1. REDIRECT Joe Klein  

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Klein at the 2011 Time 100 Gala.

Joe Klein (born September 7, 1946) is a longtime Washington, D.C. and New York journalist and columnist, known for his novel Primary Colors, an anonymously written roman à clef portraying Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign. Klein is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is a former Guggenheim Fellow. Since 2003 he has been a contributor at the current affairs Time news group. In April 2006, he published Politics Lost, a book on what he calls the "pollster-consultant industrial complex". He has also written articles and book reviews for The New Republic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, LIFE and Rolling Stone.

Early life and career[link]

Klein graduated from the Hackley School and the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in American civilization. In 1969, Klein began reporting for the Essex County Newspapers, and The Peabody Times in Peabody, Massachusetts In 1972, he reported for Boston's WGBH, and until 1974 he was also the news editor for The Real Paper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was a contributing editor for Rolling Stone from 1975 to 1980, and Washington bureau chief from 1975 to 1977.^[1] He became friends with actor-director Tom Laughlin after interviewing him for Rolling Stone and appeared briefly as a reporter in Laughlin's 1977 film Billy Jack Goes to Washington.

Klein published Woody Guthrie: A Life in 1980 and Payback: Five Marines After Vietnam in 1984. He was a political columnist for New York from 1987 to 1992 where he won the Peter Kihss Award for reporting on the 1989 race for Mayor of New York. In May 1992 he joined Newsweek and wrote the column "Public Lives", which won a National Headliner Award in 1994. Newsweek also won a National Magazine Award for their coverage of Bill Clinton's 1992 victory. From 1992 to 1996 he was also a consultant for CBS News, providing commentary.^[1]

[edit] Primary Colors

In January 1996, Klein anonymously published the novel Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics, based on the 1992 Democratic presidential primary. The book spent nine weeks as number one on the New York Times bestseller list, with its author listed as "Anonymous". Several people, including former Clinton speechwriter David Kusnet and, later, Vassar professor Donald Foster correctly identified Klein as the novel's author, based on a literary analysis of the book and Klein's previous writing. Klein denied writing the book and publicly condemned Foster.^[2][3] Klein denied authorship again in Newsweek, speculating that another writer wrote it. Washington Post Style editor David von Drehle, in an interview, asked Klein if he was willing to stake his journalistic credibility on his denial, to which Klein agreed.^[4] On July 17, 1996, Klein admitted that the speculation had been correct.^[5]

Later career[link]

In December 1996, he joined The New Yorker to write the "Letter from Washington" column. In 2000 he published The Running Mate, a sequel of sorts to Primary Colors. In March 2002 Klein published The Natural: Bill Clinton's Misunderstood Presidency, an account of Clinton's two terms in office.^[1]

In January 2003, he joined Time to write a column called "In the Arena" on national and international affairs. It appears in Time's upfront "Notebook" section and has been criticized for its reporting about then Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic opposition to warrantless wiretapping. The column has been the source of several retractions by Time.

Klein is a regular blogger on time.com's Swampland blog. In November 2007, Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald wrote about factual errors in a Klein story about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Klein reported that the Democratic version of the FISA bill "would require the surveillance of every foreign-terrorist target's calls to be approved by the FISA court" and that it therefore "would give terrorists the same legal protections as Americans."^[6] Time later published a comment: "In the original version of this story, Joe Klein wrote that the House Democratic version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) would allow a court review of individual foreign surveillance targets. Republicans believe the bill can be interpreted that way, but Democrats don't." Greenwald noted that the text of the legislation does not require court review of individual targets, and that Time's response disregards this fact.^[7][8] Klein's response was, "I have neither the time nor legal background to figure out who's right."^[9]

Later, Greenwald reported that Time "refused the requests of two sitting members of Congress ... to correct Klein's false statements in Time itself".^[10] Greenwald has reported that Senator Russ Feingold has been informed by Time that his letter rebutting Klein will be published in a forthcoming issue.^[11][12]

Political views[link]

In The Natural, his book about the Clinton presidency, Klein gave a mixed assessment of Clinton's time in office. In the book, he wrote: "the conventions of journalism prevent me from fitting too neatly into one political niche (although as a columnist for the New Yorker and Newsweek my predilections are obvious)".^[13] Klein's depiction of the Clinton presidency also gave a detailed examination of the moderate Democratic positions espoused by the Democratic Leadership Council, as well as third way politics generally, of which Klein was highly complimentary.

