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Never been a big fan of Chris Matthews' show. The very premise of "Hardball"—and all other shows of its ilk—really irritate me. He takes two polar opposite viewpoints and encourages them to argue it out. It seems to always end up with the guests shouting over each other, and with Matthews shouting over them both. As a viewer it makes me with I had a mute button for each of their microphones. Actually it just makes me seldom watch the show...

I don't know if getting such outspoken and outrageous guests actually increases ratings. But it most definitely does little to advance public discourse beyond the same tired old talking points that each side repeats ad nauseum.

Yesterday's show should have been no different. On the Red side we have radio blowhard Kevin James, and on the Blue side we have a guy from Air America, a.k.a. Rush for knee-jerk Lefties.

Things got off to a typical talking points start—same ol' really intense boring crap. Then Matthews completely PWNs Kevin James. Here's a guy who spends hours on the radio saying the same thing over and over —peppered with plenty of sarcasm and references to "Hitler" and "appeasement" and "9/11" etc. He probably makes fun of some suckers who call in with viewpoints that don't mirror his own.

But for all the time he spent talking about the topic in question**, he obviously never bothered to look any deeper than the talking point itself. I'm not surprised at all—blowhards make their bank by blowing hard, not by listening or discussing or moving closer towards a truth that transcends blind political allegiance. But I was pleasantly surprised by Matthews' calling him out. Sure it makes for great TV and it will likely become a viral video of the moment and all that. But hopefully it also accomplishes more than just destroying that guy's ego. Hopefully it opens some TV execs' eyes to just how tired all the empty political rhetoric is. Why not use some of those 24 hours of constant coverage for actual discourse?

On second thought, that sounds really boring. One PBS is enough.

** Background from wikipedia: Kevin James appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews, debating with Mark Green of Air America Radio to discuss remarks made by George W. Bush's speech to the Israeli Knesset in which Bush made note of Idaho Republican Senator William Borah's statements in reference to not meeting with Hitler. Later in the same speech, although Bush did not mention Barack Obama by name, he drew what many observers interpreted as a comparison between Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler before World War II with Obama's expressed willingness to meet with leaders of U.S. adversaries. John McCain later connected the policies Bush spoke about with Obama and included a reference to Chamberlain.



Speaking on Hardball, James vigorously supported Bush's comparison and insinuated that Bush "should have been speaking in reference to Obama" even if he wasn't. Chris Matthews then asked James for a "history check", asking James, "What exactly did Chamberlain do wrong?" During the three minutes that followed, Matthews went on to repeat variations of the question a total of 28 times, and later specifically referenced the Munich Agreement.