From LexisNexis (May 2nd, 2003):
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: I’m Chris Matthews, let’s play HARDBALL.
We’ll have all the political news in the second half-hour. But first, “The Big “Story tonight, Scott Peterson has a new defense attorney. It’s Mark Geragos, the high-profile Los Angeles lawyer who represented Winona Ryder, Gary Condit and Susan McDougall. And he says Scott wants to bring the real killer to justice. We’ll have the latest on the Laci Peterson case.
Plus, after dramatic arrival and victory speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln yesterday, President Bush is turning his attention to reviving the nation’s economy.
And later, the president has brought down the Taliban, toppled Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda’s on the run. Can any of the Democrats beat the commander in chief? We’ll have the latest poll numbers and talk about the Democratic debate in South Carolina tomorrow in our “Political Buzz.”
And we begin tonight with the Laci Peterson case…
Mo’ Betta Mission Accomplished Day stuff below:
MATTHEWS: Arianna Huffington, I want you to compare what you just, the cut of their jib. You saw all the Democrats just now. Do any of them look right to you visually in that jumpsuit aboard the USS Lincoln?
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, AUTHOR: You know, anybody who wears the jumpsuit will look good in the jumpsuit. Even Carol Moseley Braun. You know there’s something about the office that bestows this aura of authority to whoever has the office, especially at a time of war. I don’t think that’s the problem, Chris. I mean Bush did not look particularly presidential when he started. It was September 11 and the way he handled it that has bestowed that aura.
MATTHEWS: Let me try that one. That’s a very powerful proposition. You say that the man’s election as president as narrow as it was, gave him swagger we just saw across the deck of the USS Lincoln and it wasn’t a personal appointment with God here.
Steve Hayes, your point. Do you think the president of the United States, the commander in chief last night, the matchable by any of those Democrats in the role he played last night?
STEPHEN HAYES, “WEEKLY STANDARD”: Well certainly not right now. And I disagree with Arianna. I don’t think anybody would look good in that jumpsuit.
That is so awesome!! Want some more?
MATTHEWS: let’s talk about Lieberman. I have thought for awhile now, not having been a big fan of him in the past, I didn’t think he ran a good campaign in 2000 at all. He seems to have something going for him. And I want to check this with you, Howard.
The fact that he was right about the war, not that it was morally right or morally not right, but he looks smart now. Because he said the war was going to work out and it did.
FINEMAN: Yes, I think so. And he didn’t equivocate on the matter, whereas John Kerry was trying to have it both ways. And even to some extent Howard Dean was. Joseph Lieberman has been straight down line.
That means there’s no debate over that and Lieberman can talk exclusively about domestic, economic issues. And Lieberman has a sense, a sense of surety and certainty. You know, he was quite energetic. Expectations were low for him, I think, but in this debate, he did well. Maybe it was the end of the Sabbath, his Sabbath rest. But for whatever reason, he was on his game and seemed reassuring as well as confident about who he was. And that always — that always works well on television and with voters.
MATTHEWS: Do you know, is it your hunch that — and it’s a hard question to ask a reporter. But as your right — Do you think he’s right about that hunch that no Democrat who isn’t tough on defense, who wasn’t for the war, basically for the war, has a prayer of beating Bush?
FINEMAN: On today’s circumstances, yes, Chris. Unless things turn really hellish in the region that we’ve been in militarily, I think the answer to that is yes. And I think that’s one thing that gave Lieberman confidence the other night and makes that argument between Dean and Kerry so vicious, because they’re really shades and gradations of thing that Lieberman doesn’t have to worry about.
MATTHEWS: As someone who did not like the war before it started and liked it while it was being fought, I agree completely with you. I think the bet for the war is the winning bet for the Democrats.
Ooh…I really like this one:
MATTHEWS: What do you make of this broadside against the USS Abraham Lincoln and its chief visitor last week?
LIDDY: Well, I — in the first place, I think it’s envy. I mean, after all, Al Gore had to go get some woman to tell him how to be a man.
