Read
Sam Stein, he’s got the story. Of course, Matthews couldn’t stop himself:
"The kneecapping hasn’t worked. Her press relations are lousy,"
he said. "If all you do is intimidate and punish and claim you’ll get
even relentlessly, people of all kinds of politicians — and in all fairness,
the press — human reaction to intimidation is screw you. That’s the human
reaction. Don’t tell me what to say, and that has been their whole policy.
We’re going to win this thing. Get out of the way."
When the Shuster kerfuffle exploded, anyone who’s followed the MSNBC campaign
against Clinton knew it was about something broader, not simply about getting
Shuster fired. After all, he’s not exactly in the driver’s seat over there.
Greg
Sargent hit it directly recently:
Anyway, this should settle it: As dumb and clueless as Shuster’s "pimp"
remark, this was never really about him. The Clinton campaign, while genuinely
upset about what Shuster said, lashed out at the network because they were
primarily irked by Matthews’ conduct, and were sending a message to MSNBC
that it’s time that Matthews muzzle himself.
The pattern over at MSNBC has been proven time and again, with the exception
of Dan Abrams. He doesn’t lean Clinton at all, criticizing her when he feels
it’s deserved, which is what any journalist should do. But he doesn’t go out
of his way to frame the story as anti Clinton every time. Matthews, sensing
an opportunity, especially after Clinton accepted the NBC debate, let ‘er rip again.
You can tell by the video he’s trying to settle a score and that this is very personal for him. The John Lewis superdelegate story was all he needed as an excuse.
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