# Why does Chris Mathews have a job? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 15, 2011, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-chris-mathews-have-a-job/571437 "2011-02-15T10:47:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-chris-mathews-have-a-job/571437/21 "2011-02-16T03:57:53Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > He’s one of the few MSNBC talking heads that Republicans will actually come on. :eek: I know you can’t have meant what this sounds like, but I honestly can’t tell what you did mean. Is there a word missing in there? ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-chris-mathews-have-a-job/571437/22 "2011-02-16T04:00:56Z")
I saw that video. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-chris-mathews-have-a-job/571437/23 "2011-02-16T04:07:45Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > :eek: I know you can’t have meant what this sounds like, but I honestly can’t tell what you did mean. Is there a word missing in there? Single entendre! What I was getting at is that conservatives will appear on his show. Even sitting congress-folk. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-chris-mathews-have-a-job/571437/24 "2011-02-16T08:48:48Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > conservatives will appear on his show. Even sitting congress-folk. Hell, I’d appear on his show if I were a right-winger. All I’d have to do would be to look pleasant and keep saying, “But Chris…” It’s when he has knowledgable (and left-leaning) guests whom he keeps interrupting and preventing from making their points, while he blusters and rephrases the same question that we all got the gist of three minutes ago, that he irritates me. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-chris-mathews-have-a-job/571437/25 "2011-02-16T09:37:19Z")
The OP gets 100% credit for the interview parody. The interruptions, and ridiculous subject changes happen all the time. It’s worse when he is trying to talk to two or three people at the same time, and directs everyone to answer questions that often doesn’t have an answer. A typical Chis Matthews question, “Michelle Bachmann – what’s up with HER?” I don’t think he’s totally ignorant. He knows a lot about political processes and the kind of deals made in Congress. But crikeys, when he’s talking about some real world issue, and facts, oh man… During the BP spill crisis he kept insisting that the navy should send some submarines down there to do… what? Well, he wasn’t sure, but THEY would know. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-chris-mathews-have-a-job/571437/26 "2011-02-16T15:33:33Z")
I’m guessing Chris Matthews has a job because Phil Donohue has too much dignity to do what Matthews does. And of course there’s the possiblity of blackmail. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-chris-mathews-have-a-job/571437/27 "2011-02-17T12:06:49Z")
Why does Chris Mathews have a job? Infotainment? If you can answer why why Bill O has a job or Rush Limbaugh or Michael Moore or Glenn the B or any of the other gossip monger assholes have jobs I think you will have your answer. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-chris-mathews-have-a-job/571437/28 "2011-02-18T04:55:58Z")
OP is spot on with the interview style. Interrupting his guests has caused me to stop watching his show completely. I don’t agree with all of his politics, but there was a time when I felt he was a voice of moderation. Then, he told the world that he felt a tingle run up his leg when he heard Obama spoke (I was watching the show he actually said this on, and it was VERY strange… and he clearly lost any ability to be non-partisan after stating it). I am sure it was true, but to actually \*\*admit \*\*that on the air was so weird. I also think he has changed his style for ratings. He has been “Springer-ized” to raise viewership. But the cost has been, IMHO, too high. Finally, whoever mentioned the spitting issue is dead-on. I can’t watch the spitting and that white spot of slobber on his bottom lip, just sitting there, ready to be pounced on by his tongue or other lip. Ugh. You know, maybe I’m not the demographic Fox or MSNBC is trying to attract. I dislike most hosts on both networks… and a lot of the dislike is because of the format of the show and the delivery of the host. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-chris-mathews-have-a-job/571437/29 "2011-02-18T07:24:39Z")
I do like the time he took on that one guy who kept on about Neville Chamberlain, but couldn’t answer WHY Chamberlain was an “appeaser”. (Who was that again?) Completely kicked the guy’s ass. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-chris-mathews-have-a-job/571437/30 "2011-02-18T07:39:03Z")
> [@](#): > > …(Who was that again?)… The old basketball player, Wilt Something-or-other. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-chris-mathews-have-a-job/571437/31 "2011-02-18T08:30:34Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m guessing Chris Matthews has a job because Phil Donohue has too much dignity to do what Matthews does. And of course there’s the possiblity of blackmail. Actually, you reminded me of my favorite Chris Matthews moment: when he handed Phil Donahue his ass just before Donahue went off the air. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-chris-mathews-have-a-job/571437/32 "2011-02-23T21:11:49Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > The old basketball player, Wilt Something-or-other. Serious answer: it was a rightie talk show host named Kevin James. You tube [clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbvMdHoOrQQ) Matthews’ doggedness is fine when he deals with an obtuse faker like James, who has nothing of substance to say and is blatently evading answering a direct question. His problem comes up when someone like Mark Green (at about 5 minutes into the linked clip) wants to get a word in edgewise and Matthews can’t allow that. He asks Green to clarify, but cuts him off just to repeat himself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-chris-mathews-have-a-job/571437.md?page=1)