Media Matters goes after Chris Matthews about the Dean interview....

[madfloridian]

and the false claims he made about the Democrats going after Alito's ethnicity.

"Matthews falsely claimed Democrats accused Alito of being "lenient on the mob"

MSNBC's October 31 coverage of the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court, Hardball host Chris Matthews repeatedly misrepresented a document about Alito that was circulated by Democrats. Matthews falsely claimed that the document accused Alito of being "lenient on the mob" and made the baseless assertion that, by mentioning a case involving organized crime, Democrats were "go after ethnicity." In fact, the document, available here, made no mention of Alito's ethnicity and simply noted that he lost a high-profile mob case -- not that he was "lenient" on anybody.

Though Matthews repeatedly waved the document in front of the cameras, he quoted from it only once -- and that quote in no way supported his description of the document.

Further, Matthews's descriptions of the document grew increasingly inaccurate as the day wore on. In his first reference to it, at roughly 2:30 p.m. ET, he described it as "going after ethnicity"; by the time he interviewed Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean at 5:45 p.m., that inaccurate description had morphed into a completely fabricated claim that the document accused Alito of being "lenient on the mob."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200511010009

[LSparkle]

1. Has it been proven this was really circulated by DEMOCRATS?

Or is Roverat up to more dirty tricks?

[snowbear]

2. That's what I'd like to know too !! I hope Dr. Dean is...

...getting to the bottom of the memo, and if in deed it was a Rovian trick, Matthews (and numerous other media outlets) need to apologize LOUD and CLEAR!

[tishaLA]

4. It doesn't sound like anything to get to the bottom of IMO

It talked about his record, including his record of failing to convict a bunch of mafia folks in the 80s. If we don't talk about Scalito's record, what do we have? Or at what arbitrary point does his record begin?

Tweety thinks hardball is appropriate sometimes--when people blow the cover of CIA agents--but not at others. It's bullshit.

[madfloridian]

5. I agree. The documents looked like research, not attacks.

The DNC is keeping data on anyone they might need info on, and anything is possible. The documents they posted were nothing but research.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

3. As far as I've found out it's not been proved or disproved.

It appears it was just assumed and he ran with the assumption.

How hard can it be to find out where the memo originated from?

[leftchick]

6. woo hoo MM is the best1

:bounce:

[ginnyinWI]

7. I am so finished with that program and that tweety

Yuck. I hated, hated the way he interrupted Howard Dean. Hope Dean didn't get too much spittle in the face.

[fearnobush]

8. Tell Tweety what you think.

[grannylib]

9. He was so condescending to Dean it was shameful; what a hosebag for

the Reich Wing, who own the pResidency, thanks to some fraudulent voting machines and the CHINOS insisting on litmus tests for activist Reich Wing judges.
Can't believe that asswad ever served in the Peace Corps and under Carter; I am sure that Carter must be totally appalled at the slow sucking sound of what's left of Tweety's brain and ethics being slurped out of him by the radical Reich.

[madfloridian]

10. He really was rude.

Cut him off when he tried to explain about Kerry's speech, cut him off when he tried to explain about the intrusive government. The good part is that Dean smiled and was polite....Matthews showed himself to be just rude.