Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Chris Matthews

I really don't watch much television news at all, but I have seen a few minutes here and there of Chris Matthews' show on MSNBC. I could take or leave it, I guess there are a lot worse anchors and hosts out there, but he did something last week that, IMO, has to be seen to be believed.

He had a woman named Erin Burnett on his show. She is with CNBC and hosts a few financial programs on that network. While in the course of talking about the recent woes of the stock market and the housing situation, very serious issues and addressed by Ms. Burnett pretty elequently and intelligently, Matthews told her to "get closer" to the camera and that she was a "knockout", among other things.

Now, admittedly, she certainly is a knockout, there's no doubt about that. But for Matthews to say that ON THE AIR, while she's talking about serious issues like the stock market and subprime loans? That's conduct best suited for a bar or an office party, and even then its appropriateness would be arguable. I don't understand why he wanted her to come closer. Was he trying to cop a feel through the camera? This guy obviously has woman issues, and should apologize to Erin Burnett.

Here's a link to the video. Youtube has it as well, but it also shows that specific moment. I think it's more powerful when you see the interview in its entirety.

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