Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

You did it. All of you. Sending all of those emails. Sending all of those letters.

It’s at moments like these when even someone like Chris Matthews has to open
up and accept he’s got his viewing audience against him and that he’s received the message. A simple "I get it." Even a "whew" at the end. This one hurt and it showed.

But now, Matthews said Thursday, "I get it." "If I’d said that the only reason John McCain has come so far is that he got shot down over North Vietnam and captured by the enemy, I’d be brutally ignoring the courage and guts he showed in bearing up under his captivity," he said. "Saying Sen. Clinton got where she’s got simply because her husband did what he did to her is just as callous and, I can see now, came across just as nasty, worse yet just as dismissive." Besides Steinem, the letter to NBC News President Steve Capus was signed by Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women; Lulu Flores, president of the National Women’s Political Caucus; Carol Jenkins, president of the Women’s Media Center; and Eleanor Smeal, president of Feminist Majority. … .. Matthews: I Wronged Clinton With Remark

That should have been plural, as in remarks, but who’s counting. For right
now, I’m not.

But this does bring me back to the Dartmouth debate with Tim Russert; the moment
he inserted himself into the presidential election and got really personal with
Clinton. I let him have it. Dan Abrams asked me on his show to have a discussion
that focused on just how silly it was to think sexism, sexism!, of
all things, was happening in America. That the first viable female candidate in U.S. history was being treated with such disrespect. Others ignored me, ignored you. But women
everywhere, of all political stripes, were paying attention in droves. So were
some wonderfully liberated men. It’s like the many Sunday posts I do on the
lack of women on Sunday shows. We just can’t get any serious respect. But we
sure don’t have to take Matthews delivering such drivel aimed at one of the most powerful
women in America.

So, Chris Matthews, after all the letters from Emily’s list, your emails and
letters, as well as Media Matters doing a wide BlogAd buy, and so many others
wrote in, finally had to swallow his pride and lasso his ego. He saw that we were upset. This wasn’t a half apology
either. It wasn’t a throw away, token nod. It was all he could give, which is all we can ask.

Now let’s see if he truly does “get it.”

We did it. Take a bow.