Ah Hardball... just like America's favorite pasttime, IF the umpire made a practice of limiting all visiting teams to two outs, let the homeboys bat off a tee, and subjected the stands to protracted public addresses from the field...
Every once in a while though, even Matthews tires of the pervasive fecal odor eminating from the mouthpiece of Bush-Cheney 04. I'll give Matthews credit where credit is due - he's not above a few swipes at the glaring inanities of the home squad.
Check out this exchange with Charlie Black (Bush campaign advisor) on the subject of Kerry's supposed association with Jane Fonda:
BLACK: Jane Fonda--Jane Fonda is not as big an issue as what Senator Kerry said to the Senator Foreign Relations Committee in 1972.
He was a distinguished war hero in Vietnam. But he came home and said about the soldiers he fought alongside of, they were rapists, murderers, cut off people`s limbs, shot cows and dogs for fun.
And that`s nonsense. And that`s what is wrong with his record.
MATTHEWS: You think that`s not true.
BLACK: I don`t think it`s true.
MATTHEWS: Why do you think--Were you there?
BLACK: I wasn`t there.
MATTHEWS: Well, how can you question his account of what happened in Vietnam?
BLACK: Well, there were plenty of reporters from the United States, from distinguished media outlets there, and nobody ever wrote that as a generalization about....
MATTHEWS: Why in the world he would make up something that he hadn`t seen, having coming back from facing the fighting, and having three Purple Hearts? Why would John Kerry make up something?
BLACK: Well, he didn`t offer any documentation at the time.
MATTHEWS: He was there. He doesn`t need anything. He doesn`t need a letter of permission from the RNC to say something.
BLACK: He`s the only guy who noticed it? A sweeping generalization like that?
MATTHEWS: Would you like to debate John Kerry right now, Charlie, about what it was like in Vietnam?
BLACK: I wasn`t in Vietnam.
MATTHEWS: That`s the point. Lets go to David Axelrod...
See http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4352248/ for the full transcript.