Matthews: Clinton proves herself a 'great politician'
Posted: Thursday, January 17, 2008 9:11 PM by Cathy Finkler
Chris Matthews
On Thursday's "Hardball," Chris Matthews gave a detailed explanation which clarified his comments made about Sen. Hillary Clinton during a recent appearance on "Morning Joe."
Below is a transcript of Matthew's explanation.
"We're in a time of a lot of frustration: Iraq, the lack of health care for working people, gas prices, the weakening economy. I come on “Hardball” every night and try to wrestle with these frustrations, and moments of change – we might soon have the first woman president, the first African-American president, or a man older than we've elected before – always with the hope, our uniquely American hope, that we can actually make things better, that we can make this greatest of countries not only survive, but, as William Faulkner once said, “prevail.”
In the midst of talking about all this, almost always without a script; almost always on tricky subjects of gender and race and right and left; what's in our country's interest; who I think is telling the truth and who I think isn't, I know that I'm dealing with sensitive feelings.
I have accepted all of this as part of the business I have chosen. This program, I am proud to say, is tough, fearless and, yes, blunt. I want people to react when I say something. I don't like saying things so carefully, so politically correctly, that no one thinks I even said something.
What I've always counted on, in all the wild, speeded-up conversations on “Hardball” and elsewhere on television, is my good heart. I have always felt that, no matter how tough I got, how direct, how provocative, how purposely provocative, people out there watching would know I was not out against them, that it was them I was rooting for; that while I was tough on individuals who sought to lead the country, I was not against the hopes we all have for a fair shake, in fact a better deal for people who've been held back before we came along.
Some people I respect, politically concerned people like you who watch this show so faithfully, people like me, who care about this country, think I've been disrespectful to Hillary Clinton, not as a candidate but as a woman. They point to something I said on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” the morning after the New Hampshire primary: that her election to the Senate and all that's come since was a result of her toughness but also the sympathy for her because her husband embarrassed her by the conduct that led to his impeachment, because he, in the words I used, "messed around."
The truth, of course, is finer, smarter, larger than that. Yes, Hillary Clinton won tremendous respect from the country for the way she handled those months in 1998. Her public approval numbers spiked from the mid-40s up to the 70s in one poll I looked at. Why? Because she stuck to her duty. She performed strongly as first lady. She did such a "wow" of a job campaigning for Senate candidates, especially Chuck Schumer of New York, that she was urged to run for a Senate seat there herself. She might well have gotten this far by another route and through different circumstances, but this is how it happened.
The rest is history: how Hillary went up to New York, listened to people's concerns and beat the odds as well as the Republicans to become a respected member of the U.S. Senate.
So did I say it right? Was it fair to say that Hillary Clinton, like any great politician, took advantage of a crisis to prove herself? Was her conduct in 1998 a key to starting her independent electoral career the following year? Yes. Was it fair to imply that Hillary's whole career depended on being a victim of an unfaithful husband? No. And that's what it sounded like I was saying and it hurt people who I'd like to think normally like what I say; in fact, like me.
As I said, I rely on my heart to guide me in the heated, fast-paced talk we have here on “Hardball,” a heart that bears only good will toward people trying to make it, especially those who haven't before. If my heart has not always controlled my words, on those occasions when I have not taken the time to says things right or have simply said the inappropriate thing, I will try to be clearer, smarter, more obviously in support of the right of women, all people, to full equality of respect and ambition.
So I get it. On the particular point: If I'd said that the only reason John McCain has come so far is that he got shot down over North Vietnam and captured by the enemy, I'd be brutally ignoring the courage and guts he showed in bearing up under his captivity. Saying Sen.Clinton got where she's got simply because her husband did what he did to her is just as callous, and, I can see now, came across just as nasty – worse yet, just as dismissive.
Finally, as if anyone doesn't know this: I love politics. I like politicians. I like and respect people with the guts to put their name and their very being out there for public approval so they can help lead our country. And that goes for Hillary and Barack and John and all the rest who are willing to fight to take on the toughest job in the world." Watch complete video
