Hail Satan!

Several bloggers noted Chris Matthews’ pathetic spin-job on
Hardball yesterday. But not surprisingly, James Wolcott puts
it best.

His performance [Tuesday] after the announcement
of the Jack Abramoff plea was a power-bottom tour
de force. He gave the Republican establishment a
complete pass. He insisted against all evidence
under heaven and stars that this was not a partisan
scandal, that 99% of elected officials were honest
and upright, that "Duke" Cunningham was sort of a
lone wolf, and that Abramoff was a Vautrin-like
villain and corrupter of souls.

Okay, Matthews didn't invoke Vautrin. He said
Satan. I just threw in Vautrin for you Balzac fans
out there.

At first, this looked like just another example of corporate
media sucking up to power. But today at AMERICAblog,
John Aravosis digs up evidence that Matthews helped
organize an event for Abramoff’s bogus charity, Capital
Athletic Foundation.

Plans for the event were mentioned in The Hollywood
Reporter in March 2003:

It's called the Interactive Spy Game Gala.
Scheduled for March 26 at the International Spy
Museum in Washington, the event's purpose is to
raise about $300,000 for the Capital Athletic
Foundation....

Fox News Channel's Tony Snow is master of
ceremonies, and Fox's Brit Hume and MSNBC's
Chris Matthews are aboard. Opera great Placido
Domingo is an event committee member. But, this
being Washington, the event will be mostly
populated by powerful lawmakers, including Rep.
Tom DeLay, R-Texas; Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.;
and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif.

I don’t see too many Democrats on that list, do you?

Fortunately for Tweedy, the event was canceled due to the
sudden invasion of Iraq. But there are still several questions
that need answers. Does Matthews have other ties to Abramoff
that he’s hiding from his viewers? Is it really ethical for a
journalist to participate in what is essentially a partisan
political event? (Hint: No, it’s not.) And how can that
journalist expect to maintain any shred of credibility or
objectivity on this issue now that we know he’s done a favor
for “Satan” himself?

What do you say Chris? Let’s play hardball.