by Chris Matthews
Twenty years ago I stood in the rain on the East Berlin side of the great Brandenburg Gate, the grim symbol of division between East and West during the Cold War.
It was a rainy night and it was cold. But people were standing around, just waiting. Word had got out that "the authorities" might be opening the great Gate that the "Vopos," those notorious East German police, were still guarding.
Change was in the air. As I interviewed one East German after another I kept asking them what "freedom" meant to them. "Was its Freiheit?" I kept asking in my limited German. Soon a crowd gathered around me, a kind of rump town meeting. Attracted by an American with a notepad, people were eager to give me their personal meanings of what this whole thing meant, this coming down of the Berlin Wall, this fall of the Iron Curtain, this ending of their captivity, this first chance to speak their hearts and minds on matters of politics.
For a nurse, it meant free elections with real choices, multi-party elections. Only that would end the drain of her fellow workers to the west for better jobs and better lives.
For some it was free enterprise, capitalism, like in the west. For others it was socialism but of a democratic kind like in Scandinavian countries. For others it was simply the ability to vote and choose what kind of system people wanted.
For one young man, "freedom" meant doing what we were doing right there on that cold rainy night, talking politics in public. "This is Freiheit!" he said, talking without fear about how they were being governed, how they wanted to be governed.
I doubt that I will ever forget that moment.
There was more to it than that, I would discover in the days ahead. While the East Berliners I interviewed that week in November 1989 differed on the question of capitalism or socialism or whether to re-unite with West Germany, they agreed on one thing.
They felt abused, humiliated, and robbed by their communist elite. And the ones that felt it the most were the good people who worked hard and played by the rules
It's a lesson for us. Watch what's happening on Wall Street, with all the bail-outs and bonuses. Watch the abuse of the free enterprise system by those at the top. And look at those who are most angry. It's the true believers in the system who are disgusted at the way the politicians are kowtowing to the money guys who screwed things up in the first place.
So this 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall falling is a good time to think of our own system: who is working to make it better, who is exploiting and abusing it, who is bringing it down? And who in government is doing the job of really protecting the true believers, you know, the people who work hard and play by the rules and don't like what they're seeing these days in this country they love.
by Chris Matthews
The death of former White House press secretary Jody Powell yesterday reminds me of the last night of the 1980 election.
I remember Jody, who had been President Carter's loyal press secretary and confidant all those years, telling the President late that night that we weren't going to over night anywhere that night. Carter would give his last speech in Seattle - to catch the last time zone - then we'd fly through what was left of the night back to Georgia to vote.
I remember the way Jody said it: "There's no "tonight" tonight, governor." I had a seat next to Jody that election eve on the way West and back - a big deal for a speechwriter. I kept answering the phone for Jody from Patrick Caddell, the pollster and advisor who was playing such a big part in President Carter's re-election campaign.
At about 1 o'clock in the morning West Coast time, the President, having given the Seattle speech to a roaring crowd in an airport hangar, was now back in the staff section with us having drinks with the press corps - Judy Woodruf, Helen Thomas, Sam Donaldson, a few others.
Jody had gone forward to take that call from Caddell. It was bad news. Pat was back at the White House with Hamiliton Jordan and Jerry Rafshoon, who'd been with Carter from the beginning.
When President Carter came forward and took the phone from Jody, he got the news - hard. He was going to lose the election by ten percent - a landslide. I remember Rick Hertzberg, the president's chief speechwriter coming back to the staff section and saying "Jody's a soldier."
Jody Powell, who'd been Carter's press secretary, and a lot more than that, all the way, was now asking us to write something the president could say to both get out the best vote for his party while lessening the anti-incumbent heat that had grown through that long, brutal year of the Iranian hostage-taking and bad economic news.
There was Jody, still giving the commands, child of the South, standing up for the good fight, remaining at his post. "Jody's a soldier." Can't say it better than that.
Watch Chris Matthew's appearance on The Colbert Report.
Matthews talks about the upcoming Hardball documentary on the Kennedy brothers. He explains why he's critical of the town hall protesters, and admits he likes to eat potatoes.
MSNBC will premiere its latest documentary,
The Kennedy Brothers: A Hardball Documentary, reported by Hardball’s Chris Matthews, on Thursday, August 27th, at 7 P.M. ET.
Before John F. Kennedy entered the political scene, no politician had ever seemed so comfortable—so himself—in front of television cameras. While politicians of the past were forever frozen in black and white photos, the Kennedy brothers were a crisp color image. They brought to Washington a level of glamour previously seen only in Hollywood movies. But even the finest Hollywood director could never have cast such dashing leading men, nor could the finest screenwriter have conceived their tragic storyline.
The MSNBC original documentary The Kennedy Brothers deconstructs the myth and legend surrounding this quintessential American family. The documentary is reported by Chris Matthews, whose opportunity to work with and report on the Kennedys since the 1970s gives him a unique insight into their story. Matthews is also the author of the book, Kennedy and Nixon: The Rivalry That Shaped Postwar America.
