Repeating Clinton Yankees myth, Matthews asked: "[D]oesn't she know she looks like a fraud?"
SUMMARY: On Hardball, Chris Matthews stated of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's baseball loyalties: "She went to the Yankees so that she could run for senator from New York. It's so obvious. Why is she -- doesn't she know she looks like a fraud?" However, the idea that Clinton switched allegiance from the Chicago Cubs to the New York Yankees during her Senate campaign is a myth commonly repeated in the media and not supported by evidence. Clinton's 2003 autobiography contains a photograph of her wearing a Yankees cap in 1992, and The Washington Post reported in 1994 that "Mrs. Clinton ... as a kid was a 'big-time' fan of the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees and 'understudied' Ernie Banks and Mickey Mantle."
On the October 26 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, after airing a clip of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) remarks during an October 25 presidential campaign fundraiser, "I have been a fan and I remain a fan of the New York Yankees. No changes. No looking to curry favor with anybody else," MSNBC correspondent David Shuster asserted: "Never mind that Hillary Clinton was a Chicago Cubs fan until she moved to New York to run for the U.S. Senate." While Shuster was making that statement, he aired a photo of Clinton wearing a Cubs cap, followed by one of Clinton wearing a Yankees cap. Shuster suggested that this was an example of what he called Clinton's "inconsistencies of style." Clinton's remarks were in response to former New York City mayor and Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's recent statement that he will "root[] for the [Boston] Red Sox" -- rivals of the New York Yankees -- despite being a longtime Yankees fan. Following Shuster's report, host Chris Matthews referred to Clinton's statement as "malarkey" and added that "[s]he went to the Yankees so that she could run for senator from New York. It's so obvious. Why is she -- doesn't she know she looks like a fraud?" However, the idea that Clinton proclaimed herself a Yankees fan only after she decided to run for a New York Senate seat or that she switched allegiance from the Cubs to the Yankees during her Senate campaign is a myth commonly repeated in the media that is not supported by evidence. As Media Matters for America has repeatedly noted, Clinton's 2003 autobiography, Living History (Simon & Schuster), contains a photograph of her wearing a Yankees cap in 1992 -- eight years before she ran for the Senate. Further, The Washington Post reported on September 12, 1994, that "Mrs. Clinton ... as a kid was a 'big-time' fan of the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees and 'understudied' Ernie Banks and Mickey Mantle."
By contrast, Matthews excused Giuliani's decision to support the Red Sox in the World Series, which he referred to as "[a]ll this B.S. about the Yankees and rooting for the Red Sox, if you're Rudy Giuliani." Matthews continued: "Everybody in America doesn't have a team in the World Series. You end up losing sometimes in the division races, you don't get through the playoffs. You end up rooting for one of the two teams." But the New York Post reported in an October 24 article that "Giuliani's siding with the Sox surprised even his New York campaign team." The article went on to quote the statement of Guy Molinari, New York co-chair of the Giuliani campaign, who said, "I question his Yankee credentials. If you're a big Yankee fan, you have to hate the Red Sox."
From the 5 p.m. ET hour of the October 26 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:
SHUSTER: In the meantime, in front of the cameras, Clinton is ignoring Obama altogether and taking aim at Rudy Giuliani. The Republican front-runner recently declared he's putting aside his loyalty to the New York Yankees to root in the World Series for the Boston Red Sox.
CLINTON: I have been a fan and I remain a fan of the New York Yankees. No changes. No looking to curry favor with anybody else.
SHUSTER: Never mind that Hillary Clinton was a Chicago Cubs fan until she moved to New York to run for the U.S. Senate.
But the senator's own inconsistencies in style do not appear to be hurting her with most Democratic voters. Slowly but surely, Clinton is widening her national lead over Barack Obama, underscoring the sense among many Democrats that barring something unexpected and dramatic, Clinton's nomination may soon be unstoppable.
I'm David Shuster for Hardball in Washington.
[...]
MATTHEWS: OK, let's talk about a couple things. First of all, let's talk about the news tonight. All this B.S. about the Yankees and rooting for the Red Sox, if you're Rudy Giuliani. Everybody in America doesn't have a team in the World Series. You end up losing sometimes in the division races, you don't get through the playoffs. You end up rooting for one of the two teams. How can -- what does she mean when she makes fun of Rudy for rooting for the Sox? What is that about? Is it all just a joke?
SMITH: Well, she's taking advantage of an opportunity, and she's extremely good. She's very -- you know --- she has an excellent political team working for her and --
MATTHEWS: But does she think up this malarkey about -- "I'm going to stick with the" -- doesn't she step back for three seconds and say she grew up in Chicago. You're always loyal to the team you grew up with as a kid. She went to the Yankees so that she could run for senator from New York. It's so obvious. Why is she -- doesn't she know she looks like a fraud?
It was pretty funny when Matthews asked why HRC always claps when she's onstage.
"Is it a Chinese thing, or what," he asked.
It was the end of a long work week for him I suppose.
Hillary Clinton is the Manchurian Candidate.
Like Taz is the hivemind moron
The "Chinese thing" crack was a racist comment, besides.
Mathews, dosn't he know he looks like a fraud?
Apparently not.
Tweety may not realize he's a fraud, but we do. He should stick to his man crushes, he does them better.
darn, neat me to it.
There's actually a simple answer to this, Chris: When you're growing up as a Cubs fan, you have to have a backup team for the occasions when you want to see a ball game actually won.
I lived two blocks away from Wrigley and I know what I'm talking about.
