Chris Matthews Dismisses Democratic “Netroots” As Immature Crybabies

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by Robert Quigley | 8:45 am, December 18th, 2009

» 7 comments

On yesterday’s Hardball, Chris Matthews got testy over the suggestion that President Barack Obama is having trouble with the left. When New York Magazine political correspondent John Heilemann suggested that the Democratic base was wavering about Obama over concerns that he had “sold out to conservatives” and was “too mushy and too centrist,” Matthews swatted back, saying that the netroots “get their giggles out of sitting in the back seat and bitching:”

From MSNBC’s Hardball:

HEILEMANN: Chris, have the last two days made you think that, when you hear the Democratic left trashing the health care bill and attacking the president?
MATTHEWS: Well, I don`t consider them Democrats. I consider them netroots. And they`re different.
HEILEMANN: Ah.
MATTHEWS: And if I see that — if I see that they vote in every election or most elections, I will be worried. But I`m not sure they`re regular grown-up Democrats.
I think a lot of those people are troublemakers who love to sit in the back seat and complain. They`re not interested in governing this country. They never ran for office. They`re not interested in working for somebody in public office. They get their giggles out of sitting in the back seat and bitching. Excuse me. That`s a verb.

Surely his colleague Keith Olbermann, who said that he would go to jail if he had to buy government health care under the current reform bill and occasionally blogs at Daily Kos, would agree.

Chris Matthews, Chris Matthews Democratic Left, Chris Matthews Netroots, Democratic Left, msnbc, Netroots, New York Magazine

ChrisNH

These nightly explosions on MSNBC are wonderful to witness. This isn’t all ‘lollipops & gumdrops’ like Matthews and Olbermann expected it would be way back in February.
Jim R

Chris was predictably wrong in his contention that politicians like Ben Nelson know their state’s politics and therefore must hew the conservative line.

Polls have shown majorities in small states favored the so called public option, at least before it got hammered daily by villagers like Chris.

Funny how the only avenue for success is for Democrats to continually capitulate to Republicans – since it worked so well for Clinton I guess.
http://www.nukethefridge.com MartiniShark

I would love to know how anyone with a shred of integrity can even suggest that Obama is capitulating and has “sold out” to Conservatives. Obama is so far removed from a Conservative mindset that the only way to see him is by setting up monitors in the cheap-seats. There are few – if any – Republicans or Conservatives who want anything to do with this health-care agenda, so whatever bones he tosses their way go largely ignored.
http://www.swissarmyjew.com Keeva

Matthews is now officially taking the Republican tactic of disowning Democrats that do not agree with his orthodoxy. What exactly is a regular Democrat?

Add Matthews to the list of useless ideologues on both sides who have zero concept of the real world and only speak to make themselves heard.
http://www.sailrabbits.com Magister

I could really go off on a tirade about the delusional beliefs of the disenchanted netroots, but I’m going to restrain myself and instead, I’ll say that Matthews might want to be a little more careful. After all, if it weren’t for the 26 year old bloggers and their 23 year-old commenters, MSNBC primetime wouldn’t have any analysts and they’d only get people who actually know what they are talking about and whose opinion matters.
J Baustian

Chris better watch out, those nuts are the only viewers he has left. His soap-opera love affair with Kristina van den Heuvel drove away centrists or open-minded conservatives. (If THE NATION is your idea of a mainstream Democratic publication, then you may be a leftwing nut.)
ImNotBlue

Jim R says:
December 18, 2009 at 10:35 am

Got any proof of that poll, Jim… or are you making things up again?