NY Post Plays Hardball With Chris Matthews

The NY Post wants Chris Matthews dumped from Tuesday's GOP debate after a partisan rant at the Hardball 10 year party:

October 6, 2007 -- So, should viewers of Tuesday's Re publican presidential debate expect an exchange of views between the candidates - or between the candidates and one of the event's moderators?

It's a fair question, given the jaw-dropping comments Thursday evening from MSNBC blowhard - and scheduled debate moderator - Chris Matthews.

Matthews was celebrating the 10th anniversary of his "Hardball" program at a Washington event, when he let loose a broadside at the White House.

Bush & Co., he declared, had "finally been caught in their criminality."

He compared this White House's behavior with another one, saying, "Spiro Agnew was not an American hero."

Of the vice president, Matthews said, "God help us if we had Cheney during the Cuban missile crisis. We'd all be under a parking lot."

Now, "Hardball" is an opinion show, and Matthews is certainly entitled to his opinions - however offensively he chooses to express them.

But why should any Republican candidate expect fairness from Matthews now?

More to the point, why should potential voters expect Matthews to treat the candidates' views fairly?

By engaging in this sort of intemperate rhetoric, Matthews has effectively disqualified himself as an "honest broker" for this coming debate.

NBC needs to replace him as a debate moderator immediately. The job - by definition - requires an attempt to display objectivity going into an event.

Yes, the distinction between "objective journalist" and "opinion-maker" in recent years has been blurred to the point where they're nearly indistinguishable. But Matthews' comments obliterated any possible distinction.

Earlier this year the Democrats bailed on a debate that was supposed to be on Fox News because they feared getting tough questions from the Fox News moderators. The GOP has nothing to fear from Matthews - they've dealt with his rantings before, and the GOP shouldn't quit the debate. However, if the network has any integrity at all they should pull him off the debate and try to find somebody who can at least pretend to be impartial.