'You don't know what you're talking about'

Chris Matthew's talk-over-the-guest interviewing style on Hardball has always been nails on a chalkboard for me, but this might be the first time it ever came across as utterly appropriate. Kevin James, a right-wing talker from California, came on the show Thursday after President Bush's Knesset speech to talk about Israel, appeasement and Barack Obama, and his aggressive platitudes prompted Matthews to run a history check on his ass.

It immediately becomes clear that James doesn't have a clue who Neville Chamberlain was, or what happened in Munich. Partition of Czechoslovakia and dialog with Palestinians the Iranians? "It's the same thing!" he says.

What follows might be the greatest smack-down of a self-important, shallow idiot ever witnessed on national TV. Listen to the high-school essay-test evasion ploys and the empty wingnut counter-attack maneuver ("Thirty-eight or 39, Chris? Which one do you want?").

You've got to be morally and intellectually bankrupt if Tweety makes you look small in comparison.

Comments

[Ralph Kramden]

I hold no brief for right-wing squawkers or for Matthews, but note that Matthews sandbagged James. Matthews was the one who brought up Neville Chamberlain, then steered the "discussion" onto that point. It seems like he had this point researched and "in his pocket" just to ambush someone who strayed close to the rhetorical territory.

Of course, James plays the part of the stereotypical know-nothing radio screech-owl like he was sent from central casting.

[Lopp]

Yes, the guy has no idea what Neville Chamberlain did (neither did I). But Chamberlain isn't the limits of his illiteracy. We may infer that he has no idea what "appeasement" even means - perhaps something about speaking from weakness? This, despite braying it mantra-like almost as much as he says Barack Obama.

Why are you screaming, James?