What is a ludicrous answer for $800? The response from Chris Matthews when a naive Alex Trebek asked him on Jeopardy!: “Do you approach it from the point of view of I have an opinion about the subject that’s going to be discussed today, or you have your researchers look into that subject and then form an opinion?”
Matthews, host of MSNBC’s Hardball where he consistently spews left-wing views and ridicules conservatives, replied: “Here’s how I try to do it. Ready? Fact, analysis and then opinion. That’s the best way to do it. Report the news, figure out what it means, then figure out your attitude is about it. That’s how I do the show.”
He’s quite an unintentional comedian.
Audio: Matching MP3 clip [1]
Matthews was a contestant on the Monday, May 14 edition of Jeopardy’s “Power Players Week [2]” recorded in Washington, DC back on Saturday, April 21 [3]. CNN’s Lizzie O’Leary and former Obama White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs rounded out the group.
In a bit of banter with the contestants, Trebek asked them each a question. His exchange with Matthews:
ALEX TREBEK: Chris, I’m curious. You host two shows. Do you approach it from the point of view of I have an opinion about the subject that’s going to be discussed today, or you have your researchers look into that subject and then form an opinion?
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Here’s how I try to do it. Ready? Fact, analysis and then opinion. That’s the best way to do it. Report the news, figure out what it means, then figure out what your attitude is about it. That’s how I do the show. So right before I go on the air, I write my close to the show, you know, Let Me Finish with this. I write that right before going on the show, having gone through all the notes that day, all the arguments with the producers. So it is sort of reflecting all the thought I put into it and the work.
-- Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here [4] to follow Brent Baker on Twitter.