Chris Matthews

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Christopher John Matthews (born December 17 1945) is a television talk show host, and former Democratic political aide.

Matthews hosts a nightly, hour-long talk show called Hardball with Chris Matthews on the American cable television channel MSNBC, and a syndicated NBC News-produced panel program called The Chris Matthews Show on weekends. He makes frequent appearances as a consultant and observer on many NBC News programs.

[edit] Early life, education and family

Matthews, a Philadelphia native, is a Roman Catholic of Irish descent who attended St. Christophers elementary school in Somerton and La Salle College High School. He is a 1967 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross. He did graduate work in economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served in the Peace Corps in Swaziland and/or Mozambique from 1968 to 1970 as a trade development advisor.

Matthews is married to Kathleen R. 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 has three children: Michael, Thomas and Caroline. He was the commencement speaker at the University of South Carolina on May 5, 2006, where his wife was awarded an Honorary Doctorate; the next day his wife was the commencement speaker, and he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate. On May 20, 2006, Matthews delivered the commencement address at Fordham University in The Bronx where he was also awarded an honorary degree. On May 20, 2007, he gave the commencement address at Villanova University and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate. Matthews was also the commencement speaker at Loyola College in Maryland during their 2001 graduation ceremony.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Political career

As a young man Matthews supported Barry Goldwater, but was inspired to become a Democrat by Eugene McCarthy's pro-civil rights and anti-Vietnam war platforms. When Matthews first arrived in Washington he was given a patronage job as an armed officer with the United States Capitol Police^[1]. In Washington Matthews worked for four Democratic politicians. He worked in the U.S. Senate for five years on the staffs of Senators Frank Moss and Edmund Muskie before himself campaigning for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, losing his party's nomination to Pennsylvania Congressman Joshua Eilberg in the Democratic primary in 1974. He was a presidential speechwriter for four years during the Carter administration. Matthews later worked six years as a top aide to long-time Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O'Neill.

[edit] Author and journalist

Matthews worked as a print journalist 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.

In 1997, Matthews was given his own talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which originally aired on CNBC but is presently on MSNBC. Hardball features pundits and elected officials as guests whom Matthews will not hesitate to interrupt, often to disagree (i.e., playing "hardball" and forcing them to answer his questions). Some media watchdog groups have accused Matthews of having panels of guests that skew to the right.^[2] Matthews has been singled out for negative commentary on presidential candidate Al Gore during the 2000 presidential campaign,^[3] and for attacks on Hillary Clinton during the 2008 campaign.^[4] In contrast, conservative watchdog groups accuse Matthews of taking Democratic Party positions,^[5] pointing, for example, to his offering high praise for Bill Clinton.^[6]

Discussing the media's coverage of the Iraq war, Matthews said, "During [the] course of the war, there was a lot of snap-to-it coverage. We' re at war. We have to root for the country to some extent. You're not supposed to be too aggressively critical of a country at combat, especially when it's your own." ^[7]

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.

Matthews is the author of four books on politics and history. The first, Hardball: How Politics is Played, led to the creation of his signature TV show. The second, Kennedy and Nixon, detailed the friendship of the two future political adversaries from the 1940s through the 1960 election.

The third, Now Let Me Tell You What I Really Think, is the first where he discusses his real political views on various issues. His fourth book, American: Beyond Our Grandest Notions, is a history of famous and/or influential Americans and how they rose from humble and/or immigrant origins.

His latest book, published in October of 2007, is titled Life's a Campaign: What Politics Has Taught Me About Friendship, Rivalry, Reputation, and Success. This latest book was panned by Jon Stewart on the October 2, 2007 edition of The Daily Show, who called it "a recipe for sadness". Matthews called the interview, "a book interview from hell. This is the worst interview I've ever had in my life." The exchange between Stewart and Matthews still seemed friendly, and Matthews continually mentions Jon Stewart on Hardball. In a book promotion speech at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, two days after the confontation, Matthews claimed Stewart was scared by his own success and that Stewart was trying to enhance his own career by attacking someone above him. Matthews made several other provocative statements in the speech, twice saying that Republican Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee was from "Hickland."

Speaking at the tenth anniversary party of his show, "Hardball", Matthews was critical of the Bush Administration, claiming that the Administration had been "caught in criminality." He refused to specify what such "criminality" might consist of. During the same speech, he stated that the Administration had "pressured" his "bosses" in an attempt to silence him. silence.^[8]

[edit] References

• Notable Former Volunteers/Communications. Peace Corps official site. Accessed 5 January 2007.

[edit] External links

• Chris Matthews at the Internet Movie Database
• Hardball with Chris Matthews
• NewsBusters analysis of Chris Matthews
• The Chris Matthews Show
• Motivational quotes from Chris Matthews's graduation speech at Fordham University
• Hardball: Chris Matthews Takes Continetti to Task