Chris Matthews is a pro at many things. He is a legendary campaign guru, a long time high-level Hill rat, and has been a Democrat pundit for a generation. But for a pro, he missed a very big call.
He saw the hardcore Left taking over his party. He didn’t see how it would affect him and make him change his behavior. He didn’t learn that lesson until it was tool late.
Matthews got a crash course in it Monday night, as he abruptly and quickly announced to his MSNBC “Hardball” audience that he was retiring, as would the show.
Chris Matthews announces — on a Monday — he’s retiring and that today’s “Hardball” will be the last.
"After my conversation with NBC, I decided tonight will be my last Hardball. I’ll tell you why. The younger generations are ready to take the reigns." pic.twitter.com/Y3HV9Qy35l
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 3, 2020
He was gracious in his goodbye. But he knew, as does anybody who cares to look, he didn’t leave to go strolling off into blissful retirement. He got a knife in the back from the very same people he had helped to promote for twenty years. Specifically, he ran afoul of the cadet branch of the #metoo brigade.
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Those harridans aren’t the establishment liberals, which is Matthews’ own group, but part of the radical feminist Obama-supporting crew who sees any comment, any action that does not follow their narrow-minded Bolshie bluestocking lead as a threat that must be wiped clean from the Earth.
Still feeling that tingle, Chris?
Once, through the likes of AOC and Sanders, they got their blood-splattered claws into the Democrats, Matthews was living on borrowed time.
His old school back slapping Democrat back room demeanor still plays with pros of either party. He’s well liked in DC by the non-toddler set. His political books are necessary reading for anyone who works in or runs a political campaign, no matter the ideology.
However, the Democrats are not about competence or affability anymore. They are about ideological conformity. They march in lockstep to the beat set for them by AOC, Sanders, etc. Biden? A passing phase that will be discarded when he gets clobbered by Trump. This is a hard-left party that aims to stay that way and get even more radical.
Hence there is no place in it anymore for Matthews or his lot. Sad, that. But time gambols on for all of us. And anyway, he’ll still have a seat at Shelly’s Back Room and Chef Geoff’s. He’ll be the guy at the bar surrounded by pals and acolytes, drinking, maybe smoking, and telling the best political stories you’ve ever heard.
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