Who's Sorry Now?

     Anyone familiar with the MSNBC show "Hardball" is no doubt  keenly aware of host Chris Matthews' penchant for misogynistic put downs of women in general and Hillary Clinton in particular.   Matthews' hate-laced comments about Hillary and other women  have been well documented by Media  Matters and other watchdog groups. 

    Well, the day after the New Hampshire primary, Matthews went a step too far.  That was when he made this   outrageous statement about Hillary:

    "The reason she's a U.S. Senator, the reason she's a candidate for President, the reason she may be a front-runner, is her husband messed around. That's how she got to be Senator from New York. We keep forgetting it. She didn't win it on the merits..."

 

    After that, all hell broke loose.  The National Women's Political Caucus organized a protest outside NBC's Washington bureau, and NOW president Kim Gandy joined Gloria Steinem and others  in expressing their outrage to NBC News in this letter to President Steve Capus:

National Organization for Women

January 16, 2008

Steve Capus
  President, NBC News
NBC Television Group
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112-0037

Dear Mr. Capus:

During the controversy surrounding Don Imus' racist and sexist remarks this past spring, you acknowledged that, with Imus, "there have been any number of other comments that have been enormously hurtful to far too many people. And my feeling is that ... there should not be a place for that on MSNBC. This is about trust. It's about reputation. It's about doing what's right."

We commend your acknowledgement that NBC has a responsibility to demand appropriate conduct and dialogue in its programming.  That is why we are writing to you concerning comments made by Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball, that demonstrate a larger pattern of overt sexism when discussing women.

During an appearance on the January 9 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, Matthews said of Senator Hillary Clinton, "the reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around" and that "[s]he didn't win there [New York] on her merits." Matthews has referred to Clinton as a "she devil," compared her to a "strip-teaser" and called her "witchy." He has referred to men who support her as "castratos in the eunuch chorus." He has suggested Clinton is not "a convincing mom" and said "modern women" like Clinton are unacceptable to "Midwest guys."

Matthews' sexism is hardly limited to his comments about Clinton; such rhetoric is just the latest in a string of sexist attacks he has made against prominent female political figures.

• During coverage of the New Hampshire primary, he said that Clinton is the only viable woman presidential candidate "on the horizon." He couldn't think of a single female governor eligible to run: "Where are the big-state women governors?" he asked. "Where are they? Name one." In fact, several of the states that currently have women governors are comparable in population to the states in which the male presidential candidates serve or have served as governor.

• In November 2006, shortly after the Democrats took the majority in Congress, Matthews asked a guest if then-presumptive Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was "going to castrate Steny Hoyer" if Hoyer (D-MD) were elected House Majority Leader.

• During coverage of a presidential debate last spring, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell was compelled to remind Matthews that Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) wife, Michelle, is a Harvard-educated lawyer after he focused obsessively on her physical appearance.

During the Imus controversy you expressed a hope that "we don't squander this remarkable opportunity that we have to continue this dialogue that has taken place, to continue the dialogue about what is appropriate conduct and speech, to continue the dialogue about what is happening in America. I think we have, as broadcasters, a responsibility to address those matters."

In the middle of a heated election season where, for the first time, we have both a female candidate and an African-American candidate vying for the Democratic nomination, "appropriate conduct and speech" is more important than ever.  Matthews' history proves that when discussing prominent female figures, he is prone to overt sexism rather than civil political discourse.

 

We appreciate your taking the time to address our concerns and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kim Gandy, President, National Organization for Women

Lulu Flores, President, National Women's Political Caucus

Carol Jenkins, President, Women's Media Center

Eleanor Smeal, President, Feminist Majority

Gloria Steinem, Activist/Author

    The next day, Chris Matthews kicked off his show with a lengthy apology which, according to Salon's Rebecca Traister,  displayed "all the heartfelt remorse of a kid being dragged by his ear to apologize to an old lady for sending a baseball through her window."

    Here's what Matthews said.  See if Rebecca was right.