RIJIMMY
11-07-2008, 11:32 AM
This is great.
Scarborough’s exchange with Matthews Thursday morning:
Matthews: “I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work.”
Scarborough: “Is that your job? You just talked about your being a journalist.”
Matthews: “Yeah, that’s my job. My job is to help this country.”
Scarborough: “So your job as a journalist is to make this presidency work?”
Matthews: “To make this work successfully, because this country needs a successful presidency, more than anything right now.”
Moments later, Time magazine editor Richard Stengel took exception to Matthews’ description of his role as a journalist.
“Walter Cronkite once famously said that journalists are skeptical so the public doesn’t become cynical,” Stengel said. “As Americans, we want of course Barack Obama to succeed and we want the country to thrive.
“As journalists, we have to hold his feet to the fire. That is our responsibility. Frankly, I think that’s our constitutional responsibility. That is why the press is protected in the Constitution.”
Matthews’ comments were but the latest in a series of actions that blur the line between journalism and politics:
Scarborough’s exchange with Matthews Thursday morning:
Matthews: “I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work.”
Scarborough: “Is that your job? You just talked about your being a journalist.”
Matthews: “Yeah, that’s my job. My job is to help this country.”
Scarborough: “So your job as a journalist is to make this presidency work?”
Matthews: “To make this work successfully, because this country needs a successful presidency, more than anything right now.”
Moments later, Time magazine editor Richard Stengel took exception to Matthews’ description of his role as a journalist.
“Walter Cronkite once famously said that journalists are skeptical so the public doesn’t become cynical,” Stengel said. “As Americans, we want of course Barack Obama to succeed and we want the country to thrive.
“As journalists, we have to hold his feet to the fire. That is our responsibility. Frankly, I think that’s our constitutional responsibility. That is why the press is protected in the Constitution.”
Matthews’ comments were but the latest in a series of actions that blur the line between journalism and politics: