Kossack Liberal Thinking covered some of Chris Matthews’ enabling efforts yesterday, but that diary came and went.
The conventional wisdom regarding the hard-working, noble, oppressed political "middle" is so false and destructive that it deserves much more discussion.
Matthews represents a huge swath of our mainstream media, whose biases are helping to cripple all efforts to get anything done.
Astonishingly, almost every utterance made by elder corporatists John Breaux and William Cohen on Hardball yesterday was a lie. Yet not once did Chris Matthews challenge them. Why? Because, despite his intelligence and political savvy, Matthews has a serious blind spot. He relishes and clings to his inside-the-beltway status, and this covetousness causes him to unthinkingly defend the status quo at all cost.
There was one huge truth, however, that inadvertently slipped from Cohen’s lips. But Matthews failed to recognize its significance.
Let’s face it: obstructionism does not harm everyone in the system equally. The Right may or may not take an equal hit in the polls in the face of gridlock, but, philosophically and strategically, the Right wins when nothing happens. The Right believes that government should do as little as possible. That’s why the Right, by nature, is so much more willing to resort to slash-and-burn politics than the Left. The Left is often accused of not knowing how to play hardball, but let’s be fair. The Left has MUCH more at stake. For it is the Left that is concerned about actually getting something done to improve the lives of hurting Americans. The Left doesn’t have the luxury of slashing and burning. That’s why it can come across as too tentative, too careful, too wimpy.
And what about the so-called middle?
Chris Matthews loves to portray "moderates" solely in terms of temperament. They are ever-sober, ever-wise, ever-patient, ever-under-appreciated. Matthews completely ignores their de facto ideology. The Evan Bayhs of the world are not the statesmanlike wannabe mediators Matthews would have us believe. They are beholden to a conservative (i.e., no change is better than change), largely corporatist ideology.
Watch the entire segment. You’ll be astonished at all the lies spewing from Breaux and Cohen in oh-so-elderly tones. But you’ll be even more astonished at Matthews’ inability to call them out.
Here are just a few samples from Matthews' "two men in the middle":
Breaux:
The activists in this country tend to be far to the left or far to the right. But the country is not there... [Those on the left and right] don’t represent the majority of this country. And ours is a government by a majority. AND WHEN YOU BECOME A MAJORITY, THEN YOUR VIEW CAN BECOME THE PREDOMINANT VIEW. But you’re not in the majority. We’ll listen to you, but we have to govern, and you have to govern from the center out.
The public overwhelmingly elected a left-leaning government. Healthcare reform (for example) was clearly part of the agenda Americans supported. The only reason current polls may not reflect this is that obstructionists in the middle supported the lies of the right. Remember, while polls may show a majority against "the healthcare bill," when the details of legislation (even the public option) are discussed, a majority supports them.
Bayh:
People want practical progress. Some progress is better than none.
Obviously, if "the middle" did not work so hard to block progress, we would have seen much more progress already. You can’t blame the left for that.
Breaux:
The center in the country is getting larger, while the center in the Congress is getting smaller and smaller.
The center is an ideology that cannot possibly address today’s emergencies. But with a media filled by the likes of Matthews, the public is being hoodwinked into believing the center is a mature temperament.
Matthews:
What do you say to the extremes? When they get all the noise on TV? When they have nothing to lose?
To the extent that this is true, the "extremes" get all the noise so that pious pundits like Matthews can deride them as non-adults (as compared to the more mature obstructionist middle). It's good, pious television.
Cohen:
What’s wrong is no one is willing to make tough decisions. We need tough leaders instead of those at the extremes who say they know what to do, which doesn’t accommodate anyone else’s view.
WHO the hell is not willing to make tough decisions?? The conservative Dems who fear they may not get reelected!! Jeesh.
Bayh:
It takes two parties to make [legislation] work.
Wrong. Might be nice. But (especially when it had 60 votes) one party could have pulled off good legislation if the minority "moderates" had simply gotten on board with the majority in their caucus.
Bayh:
To my friends on the left, I say sometimes half a loaf is better than none.
Let’s look at healthcare reform. The left entered the debate with only half a loaf (no universal payer, then no public option). The corporatist middle piously prefers inaction to a bill so watered down it resembles what the GOP was offering Clinton in the early 1990s!
Cohen (accidentally speaking the truth in response to Matthews’ question about how, if both the Right and the Left are holding out for "full loaves," nothing gets done):
Those on the left will get no action, those on the right [pause] may not want any action.
Bulls-eye. The truth is finally spoken.
Breaux:
We have a Congress with a 70 percent disapproval rating, because we need a more cooperative Congress that can get things done, instead of just paralysis and just defeating each other.
Congress’ approval numbers would climb enormously if the obstructionist minority middle would get the f**k out of the way.
Matthews:
Politicians are trying to get by with the attitude: "Don’t cause any pain, just promise a lot of pleasure, and the people will be fooled." That seems to be the game everybody plays now.
Dems, by and large, have been far more serious about fiscal responsibility than the GOP. Who cut taxes for the rich without paying for them? Who launched two wars off the books? Who cries "socialism" when Dems transparently try to use government to assist people who are hurting? Presenting the Left and the Right as two equal extremes has got to stop. The Left was elected to get new things done. The Right was not.
Cohen:
We are engaging in fiscal child abuse, because we’re not paying for the programs that we are adopting. So we need some fiscal discipline. I think the Republicans are right on that.
As important as the deficit may be, we have children hurting right now. The deficit can be addressed when the country is back on its feet. Cohen may disagree with these priorities, but the country clearly voted for a change in the role of government.
Cohen:
Here are the big issues: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the environment, also our infrastructure, which is crumbling.
The conspicuous absence of healthcare in this list shows Cohen’s inability to empathize with the families of the 40,000 lives unnecessarily lost each year due to inadequate coverage.
Matthews (to audience, admiring his guests):
Pay attention! These are the real deal!
True. These are the real obstructionist insiders who get away with clinging to power through a veneer of piousness that Matthews and his ilk enable.