Good For Chris Matthews

May 15th, 2008, 11:22 PM EDT

Some conservatives toss around words like “appeasement” and “Neville Chamberlain” and have no idea what they’re talking about.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=t-9FEY9zc7M]

Posted in Liberaland by Alan
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Responses to this post...

  1. See? The fringe/GOPers are losing their minds.

    Their heads are empty vessels.

    Posted by anonymouse
    May 15th, 2008 at 11:57 pm

  2. Haha that’s the video I was talking about in another thread. I have newfound respect for Chris Matthews as he sometimes gets on my nerves.

    Incredible how conservatives try to spin what appeasement means in reference to Hitler and Chamberlain. I don’t always have my facts together either, but if you’re going to go on a show like that it might be helpful to read up on the subject.

    Posted by Epiphany
    May 16th, 2008 at 12:06 am

  3. I hate peas.

    Posted by Epiphany
    May 16th, 2008 at 12:13 am

  4. Thank you Chris. How does Kevin James have a political radio show? I learned about Chamberlain in I think 9th grade. What an idiot.

    Posted by Dave
    May 16th, 2008 at 12:28 am

  5. Bahahahaha, that was great! That halftard represents all those right wing nut jobs out there who know zip about anything outside their talking points and their little bubble. The guy wouldn’t start yelling and I’m sure he eventually wet himself. Typical hack, even a 9th grade history student could have taken a stab at the answer. Bahahahaha

    Posted by Burt
    May 16th, 2008 at 12:34 am

  6. HILARIOUS!!! I absolutely love it. :-D

    It was so funny when Chris started laughing… James just kept saying “he’s an appeaser, he’s an appeaser”… “‘38, ‘39 it doesn’t matter when it was all the same”… Hilarious.

    Posted by cherylcarroll
    May 16th, 2008 at 1:12 am

  7. Look at Noel’s latest blog entry:

    http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=8731071&publicUserId=5551958#comments

    Posted by cherylcarroll
    May 16th, 2008 at 1:14 am

  8. Such a great clip.

    Posted by Josh
    May 16th, 2008 at 1:30 am

  9. John Stewart stole my Bush miniature golf joke tonight.

    Posted by Epiphany
    May 16th, 2008 at 1:42 am

  10. “As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.’”

    Oh yeah? Sez who? Let’s have a citation.

    Posted by RC from Smithtown
    May 16th, 2008 at 2:08 am

  11. “Let’s have a citation.”

    William Edgar Borah. (Republican). US Senator representing Idaho, March 4, 1907 - January 19, 1940.

    “Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler. All of this [German invasion of Poland] might have been avoided.” 1939.

    Posted by anonymouse
    May 16th, 2008 at 2:40 am

  12. OK, the NY Times and International Herald Tribune back up that citation, and I’ll resist the urge to chuckle over the party affiliation.

    Now let’s get some context. The Tribune article describes Borah as an isolationist. The Times article describes Borah as having expressed admiration for Hitler. And an article in Salon says, in regard to the “appeasement” quote: Borah wasn’t saying that solely out of naiveté, as Bush, Krauthammer and others have implied. He was a prominent isolationist and an admirer of Hitler. In 1938, speaking of the German dictator, Borah said, “There are so many great sides to him.” After Hitler occupied the Sudetenland, Borah said, “Gad, what a chance Hitler has! If he only moderates his religious and racial intolerance, he would take his place beside Charlemagne. He has taken Europe without firing a shot.”

    It looks to me as though Borah was expressing sympathy for a perceived strategic error committed by the “great leader” known as Adolph Hitler.

    In other words, it has nothing to do with appeasement, and is entirely irrelevant to the current political debate.

    Posted by RC from Smithtown
    May 16th, 2008 at 7:55 am

  13. Agree or disagree, I did look a bit into the word appeasement, and not at blatantly political sources, but dictionary.com and etymonline.com, the latter of which is sometimes used by the former.

