Sunday, March 01, 2020

Matthews confronts Warren on believing women

Laura Bassett writes:
MSNBC host Chris Matthews, whose long history of sexist comments and behavior have somehow not yet gotten him fired, tested the boundaries of his own misogyny again on Wednesday night. After the tenth Democratic presidential debate, the Hardball anchor grilled Elizabeth Warren about one of her lines of attack against Mike Bloomberg during the debate: that a pregnant female employee accused Bloomberg of telling her to “kill it.”

“You believe he’s lying?” Matthews asked Warren of Bloomberg's denial.

“I believe the woman, which means he’s not telling the truth,” said Warren, who recently had to defend her own credible story of pregnancy discrimination.

“And why would he lie?” Matthews said. “Just to protect himself?”

“Yeah, and why would she lie?” Warren responded pointedly.

“I just wanna make sure you’re clear about this,” Matthews said. Right there on America’s purportedly liberal network, the anchor spoke to a 70-year-old United States senator who is running for president — and a renowned Harvard Law professor, no less — like she couldn’t possibly understand her own words, as if she were a child choosing between a snack now or dessert later.
It is revealing that Warren would so stubbornly accept the truth of and old and unverified accusation, and on that basis to accuse her fellow candidate of being a liar.

I have no idea whether the accusation is true or not, and I think it is foolish to argue about such a thing or to blame someone on such flimsy evidence.

If Warren is elected President, she will have to make decisions about committing acts of war based on limited evidence. Would she weigh the evidence by just always believing the woman?

Yes, women sometimes lie. Warren herself has been caught lying many times, including "her own credible story of pregnancy discrimination." Sure, it was a credible story, but it was contradicted by every other account, including the ones she told herself.

The lesson here, from Bassett and Warren, is that a woman telling a credible story should be believed.

I hope that this is not what is taught at Harvard Law School. All this gives the impression that women are incapable of understanding truth.

Mike Bloomberg has had a very public life, and his candidacy has many pros and cons based on demonstrable facts. It is crazy to make an issue about an old rumor of an inappropriate remark. He is running for President. Even if he made the tasteless remark, there are a thousand other issues that are more important.

Bassett goes on the whine about some gossip about Chris Matthews. I can believe that he has made some inappropriate remarks, as he says a lot of dumb things on the air. But who cares? He was just asking Warren to explain her peculiar opinions.

Update: March 2 was Matthews' last day on the air. It appears that he was forced into retirement, as a result of some of these remarks. I do not agree with terminating him for this.

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