Matthews says, "doesn't everybody know she looks like a phony when she says she likes the Yankees?"
Not me. What everybody knows is that for the last 80 years, the Yankees have been everybody's second-favorite team: first their home team, then the Yankees. That's why Casey Stengel was always so popular, and Babe Ruth, etc. etc.
Same with NYC. Everybody likes New York. So why is it culpable when Hillary does? New Yorkers don't have a problem with her, so why should we?
Bob Somerby's right: Matthews is stupid, and he's Jack Welch's lost boy...Sharpening the knives for the plutocrats.
You've got to love Somerby's take on Matthews, Russert and Williams and their connection to Welch.
"Everybody likes New York"
That's why Limbaugh, O'Reilly and Hannity always use SF as an example of a bastion of the far left.
NYC is just as liberal if not more so but they wouldn't be able to step foot into the media capital of the world if they railed against it.
Right, Johnny. They're totally scared to say the same thing about NY.Kissing ass enough to dream of turning it red, they know they can attack SF without offending most of central California, as well as my county and conservative San Diego. They want to split that electoral vote up so bad, it's making them nuts(er).
you could not be more wrong about the yankees. i hate the yankees more than any team in sports, and so do a lot of other people i know.
Actually I always hated the Yankees. I always liked the Dodgers and the Indians
Her options include?
It doesn't matter what Chris Mattews said. Hillary does pander to interest groups. And when your team in the American League loses, you go to the other American league team that won.
Why does Media Matters even report this stuff.
And when your team in the American League loses, you go to the other American league team that won.
What a load of bollocks. You trying to justify America's Mayor rooting for the Red Sox? I suppose I should cut you some slack, however; any true Yankees fan has two faves -- the Yankees, and whoever's playing the Sox.
You are full of it. Why do you even post your nonsense?
I'm almost embarrassed to make this comment, but, does anyone realize that this is a totally unimportant "fact" designed by Matthews to smear Clinton? From the context, she was joking about Giuliani rooting for Boston to win votes in Massachusetts. SHE WAS JOKING!
Mathews spent the better part of an hour getting his panties in a twist over Hillary's remarks. What IS important is Clinton's stance on those issues most important to us all. Let's focus on them.
jerseygrownup
What Tweety apparently "missed" is that in the 2000 NY Senate race, while Rudy was still in it, he accused Hillary of being a Yankee fan of convenience, just to curry favor with NYers. Now, Mr. Self Proclaimed # 1 Yankee Fan is up in New Hampshire claiming to be a RedSox fan. A Yankee fan rooting for the RedSox ? ? ?
Who's really the fraud here, Chris ?
Something you'll never hear on Matthews show.
Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani declared himself a Red Sox fan on Tuesday, but as recently as last summer he vowed never to trade his Yankee soul to the Sox - even for the White House.
Last July, The Providence Journal asked the former mayor this fateful question: If the Devil said you can be President if you become a Red Sox fan, would you do it?
"I'm a Yankee fan," Giuliani replied then. "I always believe it's a sign of my being straight with people, about not wanting to fool them, that I was one of the first mayors to be willing to say I was a Yankee fan."
He went on to say he had "great respect" for true Red Sox fans, but as for becoming a Red Sox cheerleader in a Devil's bargain, "Probably that's a deal I could not make," he said.
Giuliani sounded a different note on Tuesday as he stumped through New Hampshire, a loyal province of the Red Sox Nation and home to the first presidential primary.
Matthews is a major shill for Giuliani. Repulsive and obvious. During that same show he said that if someone doesn't stop Hillary then the Democrats will be "stuck" with her. His hatred for her is causing him to foam at the mouth.
Loyal to your home team. Being loyal to the Pirates is like commiting suicide on the installment plan.
Hillary may be Matthews biggest fraud but she'll most likely be his next president. Why can't we all support any team we want to and not be attacked about it.
Chris is the fraud. I wish he would go work for the tabloids found at the supermarket check-out stands. That would be more fitting for his style of broadcasting. This is why I seldom watch his show.
MSNBC's LARDBALL with Crisp Statues:
Statues: "It's April 23, 2009, And there's much to report concerning the first 100 days of our country's first female President. As we reported here over a year and a half ago, Hillary can't be trusted. She switched teams during her campaign, from the Cubs to the Yankees. And it seems that she's about to do the same politically. After winning in the biggest landslide in American history, there's reports that she's turning the country over to the Russians. HAH, I told you not to trust a baseball fan that switches teams."
Matthews was raised in a world where a woman was not supposed to be in charge. He just cannot handle the idea of Hillary Clinton being the President. His pattern of constantly belittling everything Clinton does, while he lavishes praise on male candidates, has been well-documented by now. At what point does Matthews become an embarrassment? I would have thought we were well past that stage by now.
It seems that Chris Matthews just can’t help himself from showing his disdain for Hillary Clinton. Ever since the Lewinsky business, he has been giving both Bill and Hillary the shaft. Friday night he called her a fraud, he said that the Democrats would be “stuck” with her if she got the nomination, he tried to entice his guests on the show (Ms. Bedell Smith and Roger Simon) into criticizing Hillary (neither would oblige and he got mad), he made some obscure remark about a "chinese thing" that and he implied that there was something wrong about Bill Clinton restricting access to his papers. Regarding the latter, I too would want to keep these papers confidential before the election, especially from people like Matthews who would twist any information to make Hillary look bad. Matthews may be a tiny bit more subtle in criticising the Clintons and the Democrats than Tucker Carlson and Joe Scarborough, but he clearly has it in for the Clintons.