This has to be one of the most bizarre things I've seen in a long time. Chris Matthews has Howard Dean and Joan Walsh on to discuss the Shirley Sherrod debacle and what Andrew Breitbart did to slime her and the Obama administration's response and when both Walsh and Dean point out to Matthews that despite his assertions to the contrary, Breitbart's video was highly edited, Matthews goes ballistic on them and claims that the nearly hour long video wasn't edited because Breitbart included this bit.
Sherrod: That's when it was revealed to me that's it's about poor versus those who have. It's not so much about white... it is about white and black but it's not, you know... it opened my eyes. Because I took him to one of his own.
Apparently in Tweety's mind, Breitbart including that somehow absolved him from the editing of the tape he did. The more Walsh and Dean tried to point out to Matthews that the tape was edited and that what he was saying wasn't true, the more agitated he got.
Digby was kind enough to transcribe some of this nonsense for us and I've got a couple of theories for why Matthews acted the way he did. Her transcript along with what MSNBC aired in place of this along with part two of the segment they apparently didn't want anyone to watch below the fold.
Here's part two of the segment from Hardball.
From Digby's place here's some of the transcript that I'm sure we won't see on MSNBC's site since the video isn't there either... Chris Matthews Is An idiot Part XXVII:
Dean: I'm not a lawyer Chris, but there are two things about this first of all he cut off the tape he didn't show the whole story....
Matthew: He didn't? What did he cut out?
Dean: No, he cut off the stuff about the redemption part
Matthews: I thought that was in there
Dean: No it was not on the tape that was aired on Fox News
Mattews: yes it was
Dean: It was not on what Fox news reported on their blog
Joan Walsh: It was not on the Brietbart ...
Matthews: Of course it was on Breitbart. He didn't edit it. Not that I know about.
Joan Walsh: Chris, Chris. He did. He says he didn't edit it ...
Matthews: Well he didn't edit it. What did he edit?
Walsh: it's a 43 minute tape I'm sorry Governor Dean, you can do this ...
Dean: No go ahead Joan
Walsh: It's a 43 minute tape Chris. It walks through her whole racial history. He clipped about three minutes where she seems to be saying I didn't do my best for this white farmer because he was white. And that's where it ends. And then later Chris she goes on to tell this amazing ...
Matthews: oh I thought that in the tape that he did put out that it did include that part in it. What he did that mischaracterized it was to suggest that it was in current time in her role as a federal official, not back when she was in the cooperative.
Dean: No, he did that too
Walsh: He did that too. There were two lies but he absolutely clipped, or someone clipped the tape before she could say that powerful message of redemption that Democrats believe in.
Matthews: I am right and you're wrong. Do we have the tape that we can show this because I'm believe is this guys narration is the problem where he said that this is something that goes on in this administration and it suggested heavily that this was her point of view as an appointee of this administration...
Dean: he did that but he also clipped the tape...
Matthews: No it includes in the tape that she changed
Walsh: No it doesn't Chris you have to trust me and the Governor on this.... it's not in the tape that Breitbart put out.
Matthews: Yes it is! Yes it is!
I've got to wonder if Tweety was pissed at the Obama administration for lumping in all cable news and his show with Fox and was going to put the blame on them for how they looked at this edited tape and then Walsh and Dean stepped all over his narrative for the segment and he lashed out, or if he just had someone on his staff tell him that he looked like an idiot for defending Breitbart for not "editing" a nearly hour long video and he opted for a redo. Either way it's really pathetic that MSNBC is trying to pretend that the segment that first aired doesn't exist. Another blogger friend suggested that maybe Matthews is off the rails lately due to problems with his meds he's taking for his diabetes. Quite frankly nothing would surprise me as to why he does what he does on the air so who knows. All I know is it was looking like he was trying to give Breitbart some CYA and for what ever reason the network decided to pretend his first segment didn't exist. Maybe Joan Walsh will fill us in later.
Here's the segment they did on Hardball in the second hour.
h/t The Political Carnival
The video description at MSNBC says this is Dean and Walsh, but what plays is Walsh and Ken Vogel from Politico.
