temerity to be short with them if they stray beyond a monosyllabic answer.
Don't get me wrong, the man does have his place. More often than not, his views are close to my own. However, his ego is just a little too Limbaugh-like for my liking.

[bcolovas]

I probably watch this stuff far too much, lol, cause I like when he does that. You can just tell when a guests response is gonna be the same ol' talking points that never get to the heart of the matter.
He might be rude at times but polite just allows them too much room. I saw that "is that a question Chris?" interview and I got the sense that he was simply trying to reduce all escape paths in the set up of the question.

[BoiseLib]

Can't stand this guy.

[scarab23]

I am simply amazed that a program like the one in Canada is not on the table. It is surely in the best interest of the voter, but obviously not in the best interest of the elected and their corporate funders. And we voters seem powerless to effect any meaningful change from the dominant paradigm. We have the power, but have no idea how to exercise it.

[MadeandBakedintheUSA]

No harm intended-

but I think that Malaria Chris got decades ago is really taking its toll.

I just do not understand his show really-

Polls polls polls

[gettingitright]

It is true that the democrats are not doing what they have been tasked to do: revolutionize health care. They had the numbers to enact single payer if they wanted to. It should not be this embarrassingly difficult to pass a watered down version of health care reform. It is the democrats' fault. We have the power and they are refusing to exercise it.

[John Garner]

I think Chris likes to hear his own voice and doesnt really listen very well, Oh Sure he'll shout answer the question, but wheres the followup?

[wldone]

I find myself watching Matthews more and more. When MsNBC stops name calling and start reporting they get viewers like me that seek out what the other sides points are. Chris is doing a great job (although he sometimes lowers himself like the other l00ns on that show to disrespect the opposition on his show) of making the other sides voice heard.

[jjfaux]

The democrats could put forward something that conservatives would like as well, tort reform, etc...
try that.. try something!