In the same way that some New York broadcasters and celebrities annoy the rest of us by talking about "the city" or someone being "in town," as if we all know there is only one city, Matthews, likewise, thinks the sun rises on the Washington (National) Cathedral and sets whereever his fat ass happens to be.
I quote, very close to accurately here, as Matthews described the mourners at the Cathedral just before the guest of honor arrived borne not by Marines as MSNBC said but by an all-service honor guard:
"I was at the Redskins game Saturday night. Bob Novak was sitting next to me. Colin Powell was sitting on the other side."As the camera panned the congregants, he blither-blathered,
"THESE are WASHINGTON people. This is the ESTABLISHMENT. This is the A-LIST of the people who run this city."
By inference, including and starring Chris Matthews. (DiCaprio on the bow of the Titanic was modest by comparison.)
These people, this magnificent cathedral in the tony part of the city, these very very white wealthy powermongers, "are part of the culture of this city," explained Matthews, his supercilious view of the rest of America more Olympian than even Nancy Pelosi's eyebrows.
No, you sanctimonious little prick; you Russert wanna-be. The culture of this city is the black middle class, the AME Zion and Baptist churches, the Metrorail, the mid-level federal employees who are just like everyone else in the country who actually do things and blow the whistles but don't get to brag about their influence or afford a Redskins season ticket much less get to sit with the owner.
To make matters worse, the Washington Post's usually wicked TV critic, Tom Shales, approvingly nodded that "Matthews dares to say what other people are thinking but refrain from saying -- for better or worse."
Andrea Mitchell is a personal friend of the late president. Tom Brokaw is a eulogist. Matthews and Russert -- both of them originally Democratic political henchmen -- are pretending to be journalists wiser than the rest of us.
WTF is going on here?
It is mostly NBC now, but it is true of the rest of them, too. The watchdogs have become the people they are supposed to watch.
There was a time when even the most prominent journalists reported what they knew, didn't keep their knowledge secret until their books were published and were of a different -- and real -- social class apart from the politicians. And there was a time when those politicians at least pretended to read legislation and to do the right thing for the nation and not slaver for the approval of their social and financial betters -- television anchors.
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