Chris “Tingles”* Matthews Unpopular with Home State Voters
November 26, 2008
by Nina M.
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MSNBC’s resident sexist blowhard (okay, one of their resident sexist blowhards) Chris “Tingles” Matthews is weighing whether to leave his bully platform on cable news for new stomping grounds in the U.S. Senate. His target: Republican Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, who is up for reelection in 2010.
But Pennsylvania voters aren’t ready to simply wave him in. Numbers reported today by the respected Quinnipiac University Polling Institute show that in a hypothetical head to head match-up between the two men, socially moderate Specter beats “Tingles” by 12 percentage points.
In the study, Quinnipiac University asked:
MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews is considering running against Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter in 2010, according to news reports. If the 2010 election for United States Senator were being held today and the candidates were Chris Matthews the Democrat and Arlen Specter the Republican, for whom would you vote?
Among all voters, 45% chose Specter, 33% chose Matthews, and the rest were undecided or declined to respond. A full 25% of Democratic voters indicated they would jump ship and vote for Specter against Matthews, while only 9% of Republican voters said they would do the reverse. Independent voters overwhelmingly preferred Specter over Matthews, 45% to 27%. Women voters of all parties preferred Specter over Matthews 49% to 35%. And however impossible it may seem, 60% of voters said they did not know enough about Matthews to have an opinion. Yes, while some of us had to work hard to follow the election news without hearing Matthews wax lyrical about whatever part of his body was tingling, some people aren’t sure what this guy is about.
But that’s okay. The New Agenda will fill those voters in on everything they missed….
A selection of Chris “Tingles” Matthews’ greatest hits:
- Matthews makes up quote in order to push Clinton “soap opera” narrative? Wed, Nov 19, 2008
- With women, Matthews administers the “Chris Matthews test”? Thu, Jan 17, 2008
- Matthews’ sexist displays go beyond Clinton ?Friday, January 11, 2008
- Matthews asserted that Clinton got Register endorsement “thanks to her husband’s lobbying with its female editors and publisher” ?Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Chris Matthews will never be a candidate for Senate if we at The New Agenda have anything to say about it. And really, isn’t it time for a woman? Pennsylvania has a dreadful record for women in political office, ranking 47th in the nation for number of women in state legislatures, and no woman from PA has ever been elected to the Senate, so why are we even talking about Chris Matthews for that seat? Isn’t it time for a new agenda?
Clips of his coverage of Senator Clinton should be enough to sink him. He’s disgusting.
Can you imagine this jackass in the Senate? His mere presence would set the country back years.
He’s a polyp on the body politic.
I thought he was inspired to do anything he could to make Obama’s presidency successful. Better to stay out of the senate and keep your propaganda microphone.
Sarah – Not sure clips of his coverage of Clinton would help much since it seemed plenty of folks were and are just fine with his coverage. Ggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Cicicina – Try saying “He’s a ppolyp on the body politic,” three times fast! I do believe you’ve come up with what could prove to be a great line for his opponent!
Sarah – Great sarcastic point!
I have to say, while the numbers may not look good for CM today, he has a long time to woo voteres and after what I saw happen this year, I KNOW anything’s possible, so I take no comfort in anything now that seems to point to a tough road ahead for him. The media is powerful and the much of the public appear to be like fickle sheep. Ugh.
I hope this race will be one that The New Agenda and other grassroots orgs can focus on. We need troops on the ground in PA! Hopefully there are some PUMAs there who’ve been active all year who can be at the center of it, perhaps coordinating some efforts…..
Anna – the clips idea was a flip comment but when you seem them all in rapid succession the do make an impact. I’ve spent so many hours explaining why I’m disgusted with the election to my very liberal female friends. It’s difficult to make the point but when I’ve shown them the collection of misogynist comments from the media they seem stunned.
Not everyone pauses, however. I was furious about that Sarah Palin tshirt. I brought it up to a friend of mine that is best pals with Eve Ensler. Her response, “McCain called his wife a c*nt”.
I walked away shaking. Another moment of disbelief and culture shock.
Sarah – I agree that when you present some folks with a series of very concrete examples from this past year, it often makes an impact, brief as it may be, as they then go back to their original state of ignorant bliss. I think Cynthia also noted in her thread piece that when she pointed to very specific, concrete things, people were able to latch on and understand. The challenge as I see it is:
1. How to get people to grasp the importance and remain energized.
2. How to get people to be more sensitized to the less obvious, concrete stuff and get the bigger picture about sexism.
BTW, at the risk of sounding out of the loop, who is Eve Ensler?
eve ensler wrote the vagina monologues and does a lot of work (especially in africa i think) to stop violence against women. weird thing is she wrote a very un-feminist rant about sarah palin. she also was antihillary. they are a mystery, aren’t they…the self professed feminists that so loudly demonize and belittle other women.
Dear Sarah,
I have a theory about why so many high profile feminists turned against Hillary.
I think it is because they usually take pride in pressuring elected officials to move towards feminist goals – and when it works, they claim victory.
But Hillary never needed high profile feminist groups to lobby her – she already understood the issues. When Hillary pushed through the Violence Against Women Act, or when she spoke in Beijing on behalf of all women’s human rights, no individual or group could claim a “win” for convincing her to do it. They knew she was motivated by her own beliefs and knowledge.
They resented her because she made them redundant. Instead of embracing her as a leader, they resented her because they couldn’t claim credit for her successes. She dented their egos.
Sad, but (I believe) true.
Anna:
Chris Matthews is a polyp on the body politic
Chris Matthews is a polyp op thebop pypoli
You’re right – three times fast is a bit of a tongue twister! Though the two glasses of wine I had earlier aren’t helping….
Ciccina – LOL!
Sarah – Thanks for the heads up on Eve Ensler. From what you describe, she sounds like many so-called feminists who seem to have a lot of passion for the plight of women in countries around the world, but who fall down on the job here at home and/or who have a sort of pick-and-choose approach, seeming to care deeply about women half-way around the globe, while also turning a blind eye to political candidates here at home whose world view or foreign policy may be empathic to Muslim nations in ways that skirts over the outrageous treatment of women in traditional Muslim nations.
As a resident of Pennsylvania, the thought of Chris Matthews running for the Senate (or any political position) sickens me. What an obnoxious a$$. Count me in as a volunteer to help stop him if he chooses to throw his hat in the ring.
The New Agenda needs to get together with other women’s groups and Democratic women to put the kabash on this soon. I think that mysoginistic moron is delusional but I have read where he is serious about this. After the anti-Hillary bashing coming from him all last season he cannot be allowed to do this. Please do something and speak up. I am a lifelong Democratic woman who is a Hillary supporter who voted for Barack in the general election and am very offended by the arrogance of Matthews.
You can count on me to do all to stop Mathews in my home state of Pennsylvania. Sadly so many former Hillary supporters who ultimately went with Obama here in PA did so because they bought into the hip mysogyny and flat out lies targeted at Sarah Palin. So we had better take Chris Mathews seriously, because lets face it, America has become a ghetto culture that embraces and celebrates the worst kind of mysogyny. Until we figure out how to reverse this trend we can expect to see more victories for the Barak Obama’s and Chris Mathews of our nation. If you are a mother or have any influence over young women, make sure they know that misogyny is not cool and those who promote it are trash. You might also want to remind your friends that the same “liberal” media that sold America the WMD lie and the Iraq war, sold us Barak Obama, then ask them how they’re enjoying the Chump Change.
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