Opinion: Chris Matthews' Condescending Interview of Conservative Mike Long

We need Catholics on the air who can defend the truth and take on the bullies like Chris Matthews who have gotten away with this nonsense for too long.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - I took a break from writing and studies Friday afternoon. I decided to watch "Hardball" with Chris Matthews. He was going to interview Mike Long, the Chairman of the Conservative Party of New York. I am watching that race in the 23d District of New York with great interest.

Matthews is one of too many Catholics in the public eye who are an embarrassment to many of us in the Catholic Church.Knowing full well the truth - which is revealed in the Natural Law, confirmed by medical science and infallibly taught by his own Church - that the child in the womb is a human person with a fundamental right to life, Chris Matthews pushes the evil lie that someone who has more power should be able to kill him or her at any time and for any reason.

Knowing that these children, called the "poorest of the poor" by Mother Teresa, are our brothers and sisters to whom we owe a debt of solidarity, he purports to be concerned over social justice while he fails to hear their cry. In his open dissent from his own Church he is causing what the Catholic Catechism calls "scandal" among the faithful.

He is also injuring the common good of our society. The common good is never served by promoting the killing of the innocents under the pretext of a freedom to choose. Some choices - such as reaching into the first home of the whole human race, where we all once lived and, through pre-emptive surgical strikes and chemical weapons, killing our first neighbor - are always and everywhere wrong.

By promoting the public policy and positive law which condones the killing of these innocents in the womb, Matthews has consigned an entire class of persons to the status of property to be dispensed with at will rather than persons to be properly protected in law.

By supporting the egregious crime and intrinsic evil of abortion on demand and confusing others through his position of influence he is also jeopardizing his own salvation.

Matthews was supposed to be interviewing Mike Long, the Chairman of the Conservative Party of New York. The Conservative Party candidate, Doug Hoffman, is contending against a Republican candidate who opposes the Right to Life and is an example of why the Republican Party is dying. It is an interesting race, drawing a lot of attention, and it could have been a great interview. It was anything but.It was a sideshow.

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From the beginning of this alleged interview to its end, Matthews kept a condescending grin on his face. My dear old father from Dorchester, Mass. would have called that grin something much more profane - I am tempted to do so as well but will refrain. He spent most of his time during this sideshow of an interview laughing with derision at his guest and speaking over him.

Because Mr. Long insisted on properly calling himself Pro-Life - and said his candidate was as well - and because he refused to give in to Matthews verbal bullying and baiting, Matthews called him a "troglodyte" ("a person characterized by reclusive habits or outmoded or reactionary attitudes"). He then spent the whole time trying to make Mike Long look like a buffoon in front of a national audience.

Throughout this entire sham of an interview Matthews did not ask one intelligent question. He browbeat Mike Long. He hurled loaded questions at him. He forced him to duck specious verbal jabs and insults, peppering him with condescending comments, rather than giving him any time to respond.

This was the worst excuse for a television interview I have ever seen. Not only should Chris Matthews be ashamed, MSNBC should be as well. We need Catholics on the air who can defend the truth and take on the bullies like Chris Matthews who have gotten away with this nonsense for too long.

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