Suffers from hell?!?!  who was it again that said, “I told them the truth and they thought it was hell...”

I came away from that feeling somewhat bad for Mathews, but that feeling is misplaced.  Stewart didn’t give him a free pass on a concept that is fundamentally, morally, and logically flawed.  I haven’t read the book, nor will I, but it seems that Mathews has written a book that is a motivational-speaker-meets-political-pundit load of tripe.  He is trying to inject legitamacy and life lessons into an an American instituion that is a sewer of pandering, shrewd calculation, shallow platitudes, empty promises, and false hopes - in short and just as Stewart points out, calculated manipulation.  Live your life like a campaign??? Give me a break.  Stewart was harsh and mocking, but rightly so.

Chris List. “Good Listeners will get ahead” illegal wiretapping and sneak/peak emails unfortunately is foul play.  “Life is a Campaign” depends on your political views, heritage, connections, cronyism, appointments. Yes. Confirmed by subversive surveillance. Why use Bill Clinton, academic scholar, as an example? Bills looks, charm, intelligence, passion, drive were precedes his listening skills.  “Fear” there they go again with the “Fear Factor” Jon Stewart is afraid? nah.  MLK was right about it being survival of the slickest.

I loved Jon Stewart’s interview because it showed that the host of a TV program had actually read the book that was being promoted.  Chris Matthews’ reaction was over the top because he certainly was treated no different than many of the guests on his own program, Hardball.

Both Jon Stewart and Chris Matthews provide insight into the serious issues facing this nation today.  It is good for America that we have these two venues to offset the phoniness and outright distortion of the news which is presently daily on Faux News.

Actually I like Chris Matthews and Jon Stewart, but Stewart is the small boy who says “daddy, why is the king wearing no clothes”. Stewart and his more edgy counterpart Bill Maher are two of the best reasons to watch TV these days. That is good news and bad news. We should have many more programs that dare to challenge the daily pap we are fed from our elected leaders.

It’s true that most of the time Matthews is a deadly insider, though he’s not so bad when he really goes after some particularly low-brow ignoramus, wannabe pundit, which he sometimes does. I think Matthews actually started out in life with good intentions, including with a few ideals, maybe when he was back in the Peace Corps. Then he got a job with Tip, where he got training in how to be an insider, after which he was never the same; although, from time to time, old ideals still bubble to the surface. He’s not ALWAYS bad, not like fawners at Fox, whose heads are entirely up their assess, as opposed to half-way up in case of anchors at MSNBC (which seems more and more to be trying to appeal to X-ers and Y-ers, what with endless news of Spears’ and OJ’s doings, and child molesters around every corner, etc.). CNN long too stodgy, if a little less inclined to pure gossip all day long. (Think Abrams’ program on MSNBC for sheer pap.)

Even Olbermann is not without failings, what with his own well known, very substantial ego. More fearless, yes, but still mainstream. Note that in comments he seldom, if ever, connects dots re causes for war, especially regarding economic impact here at home. And he’s often excessively deferential to guests under contract (Fineman, Wolf, now Wes Clark, et al., often all the same people who appear on “Hardball” all the time), as is Matthews, who after blasting someone tells them how great and how brilliant they really are. Except that they’re not really so brilliant, much less great, all Washington-based reporters who’ve not departed either coast for America’s interior (where voters live) since moving into the Watergate Complex, or wherever in the Beltway area. All making nightly rounds on the Washington cocktail circuit.

Whereas I seriously doubt Goodman ever appears on that circuit, unless to try to get one of the chumps to say something worth listening to. Goodman is bar-none the toughest interviewer around, never afraid to ask hard questions, no matter how flustered insiders get. (All might recall years ago when she got President McMuffin on the line, when Bill just lost it, revealing that famous temper of his, including insulting Amy. Amy just kept plugging away, calmly, in her usual way.)

I seem to recall Stewart saying in some interview that he thinks the fact people get their news from his program is fairly pathetic. He’s right. And of course, Stewart doesn’t actually deliver news anyway—at least not much, so much as expose hypocrites, which is a worthy enough undertaking, finally mostly just more comedy.

Far and away the best news is being delivered up at Link TV and on programs like Master’s “Background Briefing” on Pacifica, where KPFK, at least, otherwise wastes a whole lot of air time with fairly silly New Age and identity-politics programming, the last being where and how the left went wrong decades ago. 

Mainstream is mainstream, whether MSNBC or Comedy Central or Fox or, or…, at which even minimal irreverence passes for Tom Paine-like fomentation. Not hardly.

None of it very useful in actually informing people, never mind in teaching people, as to facts of insiders’ insidedness, if you will, along with doing a whole lot more connecting of dots, something Masters does better than most ever have, and in one hour too.

