Chris Matthews: Empty Vessel
Over at Newsbusters, Noel Sheppard documents Chris Matthews' incessant mockery of Sarah Palin's intelligence and his obsession with the notion that Palin would do poorly as a contestant on Jeopardy!
October 2, 2008, shortly before that evening's Vice Presidential debate, [Chris Matthews] said of Palin:
"Is this [vice presidential debate] about her brain power?... Do you think cute will beat brains?...Do you think she’d do better on the questions on Jeopardy! or the interview they do during a half-time?...My suspicion is that she has the same lack of intellectual curiosity that the President of the United States has right now and that is scary!"
Then on January 12, 2010:
They find these empty vessels who know nothing about the world! Nothing about foreign policy! Who immediately begin to spout the neo-con line. I read her book — it’s full of that crap....It’s unbelievable how little this woman knows!...Don’t put her on Jeopardy!”
And again on November 2, 2010:
“Senator, do you think Sarah Palin is qualified to be President of the United States?...If she were on Jeopardy! right now and the topic was national government, American government generally defined, would she look like an imbecile, or would she look okay? Does she know anything?"
And finally on January 19, 2011:
“I’d like to see her on just a couple of episodes of Celebrity Jeopardy! or It’s Academic Mac McGarry to just see if she knows anything.”
But when it came time to show off his own brilliance as a contestant on Jeopardy!, Matthews, well...see for yourself:
If he learned anything from his experience on Jeopardy! let's hope it was that a greater measure of humility is in order.
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Dec '10
Re: Chris Matthews: Empty Vessel
Tommy De Seno: I'm glad he got his.
But honestly...who among us would go on that show? I get killed trying to play along. · 1 hour ago
It's the popular culture categories that kill my chances. Still, I'd go on Jeopardy before Dr. Laura or Judge Judy!! Who are these people and what makes them believe they'll be the ones to come out with their dignity intact? Sometimes I'm convinced they're plants.
Dec '10
Re: Chris Matthews: Empty Vessel
St. Basil's Cathedral in Istanbul, Chris?! And none of them got it! It makes you wonder how many combined trips these three have made to Moscow and walked by this without ever asking what it's called:
Dec '10
Re: Chris Matthews: Empty Vessel
But, yeah, I can see how Chris mixed up the Hagia Sophia with St. Basil's. They're so close:
Jan '12
Re: Chris Matthews: Empty Vessel
His performance on the show aside, what is just silly are his comments about equating how well one performs at Jeopardy as a guage of pure intelligence or whether it is some sort of barometer of executive leadership. I know plenty of incredibly smart people that don't waste the time to become good at trivia. Also, how one's hypothetical performance at jeopardy says anything about 1) Wisdom, 2) Judgment or 3) Character is beyond me and I think we all agree that those three things are vital when thinking about a candidate's capability to be president (or, any chief executive for that matter).
Based on what Matthews thinks is important, Ken Jennings should be installed as United States Dictator for Life.
May '10
Re: Chris Matthews: Empty Vessel
Chris Matthews for $200.What is 'Cretan'.
May '12
Re: Chris Matthews: Empty Vessel
I agree with Midget Faded Rattlesnake (BTW, some years ago I saw a stuffed rattlesnake, posed mid-strike, in the window of a shop across the street from Madison Square Garden & James Farley Post Office - muy cool!).
If Chris Matthews had not made that comment comparing doing well on Jeopardy to intelligence, I would have cut him slack. Spelling Bees, SAT's, and Jeopardy are not so much a test of one's intelligence, but of one's ability to perform under pressure, and strategize - a different kind of intelligence.
Matthews made that statement, and so many more like it. He is probably intelligent. Stupid people don't have long running shows. Even Keith Olberman has got to have some working grey cells. But, like lots of intelligent people, he acts like an idiot, and effectively is one.
Intelligence is not Wisdom, Passion is not Emotional Maturity, Data is not the same as Knowledge. There are very few genuinely stupid people in the world; many people behave stupidly. Being Tone Deaf is different from a lack of confidence or Musical Training.
Also, My Word and My Music were and are so much more intelligent and entertaining shows than Jeopardy.
