What was the climate on cable TV? Here’s an example of the kind of discourse Chris was cranking out at the time. Also guesting this evening were Carl Cannon of National Journal; Meredith Berkman of the New York Post; and Mary Boyle, a former Dem senate candidate from Ohio:
MATTHEWS: Is Al Gore just incapable of putting, like, one foot in front of the other in this campaign? He’s a professional politician who acts like an amateur.
SCARBOROUGH: Yeah. He’s awful.
MATTHEWS: I don’t get it [WATCHING TAPE OF GORE]. Did you ever see the movie “Altered States?” I mean, his face is, like, getting contorted in some of these—
SCARBOROUGH: And there—
MATTHEWS: There’s bubbles coming out of his forehead!
Boyle—seeming to think she was on a news show—tried to discuss Gore’s appearance in Cleveland. She should have stayed home and baked cookies:
BOYLE: Listen, the vice president was in Cleveland today. I want to tell you just very briefly about it, because you probably would like covering the news.
MATTHEWS: What mode was he in? Was he in, was he in the quiet mode, or that sort of Clutch Cargo craziness he gets into, or was he——
SCARBOROUGH: Did he scream?
BOYLE: No—no, but he was—
MATTHEWS: Or was he in the “Altered States” where the head starts to bubble? What state was he in today?
Ladies and gentlemen, the American media.