MSNBC's Matthews to WH press official: "See how much we get done when you come over here?"
SUMMARY: Interviewing White House deputy press secretary Trent Duffy, Chris Matthews said to him: "See how much we get done when you come over here?" and "I wish we had you on every night."
During the March 2 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews lauded White House deputy press secretary Trent Duffy, exclaiming, "See how much we get done when you come over here?" On the show, Duffy offered his explanation for the apparent contradiction between recent videotapes that show administration officials warning President Bush that Hurricane Katrina posed a "grave" risk of flooding in New Orleans and the president's debunked statement, made two days after Katrina hit land, that "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." At the end of the segment, Matthews said, "I wish we had you on every night."
From the March 2 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about this, because I want to give you a chance -- thank you for coming over here today -- one of the things that there's a correction about -- and maybe we're being unfair about it, tell us if we are. We saw those briefings going on in that package by [MSNBC correspondent] David Shuster, where the president was being briefed by Michael Brown [former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency], and everybody was doing it. It looked like a sit[uation] room kind of a thing, and he was getting an input and he was congratulating and urging everybody to work. Good leadership, I guess. But then we heard a tape of the president three days after Katrina hit, where he said that no one anticipated that the levees would be breached. How can it be that no one anticipated it, in his words, if he was warned that it might happen?
DUFFY: Well, again, he was warned and the White House was concerned about the integrity of the levees. On the tapes and the transcripts --
MATTHEWS: Right.
DUFFY: -- you have Deputy Chief of Staff Joseph Hagin asking on August 29th [2005], "What is the status of the levees?" And as of noon on the 29th, [Louisiana] Governor [Kathleen Babineaux] Blanco is saying we don't have any confirmation that the levees have been breached. What the president said in the aftermath of the storm was he was reflecting the collective judgment and wisdom and sentiment of just about everybody on the morning of August 30th, when New Orleans had, in fact -- had dodged somewhat of a bullet in the fact that the storm had gone 15 miles to the east.
MATTHEWS: So he was talking about that moment of relief we all shared the morning of, that we had missed a bullet.
DUFFY: That's exactly right, and, you know --
MATTHEWS: He was not saying, just to clarify the record, he was not saying that no one -- none of the experts thought that the levees might be breached.
DUFFY: He did not mean to portray that, that's exactly right.
MATTHEWS: See how much we get done when you come over here?
DUFFY: Yes, absolutely.
MATTHEWS: Isn't this great?
DUFFY: But this really does go to the point -- is the reason that we knew that the levees were of issue. Any time a storm of that size is headed to New Orleans, you're thinking levees. And the White House was, and so was the president. That's why search and rescue and airlift capacity and getting helicopters in the air was the Number 1 priority, whether the levees were breached, overtopped.
MATTHEWS: I wish we had you every night. It's great to have you, Trent, deputy press secretary to the president of the United States.
Does Mathews get a bonus for being an arse-kiss?
I have no problem Matthews loves to kneel for the RNC, and loves those strapping young studs from the White House. "Oh boy, Turd Blossom sent him just for me, " as he gushes like a little girl means he's serious about that integrity thing.
The problem I have is that this would be promoted as objective political commentary, and not just propaganda.
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
It was so nice of you to "give [slimy WH mouthpiece] a chance" because, you know, the White House really doesn't have any other ways to get its message out.
His ass kissing to gain access strategy has worked . I understand that the White House folks used to avoid HardBall , they all went over to you know where. Now Chris saw how having no journalistic integrity paid off for Fox and he wanted some of that action for himself and now he has it. His family must be proud.
Sounds like Tim Russert got one of those calls from the Admin. Tweety sure is responsive to the big boys in the White House.
he's saying there's no real difference between "breached, overtopped". "you're thinking levees". but that is the whole argument. bush's defense is they were clueless about breaching because they were warned of topping. if search and rescue and getting helicopters in the air was their "number 1 priority", they failed miserably. and the fact that katrina moved east of new orleans was not a sign they "dodged a bullet", because hurricane winds are counter clockwise. that means they would be coming directly from the north at one point over the levees that eventually topped and then breached. as for matthews, man crush doesn't begin to describe your boot licking of bush.
" I wish we had you every night."
And, bent over his desk, looking over his shoulder, his eyes half-closed, Tweety purrs: "Isn't this great?"
Mr. Duffy will explain what Scott McClellan really ment when he said no one at at the White House - and particularly Karl Rove - had anything to do with exposing the secret identify of an undercover CIA agent.
Guess that whole thing about smoking guns/mushroom clouds coming from Iraqi bombs will have to wait until next week...
...the Bush does battle with the English language - - - and the English language loses.
CD
Whenever outrageous partisanship occurs at this level of the media, just use the Dem test. If Howard Dean, for example, came on Tweet's show and clarified some positions that made BushieCo look bad, could you imagine CM saying "isn't this great" and "see how much we get done here." Not only would that not ever happen, but it probably would be reported in the media critique press. ("Matthews Compliments Dean; Republicans Outraged").
I'm glad MMFA reports on this, no one else will.
"You mean a newscaster viewed as a moderate wishes to have my propoganda machine on his show every night?" Bush probably creamed his pants when he heard that.
Anyway, I like how Bush's exact words were: "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. They did anticipate a serious storm." Matthews clarifies that, by having the Bush spin machine come on and Tweety reiterates: "he was not saying that no one -- none of the experts thought that the levees might be breached."
Thanks for clarifying that Bush was saying nobody anticipated levee breaks 2 days before it happened but everyone did 4 days before it happened, I have no further questions as to the integrity of your lie, Duffy.
I'm sorry by the fact that he said "They did anticipate a serious storm." he is most definitely referring to before Katrina hit land. Therefore Bush was not referencing the morning of when they thought the levees (that he was apparently SO worried about before) might be safe.
Chris Matthews = worthless
Why the hell is the President, The Depart. of Homeland Security, FEMA, & etc...depending on the Governor who is miles away from the situation for Situational Intelligence.
Did anyone ask she was getting her information?
I half expected Mathews to give him a high-five.
Is Matthews really Rove in a halloween mask? Why doesn't MSNBC just get Bush's mom to do the "hard hitting" interviews? The result would be the same.