where have you gone, Chris Matthews?

 

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?

Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you

Woo-woo-woo

What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson?

Jolting Joe has left and gone away

Hey-hey-hey

Hey-hey-hey...

     My God, I miss Chris Matthews, the host of the cable show Hardball from 1997 to 2020.  No one else can do what he does!

     There's a common saying:  "No one is indispensable" -- but that is not true.  Some people, they do something that no one else does, and that's that.

     I used to come home and put on Chris Matthews' show -- first on cable TV, and then in recent years, from You Tube instead:  what a pleasure! -- to listen to his rapid-fire, scintillating, staccato "this-this-this-happening in news, government, and/or politics -- Whadda-you-make-of-it??!!" he would demand of his guest.

     So much knowledge, background, and talented analysis.  He was constantly applying history to present happenings and efforts, highlighting significance and adding intellectual texture to our understanding of current events.

     And his enthusiasm!  Chris Matthews is great.  And it is a -- silly tragedy, that he was hounded out of his job because of "me-too."  Me Too is essentially a good cause, since -- Of Course, people shouldn't be sexually harassed at work.  But then one of the outcomes -- collateral damage, maybe you could call it -- is a sort of hysteria, where people start accusing everybody, or something....

     "Why haven't I fallen in love with you yet?" is not "harassment," it's an old-fashioned, gallant way of giving a compliment to a woman.  

     I think the young lady who complained about this was either wanting to get on a bandwagon of accusers -- like mob mentality, or else she is maybe lacking in social skills and genuinely didn't know how to process a certain kind of light-hearted remark.  When Chris Matthews said that to her, he was treating her as if she was at his level of witty repartee.  She was not.

     I just felt totally bereft, not having Chris Matthews to talk-talk (rhat-a-tat-tat) and tell me what's going on and what it means.  Recently I've taken to playing clips from Hardball on You Tube -- I don't care that it isn't today's news, I listen anyway -- Rand Paul talking about something 9 years ago? -- if he's talking with Chris Matthews, and the clip is  more than 3 minutes long, it's gonna get played....

-30-