Chris Matthews liberal or conservative?

[Faithless]

Or does it matter? I always thought he was moderate to liberal.

But then he went and inserted himself into this Jack Abramoff / Michael Scanlan controversy -- coming away with this comment of the issue:

"It's not going to be part of a larger story of Washington this year, I think"

He is somehow tied to the scandal. And now the liberals are bagging on him and so are the conservatives. The conservatives are calling Matthews a liberal loser; whereas, the liberals are calling him a closet conservative. The conservatives say, "Look at his issues." The liberals say, "Look at who he really hobnobs with!"

Matthews on Abramoff scandal: "It's not going to be part of a larger story of Washington this year, I think" (http://mediamatters.org/items/200601030006)

Summary: MSNBC host Chris Matthews minimized the Jack Abramoff scandal, saying: "It's not going to be part of a larger story of Washington this year, I think."

Discussing Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff's January 3 plea bargain with federal prosecutors, which, according to The Washington Post, "could become one of the largest corruption scandals in recent memory, involving as many as a half dozen lawmakers, a former top official at the Department of Interior and former and current congressional aides," MNSBC Hardball host Chris Matthews predicted that the scandal is "not going to be part of a larger story of Washington this year, I think."

Abramoff pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, mail fraud, and tax evasion. As part of the plea agreement, he is expected to testify about the involvement of members of Congress and their staffs, including House Administration Committee chairman Bob Ney (R-OH), who, the Post reported, is identified by the prosecution as "Representative #1" in court documents.

From January 3 breaking coverage on MSNBC News Live:

MATTHEWS: I'm not sure it's partisan. I'm not sure that people are going to see him as part of any Republican culture of corruption. I think [Rep. Randy] "Duke" Cunningham [R-CA] also was sort of a lone wolf in that department. I think we're gonna see this case, basically -- What's the right word? -- it's gonna be kept to itself. It's not gong to be part of a larger story of Washington this year, I think.

[Yeahman]

I've always thought that he was moderate. Leans liberal on some issues and conservative on others.

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Typical bullshit from radicals on both ends, or those who can't seem to come to terms with the fact that some people actually have a brain and prefer to reside within gray area. Oh no, he doesn't agree with every single thing I say. He must be the enemy.

[Faithless]

I've always thought that he was moderate. Leans liberal on some issues and conservative on others.
Conservative on this one:

The Top 10 Conservative Idiots (No. 228) (http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/06/228.html)

No. 6: Chris Matthews.

The moon-faced champion of late-afternoon/early-evening cable news shoutfests put forth an interesting theory last week: that breaking the law is, in fact, part of the president's job. I'm not making this up - here's the transcript:

MATTHEWS: We're under attack on 9-11. A couple of days after that, if I were president of the United States and somebody said we had the ability to check on all the conversations going on between here and Hamburg, Germany, where all the Al Qaeda people are, or somewhere in Saudi [Arabia], where they came from and their parents are, and we could mine some of that information by just looking for some key words like "World Trade Center" or "Pentagon," I'd do it.

RUSSELL TICE: Well, you'd be breaking the law.

MATTHEWS: Yeah. Well, maybe that's part of the job.

Yeah. Well, maybe Matthews is an idiot. How the hell did we get here? Back in 1974 Richard Nixon was forced out of office for breaking the law. 30 years later, the media is telling us that breaking the law is part of the president's job. Brilliant.