Chris Matthews on Al Gore - Part I

More shitty journalism from Chris Matthews, this time from back in 1999 (via Daily Howler):

MATTHEWS (11/12/99): You know, there's been a lot of talk about the new costuming of Al Gore. You know, he used to wear blue suits like I do—or gray suits. Now he's wearing these new olive suits. He's taking up something rather unconventional, the three-button male suit jacket. I always—my joke is, “I'm Albert, I'll—I'll be your waiter tonight.” I mean, I don't know anybody who buttons all three buttons, even if they have them. What could that possibly be saying to women voters, three buttons?

DIMITRIUS: Well, I—I think that—

MATTHEWS: Is there some hidden Freudian deal here or what? I don't know, I mean, Navy guys used to have buttons on their pants. I don't know what it means. Go ahead.

DIMITRIUS: No, I—I—I think actually that Al's probably read the—our second book that's about to come out that talks about the different colors, that, particularly males can wear in their suits. We talk about how olive green, dark green is—is much more approachable, whereas, your dark blue and your black—

MATTHEWS: Right. Is that why Peter Pan wore green?

DIMITRIUS: Could be. Could be.

MATTHEWS: How does my mind work that way?

DIMITRIUS: But you know, the, the three-button image is something that—you know, if I were working with Al—

MATTHEWS: Right.

DIMITRIUS: I'd say, “You know, that's got to go because that is something that—that we know doesn't work very well.”

MATTHEWS: What's that?

DIMITRIUS: Just the—the three-button down, you know, the—the wider—the wider coat that's not as—as form-fitting. You know, I think he's attempting to look perhaps less intimidating to women than he did in the darker suits.

MATTHEWS: Yeah.

DIMITRIUS: Certainly, that's the way it's come across.

[...]

MATTHEWS: What do you think? Does it work for you? Which Al do you like? The old Al, the new Al, the private Al, the public Al? What do you want—what do you like here?

DIMITRIUS: Well, I tell you, look-wise, the new Al—the new Al, I think is going to make a lot of points with women. In that one interview that they had—

MATTHEWS: Right. We're looking at him now with the golf shirt here. Yeah.

DIMITRIUS: Right. With Bryant Gumbel, I thought was fascinating because he did look like he was right out of central casting—

MATTHEWS: Yeah.

DIMITRIUS: —like he had just come off of a movie set. He's got a very—

MATTHEWS: He looks like he just got a new movie out. In fact, now all he needs is that designer stubble, you know, like George Stephanopoulos puts on every Sunday, you know, about two days' growth of beard. Maybe with George, it's a half a day's growth, but it's two days with most people. What—what do you make of that. Is this part of the Hollywood scene to look more Michael Douglas?

DIMITRIUS: I—oh, I think so. If you look, too, it looks as though he's lost a little bit of weight.

MATTHEWS: Yeah, that's—

DIMITRIUS: He's got a much more chiseled face.

MATTHEWS: Well, you know what? I don't need any advice to do that. But thank you for joining us. Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, I want to thank you.

As the Daily Howler points out, "For the record, Matthews wasn’t kidding when he suggested that he 'always' tells his waiter joke. He told the hilarious joke on Hardball on November 2, 4, 10, 12 and 24, as the mocking of Gore rumbled on." I weep for the future. It seems like Chris Matthews is going to be covering Hillary Clinton like he did Al Gore.