He is an admirer of George W. Bush personally, although he has sometimes disagreed with his policies.^{[citation needed]} In an interview with Hugh Hewitt Klein said of Bush, "Let me say that of all the major politicians I've covered in presidential politics in the last two or three times around, he is the most likely to stick with an issue, even if the polls are bad, and to govern from the gut as you said. I don't always agree with the decisions that he makes, but I think he is an honorable man, and when I've criticized him, I've tried to criticize him on the substance, and certainly not on his personality, because I really like the guy."^{[citation needed]}

In 2008, Klein caused controversy with comments on the motivations of neoconservatives, when he said:

American foreign policy scholar Max Boot and the Anti-Defamation League National Director, Abraham Foxman,^[15] were among the critics of Klein's views. Klein is also frequently criticized by Bob Somerby, a media commentator.^[16]

In May 2009 he invited further controversy when he was quoted in an article in Politico.com, wherein he stated that the reasoning and ideas of prominent conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer were of limited value because of Krauthammer's wheelchair use:

"There's something tragic about him... His work would have a lot more nuance if he were able to see the situations he's writing about."^[17]

Klein has been criticized by several conservative publications for accusing Fox News host Glenn Beck, Republican Senator Tom Coburn and former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin of sedition.^{[18][19][20][21][22]}

In January 2011, during an appearance on CNN's Reliable Sources, Klein criticized the mainstream media for not handling complex issues properly, singling out MSNBC host Ed Schultz:

In March 2008, Klein aroused controversy after making what many saw as an anti-Catholic remark: "I do believe there's something weird a few of our colleagues have [against Hillary Clinton]," he said. "They tend to be Roman Catholics, actually. People like Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, Maureen Dowd." He later apologized. Others, such as media critic Bob Somerby, defended Klein's comment as accurate.^[25]

Personal life[link]

Klein lives with his wife, daughter Sophie and son Teddy, in New Rochelle, New York, and is also the father of two adult sons, Chris and Terry.

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Joe Klein

• Time Magazine columnist profile
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Joe Klein on Charlie Rose
• Joe Klein at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Joe Klein in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

See also[link]

• Afghanistanism, for his comment on the subject

References[link]

Joseph Klein (April 31^{[dubious – discuss]}, 1886 - ?) was an American machinist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who served one term as a Socialist member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.^[1]

Background[link]

Klein was born in Hungary on April 31, 1886, and received his education in the common schools of that country. In 1903 he moved to the United States, coming directly to Milwaukee. He became a machinist and eventually found a long-term job with the Chicago & Milwaukee Railway. He became active in the trade union movement and the Milwaukee Socialist party.

Public office[link]

He served as a Milwaukee County deputy sheriff from 1914 to 1916. He was elected to the Assembly's Second Milwaukee County district (the 2nd Ward of the City of Milwaukee) in 1918 to succeed Republican William A. Campbell, receiving 658 votes to 627 for William 0. Mielahn and 581 for Democrat Carl Heim. He was assigned to the standing committee on labor.^[2]

He ran for re-election in 1920, but was defeated by Republican Martin M. Higgins, with 1,206 to 2,185 for Higgins (there was no Democrat in the race).^[3]

References[link]

This article about a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

George Will
George Will attending a Nationals-Cardinals baseball game, Labor Day 2006
Born	George Frederick Will (1941-05-04) May 4, 1941 (age 71) Champaign, Illinois, U.S.
Residence	Washington, D.C.
Citizenship	USA
Education	Trinity College (B.A., 1962)[1] University of Oxford  (B.A., M.A. (Oxon) Princeton University  (M.A., PhD (1968)
Alma mater	Trinity College
Occupation	Columnist, journalist, author
Employer	ABC News, Newsweek, Washington Post
Spouse	Madeleine Will (divorced 1989); Mari Maseng (current)
Children	Victoria, Geoffrey, and Jonathan (first marriage); David (second marriage)
Parents	Frederick L. Will and Louise Hendrickson Will

George Frederick Will (born May 4, 1941) is an American newspaper columnist, journalist, and author. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winner best known for his conservative commentary on politics. By the mid 1980s the Wall Street Journal reported he was "perhaps the most powerful journalist in America," in a league with Walter Lippmann (1889–1975).^[2]

Education and early career[link]

Will was born in Champaign, Illinois, the son of Frederick L. Will and Louise Hendrickson Will.^[3] His father was a professor of philosophy, specializing in epistemology, at the University of Illinois.

