Stupidist Quote of the Week

A new feature... and yes, I'm aware of the spelling... we're trying to be ironical...

It's early in the week, yes, but I don't think anyone can beat this one.

I once watched Chris Matthews deliver a commencement speech at my alma mater. Decent speech, nothing spectacular, a few funny moments, as you would expect from someone on television.

I once met him on an Acela train from D.C. to New York. We talked for a couple minutes when he noticed I was listening to his discussion with two other gentlemen and I confirmed his assertion that Texas, under the terms of its annextation to the United States, could subdivide into five states if it wished. Matthews seemed like he does on TV -- an opinionated but nice (and loud) guy.

I'm now under the impression that he's a complete moron, based on this statement regarding the President's speech...



(hat tip: Jammie Wearing Fool and Instapundit) West Point is an enemy camp for an American President??? I know what Matthews is trying to say, that perhaps the cadets aren't Obama's biggest fans. But calling West Point an "enemy camp" for the President is a brainfart of epic proportions. I'm not the only one thinking that the tingling sensation Matthews talks about when he hears Obama speak has now gone to his brain...

Confused by his tingling brain and perhaps thinking Obama was refereeing a West Point football game, Matthews spoke of his surprise that a group of "young kids--men and women who were committed to serving their country professionally it must be said" didn't demonstrate "a lot of excitement" because he "didn't see a lot of warmth in that crowd out there." (But Matthews is the sort who notices and finds important what others don't; eg, Sarah Palin admirers are mainly white. All of these comments reveal much about Matthews but little about the situation.)

Uh Chris, cool your tingling brain; West Point is a military academy with some of the finest "young kids" in the nation, serious people with an important mission; not an evil institution where presidents and others go "to rabble rouse the ' we're going to democratize the world' " rah! rah crowd! But you wouldn't know the difference.

Matthews is way off base here. Think about this -- as noted here, can you find an audience outside of one of the Service acadmies where at least one portion of that speech would not have been booed by people on the right or the left? Those cadets deserve credit for applauding politely during a lackluster effort by the President, particularly when they've got final exams coming up, which are almost certainly harder than the craptastic finals I got to take in college. Their lives are hard enough without calling them an enemy camp.

Matthews should apologize. But I hope he doesn't add West Point to the next Hardball college tour as part of the apology -- those cadets don't need to suffer further.