    —Synonyms 1. calm, placate. 3. Appease, conciliate, propitiate imply trying to preserve or obtain peace. To appease is to make anxious overtures and often undue concessions to satisfy the demands of someone with a greed for power, territory, etc.: Chamberlain tried to appease Hitler at Munich.

    http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/appeasement

    appease
    1330, from O.Fr. apeser “to pacify, appease,” from the phrase a paisier “bring to peace,” from a- “to” + pais, from L. pacem (nom. pax) “peace.” Appeasement (1439) first recorded 1919 in international political sense; not pejorative until failure of Chamberlain’s policy toward Germany in 1939 (Methods of appeasement was Chamberlain’s description of his policy).

    http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=appease

    Posted by WFG
    May 16th, 2008 at 1:52 pm

  14. Looking up “appeasement” at etymonline gives this result also: Munich
    in ref. to “appeasement” is from the meeting of Ger., British, Fr. and It. representatives in the Bavarian capital Sept. 29, 1938, which resulted in the cession of Sudetenland to Germany.

    Posted by WFG
    May 16th, 2008 at 1:54 pm

  15. Here’s where dictionary.com uses etymonline: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/appease

    http://books.google.com/books?id=yfb4NIo3d20C&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=neville+chamberlain+methods+of+appeasement+%22methods+of+appeasement%22&source=web&ots=hq2uzdrWZy&sig=3kKa1MLa_2M6pJ1hVVa7br0cKGA&hl=en#PPP1,M1

    http://books.google.com/books?id=MBqrkKYOQnQC&pg=RA1-PA437&lpg=RA1-PA437&dq=neville+chamberlain+Methods+of+appeasement++%22Methods+of+appeasement%22&source=web&ots=L-xOLYSlWi&sig=IfFNLDvzwc8zgmIBKefr9LCpaww&hl=en

    Anyway, all that aside, I think two things are important. One, the conservative guy is an idiot for having no facts to support himself, assuming he could; second, the negative connotation of appeasement doesn’t exist on the basis of not liking the mere fact of talking to an enemy, perceived or real.

    Posted by WFG
    May 16th, 2008 at 2:09 pm

  16. I happened to catch that interview on Hard Ball last night. Chris Matthews is the hero of the day.
    BTW, did anybody hear Keith Olbermann ream Bush a new asshole the other day? Priceless!

    Posted by TDro
    May 16th, 2008 at 2:14 pm

  17. No, sorry. I don’t like Olbermann on a personal level. I tried to watch his show, and he’s just too pretentious and longwinded for me. Do I disagree with him politically? Probably not very much, but his personality and style, not tolerable. I’d give Chris a go, but, Keith? Not unless I’m bored. Sorry.

    Posted by WFG
    May 16th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

  18. WFG

    I’m that conservative guy, and I can back myself up with facts. Let’s play, shall we?

    Abadinejhad has just addressed you specifically, that he wishes your death, and the death of one of your closest friends. How would you handle the matter?

    Posted by Ken
    May 16th, 2008 at 3:32 pm

  19. WFG,

    Thanks so mush for all your hard work in clarifying the definition of the word appeasement.

    Israel, and several Presidents have all failed to aquire a lasting peace with the countries of Islam in the middle east. Please, tell us (you can use your dictionary) how you would accomplish such a feat.

    Posted by Ken
    May 16th, 2008 at 6:11 pm

  20. You’re Kevin James?

    Posted by WFG
    May 16th, 2008 at 6:17 pm

  21. Ken how long have you had this problem with hostility?

    Posted by Epiphany
    May 16th, 2008 at 8:02 pm

  22. Epiphany, I hate peas too.. 8)

    Ya that guy needs a lesson on history and I doubt he ever going to be back on Chris’s show after demonstrating how he’s an idiot wrapped in a moron!!! lolol ….

    Good job Chris!!!

    ps: this comment sections need some smilies.. 8D

    Posted by Tom Cody
    May 16th, 2008 at 11:42 pm

  23. Note for Kevin - it’s called ’show prep’… look into it. Sure, typing “Nazi appeasement” into Google takes valuable time away from important stuff like printing blogs about gay folks gettin’ hitched, but if it ket you from looking like another Dubya hand puppet, maybe it would have been worth it.

    Posted by Toad
    May 17th, 2008 at 9:31 am

  24. Toad~ It’s more than show prep, it’s doing your job! Anytime a notable comparison is made, the responsible thing is to look into the comparison, ESPECIALLY if you don’t know the meaning of it! Kevin James was just outright ridiculous here.

    Posted by cherylcarroll
    May 17th, 2008 at 1:14 pm

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