The transcript is now up on MSBNC's web site and linked below.
In case anyone didn't catch Hardball today, you missed Melanie Sloan giving Chris Matthews a verbal slapping upside his head for trying to do a hit job on Joe Wilson. I do not know this for a fact, but if I had to guess, her phone interview with Matthews at the end of his show was probably not planned, and he sure didn't look ready to handle her. A regular guest on the Al Franken show, Melanie Sloan has been a true hero for the progressive movement in this country, and for those of us who truly want clean government, and she's an equal opportunity abuser when it comes to who she calls out for wrong doing, and who she takes to task, and all I can say is God bless her and CREW for the work they do, and keep up the good work, and we need more like you who are brave enough to stand up to the corruption in government when those in charge aren't willing to police themselves. She's the reason Tom DeLay resigned, and she's representing Joe Wilson in his civil suit, and today she stopped a hit job on Wilson that Matthews and his panel were trying to get away with and made Matthews look like an idiot for trying it.
More on what happened today on Hardball and why I just love this woman on the flip
Chris Matthews decided tonight to sit around with his panel of three normally not that biased reporters and guess as to why Joe Wilson did not want to be called as a witness for the Scooter Libby defense in his upcoming trial. They all then proceeded to pretend that they had a clue as to why that might be, and completely ignored the fact that there is a civil case pending with the Wilsons over the leak. They were throwing around statements like "what does Wilson have to hide" and what is he afraid of coming out if he had to testify, and I'm watching this, and I'm just an average Joe out there who watches a lot of news. The first thing to come to MY mind is, hey, what about the civil suit? Don't you think that might have something to do with this?
It occurs to me that if I know about the civil suit, then Matthews is aware of it, or he's living in an alternative universe if he wants to pretend he has a show that actually follows politics and has ever done an ounce of homework about what's going on in politics which I'm sure would include the fact that the Wilsons have decided to sue. There's no way Matthews, and his fellow panelists don't know about the law suit. But they don't mention it. They're all more than happy to carry on about a lot of other wild theories about why Wilson might not want to testify for any other bullshit reason they can pull out of their butts, but nothing mentioned about the lawsuit. They sit around having their Wilson-bash fest, and say they'll be back with the panel after the break.
They come back after the break, and guess what? They suddenly have the lawyer for the Wilsons' on the phone, and she's got something to say about all of this. If I had to guess, I would guess that Melanie Sloan was not an invited guest to Hardball tonight. I would guess that either she, or someone she knows saw the fact that they were basically slandering her client on national television, and called up MSNBC, and said put us on the air to rebutt what you've just said or else.
Melanie Sloan proceeded to tear Matthews up for the rest of the show. He tried to twist the argument into one where Wilson outed his wife first, and she debunked that immediately with that's not what he's on trial for, and listed all of the reasons that Joe Wilson had nothing to do with any of the defense for Libby with what he's actually accused of, which is lying to the Grand Jury and obstruction of justice, and not for the leak. She also went on to say that they were only trying to call Joe Wilson into court to intimidate him and get information to help them with the civil suit that's coming.
Matthews tried a lame attempt with her in one last gasp saying if they're suing Libby, why aren't they suing Cheney and the rest of them, and Sloan had just said in a couple of sentances before just who they were suing, and Matthews ignored it, and she repeated the whole list of just who they were suing, and all the guy had to say was something along the lines of "okay, well, thanks for coming", and that was it....lol.
I truly think that Melanie Sloan called into Hardball tonight, and stopped the panel from doing a further hit in Wilson in the middle of it, and took Matthews to task for his actions, and I love it. This is not a woman to be messed with, and we need more like her if we're ever going to truly clean up the corruption in DC.
UPDATE:Here's the exchange between Matthews and Melanie Sloan from the transcript on MSNBC's web site: Hardball with Chris Matthews' for Dec. 20
We‘ll be right back with another segment—it‘s going to be great—with Chuck Todd, Chris Cillizza and Jonathan Alter of "Newsweek".
You‘re watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL.
Again, former Ambassador Joe Wilson is seeking to avoid testifying as a defense witness in the upcoming trial of former Dick Cheney aide Scooter Libby.
We‘re joined now by phone by Melanie Sloan, attorney for Ambassador Wilson.
Melanie, tell me why Joe Wilson and you do not wish him to testify in the Scooter Libby perjury trail.
MELANIE SLOAN, ATTORNEY FOR JOE WILSON: Well, for several reasons. Mr. Libby has been charged with obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements. Mr. Wilson has no information whether or not Mr. Libby lied to the grand jury or lied to FBI agents. Neither does he have any information concerning Mr. Libby‘s defense, which seems to be that Mr. Libby doesn‘t remember exactly what he said to reporters because he was so busy on matters of national security.
