Following Buchanan's comment on Clinton's voice, Matthews warned: "Go the other way. You're in the danger area"
SUMMARY: On Morning Joe, after Pat Buchanan said of Sen. Hillary Clinton's speech following the Pennsylvania primary that "only once or twice did that voice start rising to the level that every husband in America at one time or another has heard. You know, where it starts going up -- " Joe Scarborough said, "Be careful here, Buchanan." Chris Matthews added, "Go the other way. You're in the danger area. ... You're in the danger area, Pat, take my advice."
During the April 23 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, discussing Sen. Hillary Clinton's speech following the Pennsylvania primary with co-host Joe Scarborough, guest co-host and NBC chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell, and Hardball host Chris Matthews, MSNBC analyst Pat Buchanan asserted, "[O]nly once or twice did that voice start rising to the level that every husband in America at one time or another has heard. You know, where it starts going up -- " Scarborough interjected, "Be careful here, Buchanan," adding, "Your wife's going after you for that." Mitchell also invoked Buchanan's wife, saying, "Shelley is going to get you for this." And Matthews -- who himself has a history of offering sexist commentary about Clinton and others, as Media Matters for America has documented -- said, "Go the other way. You're in the danger area. ... You're in the danger area, Pat, take my advice."
On the February 26 edition of Morning Joe, Buchanan made a similar comment, which he admitted was "sexist." Buchanan asserted that when Clinton "raises her voice, and when a lot of women do, you know, it's -- as I say -- it reaches a point ... where every husband in America ... has heard at one time or another." Co-host Mika Brzezinski replied: "Oh, Pat, you're lucky you're not in the studio, I'm telling you." Buchanan responded: "I know that's a sexist comment ... but there's truth to it! ... There's truth to it." He continued: "It's very difficult for women to reach those kinds of levels effectively, as it is to make them sort of a rally speech. They're not good at that." On Morning Joe the following day, after Media Matters documented his comments, Scarborough told Buchanan, "[Y]ou upset some people on a website ... yesterday with something you said." Buchanan stated, "Wait, are they arguing about the line I've used in my speeches when I go out there? I said her voice rises to a level that every husband in America," at which point Scarborough interrupted and said, "Don't say that again; they think that's sexist." Buchanan replied, "But there's no doubt about it," and Brzezinski stated, "It is sexist."
Later on the April 23 Morning Joe, discussing Sen. Barack Obama, Mitchell asked, "[I]s his inability to connect with white, Catholic, ethnic voters -- is it race? Is that the unspoken thing in the room?" Purporting to "tell you what's going on here," Matthews said, "When you walk into a diner at seven-thirty in the morning, you got a bunch of men in there, right? Usually." He continued: "Because the women sort of own the home, so the men get out of the house, they get -- if they're retired especially, they want an hour alone. So they go down and read the paper -- " Mitchell interrupted: "You're all getting in trouble with your wives this morning." Matthews continued:
MATTHEWS: No, no. They go down for an hour to get away from the house, that third place, we call it today -- it's not work, it's not home, it's that other place, whether it's Starbucks or it's the local diner. They sit there and read the paper, and they're kind of grumpy. But they mumble to each other. "What do you hear? What about those 'Skins?" You know? "What about the Eagles?" You know? That's how they talk. He doesn't seem to know how to do that mumble-talk. Like, "Hey what do ya hear? What do ya hear? What do ya hear?"
Matthews also discussed "grumpy old men" "hanging around" in diners "because they don't want to be at home with their wives for an hour a morning" on the April 18 edition of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. And on the April 16 edition of Hardball, Matthews asserted that Obama "can't walk into a dinette [sic] with five or six guys there, white guys, in some cases." Matthews continued: "He can't just shake hands and hang out. He doesn't seem to, 'Hey, you know, how are the Eagles doing?' Or 'How are the Phils doing?' "
From the April 23 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:
BUCHANAN: Look at her last night. For the -- you know, she's had -- when she loses, the smiles are forced. I mean, it's tough to do. Last night she was serene, she was self-confident, she was in control, she had the look of a winner. As Chris said, only once or twice did that voice start rising to the level that every husband in America at one time or another has heard. You know, where it starts going up --
SCARBOROUGH: Be careful here, Buchanan.