Matthews sits down with key Kennedy insiders, including Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Frank Mankiewicz, biographer Peter Canellos, and presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, to gain priviledged access to their opinions on this enigmatic family.
The Kennedy Brothers documentary delves deeply into the family’s saga and seeks to discover why we as a nation not only embrace the family legend, but seem to have a desire to make their story our story. It takes viewers behind the Kennedy legacy, exposing the family’s scandals, personal recklessness, and dashed hopes. The program’s insider access helps us come to terms with what this family has meant for American history—and what its absence will mean for America's future.
As a supplement to the film, Hardball.msnbc.com will post interviews not shown in the documentary, as well as exclusive archived footage of Kennedy speeches and appearances that have not been aired in their entirety for nearly 40 years.
Watch a preview of the documentary -- how JFK used the power of television in his presidential campaign below.
by Chris Matthews
Earlier this month, I took two weeks off from the show and Kathleen and I traveled to South Africa, Mozambique and Swaziland where I had spent two years back in the 1960s helping develop small business enterprise as a volunteer in the U.S. Peace Corps.
We got a fabulous chance to see the historic efforts some very good people are making to save the amazing wildlife of Africa. I've got to give a real shout-out to Greg Carr, an American who is working and investing so hard to rebuild the great Gorongosa Game Park in Mozambique. He is working with the government of that country to bring back that country's precious resource.
I also want to pay tribute to Ted Reilly, who's spent his whole life in Swaziland. His father fought in the Boer War and he's now helping King Mswati to build-up and protect that beautiful little country's wildlife.
I've got to praise King Mswati for having the strength and vision to mean it when he bans poaching. Zero tolerance! No bail. No breaks...you kill, you go to jail. We've had too many elephants and rhinos killed in that part of the world.
I can't overlook the work of today's Peace Corps volunteers in Swaziland to deal with the HIV-AIDs challenge. They're up against some real challenges but I was very happy for the chance to meet with them.
Three cheers again to King Mswati for inviting the Peace Corps into his country and backing up their volunteer efforts. It makes me proud to have those young Americans over there working to meet a horror that affects Africa so greatly.
It was an incredible two weeks. I came very close to some amazing animals. In the very midst of the most wonderful scenery in the world. I was lucky to be in Africa as a young man and lucky to have returned there many times with my family since.
I hope to spend the rest of my life keeping in touch with the beauty and challenges of this wondrous continent.
Watch the complete video below.
by Chris Matthews
We lost Ed McMahon last night. The country knew him as Johnny Carson's sidekick on "The Tonight Show" where night after night, he opened with that trademark - "Heeere's Johnny!"
Talk about an iconic bit of Americana. I first saw Ed riding around on the hood of a car. That's what he did every night in the commercials growing up in Philadelphia: a grown man in suit with his butt on the hood of a brand new automobile. That was our own Ed McMahon in his nightly advertisement of McCafferty Ford up on the boulevard in Langhorne, Pa.
Ed had a more humble beginning in show business. He was the clown on "The Big Top," the big circus show that came out of Philadelphia on national television back in the 1950s. It was all part of the work a person does to break his or her way into "the business" on which you set your heart.
Ed had fought for his country in both World War II and Korea. He was once on "Hardball" with Sen. John Glenn and he told us about it and the lesson he'd learned back then.
"Col. Glenn and I, World War II and Korea, we flew in both places, fought in both places. The advice is the same. Do what you are trained to do. Look out for your comrades, the guys next to you. Take care of the guy that's right beside you. In the military flying element, you have a wing man.... and you would think as much about the wing man as any other person in life. That was your closest, closest possible buddy. And anything you do, whatever it is, in a tank or on the ground, you respect the guy beside you and you do your job." (Click here to watch the January 2005 appearance.)
Ed McMahon's dream, which he reached, was a big-time TV announcer's job - where he could get into the act - his pot at the end of the rainbow was working as "wing man," as he put it, for Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show."
I think his job there was more important than people figured. Ed McMahon, regular guy, was our connection with that witty, cool, aloof Johnny Carson who could be very charming but also very distant. Ed McMahon was our connection. If Carson could hang out with a guy like Ed - who was, for many of us, a guy like us, he might just hang out (if the opportunity ever arose) with that big "us" out there.
It's sort of the job Joe Biden has now - with Barack Obama. Anyway, that's a different story.
Good for Ed. He got where he wanted to get. That's not bad in any life. And so tonight, let's say good night to the man who made "The Tonight Show" what it was for all those legendary years.
Watch the complete video:
by Chris Matthews
As people who watch Hardball - and you are the good people - know, I have extended a serious tribute over time to men and women who have had the moxie to stand up for their rights.
How can I give that coveted Hardball Award to anyone on this planet this week but the people in the streets of Tehran, the hundreds of thousands who have stood out there and demanded that their votes are counted and counted fully.
