Matthews on Clinton…
Tonight on Hardball Chris Matthews offered his opinion on how Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton shoud respond to the aftermath of Tuesday night’s presidential debate. Transcript follows…
“Hardball” host Chris Matthews tonight offered his opinion on how Sen. Hillary Clinton should respond in the aftermath of Tuesday night’s presidential debate.
“Earlier this week I wrote what I thought Senator Barack Obama should say in the debate. I did the same on Tuesday for Senator Joe Biden. Now, tonight, in the aftermath of the debate, I offer this draft for Senator Hillary Clinton:
‘Taking the heat is what leadership is all about. As Harry Truman said, “If you don’t like the heat, stay out of the kitchen.” Taking heat is all part of the process of proving yourself for the world’s most important democratic office.
The fact that I am the first woman has nothing to do with the heat on me in this week’s presidential debate. I was the target because, quite simply, I am running well in the national polls. I have gotten nothing but respect from my rivals for the nomination and have no complaints, certainly none to do with our difference in gender.
So let’s move on. There’ll be more debates. There’ll be more shots from my opponents. There may even be a few from me at them. But those were the rules we agreed on, not in Philadelphia this week, but in Philadelphia back when we declared Independence.Besides, a little trouble I don’t mind. If I get to be the first woman elected to lead this country I don’t want it said it was because my rivals went soft on me - or I on them.’
Again, that’s what I think Hillary Clinton should say.”
What I find amusing is that one of the sites she and her people helped set up, Media Matters, is spitting fire over Russert’s questions. This is on the heels of the Hillary! camp complaining yesterday about Russert. Coordination, anyone?
And as an aside, I recall that in the spring, when MM was leading the anti-Imus charge, Keith Olbermann, whose show is basically a cut and paste of MM, bragged about how he was “standing up” to Imus. Since KO and MM are hand in glove, I wonder if Olbermann will have the guts to take on a giant in the industry like Russert.
Comment by eddiebear — November 1, 2007 @ 8:48 pm
Tim Russert did a fine job. It was fun to see her squirm.
Comment by jmkaib — November 1, 2007 @ 8:57 pm
I told you so!
Comment by SHANE — November 1, 2007 @ 9:37 pm
Hillary, IMO is like one of those chocolate bunnies you see at Easter time… looks tempting on the outside, however when you take that first bite, you find it’s nothing but hollow on the inside.
Comment by JustStatingMyOpinion — November 1, 2007 @ 10:04 pm
I wonder how Chrissy and big Clinton supporter KO feel about the Clinton supporter who while on an conference call to the Clinton campaign staff called for Russert to be shot….if Rudy or McCain had that happen with their campaigns MSNBC would be all over but just like with the Biden Iowa school remarks the MSM is ignoring it.
Comment by mlong — November 1, 2007 @ 10:21 pm
5: and what is amazing is that Russert is a former Cuomo staffer. Hardly a member of the VRWC. And wasn’t he just recently a hero to many lefties for his role in the Scooter Libby Trial?
Comment by eddiebear — November 1, 2007 @ 11:54 pm
Biden is an old coot. Why do people cover him already? Oh, right. People keep electing him.
Comment by Aaron — November 2, 2007 @ 3:13 am
This episode is indicative of the Clintons’ influence over the media. Instead of the story being Hillary bombed in the debate, which anyone who watched could see for themselves, they’re trying to twist the story into a bunch of men ganging up on Hillary.
Just look at the coverage. How much of it is “Hillary Bombed”, which is the real story. Then look at the huge amount of “6 Men Attack Female” at Dem debate.
And they’re trying to make Tim Russert, who is usually fair and one of the best in the business, into a bad guy.
Hillary’s the frontrunner by a wide margin, and wants to make a statement about strong women, but when she’s treated as the frontrunner, her campaign accuses Russert of treating her unfairly. They’re calling Russert a mysogynist, without actually saying it.
Comment by bigred — November 2, 2007 @ 10:23 am