Finding out about how the system works takes a whole lot more doing than watching these guys (and gals) in mainstream spat endlessly, entertaining as is can be. So long as events aren’t connected, shown to be part and parcel of a particular type of power structure, by now certainly proto-fascist, showmanship spectacle, whether delivered up by would-be hard-ass Matthews or by comic Stewart, still results only in citizens remaining largely ignorant, in turn largely passive viewers of mere spectacle.

After all, bashing Bush and bashing Fox are by now everyone’s favorite sport, pretty much a useless activity that’s gotten most of us nowhere at all.

Thanks Chris, for explaining in a book all that’s wrong in America. Most of us already knew. But please don’t complain when our college graduate kids deliver your crème brûlée a little runny. Their just faking & fucking their way to the top with spittle ... one can hope it’s only spittle. Now be a mensch, cancel your overly-formulaic show and save we MC a few bucks on the already over-priced products advertised on your show.

When Stewart met with Morales it was two geniuses, classical. Thus my twentyfive year old daughter’s generation gets better news from The Daily Show, in Schizoid Nation, wherein has been the phenomenal denial of the 9/11 coverup....Wherein, in my kid’s generation, there is not shock...but so what the government killed its citizens....While,the Iraq War was unbelievable to any sane human, it now appears we shall have the Iran War, which will dwarf all untold before....There are obvious psychological reasons for said socialogically run amuck....But the 25 year old pot smokers laugh ho hum. Many of these Americans will survive.

#104534 by Abdifatah Suleiman Musse on 10/03 at 8:30 pm

Abdifatah

You are assuming Arab hospitality towards a guest is what’s practiced in America.  Such gentlemanly notions of being a good host.  I don’t think Americans are burdened by such self restraint.

But where would we be if corporate media hacks were not held up to scrutiny.  Jon Stewart is just what the Doctor ordered.

That is unfriendly to attack a guest and call his book names that he does not like.  Jon stewart should not treat his guest that way especially when he was presenting his book. It is True that life is campaign. We should all race each other to do better in deeds. To Please God and treat his creation with fair, love and justice and respect life is campaign to success in this life and the here after. We shoulc race to make friends and to make a better relationship with Our creator and mankind. I really found Jon stewart comments about the book unwise when the Person was not really presenting a bad book. He should Appologice to the Brother.

FINALLY! A gob smacked Tweety bird in the cat’s seat, flustered to the point of non-interuptus, which he never is on his own show, but his seething jealousy of the Clintons is always on top and in full view. One by one, as God as my witness, will we drag all these enablers of fascism to the gutter.

Stewart gets his yuks when neocon weasel Bill Kristol is on the show, but rips Chris Matthews a new one. I’m not sure I would congratulate Stewart for taking down a notch some blowhard anchor like Matthews.

This interview is outstanding, John Stuart was really on! I think Matthews was genuinely shocked that Stuart actually read his book and had an opinion of it. And Stuart made an excellent point.

This interview was absolutly hilarious.  Its so nice to see ‘hardballers’ like matthews step into the box and get rocked like he did.

What an absolute idiot… how representative of all thats rotten and wrong in America. Wants to make us even more consumerist, wasteful, irresponsible, dumbed even further down, chest thumping morons.
We need his book right?
Lets keep doing everything that got us where we are now, but louder! Because we’re optimistic, motivated, innovative, go getters, yeah America!

How bout lets take some of that enthusiasim and aim it toward bettering our country, changing our policies, fixing our infrastructure, our schools, run a campaign for education maybe? Wouldn’t need his book if our kids could think for themselves would we?

Chris Matthews, obscenely superficial, arrogant, two faced, cheap, capitalist, lowest common denominator, sensationalistic fool...or...political talk show host...shame on us.
Hardball???
Pathetic…

This guy still tells gender jokes with a cigar between his fingers when he hangs out with “Arnold"…

No doubt has Bill O’reilly’s picture taped to his mirror, practices loud overbearing responses, name calling, racial inuendo, and behind the scenes, under the covers, in the shadows, has just as many skeletons in the closet.

And is enough of an egomaniac to believe that he’ll never be exposed.
Sad sad sad…

Matthews idea is taken from the ever so popular self-help seminars of the 80’s and 90’s which claimed that life is a game of enrolment. Enrolment in what you ask? Enrolment in their seminars. Their idea was that if you can get the most unlikely person to enroll in their seminars than you can enroll anyone to do anything. It was well received by the rising stars of corporate sales divisions. Remember that Clinton was coached by Tony Robbins. Matthews’ book is suggesting that all the lies and the deceit that politicians dish out is OK because it will get them elected hence the winner. It doesn’t matter what tactics you use as long as you win. That is not that surprising, it is as American as Apple pie.

That was sheer pleasure watching Stewart hone in on the all for me mentality that so many of these MSM baby boomer types are pitching. To hell with the consequences of their behavior if it works for them, right?

I’m continually amazed that the best news analysis eminates from Comedy Central and HBO. I pity Matthew’s publicist!