Will graduated from University Laboratory High School of Urbana, Illinois, and Trinity College, in Hartford, Connecticut (B.A., Religion, 1962).^[1] He subsequently studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Magdalen College, University of Oxford (B.A., M.A.), and received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in politics from Princeton University. His 1968 Ph.D. dissertation was entitled Beyond the Reach of Majorities: Closed Questions in the Open Society.

From 1970 to 1972, he served on the staff of Senator Gordon Allott (R-CO). Will then taught political philosophy at the James Madison College of Michigan State University, and at the University of Toronto. He taught at Harvard University in 1995 and again in 1998.

Career in journalism[link]

Will served as an editor for National Review from 1972 to 1978. He joined the Washington Post Writers Group in 1974, writing a syndicated twice-weekly column, which became widely circulated among newspapers across the country. In 1976, he became a contributing editor for Newsweek, writing a biweekly backpage column. As of 2011, Will still writes both columns.

Will was widely praised by liberals for condemning the corruption of the Nixon presidency. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for "distinguished commentary on a variety of topics" in 1977. Often combining factual reporting with conservative commentary, Will's columns are known for their erudite vocabulary, allusions to political philosophers, and frequent references to baseball.^[4]

Will has also written two best-selling books on the game of baseball, three books on political philosophy, and has published eleven compilations of his columns for the Washington Post and Newsweek and of various book reviews and lectures.

His column is syndicated to 450 newspapers.^[5]

Will is also a news analyst for ABC since the early 1980s and was a founding member on the panel of ABC's This Week with David Brinkley in 1981, now titled This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Will was also a regular panelist on television's Agronsky & Company from 1977 through 1984 and on NBC's Meet the Press in the middle and late 1970s.

Political views[link]

Foreign policy and national security[link]

Will has proposed that the United States withdraw all troops from Afghanistan^[6] and defended Barack Obama's response to the uprisings after the 2009 elections in Iran.^[7] He also criticized the Bush administration for engaging in warrantless surveillance^[8] and supported trials for detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. On immigration, Will supports tighter border security and a "path to citizenship" for illegal immigrants.^[9]

Social issues[link]

Will has argued that the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision caused a "truncation of democratic debate about abortion policy".^[10] On crime, Will is opposed to the death penalty,^[11] but thinks that higher incarceration rates make the populace safer.^[12] Additionally, Will is generally skeptical of affirmative action programs.^[13] Will also supports drug prohibition, but believes that treatment is a more effective means of preventing the sale and use of drugs than law enforcement.^[14]

Economic issues[link]

Will supports low taxes, as he thinks that they stimulate economic growth and are more morally fair.^[15] He was also opposed to both George W. Bush and Barack Obama's stimulus plans.^[16] Other positions of Will's include supporting the abolishment of the minimum wage,^[17] and the creation of voluntary personal retirement accounts to help the government save money on Social Security.^[18]

Criticism of Republican politicians[link]

Despite his identification with conservative politics Will has been willing to criticize fellow Republicans.

Will opposed President George W. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the United States Supreme Court and was among the first to do so.

Even though Will had been hawkish in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, he eventually expressed reservations about Bush administration Iraq policies, eventually openly criticizing what he perceived to be an unrealistically optimistic set of political scenarios. In March 2006, in a column written in the aftermath of the apparently sectarian bombing of the Askariya Shrine in Samarra, Baghdad, Will challenged the Bush administration—and U.S. government representatives in Iraq—to be more honest about the difficulties the United States faced in rebuilding and maintaining order within Iraq, comparing the White House's rhetoric unfavorably to that of Winston Churchill during the early years of World War II. The optimistic assessments delivered by the Bush administration were described by Will as the "rhetoric of unreality."^[19] He criticized the Bush Iraq policy, and broader White House and congressional foreign and domestic policy making, in his keynote address for the Cato Institute's 2006 Milton Friedman Prize dinner.^[20]

Will was also a harsh and early critic of both Sarah Palin and John McCain's 2008 election campaign. He criticized Palin's understanding of the role of the Vice President and her qualifications for that role.^[21]

In late 2011 as the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries approached Will became known as one of front runner Newt Gingrich's harshest critics.^[22]

Controversy[link]