And here comes George Bush. You know, he’s in his flight suit, he’s striding across the deck, and he’s wearing his parachute harness, you know — and I’ve worn those because I parachute — and it makes the best of his manly characteristic.
You go run those — run that stuff again of him walking across there with the parachute. He has just won every woman’s vote in the United States of America. You know, all those women who say size doesn’t count — they’re all liars. Check that out.
I hope the Democrats keep ratting on him and all of this stuff so that they keep showing that tape.
MATTHEWS: You know, it’s funny. I shouldn’t talk about ratings. I don’t always pay attention to them, but last night was a riot because, at the very time Henry Waxman was on — and I do respect him on legislative issues — he was on blasting away, and these pictures were showing last night, and everybody’s tuning in to see these pictures again.
LIDDY: That’s right.
MATTHEWS: And I’ve got to say why do the Democrats, as you say, want to keep advertising this guy’s greatest moment?
LIDDY: Look, he’s — he’s coming across as a — well, as women would call in on my show saying, what a stud, you know, and then guy — they’re seeing him out there with his flight suit, and he’s — and they know he’s an F-105 fighter jock. I mean it’s just great.
And my all-time favorite moment in punditry.
MATTHEWS: We have a visual while we’re looking here. In Hollywood, they say how did you get the part. I fit the costume. You know, it’s an old joke in Hollywood. I fit the costume…
(LAUGHTER)
NOONAN: Right.
MATTHEWS: … because they have the — this guy fits the costume, doesn’t he?
NOONAN: Yes.
MATTHEWS: I mean Bill Clinton — do you think they had jump-suits in Bill Clinton’s size?
NOONAN: Oh…
MATTHEWS: Just asking.
NOONAN: Oh, well, Bill Clinton used — you remember Bill Clinton landed on the Theodore Roosevelt back about 1993 or ’94 and he was in his bomber jacket. Do you know what I mean? It was lots of show business then.
The key with Bush, however, is that, you know, he seems like one of these guys and one of these gals because he’s just like them. He’s a regular American male. He also…
I’ve got to tell you what I think — can I tell what you I think the key to the great landing on the aircraft carrier was?
MATTHEWS: That’s why you’re here, Peggy.
NOONAN: All right. This is what I think it was. It wasn’t just it was showy, it was showbiz, it was “Top Gun,” it was Tom Cruise’s suit, it was all that wonderful stuff. It’s that the American president not only put himself in harm’s way going to see American troopers, but he showed them by coming in on that ship I trust you.
MATTHEWS: A little risk. Just a little bit of risk.
NOONAN: It wasn’t just risk. It was trust. It was faith. You’re going to take care of me. You’re going to hit that second trap, the third trap, or the fourth. I’m safe in your hands. It was a compliment, you know.
MATTHEWS: Even a daytime carrier landing is tricky.
NOONAN: Oh, absolutely. I mean it’s taking a chance. I’ll tell you one of the ways you know you’ve gotten a little old? If I’d been in the White House now I would have told them don’t do that, that’s a bridge too far, you’ve got to be crazy, and, instead, it turned out to be, I think, one of the brilliant moments…
MATTHEWS: It’s like knowing to bring…
NOONAN: … indelible political moments.
MATTHEWS: … a meg — to bring a bullhorn to ground zero on September 14, not to bring a mic. It’s that little difference. If he’d had a mic there, if he was like Wayne Newton with a mic or some show-business guy, he would have looked like a lounge act.
NOONAN: Barney Rubble.
MATTHEWS: Because he had that bullhorn, he was a guy like them. We’ll be talking more…
NOONAN: He was a guy with his arm around the…
MATTHEWS: … about this accoutrements of…
NOONAN: … other firemen.
MATTHEWS: … greatness with Peggy Noonan, an expert at the verbal discussing the pictorial.
And, later, our Friday night panel on what’s wrong with American teenagers. Are their parents to blame for their weird behavior? Look at this stuff. You’re watching it. And you certainly are. HARDBALL.
Happy Mission Accomplished Day!!