BUCHANAN: I know. But she -- only a couple of times --
SCARBOROUGH: Be careful.
MITCHELL: Shelley is going to get you for this.
MATTHEWS: Go the other way. You're in the danger area.
SCARBOROUGH: Your wife's going after you for that.
MATTHEWS: You're in the danger area, Pat, take my advice.
BUCAHNAN: But it was. But it really was, and Barack got up, and we've heard that thing -- Barack, we've heard him before. And he was listless.
MATTHEWS: Can we stay positive here?
BUCHANAN: He was listless.
MATTHEWS: Let's talk about how good her speech was last night, not how bad it can be. I mean, it was really good.
[...]
MITCHELL: But, Pat, is his inability to connect with white, Catholic, ethnic voters -- is it race? Is that the unspoken thing in the room?
MATTHEWS: [Rep.] Charlie Rangel [D-NY] could do it in five seconds. There's a lot of politicians, certainly [Philadephia Mayor] Michael Nutter's pretty good at it. Let me tell you what's going on here. When you walk into a diner at seven-thirty in the morning, you got a bunch of men in there, right? Usually.
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
MATTHEWS: Because the women sort of own the home, so the men get out of the house, they get -- if they're retired especially, they want an hour alone. So they go down and read the paper --
MITCHELL: You're all getting in trouble with your wives this morning.
MATTHEWS: No, no. They go down for an hour to get away from the house, that third place, we call it today -- it's not work, it's not home, it's that other place, whether it's Starbucks or it's the local diner. They sit there and read the paper, and they're kind of grumpy. But they mumble to each other. "What do you hear? What about those 'Skins?" You know? "What about the Eagles?" You know? That's how they talk. He doesn't seem to know how to do that mumble-talk. Like, "Hey what do ya hear? What do ya hear? What do ya hear?"
MATTHEWS: Go the other way. You're in the danger area.
MATTHEWS: You're in the danger area, Pat, take my advice.
Ha! Guess Chris was warning Pat about the ever watchful MMFA ;-)
I saw this exchange. It was just chit-chat. Nothing nefarious going on here. Seriously, this is the kind of stuff MMFA ought to just let pass.
To those offended by this conversation, I'd recommend you learn to relax.
Personally, I don't get offended by these types of remarks but it is showing off Matthew's sweeping generalizations and psychic powers to know that there are 1) mostly men at diners 2) mostly catholic 3) mostly old 4) mostly mumbling 5) concerned about football 6) are there to get away from their wives 7) Obama can't 'connect' with them 7) and that's why Obama lost the PA primary.
This guy lives in a bubble.
The fact that it's "just chit-chat" is the real problem. Why are these so-called new networks constantly focusing on the inane, the trivial and the meaningless? Why do these supposed journalists and pundits feel the need to go for stupid jokes rather than provide any sort of useful information? Why do idiots like Scarborough have shows with which to inflict their sophomoric wit and bizarre imaginary visions of what the mythical "Joe Middle America" is like on the rest of us?
The problem isn't media bias so much as a media that values profit and getting the largest share of a lowest common denominator viewing audience than it does providing accurate and necessary information and service to the viewers.
There’s a natural hunger to know what’s going on. And just as hunger for food is a good thing which keeps us striving to nourish our bodies, so too is this intellectual hunger beneficial. When we were developing into the animals we are today, for many hundreds of thousands of years and longer, one didn’t have to worry about eating too much or the nutritious foods being crowded out by refined and over processed junk foods. If you did make a mistake and eat a poison and survive, you certainly learned to not eat that thing again. You wouldn’t continue a steady diet of the poison. There was an immediate learning process.
Today just as foods high in sugar and low in nutrients today exist which hadn’t before, there is also ample opportunity to be misinformed and even disinformed while thinking one is actually learning something of value. Having satiated his appetite with junk information such a person may think he knows something and will confidently act accordingly, sometimes against his own self interests. On the other hand, the man who knows he doesn’t know the lay of the land is more wary and appropriately tentative in his steps. He is far smarter than the misinformed man or the man who is not misinformed but who has learned nothing of value but who thinks he has.
MATTHEWS: You're in the danger area, Pat, take my advice.
It's pretty bad when you have to get gender sensitivity advice from Chris Matthews.