Hardball
Why do people go on Hardball to face Chris Matthews?
He's not as tough if you bat from the right, says Media Matters, which yesterday posted an analysis that contends the Philly-reared TV talker booked far more conservative guests than liberals during the first two months of the year. (Media Matters describes its mission as correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.)
Which is why it was interesting why lefty bloggers such as Digby and Atrios (the latter works for Media Matters) yesterday were linking a two-year-old clip of Matthews grilling Rep. Pat Toomey, the Republican abortion opponent who was unsuccessfully challenging U.S. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. I mean grilling:
MATTHEWS: What would you do to a woman who had an abortion? What would you do to her?
TOOMEY: Oh, I think we would first look at the doctor who is
performing the abortion and have some penalties
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: Why? Why don't you go after the woman? Why don't you go after the woman? In any other situation of law and justice, you go after the person who perpetrates the act. If it's wrong to commit...
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: No, really. This is what the whole issue of abortion is and where all the B.S. comes into this argument. Are you willing to say that you would put a woman in prison for having an abortion?
TOOMEY: Chris, I'm not sure what the penalty would be. I'm saying...
It goes on and on.
There's some bigger at stake than a TV guy some on the left don't like. Suburban Guerrilla, who also links the exchange, noted the emerging strategy of activists rallying troops in anticipation of a Supreme Court showdown on abortion:
It's a growing trend lately to talk about what penalties would the anti-abortion crowd would impose on women who have illegal abortions.
She's observed this before. Back in October '04 she wrote:
I've always said they won't ever completely cross the line and treat abortions as murder because we can't have a separate category of homicides where one class of citizens is somehow less culpable than others. (I mean, what are we, children?)
Because once people start seeing their wives, girlfriends, daughters and sisters hauled off to jail, the nation will rise up. It's just common sense. So they'll do what they have to do to dodge that political bullet.
I think its funny when those on the elft think Chris thows softballs to right wingers. I wont list out how Chris is lefty, its pretty obvious and I think thats ok. At least with Chris you know what you are getting....btw, is it true that Lynn Swann's running mate Jim Matthews is Chris' brother?
yup
Well, I do believe I was just wri..reading about this somewhere. The right to life activists who support the anti-abortion politicians make no bones about calling abortion murder, and they're so busy arguing the right to life and when does life begin issues that they don't exactly care much who gets held accountable for it, just as long as someone does. But that doesn't mean the legislators who are drafting abortion laws aren't thinking about how these laws will hold up in court. If they hold the woman accountable, they know full well they would never win a conviction in front of a jury of her peers. On the other hand, the provider can be demonized and disassociated from the woman's personal circumstances and that brings making abortion a punishable offense that much closer. It also guarantees them the undying loyalty of their anti-abortion and religiously conservative constituents. Unfortunately for them, this does do exactly what others (including myself) have been saying, which is create an entirely different standard of criminality that applies to women only. Is that constitutional?