Matthews is living in the past. His objections to Hillary appearing on stage with her husband were unaccompanied by objections to male candidates who appeared on stage with their spouses. Since when is doing that out of order?

Hillary's awkward appearance stems mostly from her inability to clap correctly and authoritatively to music. The richer and whiter you are, the more likely you are to take up the cadence on the downbeat. All she needs is some time with a good gospel choir to snap her out of it.

I'm a Democrat and thrilled that we won back the House, but even I got Matthews' "Chinese" reference. Although he could have been more articulate and descriptive, Clinton's clapping also reminded me of the red-book children of Communist China due to her hand and elbow placement, not to mention the strange beat she seemed to be following. Not sure how strange that outburst was, but Matthews cannot seem to restrain himself from telling viewers which women candidates or candidates' wives that he finds attractive. It makes me uncomfortable and is way too much information.

Typical "Republican in Democrat Clothing" Chris Matthews is again displaying the usual MSNBC sanctioned sputtering BS. The Clintons were CELEBRATING. Something that republicans and democrats do everytime they win. MSNBC probably has countless clips of republicans doing the same thing. Matthews obviously is annoyed at the huge victory for the democrats this mid-term election. Matthews is a mouthpiece for the republican party. He usually soft-balls questions to his favored republicans and gives his mostly unfavored democrats a rhetorical licking. An example would be when he referred to new Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, as "scary" and "left." As if this entire six years hasn't been scary. Gee, maybe Matthews is so far to the right that to him center is now left. Yea, doing something for the middle-class and the 99% of the country is scary and left? Obviously, Matthews is NOT an objective commentator nor a supportive democrat, and never has been. The "Chinese or something" comment is also typical arrogant, low-blow republican racism, such as the "McCacca comment by George Allen." Both Matthews and Allen were trying to be funny and witty but ended up being ignorant and racist. Unfortunately, MSNBC is going to keep Matthews like Bush is going to keep Rumsfeld.

If I were a 50-something lady who just won the senate seat of the Glorious State of New York, I would be up there doing the Running Man and then Moon Walk and shit. Then I'd make my fat bastard husband do the Snake center stage. Word up, Republican bitches!

Yeah Chris Matthews is a typical racist white Republican. Everyone in the world knows all white republicans are racist. Welcome back to the perverse fantasy world of politically incorrect daft apparatchik democrats, A Dem? Let's see Howard Dean squirm in front of Al Sharpton again, that was an example demo spine at it's best.

chris matthews should be the last guy on earth to knock another person about a wooden performance. matthews reminds me more and more of the washed-up dennis miller. out of step and out of touch, all he knows is the attack.

About Luther/Luthor/Luthar and the Phantom: I think Matthews has his comics confused. Mandrake the Magician has a sidekick named Lothar.

If you look at this clip, you see President Clinton and Senator Clinton acting like any political spouses act-- except this time it's the man in the background behind the woman. Clapping is not "Chinese" (and what exactly does THAT mean), it's what politicians do. Standing in the background "just there" is what political spouses do. Matthew's comments reak of gender bias.

They are just clapping to the music you ninny!!

....as the San Andreas fault. He interupted Olbermann several times, in an almost condesending way. I could tell Keith was politely holding back.

...Bill and Hillary Clinton is for the political right what Richard and Pat Nixon were for the political left two generations ago. Of course, what drives the right nuts is that, between them, they have lost ONE election.

Yep, Matthews lost it.

The "Phantom" reference was probably a "Phantom of the Opera" reference--with Bill being the Phantom and Hillary being Christine, his protege.

Boy, is that a stretch, though, just as the "Chinese" thing is.

Chris, if you can't say something nice, keep your fucking mouth shut.

I agree, Kerry -- in fact, weird outbursts all night long...

It's a tortured route, but I believe chris was referring to the Sunday Funnies (i.e. comic strips).'Lothar' was the hulking man-servant of, not The Phantom, but Mandrake the Magician!

But both strips were written by the same guy, Lee Falk, so maybe Chris' cognitive gears were connecting on *some* level... just not reality.

Dave

His inscrutable and obliquely insulting remarks perfectly reflect the flavor of Hillary's Winged Colossus of Victory appearance. It IS Chinese or something, whatever that means. It's also creepy. It's also feels like a mandatory corporate development office party. It's also the most calculated and stagey "celebration" of the night. It's also barely sublimated hostility for her to push her supporters and staff into the darkness of the audience so that she can applaud them from the heights and lights of the stage. I know exactly what Matthew means.

I'm not sure what Matthews meant about Luther or Luthor, but the Chinese clapping refers to something Americans first learned about China when Nixon first went to the PRC. It is the Chinese custom to clap back when people clap for you. Thus Nixon stepped to the top of US1's staircase, was applauded by the greeting delegation, and in turn Nixon applauded his hosts. Chris Matthews thinks of himself as a funny guy, but a whole evening of his off the mark "jokes" was pretty nauseating. I longed for more thoughtful commentary a la Olbermann than the petty juvenalia of Matthews.

I know this is a stretch, but...

Was Matthews comparing Bill Clinton to Lothar, the character in the nearly forgotten Saturday Night Live sketch, "Lothar, of the Hill People?" It's a satirical take on emasculation, where three "Hillmen" (a few centuries advanced from cavemen) sit around complaining about their respective women. Of particular note is their insistence that men are stronger, yet women inexplicably have the power to cast them out of their own huts.

Here is a quote from the sketch that has some uncanny parallels to the Clinton Administration: "Yes! I am Chieftan of all the Hill People! But in my own hut, I am deemed no better than foul humors discharged from the body!"

I wouldn't put it past Matthews to A) infer that Hilary's rise is emasculating for Bill, B) make an obscure reference that nobody gets to feel smarter than his viewers, and C) mispronounce that obscure reference, rendering it pointless (he did, earlier in the night, incorrectly refer to the Milwaukee Bulls, only to be corrected by Olbermann, the former sportscaster).

It was intolerable watching Matthews dominate the coverage last night, forgetting the names of panel members, stumbling over his words, claiming that certain races weren't surprises when he obviously had no idea, and congratulating himself for "getting Howard Dean to support the war". But more intolerable was seeing Olbermann follow along, most notably chuckling off-camera over Matthews' "Chinese" comment.

Lothar's full transcript: http://snltranscripts.jt.org/89/89jlothar.phtml