June 18, 2013

Washington Secrets

Mainstream scream: Matthews hits Hagel critic McCain's Vietnam 'Flashbacks'

BY: PAUL BEDARD FEBRUARY 4, 2013 | 3:29 PM
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Our weekly look at the loudest screech from the mainstream media features MSNBC's Hardball host Chris Matthews slamming Sen. John McCain, a former Vietnam War POW, for criticizing Pentagon nominee Chuck Hagel.

"Forty years after the Vietnam POWs came home, the most famous of them is angrier than ever. Why is America, why are we fighting the Vietnam war all over again in the United States Senate?" asked Matthews. "Tonight, we dig into the deep well of resentment burning in John McCain's patriotic heart," said Matthews, adding, "A nightmare by the way whose flashbacks must haunt still the mind and heart of John Sidney McCain."

Media Research Center Vice President of Research Brent Baker explains our pick: "Instead of addressing Hagel's hearing performance many saw as possibly the worst ever by a nominee for a major cabinet post, Matthews put Obama's interests first by impugning McCain when all McCain did was the basic journalism Matthews failed to do: document Hagel's contradictions and misstatements."

Rating: Three out of five screams.

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