To: Phil Griffin, President, MSNBC and Chris Matthews, Host, Hardball
Rename Chris Matthews Show “Softball”
Chris Matthews’ interview with President Obama on his show, “Hardball,” about why people are so opposed to Fast Track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was nothing like any of his other interviews where he is well-known for flinging “hardballs” at his guests, in the form of tough questions. For the most important issue of our time, Chris Matthews threw softballs instead of his characteristic Hardballs.
Why is this important?
Chris Matthews asked only rhetorical questions meant to give President Obama a platform to deliberately tear down Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has come out strongly against Fast Track and the TPP, especially the Investor State Dispute Settlement process or ISDS.
Matthews never asked the president why hundreds of civic organizations, faith groups and every single Union, have come out strongly against the TPP. Chris Matthews just said they’re all wrong and the president is right, despite the statistics that show NAFTA-style free trade agreements have devastated the economy and wages, as workers must compete with low foreign wages. Chris Matthews could have thrown hardballs at Obama, but he didn’t, instead giving the president a platform to just say, “Trust me.”
Chris Matthews never asked hard questions like, “Why is the text of the TPP classified,” or won’t extending patents raise medicine prices under Medicare and Medicaid and to the public?
Why won’t you release the text now for the public to see? There are lots of hardballs Chris Matthews could have thrown, but instead, he chose to lob softballs at a time when the Public needs to know what is being negotiated in their name.
Perhaps the Chris Matthews Show should be renamed “Softball.”
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzfxv2XQoPg
http://www.c-span.org/video/?323650-1/news-conference-opposition-fast-track-authority
http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/watch/president-obama-defends-tpp-deal-431711811768
Matthews never asked the president why hundreds of civic organizations, faith groups and every single Union, have come out strongly against the TPP. Chris Matthews just said they’re all wrong and the president is right, despite the statistics that show NAFTA-style free trade agreements have devastated the economy and wages, as workers must compete with low foreign wages. Chris Matthews could have thrown hardballs at Obama, but he didn’t, instead giving the president a platform to just say, “Trust me.”
Chris Matthews never asked hard questions like, “Why is the text of the TPP classified,” or won’t extending patents raise medicine prices under Medicare and Medicaid and to the public?
Why won’t you release the text now for the public to see? There are lots of hardballs Chris Matthews could have thrown, but instead, he chose to lob softballs at a time when the Public needs to know what is being negotiated in their name.
Perhaps the Chris Matthews Show should be renamed “Softball.”
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzfxv2XQoPg
http://www.c-span.org/video/?323650-1/news-conference-opposition-fast-track-authority
http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/watch/president-obama-defends-tpp-deal-431711811768