Thinking people everywhere have long bemoaned the casual mendacity of cable news pundits in general and Chris Matthews in particular. In a transparent attempt to augment his credentials as a Washington insider, Tweety has released a biography of none other than John F. Kennedy. Reviewer David Greenberg, has saved the world much pain and suffering by actually reading the book; his cutting review is a brilliant take-down of Tweety's journalistic credibility and the true nature of TV punditry.
The New Republic has just published a review of Chris Matthew's JFK bio. In a departure from normal practice the review's headline, It's a Man's World, is less sensational than the content. From the beginning Greenberg pulls no punches although I'm sure Tweety will only see the word ¨bestseller¨.
A BOOK SUCH as Chris Matthews’s biography of President Kennedy would not ordinarily seem like best-seller material.
After he explains WHY the book lacks merit ... ¨not the product of extensive research¨, ¨no real new insight into Kennedy¨, ¨doesn’t try to say anything interesting about politics or the presidency¨... Greenberg answers the obvious question of why the book should receive any attention at all.
The reason that a book so devoid of historical or literary merit can become a best-seller is, of course, that its ostensible author is a famous television personality.
Wow! I could write a whole diary on that phrase alone. ¨devoid of historical or literary merit¨ ... ¨ostensible author¨. Even for someone as thick as Matthews that's gotta hurt. It's like Greenberg woke up grumpy to a ringing telephone, stubbed his toe getting out of bed and then was told he had to write a review for a JFK bio written by CHRIS MATTHEWS.
My mind immediately flashes to that scene from Back to the Future where Michael J Fox lets slip to the diner customer that Ronald Reagan becomes President. I can see Greenberg reacting the same way as the customer... ¨Ronald Reagan the actor ??!!¨... ¨Chris Matthews the Sunday-morning talking head??!!¨
I encourage everyone to read the entire review. Here are a few of my favorite excerpts but believe me, the entire thing is never less than completely delicious.
These books exist to extend their authors’ brands—to make money, to be sure, and to express some set of ideas, however vague, but mainly to keep their celebrity creators in the media spotlight... Serious readers tend to believe, not wrongly, that books by such people aren’t worth much thought.
A chief characteristic of the pundit class that dominates political journalism today is that its leading members generally do not research or report the news. Political discussion certainly needs critics and analysts as well as fact-gatherers, but few TV talkers have gotten where they are because of their deep expertise, analytical acumen, or literary ability. Mostly, these are people with a talent for keeping viewers engaged—by mouthing conventional wisdom, by purging subtlety from their opinions, by pandering to a side, by being outrageous—as they sound off night after night.
So completely does talking constitute Matthews’s raison d’être that he mistakes it for historical research. What Matthews claims to be new in his Kennedy book are not facts gleaned from documents, but yarns and peppery comments recounted by an assortment of JFK’s old pals ...
In the interest of fair use I will stop there but please take the time to read the whole thing and perhaps take a moment to thank David Greenberg for being in a bad mood the day he wrote this review.