1980 Ronald Reagan presidential campaign[link]

Will's detractors complain about instances when Will has blurred the line between independent journalist and political advocate. Will helped Ronald Reagan prepare for his 1980 debate against Jimmy Carter. Immediately after the debate, Will—not yet a member of the ABC News staff—appeared on ABC's Nightline. He was introduced by host Ted Koppel, who said "It's my understanding that you met for some time yesterday with Governor Reagan," and that Will "never made any secret of his affection" for the Republican candidate. Will did not explicitly disclose that he had assisted Reagan's debate preparation, or been present during it. He went on to praise Reagan, saying his "game plan worked well. I don't think he was very surprised."^[23]

In 2004 and again in 2005, Carter accused Will of giving the Reagan campaign a top-secret briefing book stolen from Carter's office before the 1980 debate.^[24] In a 2005 syndicated column, Will called his role in Reagan's debate preparation "inappropriate" but denied any role in stealing the briefing book.^[25] In response to Will's column, Carter wrote a letter to the Washington Post retracting his accusations. Carter apologized to Will for "any incorrect statement that I have ever made about his role in the use of my briefing book.... I have never thought Mr. Will took my book, that the outcome of the debate was damaging to my campaign or that Mr. Will apologized to me."^[26]

2003 Association with Conrad Black[link]

Will was criticized for his dealings with Canadian-born British financier Conrad Black.^[27] Will served on an informal board of advisors to Hollinger International, a newspaper company controlled by Black. The board met once a year and Will received an annual payment of $25,000. The board was disbanded in 2001. In March 2003, Will wrote a syndicated column which praised a speech by Black and did not disclose their previous business relationship.^[28]

2008 Offshore drilling by China[link]

In a Washington Post column on June 5, 2008, Will stated that "Drilling is underway 60 miles (97 km) off Florida. The drilling is being done by China, in cooperation with Cuba, which is drilling closer to South Florida than U.S. companies are". This statement was incorrect. It was later quoted and subsequently withdrawn by Dick Cheney after Congressional Democrats, backed by energy experts, pointed out the error. House Leader John Boehner also cited the incorrect statement: "Right at this moment some 60 miles (97 km) or less off the coast of Key West, Fla., China has the green light to drill for oil."^[29][30][31]

In a June 17, 2008 column, George Will issued a correction: "In a previous column, I stated that China, in partnership with Cuba, is drilling for oil 60 miles (97 km) from the Florida coast. While Cuba has partnered with Chinese companies to drill in the Florida Straits, no Chinese company has been involved in Cuba's oil exploration that close to the United States."

2009 Global Sea Ice Level[link]

In a Washington Post column which expressed doubt over the effects of global warming, Will stated that: "According to the University of Illinois' Arctic Climate Research Center, global sea ice levels now equal those of 1979."^[32] This and several other claims attracted the attention of environmentalists, such as British author and activist George Monbiot.^[33] Asked to respond, the website of Arctic Climate Research at the University of Illinois states that: "We do not know where George Will is getting his information, but our data shows that on February 15, 1979, global sea ice area was 16.79 million sq. km and on February 15, 2009, global sea ice area was 15.45 million sq. km. Therefore, global sea ice levels are 1.34 million sq. km less in February 2009 than in February 1979."^[34] Will responded in a column that he accurately reported the Center's information and the challenge was mistaken.^[35] This drew a second response from George Monbiot, who insisted Will had not accurately reported the Center's information.^[36] The debate continued in several forums, including a subsequent op-ed by Chris Mooney published in The Washington Post challenging Will's assertions.^[37]

Personal[link]

Family[link]

Will has three children—Victoria, Geoffrey, and Jonathan—with his first wife, Madeleine;^[38] Jon was born in 1972 with Down syndrome, which Will has written about in his column on occasion.^[39][40][41]In 1989, he was divorced from Madeleine after 22 years of marriage.^[42]

In 1991, Will married Mari Maseng. They have one child, a son named David, born in 1992, and live in the Washington D.C. area. Maseng is a political consultant and speechwriter who was in charge of communications for the Rick Perry 2012 presidential campaign. She earlier worked on Michele Bachmann's 2012 presidential campaign, and offered her services to the Mitt Romney 2012 campaign.^[43][44] She previously worked for Reagan as a presidential speechwriter, deputy director of transportation, and Assistant to the President for Public Liaison. She also was a former communications director for Robert Dole.