Jun '10
Re: Chris Matthews: Empty Vessel
The four types of mind:
1. Fast and deep. James Lileks comes to mind.
2. Slow and deep. Such people need what teachers call "processing time." They are capable of astounding insights, if you have the patience to hear them out.
3. Fast but shallow. Think of kids with ADHD.
4. Slow and shallow. Give them menial tasks, but only under supervision. Problem solving skills: nil.
Aug '10
Re: Chris Matthews: Empty Vessel
Edward Smith:
Matthews made that statement, and so many more like it. He is probably intelligent. Stupid people don't have long running shows. Even Keith Olberman has got to have some working grey cells. But, like lots of intelligent people, he acts like an idiot, and effectively is one.
Yep.
~Paules: The four types of mind:
2. Slow and deep. Such people need what teachers call "processing time." They are capable of astounding insights, if you have the patience to hear them out.
3. Fast but shallow. Think of kids with ADHD.
Oddly enough, knowing several people who've been treated for ADD (or ADHD, or whatever you want to call it) for long periods of their life, I find that, while several of them do fall into the "fast but shallow" category, as you say, others, by all appearances, fall into the "slow but deep" category.
Maybe this is how it works: their brains may be more distractible and less organized than others', but they're still capable of thinking deeply. It's just that their deep thoughts occur more randomly than other people's thoughts, hence take a while to appear to the outside world.
Apr '11
Re: Chris Matthews: Empty Vessel
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Tommy De Seno: I'm glad he got his.
But honestly...who among us would go on that show? I get killed trying to play along.
We watch it every night and there is simply no way I would ever win. In a rare blue moon, if the categories are just right and the contestants particularly bad, I wouldn't particularly embarrass myself. I'm great at team bar trivia but bad at trivia in general. I can help people get the right answer but I am too slow and have too poor a memory to do it one on one.
Fun fact: I was on Jeopardy! in March 2003. I was leading going into Final Jeopardy, but the category was Military Aviation which is not my strong suit (to put it mildly). I ended up coming in second.
It's been nine years, and I am still relieved that it's over.
Apr '11
Re: Chris Matthews: Empty Vessel
Chris Matthews on Jeopardy
Remember when know-it-all Chris Matthews said Sarah Palin “didn’t know anything” and wanted her to go on Celebrity Jeopardy to see if she was “an imbecile?” Well, it looks like he beat her to the punch on that one last night when he was a contestant on Celebrity Jeopardy …and got beat by none other than Robert Gibbs. Glenn played the hilarious audio on radio this morning.
Stu's strategy for winning: text throughout the show, tell Alex, "No, I've got nothin'." Matthews finishes at -2100, and Stu wins with zero.
Re: Chris Matthews: Empty Vessel
Charlotte
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Tommy De Seno: I'm glad he got his.
But honestly...who among us would go on that show? I get killed trying to play along.
We watch it every night and there is simply no way I would ever win. In a rare blue moon, if the categories are just right and the contestants particularly bad, I wouldn't particularly embarrass myself. I'm great at team bar trivia but bad at trivia in general. I can help people get the right answer but I am too slow and have too poor a memory to do it one on one.
Fun fact: I was onJeopardy!in March 2003. I was leading going into Final Jeopardy, but the category was Military Aviation which is not my strong suit (to put it mildly). I ended up coming in second.
It's been nine years, and I am stillrelieved that it's over. · 16 hours ago
Wow! Incredible. Is this on your Ricochet profile? If not, it should be :)
Re: Chris Matthews: Empty Vessel
~Paules: The four types of mind:
1. Fast and deep. James Lileks comes to mind.
2. Slow and deep. Such people need what teachers call "processing time." They are capable of astounding insights, if you have the patience to hear them out.
3. Fast but shallow. Think of kids with ADHD.
4. Slow and shallow. Give them menial tasks, but only under supervision. Problem solving skills: nil. · May 16 at 8:28am
These are good categories. I'd arrange them in quadrants because there's a huge range between slow and fast, and between shallow and deep.
I'd like to think of myself as slow and deep—I certainly require more processing time than average—but I feel like a fraud calling myself deep!
Apr '11
Re: Chris Matthews: Empty Vessel
HA! Maybe so. I actually don't remember much about it--I was so keyed-up and nervous that it's kind of a blur.