Letters to the Editor
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In defense of MSNBC
Back in 2003, when everyone on cable news was swooning over the Iraq War's inevitable first-stage success, MSNBC in general, and Matthews in particular, were the only skeptics on the scene. They were the only network to question whether Americans should be the ones tearing down (rhetorically and actually) Saddam's statue. "Where are the Iraqi Washingtons and Jeffersons?" Matthews would ask. Can true "freedom" or "Democracy" ever be foisted on a populace so willingly oppressed and beaten down as the Iraqis? Shouldn't they have to rise up themselves in order to foment real change? Isn't the fact that they hadn't (despite all of the well-documented atrocities, US-enabled or not) telling of how much value the place in their own "freedom" and how much effort they would put into making it permanent?
These tough questions were only being asked by pundits on MSNBC, while assholes like Wolf Blitzer and Geraldo Rivera drove around Iraq in Hummers with visible boners. Matthews went on record during the run-up to the Iraq invasion as being against it. We needed to finish our work in Afghanistan first, he said. He was not convinced of the existence of the oft-cited WMDs. He saw the evidence trumpeted by the Bushies, and still had reservations. I will always respect him for that, at least.
True, Matthews has always had a soft-spot for rhetorical flourish and does not take criticism well, but until Olbermann came back, he was the only nightly anchor who wasn't completely in the bag for the Bush administration.
Olbermann has become a hero of amazing proportions in our household for simply being the only person regularly leveling criticism at the Bushies from 2003 onward. He said things and raised issues that I had only heard at that point coming from people like Glenn Greenwald, Rachel Maddow (who's now a regular on Countdown) and Bill Maher.
It's no accident that Olbermann closes every show with a count of the days since the declaration of victory in Iraq, a constant reminder to thinking people everywhere of the Bush administration's criminal incompetence.
Obviously, some criticism of MSNBC (Matthews' uncontrolled glee on the night of the Iowa caucus being a standout) is warranted. But let's not forget that Matthews was the famous target of Zell Miller's duel threat after Matthews had the temerity to question his bombastic 2004 Republican convention speech. Until we have a completely "free" press again (which may never happen, honestly) the flashes of brilliance shown by Matthews and the continuing honesty of coverage by Olbermann (who astute observations often become the basis/inspiration for entire segments of The Daily Show/Colbert Report, 36 hours later), are the best we have right now. I can forgive their minor missteps.
The Democratic race IS over, not that you could tell from CNN last night (although, tellingly, FOX barely covered WV last night and apparently didn't even broadcast Clinton's "victory" speech).