Interests[link]

Will is a fan of baseball, and has written extensively on the game, including his best-selling book Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball. He was one of many interview subjects for Baseball, Ken Burns's PBS documentary series. He serves as a member of Major League Baseball's special committee on on-field matters. He is a Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bears fan.^[45][46]

Will revealed in a Colbert Report interview that he is an agnostic.^[47]

Awards[link]

In addition to more than 16 honorary degrees:

• 1977 – Pulitzer Prize for Commentary
• 1978 – Headliner Award for consistently outstanding feature columns
• 1979 – Finalist for National Magazine Award in essays and criticism
• 1980 – Silurian Award for editorial writing
• 1991 – Silurian Award for editorial writing
• 1991 – First Place in Interpretive Columns: Clarion Awards from Women in Communications
• 1991 – Cronkite Award, Arizona State University
• 1992 – Madison Medal Award, Princeton University
• 1993 – William Allen White Award, William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas
• 2003 – Walter B. Wriston Lecture Award, The Manhattan Institute
• 2005 – Bradley Prize, The Bradley Foundation (http://www.bradleyfdn.org/cm-prizes.asp?ID=2005BradleyPrizeWinners)
• 2006 – Champion of Liberty Award, Goldwater Institute (http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_1_can_we_make_iraq.html)

Works[link]

• The Pursuit of Happiness and Other Sobering Thoughts. Harper & Row, 1978.
• The Pursuit of Virtue and Other Tory Notions. Simon & Schuster, 1982.
• Statecraft as Soulcraft: What Government Does. Simon & Schuster, 1983.
• The Morning After: American Success and Excesses, 1981–1986. Free Press, 1986.
• The New Season: A Spectator's Guide to the 1988 Election. Simon & Schuster, 1987.
• Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball. Macmillan, 1990.
• Suddenly: The American Idea Abroad and at Home. Free Press, 1990.
• Restoration: Congress, Term Limits and the Recovery of Deliberative Democracy. 1992.
• The Leveling Wind: Politics, the Culture and Other News, 1990–1994. Viking, 1994.
• The Woven Figure: Conservatism and America's Fabric: 1994–1997. Scribner, 1997.
• Bunts: Pete Rose, Curt Flood, Camden Yards and Other Reflections on Baseball. Simon and Schuster, 1997.
• With a Happy Eye But...: America and the World, 1997–2002. Free Press, 2002.
• One Man's America: The Pleasures and Provocations of Our Singular Nation. Crown Publishing Group, 2008.

See also[link]

• Conservatism in the United States

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Alterman, Eric. Sound and Fury: The Making of the Punditocracy (1999) pp 87–105 online edition
• Hoeveler, Jr. J. David Watch on the Right: Conservative Intellectuals in the Reagan Era (1991), chapter on Will.
• Solomon, Norman (March 8, 2001). "Triumph of (George) Will: When Media Might Makes Right". Media Beat. http://www.fair.org/media-beat/010308.html. 
• Will, George F. (August 10, 2005). "Briefing Book Baloney". Washington Post: p. A23. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/10/AR2005081001796.html.  (Will's column rebutting briefing book allegation)
• President Jimmy Carter. Interview with Terry Gross (October 21, 2004). "President Carter Tries Hand at Fiction". Fresh Air. WHYY. http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13&prgDate=10-21-2004&view=storyview. (Carter alleges Will's role in briefing book theft, about 28:30 into the interview)
• "George F. Will Biography". Washington Post. February 24, 1998. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/opinions/will.htm. Retrieved August 31, 2008. 
• "George F. Will Biography". The Washington Post. 2008. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/biographies/george-f-will.html. Retrieved August 31, 2008. 
• "George F. Will – Contributing Editor and Columnist". Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/id/33194. Retrieved August 31, 2008. ^{[dead link]}
• Carter Letter

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: George Will

• Column archives at The Daily Beast
• Column archives at Newsweek
• Column archives at The Washington Post
• Column archives at Jewish World Review, October 1999 to August 2006
• Appearances on C-SPAN
  • Booknotes interview with Will on Restoration: Congress, Term Limits, and the Recovery of Deliberative Democracy, October 18, 1992.
  • In Depth interview with Will, November 3, 2002
• Works by or about George Will in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• George Will collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• George Will at the Notable Names Database
• Profile at the Washington Post Writers Group

This article may be unbalanced towards certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (December 2011)

