Exploding Hardball

I watch a lot of Hardball. There's tons of bluster and Matthews' self-indulgent tomfoolery can get old, but every now and then there's a debate that reaches heights of Socratic flow, thanks in large part to Matthews' facilitating, that goes far beyond anything you'll see on other cable news shows.

I thought I'd try to "explode" a segment I saw tonight about the new Obama church scandal. I tried to boil the exchanges down to their content essence. That way you don't have to listen to all the redundancy, stuttering, and what not, and just see the flow.

One thing that impressed me about this exchange: wow, did Tucker Carlson suddenly become more coherent and sensible since losing his show?

Video: Catholic priest at Obama's church screaming, "I'm white, I'm entitled, there's a black man stealing my show!" Mock weeping.

Matthews to Cillizza: The crowd loved his depiction. What was the fly in the ointment?

Cillizza: 1. The YouTube theatrics make it worse than otherwise...

Matthews: What if he weren't white?

Cillizza: Would have been worse, which leads to 2. Where it happened: it fits into a convenient narrative.

Lizza: Gotcha culture is out of hand. This independent guy has every right to say what he wants.

Tucker: This emphasizes that Obama went to a church hostile to white people, and poor whites don't like it.

Matthews: How did they show racial prejudice?

Tucker: By saying the fact Hillary is white is integral to whatever sins she committed.

Matthews: Wasn't he accusing her of thinking she was superior for being white?

Tucker: Yes, but her whiteness is central to his critique.

Lizza: How does that relate to Obama?

Tucker: Obama claims this church is where his character was forged, and this type of rhetoric is common there, and that contradicts his statements about himself.

Lizza: Obama wrote that this is the church that brought him to Christ. But that doesn't mean that anyone who speaks in that church speaks for Obama.

Tucker: Agreed.

Matthews to Cillizza: "God damn America" will be a 527 hit. How is this useful to McCain?

Cillizza: It won't be used by McCain, but what will be used from this is, "I'm white, I'm entitled." That idea doesn't sit well with folks in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania.

Matthews: Is this the gotcha culture, where pastors come out like IEDs?

Lizza: Not just pastors...

Cillizza: Geraldine Ferraro...

Matthews: She is really angry!

Matthews to Tucker: You had an interview show where you wait for that sugar plum statement to lead with. Now they seem to be popping up...

Tucker: There are no private moments. It's especially bad for Obama because he's not deeply known. He's more vulnerable to having our opinion of him changed by new information.