Softball with Matthews and Delay

After watching Chris Matthew's weak interview with Tom Delay today, I was compelled to write Matthews a letter...

Dear Chris,

You’re playing softball with Republicans again. Your interview with disgraced soon-to-be former Congressman Delay was pathetic. You had a chance to grill Delay about his ties to Jack Abramoff but you didn’t. You could have asked him why his leader, President Bush, had done such a horrible job of adhering to traditional Conservative policies, such as fiscal responsibility and keeping the government out of people’s privacy. You could have asked Delay if Republicans should be held responsible for the public’s growing horror at the massive debt buildup, including bill after bill filled with pork overseen by Delay. You could have asked Delay if Republicans should be held responsible for the unforgivable strategic errors in Iraq, such as inadequate troop levels leading to the looting of munitions that are now being used to kill our soldiers. You could have asked Delay if Bush should be impeached if wiretapping citizens without warrants is ever found to be illegal. You could have asked him if the lies told by Bush to the media about his wiretapping--declaring that it requires warrants when he knew he was wiretapping without them--should require some sort of penalty. You could have asked Delay why it is okay that his party not press the auto industry to tighten emission standards. You could have asked Delay if it is okay for Republicans to out a CIA operative to settle a grudge. You could have asked why his Christian superstitions should be imposed on all Americans through legislation, as he has so often suggested. You could have asked him why he rarely says the word “Democrat” without the label “Liberal” preceding it. In fact, you could have described him as a Radical Republican just as easily as he described Barney Frank as a Liberal Democrat. You could have insisted that he was withdrawing from Congress because he knew he couldn’t win again.

But hey, I guess Tom’s your buddy. And friendship trumps journalism these days. How else can you get more big interviews if you insist on asking the tough questions?

Pathetic.

Watch Tim Russert’s recent interview with John McCain if you want to know how it is done.