There was a time when Chris Matthews used to be a respectable commentator and journalist. His 1997 book “Kennedy and Nixon: The Rivalry that Shaped Postwar America” was superb and actually was fair to Nixon (I highly recommend that book). Somehow though in early 2003 he went Andrew Sullivan (or Charles Johnson) on us and started ranting against neocons, Halliburton, etc. His shining moment of disgrace was in 2008 when he got that “tingle up his leg” listening to a speech by our charlatan future Teleprompter in Chief. My personal feeling (having been around too many of them in my life) is that he is a raging alcoholic. Anyway he is emblematic of what the mainstream media in general – and MSNBC has become, however unlike Olbermann, he actually once had claims to being an actual journalist.
Joy Tiz
Ever since Obama’s installation into the White House, left wingers feel free to tout their radicalism. It’s as if they spent years trying to at least create the illusion of sanity and dropped all pretense the moment Obama was sworn in as Community Organizer in Chief.
Just five days after affirming on air that he is a liberal, MSNBC host Chris Matthews exclaimed that radical community organizer Saul Alinsky is one of his heroes.
Stated Matthews: “Well, to reach back to one of our heroes from the past, from the ‘60s, Saul Alinsky once said that even though both sides have flaws in their arguments and you can always find something nuanced about your own side you don’t like and it’s never perfect, you have to act in the end like there’s simple black and white clarity between your side and the other side or you don’t get anything done.
“’I always try to remind myself of Saul Alinsky when I get confused, ‘Matthews said on his ‘Hardball’ show, speaking to guest Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, on the topic of President Obama’s health care plan. “
All practicing Leftists have been influenced by Saul Alinsky, author of Rules for Radicals, the essential primer for all good America-hating radicals. Written by the great granddaddy of all community organizers, Alinsky’s book lays out the tactics to be employed in creating a revolution.
When I was growing up in Chicago in the 1960s, these folks were known as “paid agitators,” a far more accurate description of what they do. Community organizers were carpetbaggers who blew into town for the express purpose of whipping the locals into frenzy over some grievance, real or imagined. This type of “organizing” is not to be compared with legitimate, local, grassroots organizations that get together to put pressure on local officials to bring about a change for the better. Alinsky-style organizers are not concerned members of the community who pressure city hall into putting in a new stoplight. For the Alinskyite, the actual issue is of no consequence. The organizer doesn’t care about the community. The agenda is to gin up a revolt, which gives the organizer power. As Alinsky put it, “You want to cause fear, confusion, and retreat in the enemy, i.e. the Haves.” Remember Hoffer’s work on mass movements: the organizer’s task is to inject the society with an ailment and then offer the movement as the cure. “Agitate, aggravate, educate, then organize.” (Rules for Radicals)
As is always the case with socialism, Alinsky’s programs never succeeded. Barack Obama’s lack of success as a community organizer is what motivated him to pursue a law degree.
Tags: Chris Matthews
