The "Let Me Finish" segment on Hardball is usually devoted to condemning conservatives as hateful bigots. Over the last six weeks, however, Chris Matthews has turned his program into an infomercial, obsessively exhorting his viewers to purchase Tip and the Gipper. The MSNBC anchor praised his own book as though he was blurbing someone else: "Tip and The Gipper: When Politics Worked, a perfect book, a perfect gift this season for the true Hardball fan." From the book's release on September 30 through November 11, Matthews used 19 "Let Me Finish" closing commentaries to promote the book. Falling in love with his own prose, the host on October 17 contrasted it to the then-ongoing government shutdown. He gushed, "I never knew that [my] book coming out just now would be so relevant, such an upbeat, enjoyable, antidote, if you will, to the times we've just been living."
Video cross-posted at NewsBusters.
. Eric Scheiner
