CHRIS MATTHEWS LOSES IT

JAYLY NEWS SATURDAY AUG 30

The most compelling evidence John McCain's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin greatly worries Democrats is observing various members of the liberal news media go totally over the edge.

I don't mean merely transparently and grotesquely biased - we see that every day, most especially on MSNBC: Mika Brezhinski (obvioulsy the dumbest human being ever to appear on television, including animal stories), Chris Matthews and the undisputed king of cable TV whackos, Keith Olberwellian have long-abandoned any pretense of objectivity, professional bearing, fairness and, with it, Journalism.

No, I mean stark, raving mad. I mean when like watching a car wreck. Like you can't believe what you've just seen.

Such was the case last evening (Friday Aug 29) when on MSNBC Chris Matthews gave Olberman a real run for the Joe McCarthy/Howard Beal award by becoming literally apoplectic at the news of Sarah Palin.

Viewers must earnestly have thought Matthews was almost surely suffering a stroke: his eyes were poppping out of his fat head, his face was not just red but impurpled, spittle was forming in the corners of his mouth, and there wasn't a trace of irony or humor in his vindictive tirade.

I mean, I know Matthews has just said "to hell with my critics" (for admitting to his being totally in the bag for Obama)...but Chris Matthews acted like a crazy man.

Then it got worse (i.e. Really Good).

After wildly screeching his objections to Sarah Palins resume, John McCain's nefarious motives and the general evilness of Republicans, Matthews spewed at his GUEST AND COLLEAGUE (and a man superior to Matthews in terms of intellect, expertise, poliical knowledge and, now obviously, breeding) Pat Buchanan the single most ugly, personal, insulting attack on another person I have ever witnessed on television. (And I am a veteran TV talking head, having made hundreds of appearances with friend and mostly foe, mostly on MSNBC.)

The thesis, as it were, of Matthews' rant was "how is it POSSIBLE someone could be even CONSIDERED for high office if she had once SUPPORTED PAT BUCHANAN?!" (Full disclosure: I workred for Pat Buchanan off and on for years, including his Presidential campaigns.)

Matthews, glowering at an incredulous Buchanan - who could clearly see the host had vacated his faculties - said "YOU MEAN SARAH PALIN COULD BE PICKED EVEN AFTER SUPPORTING THE WORST OF PAT BUCHANAN?!" (A reference to PB's controversial and magnificent convention speech.) This to Mr. Buchanan's face - again, a day-to-day MSNBC colleague, respected author, political figure and former candidate for President of the United States.

Matthews' seizure continued for the entirety of the show. When at the end Pat Buchanan asserted that Sarah Palin's pro-life postion would be a political asset in many areas of the country (this issue and statement seeming to drive Matthews to a glorious new level of screaming, wild-eyed, foaming madness) the host responded like a troubled child "OH YEAH?! YOU JUST GO AND TRY THAT UP WHERE I LIVE AND SEE WHERE IT GETS YOU!"

Maybe poor Chris - whom I've met, and whose work I once admired - simply cannot withstand the mental strain of being dominated and punched around like a skinny cousin on-air by the paranoid bully Olberman.

But let the record show - and the timeless video prove - that on Friday night, August 29, 7-8 p.m., with his hideously inappropriate and ugly personal attack on a colleague, Chris Matthews achieved the truly impressive: he sunk to the lowest level of any host in cable television history.

Perfect for who Chris Matthews - and MSBNC - has become.

Jay Severin