Chris Matthews: Still in love with the codpiece

I really think it's time we faced the fact that no matter how many times Chris Matthews claims to be disgusted with the right and with the war in Iraq, his closeted manlove of tough talk will ultimately get the best of him every time. This man is so in love with the mythical "big tough guy" of American mythology that it trumps everything else -- the war in Iraq, Alberto Gonzales, the spying on Americans, the funnelling of ever more money into the pockets of the already obscenely wealthy -- everything Republicans stand for. All pales before the Mighty Republican Penis.

ThinkProgress has the video. Some excerpts (emphases mine):

That was a powerful press conference by Pres. Bush. I thought in those last couple of moments, those of you who watched, were given a rare opportunity to hear the real philosophy of this administration with regard to the war in Iraq; a powerful rendition by the president of why we're there. When he talked about how we can support emerging democracies in the Middle East, and that's the only way we can prevent future 9/11s, you're getting to the heart of why this administration is fighting that war in Iraq. It's not just about nation-building, it's not just about funding an ally in the war against terror. It's about building a counter force against the sources of all the anti-Western hostility in that part of the world.

I thought, in listening to the President, I was listening to one of the great neoconservative minds who's worked in this administration, the former deputy secretary of defense, Paul Wolfowitz, who at lunch with me way before this war began made the case you heard tonight -- the only way we stop 9/11s, the only way we prevent attacks on this country, is to kill the hostility towards this country, and the only way to do that is to build democracies in that part of the world, in the Middle East, where young people in their 20's feel they have opportunities and not where they feel frustrated and feel that they're repressed by governments that although they may be allied with the United States, do not give them freedom. This president is ready to fight like a rock through the rest of his term. He made it clear that he's going to fight as long as it takes to develop a democracy in Iraq; there's not going to be any change come September.

With regard to Iran, he was very subtle today...he talked about the consequences of the fact that Iran is sending IEDs and other arms to be used against American soldiers in Iraq, he said they're going to pay a price for that, he wants Maliki to go along with that, he doesn't care of Maliki smiles when he meets with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today, he does care if Maliki, who we're behind in Iraq, doesn't get the message across to stop sending weaponry against US GIs and against the Iraqis across that Iraq//Iranian border. That was a powerful message, but very subtly delivered

On the subject of bridges, the sexual metaphor continues:

...I believe the president blamed Congress today for pork barrel; instead of building bridges and fixing bridges according to need, according to a reasonable set of national priorities, what Congresspeople do with their offices is use their membership in the public works and the appropriations committees to bring home pork. He stuck it to them.

Rammed 'em. Hard. Forcefully. You can almost hear Tweety start to breathe hard.

When George W. Bush gets up in front of a podium and with his whiny, angry, reedy little voice puts on the bellicosity, Matthews forgets everything he's ever said about this war and fondly remembers the flightsuit -- the one with the padded codpiece that gave him that funny little feeling in his tummy and perhaps even lower.

MediaMatters has more about Matthews' obsession with male....size:

While discussing the Democratic presidential candidates on the August 8 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews asserted: "I don't see a big, beefy alternative to [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY] -- a big guy. You know what I mean? An ... every-way big guy. I don't see one out there. I see a lot of slight, skinny, second- and third-rate candidates." Matthews prefaced his comment by saying, "I guess I'm thinking of an Eddie Rendell were in the race -- the governor of Pennsylvania -- or if [former Vice President] Al Gore were in the race or someone else who's a good heavyweight to be running."

As Media Matters for America noted, during MSNBC's August 7 coverage of the AFL-CIO Democratic presidential forum, Matthews asked Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson about former Sen. John Edwards' (NC) performance: "Why did they seem to be glancing blows that didn't grab the audience? Is the fact that he's a small man -- I mean, literally, physically?" Robinson responded: "He's not physically that small."

Isn't it time Chris Matthews came out of the closet already?