I Haven't Mentioned in at Least Three Seconds...

...that Chris Matthews is a huge jerk. But he is. In case anyone had forgotten. Exhibit ZZ9:

Matthews: I think that [President Obama] has a unique hold on the Democratic Party, to start with, and you can argue all this stuff about the center—I'm interested in the independents who are worried about the economy. But I'm tellin' ya, he is very popular among Democrats—

John Heilemann, New York magazine writer: Chris, have the, have the last two days made you think that? When you hear, when you hear the Democratic Left trashing the healthcare bill and attacking the president?

Matthews: Well, I don't consider them Democrats; I consider them netroots, and they're different.

Heilemann [chuckling]: Ahh.

Matthews: And if I see, if I see that they vote in every election, or most elections, I'll be worried. But I'm not sure they're regular, grown-up Democrats. I think a lot of those people are troublemakers who love to sit in the back seat and complain. They're not interested in governing this country. They never ran for office, they're not interested in working for somebody in public office. They get their giggles out of sitting in the back seat and bitching. Excuse me. That's a verb.

Yeah, a misogynist verb. Bitching is something unserious people do, something bitches do. Bitches bitch, but men—"regular, grown-up" men—do punditry.

As is noted at Media Matters, Howard Dean, one of the foremost opponents of the legislation, "ran for president in the 2004 Democratic primary after having served for more than 11 years as governor of Vermont." He also, hello, served as chair of the Democratic National Committee for four years. That ain't the "back seat" of public policy, brother.

And, not for nothing, but many of the prominent bloggers in the "netroots" have worked for political campaigns or "somebody in public office." I can think of more than a dozen bloggers off the top of my head (from Daily Kos, MyDD, Open Left, Pandagon, AmericaBlog, Crooks and Liars, Shakesville, etc.) who have worked for campaigns or politicians.

I don't point that out from spite (though I'm none too thrilled that the sneering elitism of the traditional media persists); I point it out because Matthews is a political analyst who doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about. He doesn't know basic facts about the political blogosphere.

And yet he's worried about us polluting the national discourse. Uh-huh.

[Related Reading: Call Me Citizen Asshole.]