Chris Matthews
Matthews at the 2011 Time 100 Gala.
Born	Christopher John Matthews (1945-12-17) December 17, 1945 (age 66) Somerton, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Ethnicity	Irish
Education	College of the Holy Cross
Occupation	News anchor and political commentator
Notable credit(s)	Hardball with Chris Matthews The Chris Matthews Show
Religion	Roman Catholic
Spouse	Kathleen Matthews
Relatives	Montgomery County, PA County Commissioner Jim Matthews (brother)

Christopher John "Chris" Matthews (born December 17, 1945) is an American news anchor and political commentator known for his nightly hour-long talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which is televised on the American cable television channel MSNBC. On weekends he hosts the syndicated NBC News–produced panel discussion program The Chris Matthews Show. Matthews makes frequent appearances on many other NBC and MSNBC programs. On March 22, 2009, Matthews renewed the contract for Hardball with Chris Matthews through 2012.^[1]

Early life and education[link]

Matthews was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Irish American parents and is a Roman Catholic.^[2] He attended La Salle College High School. He is a 1967 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and did graduate work in economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.^[3][4]

Matthews served in the United States Peace Corps in Swaziland from 1968 to 1970^[5] as a trade development adviser.

Career[link]

Political career and views[link]

When Matthews first arrived in Washington, D.C., he worked as a police officer with the United States Capitol Police.^[6] Subsequently, he served on the staffs of four Democratic members of Congress, including Senators Frank Moss and Edmund Muskie. In 1974, he mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in which he received about 24% of the vote in the primary.^[7] Matthews was a presidential speechwriter during the Carter administration and later worked for six years as a top aide to longtime Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O'Neill, playing a direct role in many key political battles with the Reagan administration.

Matthews in October 2007

Despite having worked for Democrats, Matthews has said, "I'm more conservative than people think I am.... I voted for George W. in 2000."^[8] Salon.com has called him the "most conservative voice" on MSNBC's primetime lineup.^[9] Matthews has been accused by media watchdogs^[10] of having panels of guests that skew to the right and of supporting Republicans in his own questions and comments.^[11][12] Conversely, he is also often criticized by conservatives for his opposition to the Iraq War among other stances he took against the Bush administration.

On the April 14, 2008, edition of The Colbert Report, Matthews alluded to a possible run for the United States Senate from Pennsylvania. When directly questioned by Stephen Colbert about his intentions, he stated that there is a difference between celebrities and those who work for the people, and it's a greater thing to work for the people. He also said that his boyhood dream was to be a senator. Four days later, on April 18, 2008, Matthews told Bill Maher that he has "made a commitment to covering politics in a liberal way, starting in 1987, and [he is] honoring that commitment, not getting involved in it."^[13] The seat in question was the one held by Sen. Arlen Specter, whose term in the Senate ended in January 2011. On November 28, 2008, Fivethirtyeight.com and The Politico reported that Matthews had been in contact with senior staffers of Barack Obama's campaign about a possible run.^[14][15] On January 7, 2009, The New York Times reported that Matthews told his staffers that he would not run for the Senate.^[16] On May 25, 2009 Chris Matthews appeared on Charlie Rose where he stated that he was intending to run for Specter's Senate seat in 2010, stating, "I could see myself winning the Democratic primary and I could see myself going on to face Arlen in the general [election]," but that he felt he had to decide between being a journalist and being a politician once Specter became a national figure by supporting the stimulus.

While discussing proposed healthcare reform on the December 17, 2009, edition of Hardball, Matthews stated, "The Republicans will know they have lost.... Let them keep score and it's easy. It's complicated when liberals get to keep score. We're always arguing. Well, I'm a liberal, too."^[17][18]

Author and talk show host[link]

Matthews during a special edition of Hardball

Matthews worked in print media for 15 years, spending 13 years as Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the San Francisco Examiner (1987–2000) and two years as a nationally syndicated columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Matthews covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first all-races election in South Africa, and the Good Friday Peace Talks in Northern Ireland. In 1997 and 1998, his research in the National Archives produced a series of exclusives on the Nixon presidential tapes. Matthews has covered American presidential election campaigns since 1988.

In 1997, Matthews began his own talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which originally aired on CNBC but is currently on MSNBC. Hardball features pundits and elected officials as guests.