Whether their cause is women's rights, greater freedoms or a freer dialogue with the outside world, this crowd has refused to sit by and accept the results of a presidential election they say was rigged.
You can see the crowd there, almost all young adults, flooding the streets and Internet airwarves with signs in English and French. Their audience is the world stage and they've got a rallying cry that's forced 'EVERYONE' to take notice:
"I do believe that something has happened in Iran where there is a questioning of the kinds of antagonistic postures towards the international community that have taken place in the past, and that there are people who want to see greater openness and greater debate and want to see greater democracy." - Barack Obama
Of course, theirs isn't a cause without dangers. At least 10 protestors have already died. Today, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected calls for a new election and warned of a harsh crackdown if the rallies go on. He said,"Street challenge is not acceptable.
Well, after that tough speech, Iranians took to their rooftops today crying "God is Great," in apparent defiance of the Ayatollah and his attempts to quell the voices of the demostrations.
So here's what I say. I say President Obama may well be right in not taking sides in Iran. But we can and, I believe, I should.
Tonight I extend the Hardball Award to those men and women on the steeets and now on the rooftoops, those who continue fight for their vote. They've proven that Democracy's got some 'REAL' appeal to people who have long been denied a say in their government.
Following is a rush transcript of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) on tonight's "Hardball with Chris Matthews." Sen. Kerry discusses the protests in Iran and President Obama's stance on them, saying "this is an Iranian moment, not an American moment, and we need to have the discipline, the restraint, the maturity to stand back from this as the Iranians proceed."
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Senator Kerry, John McCain, your colleague, has been critical of the president for not speaking out and joining the protests in the streets of Tehran. What's your view?
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: My view is that the president has clearly spoken out. He spoke in Cairo as clearly as any president ever has about the prospects for democracy, for the possibilities of a different future. And I think he's been very, very clear. But for the president to step into the middle of what the Iranians appear to be handling for themselves would be a mistake, because it would give to the hardliners the ability to be able to use the president and the West as an excuse.
We've seen what hard-line rhetoric has gotten us over the last eight years, Chris. It's created an Iran that's more powerful in the region, an Iran that's been more reluctant to engage with the rest of the world. The president has opened up new possibilities. I think even the elections in Lebanon a week ago showed the results that come from a different kind of diplomacy. And we need to let the president pursue that.
MATTHEWS: Do you think we're kidding anyone, though -- don't they know, on the Ahmadinejad side over there, the government side and the ayatollahs' side -- that we're rooting for the opposition? Don't they...
KERRY: They don't have any...
MATTHEWS: Don't they...
KERRY: They don't have any illusions about it, but that's very different from overt activities that they can then turn around. CONTINUED >>
by Chris Matthews
It was a year ago tomorrow that Tim Russert died at NBC News headquarters in Washington. He died on the job that Friday preparing yet again a broadcast of his remarkable, newsmaking, pacesetting Meet the Press.
I think about Tim every day each day I arrive at work, but especially on Fridays, which remind me of him and his enormous place here in our work and lives.
To those who trusted him and learned from him on the air,Tim was a strong partner in understanding news and public affairs in the old strict sense. What are the facts, sir? How could you say this but also this? Why could you say this and "do" this? What exactly is your decision, sir?
To those who worked with him closer in, Tim was a charismatic figure, a leader, a standard, someone very hard to beat. And when he slowed down from his hard-driving work "very" good company. He's been missed.
Watch the tribute below.
by Chris Matthews
Tomorrow, on the sixty-fifth anniversary of D-Day, President Obama has a pair of tough acts to follow - his own speech yesterday and one given a quarter century ago.
I remember getting up that morning in 1984 to catch President Reagan at Normandy. It was a real "morning in America" speech. I believe that Reagan's ability to connect with World War II was a reason for his enormous popularity. Here he was on the bluffs of France saying something very good about America: how we liberated Europe
That's the heart of it, the reason Reagan was popular, Roosevelt was popular, Jack Kennedy was popular, and Barack Obama is popular. Don't tear us down. Don't make us feel like victims or the angry guys or the worried guys. Make us feel American!
I think the President's speech yesterday was the reason we Americans elected him. It was grand. It was positive, hopeful. It said to the world: if you're a good guy you've got nothing to fear from us. If you've got national aspirations, if you want to be respected as a people, if you want to treated as an equal people in the world, we're on your side. If you're an aggressor, if you want to hold down another people, if you're driven by a predatory ideology, if you're out to hurt America, look out!
We Americans are like that rattlesnake on our first flag: "Don't tread on us." But what I liked about the President's speech in Cairo was that it showed a complete humility. What he did was rob from the enemy - those who want to destroy us - their main case: the belief that only by extremism can the east reach equality of dignity with the west.
The question now is whether the president we elected and spoke for us so grandly yesterday can carry out the great vision he just gave to the world. If he can, he will be honoring what happened on D-Day sixty-five years ago tomorrow. He will be delivering the world once again from evil.
Watch the complete video below.
