By now everyone not under some political rock has heard of Chris Matthews’ vile, hateful analogy of Sanders winning (Nevada, or the primary race in general) to the Nazis bypassing the Maginot Line.
This is not the time to stew among ourselves, but rather contact NBC and MSNBC and make sure this dude is held accountable.
For some reason, googling MSNBC contact takes you to a useless online help page. Make sure you pick up email addresses in the right places: here and here.
Anyway, below is exactly what I wrote them with email addresses. Feel free to take ideas, or even just copy/paste.
Besides the immediate outrage from that statement (on top of Chuck Todd calling Bernie supporters “Brownshirts” recently), we must also start fighting the corporate media’s auto-pilot perpetuum mobile that destroys Democratic leaders through distorted coverage and framing, from Carter through Al Gore to Hillary and Liz Warren. Next in line is whoever gets nominated in 2020 (most likely Bernie). This is literally a fight for our lives, and we’ve got not time to lose.
[Disclaimer: I am currently a Warren supporter, and just like Bernie I am Ashkenazi Jewish with relatives murdered by the Nazis. But this is everyone’s business.]
Date: Sun, Feb 23, 2020 at 11:07 AM Subject: Why Chris Matthews Has to Go To: contact.nbcnews@nbcuni.com, Managing.Editor@nbcuni.com, Gregg.Birnbaum@nbcuni.com, MSNBCTVinfo@nbcuni.com, rachel@nbcuni.com, nbcnewsmediarelations@nbcuni.com, Anna.Brand@nbcuni.com, Maia.Davis@nbcuni.com, Zach.Haberman@nbcuni.com, Elizabeth.Johnstone@nbcuni.com, Rebecca.Sinderbrand@nbcuni.com, msnbc.digital.editors@nbcuni.com Hi, I was shocked and dismayed to hear Chris Matthews last night compare Bernie Sanders' Nevada victory to Nazi forces bypassing the Maginot Line in 1940. Comparing a humanist, progressive, democratic politician with deep commitment to nonviolence, to the Nazis of all people, would be unacceptable on Fox News, let alone MSNBC. To add insult to injury, Bernie Sanders is of course Jewish, with relatives who were murdered by the Nazis. This vile, irrational and totally incoherent outburst (see further below) is unfortunately only one of many expressions of hostility by Matthews towards Sanders. Given that Sanders is the Democratic primary frontrunner, even aside from the terrible statement, this level of bias is certain to cloud and distort Matthews' judgment in covering the 2020 elections. The statement also makes no sense on any level except that of outright hate. If there is an attempt to explain away the Maginot analogy as intended to describe a general surprise maneuver or attack, it falls flat and doesn't pass the smell test. First, there are plenty of other less disrespectful examples. And second, Sanders was the heavy favorite going into the caucuses, and in fact the "first alignment" votes are extremely close to the average of pre-caucus polls. Please do the right thing, and at the very least tell Chris Matthews to take a long vacation until after November 2020. Our media's ability to stand up to disinformation and bullying is already very compromised as it is. Thank you, Assaf Oron Seattle