In 2002, The Chris Matthews Show began airing in syndication. The show is formatted as a political roundtable consisting of four journalists and Matthews, who serves as the moderator. He is estimated to earn more than $5 million a year. He also wrote a book called Hardball.^[19]

Personal life[link]

Matthews has been married since 1980 to Kathleen Matthews, who anchored News 7 on WJLA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C., before accepting a position as an executive vice president with J.W. Marriott. The couple have three children: Michael, Thomas, and Caroline. His brother Jim Matthews, a Republican, is a county commissioner in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

In 2002, Matthews was hospitalized with malaria, which he evidently contracted on one of his visits that year to Africa.^{[citation needed]} He has also had other health problems, including diabetes (which he acknowledged having on the Hardball broadcast of December 7, 2009) and pneumonia.^[20]

Criticisms and controversy[link]

Matthews and his wife Kathleen at the 2010 Time 100 Gala.

Liberal blogger Glenn Greenwald has called Matthews "the most vivid example of all that is wrong with political coverage," saying "[H]e’s endlessly obsessed with personality-based politics and likes to promote the strong, masculine tough guy who you can have a beer with, versus the nerdy loser. And he has a cast of characters who go on his show, like Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, who gush over the maleness of the Republican candidates and warn Democrats about how that has real appeal to American voters. Most political reporters judge candidates on the basis of the likeability factor—Matthews is just more explicit about it."^[21]

Others have criticized Matthews for talking too much on air, not letting his guests talk, and often talking over and interrupting them. One who also worked in the Carter Administration has written: "Generally in those days Chris was a relatively quiet person around the White House, and in meetings or briefings would frequently say very little, or nothing at all. I guess he's making up for lost time—or 'lost talk'—now. Nevertheless, I'm a big fan of his show, always fascinating without fail—at least if you're a political junkie."^[22]

The progressive media watchdog group Media Matters for America named Matthews its 2005 "Misinformer of the Year," citing statements he made in support of President George W. Bush.^[23]

On January 9, 2008, the morning after Hillary Clinton's surprise victory in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary, Matthews appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe program and said of Clinton,

The comments were criticized by such media figures as Bill O'Reilly, Joy Behar, and Gloria Steinem.^[24][26][27] They also resulted in protests outside NBC's Washington, D.C., studios as well as a joint letter of complaint to NBC from the National Organization for Women, Feminist Majority, and the National Women's Political Caucus. Matthews apologized for the comments on the January 17, 2008, edition of Hardball.^[27]

After Matthews and Keith Olbermann made controversial on-air comments during the 2008 Republican National Convention, NBC News correspondent David Gregory replaced them, but Matthews and Olbermann continued working as analysts.^[28] On November 4–5, he teamed with Rachel Maddow, Eugene Robinson, David Gregory, and Keith Olbermann to cover the presidential election.

On February 12, 2008, during MSNBC's coverage of the Potomac primary, Matthews had this to say about then presidential candidate Barack Obama:

This led some on the political right to assert that both he and MSNBC were biased toward Obama.^[30]

On November 6, 2008, he was a guest on the MSNBC television program Morning Joe, wherein he stated, "I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work." Host Joe Scarborough asked if that was his job as a journalist. "Yeah, that’s my job. My job is to help this country," Matthews replied.^[31]

On December 1, 2009, preceding Obama's speech announcing a troop increase in Afghanistan, Matthews criticized the president for choosing the United States Military Academy as his venue, referring to it as "the enemy camp."^[32] Soon after, Matthews apologized for his remarks, saying, "[To] the cadets, their parents, former cadets, and everyone who cares about this country and those who defend it: I used the wrong words and worse than that I said something that is just not right and for that I deeply apologize."^[33]

In January 2010, in Matthews's comments after President Obama's first State of the Union Address, he said, "You know, I forgot he was black tonight for an hour."^{[34][35][36][37][38]} The next day, on the Rachel Maddow show, Matthews clarified his remarks, saying, "I think he’s taken us beyond black and white in our politics, wonderfully so, in just a year."^[39]

Bibliography[link]

• Matthews, Christopher (2011). Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-3508-9. 
• Matthews, Christopher (2007). Life’s a Campaign: What Politics Has Taught Me About Friendship, Rivalry, Reputation, and Success (1st ed. ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6528-8. 
• Matthews, Christopher (2002). American: Beyond Our Grandest Notions. New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-4086-3. 
• Matthews, Christopher (2001). Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think (1st ed. ed.). New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-684-86236-0. 
• Matthews, Christopher (1999). Hardball: How Politics Is Played, Told By One Who Knows the Game (1st Touchstone ed. ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-84559-8. 
• Matthews, Christopher (1996). Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry that Shaped Postwar America. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81030-1. 

References[link]