What liberal media?

I should know by now that it's a bad idea to watch "Hardball" on MSNBC. Nine times out of ten, by the time the program ends, I'm muttering, "Sweet Jesus, I hate Chris Matthews" and vowing to never listen to Tweety pontificate ever again.

Nonetheless, when the S.O. decided to test the Internet connection yesterday by streaming "Hardball," I got suckered into watching. Topic of the day? Cory Booker's supposed major political gaffe. What was Booker's gaffe, you ask? He committed the ultimate political sin during a discussion on a Sunday morning talk show. He was honest. He said that the current hyperbolic posturing by both the Republicans and the Democrats was disgusting and that it was turning voters off.

So what did Chris Matthews and his invited pundits obsess about? The fact Booker was obliquely critical of the Obama campaign's characterizations of Bain Capital. Apparently, saying that both parties are guilty of indulging in nasty politicking is synonymous with throwing Obama under the bus. They went on and on and on about Booker sabotaging the Obama campaign, that he'd just handed the Romney campaign the ammunition it needed to win the election, et cetera ad nauseum. Not one word about the context of Booker's comments or the fact that Booker had also criticized the Romney campaign, just a lot of blathering about one of the rising stars of the Democratic Party backstabbing the President.

You know, if there really was a liberal media, the discussion would have emphasized Booker's pointing out that the Republicans are gearing up to run a racially-charged campaign by once again trotting out Obama's association with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Instead, they decided to obsess about the one half of the comment that's most damaging to Obama. That is, we're being treated to the talking heads hammering home the point there's dissension among Democrats because one Democrat had the temerity to suggest that private equity firms are not Totally Evil. How they managed to get from Booker trying to say that the tone of the campaign needs to change on both sides to Booker being a sellout to Wall Street and a defender of Romney and vulture capitalism is beyond me, but they did it.

The stupid, it burns.