MSNBC’s Chris Matthews tonight issued an on-air apology for his post-election remarks, in which he said he was “glad we had that storm last week” because it “brought in possibilities for good politics.”
Matthews kicked off “Hardball” with a two-minute apology after issuing a couple of tweets in an attempt to backpedal as outrage over his insensitive remarks grew. His excuse was not lack of sleep but instead this:
I was too deeply enmeshed in political thinking, deep in a world of numbers and issues and people and stakes and focused on who would win and who would lose. But I left out the number one job of anyone on air, on television or on the radio: to think about the lives, the real lives of people, their losses, their relatives and friends who died in this disaster, their dreams that have been hurt and sometimes destroyed.
For whatever reason, Twitter seemed to be in a forgiving mood.
Ok @Hardball_Chris, we all make mistakes. Big of you to acknowledge & pledge atonement. You're forgiven. #p2 #Hardball @msnbc @msnbctv
— Please Wear A Mask (@craftyme25) November 7, 2012
@hardball_chris It takes a real champion 2 speak out when u truly misspoke I don't like u all time Progress know how 2 take Personal Respons
— TomAdler (@TomAdler) November 7, 2012
@hardball_chris
appreciated huge heartfelt, REAL apology.Believe U was a weary oversight, not reflective of true feelings. Admire you.— Sharon Love (@smloveTPN) November 7, 2012
@DevinMillington @hardball_chris We've all put our foot in our mouth one time or another. Don't beat yourself up.
— Ilene Hosterman (@kismetlong) November 7, 2012
@hardball_chris Chris, I hope you don't let it bother you too much. You are a passionate guy, and you speak with your heart.
— Mark A. Foster, PhD (@markalanfoster) November 7, 2012
Didn't know he could do humility. RT @BDayspring: Chris Matthews apologizing for storm comments on #MSNBC. He looks heartfelt – tearing up.
— Travis Hall (@traviswhall) November 7, 2012
https://twitter.com/HeistheGiambino/status/266307502675730432
@hardball_chris No rational person thinks you are grateful for a hurricane. You misspoke. I still think you are a class act.
— Thomas Alan Holmes (@T_A_Holmes) November 8, 2012
https://twitter.com/becmass/status/266354142400888832
Class act Matthews later in the program played host to fellow class act Bill Maher, who likened Mitt Romney and his supporters watching election returns to Nazis in Hitler’s bunker: “Yes, Mein Fuhrer, you have 12 divisions on the eastern front.”
Not tearfully apologizing for saying essential the same thing as Matthews did is Michael Moore, who in a blog post on his website thanked the “death and destruction” caused by Sandy for being “the undoing” of the Republican party:
And you, Mother Nature, with all your horrific damage, death and destruction you caused last week, you became, ironically, the undoing of a Party that didn’t believe in you or your climate changing powers.
Michael Moore “Thanks” Mother Nature For Sending Hurricane Sandy To Help Obama And Kill 110 People…What a scumbag! http://t.co/UDRxYLik
— Underground Express (@undergroundexp) November 7, 2012
To everyone effected by Sandy, Chris Matthews and Michael Moore are very happy sandy happened. Over 100 lives lost. Such caring liberals!
— Sharon Cameron (@Mam_Cam) November 7, 2012
Chris Matthews & Michael Moore thanking Hurricane Sandy for giving Obama a political advantage. And they say the right wingers are psychotic
— Katherine Jean⚓ (@katiejeanbby) November 7, 2012
Liberal icons & mainstays of democratic party, Michael Moore & Chris Mathews, thanked God 4 "Hurricane Sandy" 4 helping Obama win election
— Tony Fressola (@salerno9249) November 8, 2012
https://twitter.com/pehbho/status/266353713797558273
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