Media Matters for America

Amid rumors of Clinton nomination, Matthews brings back '90s circus
On Hardball, Chris Matthews used reports that President-elect Barack Obama might nominate Sen. Hillary Clinton as secretary of state to "rehash" 1990s-era smears and scandals involving the Clintons. Matthews invoked Linda Tripp and hosted Christopher Hitchens and Rep. Dan Burton, whom Matthews asked to discuss the false accusation that Vince Foster was murdered. Read More

Flashback: Boehlert: The press hits rewind on the Clinton scandals

More coverage of Sen. Clinton

That was then ... Matthews lauded "experience" of Bush's Cabinet picks in 2001, but says Obama's selection of prior administration vets is "crap"
Amid reports that President-elect Barack Obama has decided to nominate Clinton Justice Department veteran Eric Holder to be attorney general, Chris Matthews criticized Obama on Hardball: "You could do this in any bureaucratic state, you could do it in the old Soviet Union. ... You don't need elections for this crap." But in 2001, Matthews said of George W. Bush's Cabinet picks, which included veterans of past administrations: "There's some real heavyweights in terms of experience." Read More

On Hardball, Matthews forwarded discredited rumor over MN ballots
Chris Matthews echoed the discredited rumor that 32 ballots from Minneapolis were mishandled in the Minnesota Senate race. Matthews asked: "What about these absentee ballots that were found in somebody's back seat and they're now counting them as official -- what is that about? That sounds pretty squirrely or sneaky or what -- I don't know what it sounds like." In fact, a lawyer for Republican Sen. Norm Coleman has reportedly said that "[i]t does not appear that there was any ballot-tampering, and that was our concern." Read More

Media Matters: The media's Minnesota debacle