Mr. Wilson has never met Mr. Libby and doesn‘t know anything about Mr. Libby‘s work habits or what he was working on in the White House. And the law requires defense witnesses—the defendants may call any witnesses, as long as they have relevant and material testimony. And we believe Mr. Wilson doesn‘t have relevant or material testimony.
Plus, we believe he‘s being called simply to harass him because there is a pending civil case.
MATTHEWS: What about—what do you mean, a pending civil case? Has he sued Scooter Libby?
SLOAN: Yes, Mr. Wilson has sued Scooter Libby.
MATTHEWS: And has he gotten standing in a court yet, or not?
SLOAN: Yes. We‘re right now in front of District Court of the District of Columbia and motions to dismiss have been filed. It‘s a case against Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney, Richard Armitage...
MATTHEWS: OK. So it‘s still a question of whether you‘re going to get standing or not.
SLOAN: No, there‘s definitely standing. It‘s just a question of whether or not—whether the case may get dismissed on certain legal grounds.
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you—let me suggest a question. A D.C. jury sitting in this case of Scooter Libby, if they were to learn that Joe Wilson had somehow put out the word that his wife was an undercover agent before Scooter Libby said anything to anyone, wouldn‘t that mitigate against his guilt?
SLOAN: No, because the issue isn‘t anymore what Mr. Libby may have said regarding Ms. Wilson. It‘s that he lied in court, that he lied to the grand jury, that he lied to the FBI. And that‘s what Mr. Libby‘s being charge with.
MATTHEWS: Do you think a jury would still find him guilty if it was clear that he was not the first to leak?
SLOAN: I think a jury could easily still find him guilty without being the first to leak because that‘s not what he‘s been charged with. He‘s not charge with leaking. He‘s charged with making false statements.
MATTHEWS: What harm—you‘re a defense attorney, right? You‘re defending Joe...
SLOAN: I used to be a prosecutor, in fact.
MATTHEWS: OK. But what harm could come to Joe Wilson if he were called to testify? What‘s the harm here that could be done to your client?
SLOAN: Well, we also don‘t believe that Mr. Libby should have the opportunity to basically get the testimony of Joe Wilson in advance of the discovery stage of Mr. Wilson‘s civil case against Mr. Libby.
MATTHEWS: Why?
SLOAN: We‘re concerned that they might be trying to use this opportunity to get information that they couldn‘t otherwise get for use in their civil case, in the defense of the civil case.
MATTHEWS: You mean, he might be grilled in preparation for this trial as a witness on whether—what he knows about Scooter Libby‘s behavior?
SLOAN: He might be grilled as to things that the defense thinks it might be able to use in the civil case that‘s going to be way down the road.
MATTHEWS: Do you believe Joe Wilson was harmed by Scooter Libby?
SLOAN: I absolutely believe that Joe Wilson was harmed by Scooter Libby.
MATTHEWS: How so?
SLOAN: I believe that Mr. Libby was engaged in a protracted effort in order to punish Mr. Wilson for having published an article, an op ed in the "New York Times" and Mr. Libby did this by publicizing information about Mr. Wilson‘s wife, namely that she was a CIA operative.
MATTHEWS: Do you believe Mr. Libby operated in concert with the vice president in this regard?
SLOAN: Yes, we do believe that.
MATTHEWS: Do you have evidence?
SLOAN: We‘ll be developing that evidence through discovery in the civil case down the road.
MATTHEWS: Why aren‘t you suing Cheney? Why are you suing the number two guy?
SLOAN: We sued Cheney. We sued Libby. We sued Karl Rove. And we sued Richard Armitage, all.
MATTHEWS: Really. And you believe that Dick Cheney went out to hurt your client?
SLOAN: Yes, we do.
MATTHEWS: How so?
SLOAN: We believe that Mr. Cheney was involved in a conspiracy with Mr. Libby and Mr. Rove in order to punish Joe Wilson for having written the op ed in the "New York Times" and then spoke publicly about what he learned about the yellow cake uranium in Niger, basically that Niger never sold yellow cake uranium to Iraq.
MATTHEWS: Do you believe that Scooter Libby and the vice president covered up the fact that there was no deal with Niger and allowed the president to continue to argue there was a nuclear threat from Saddam Hussein?
SLOAN: It does appear that way, but we don‘t know yet the truth of that matter. What we do know is that Mr. Libby and Mr.—and Vice President Cheney were involved in an effort to punish Joe and Valerie Wilson.
MATTHEWS: Well, best of luck out there. Melanie Sloan, an attorney for Joe Wilson.
And Chuck Todd, thank you.
Thank you, Chris Cillizza.
Jonathan Alter of "Newsweek", thank you, sir.
Play HARDBALL with us again and Thursday. We‘ll have the latest on the fight over Iraq and more politics.
Right now, it is time for "TUCKER."