On a recent taping of long-running legal show The People’s Court, TMZ editor and lawyer Harvey Levin asked an unidentified man in the New York City audience what he thinks in a case about a car’s transmission.

Out of nowhere the man replied, “The people of Belgium for Obama.”

A disgusted Levin gave a dirty look to the camera, glared at the man and angrily said, “What the hell? Do I look like Chris Matthews to you?”

It’s safe to say that this skirmish certainly didn’t make Levin’s legs quiver.

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (21) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

So, conservative talker Tucker Carlson has been fired from his 6 p.m. MSNBC show, Tucker. Instead of trying to find a new host with the same name, we hear the network is leaning heavily toward Rachel Maddow, the liberal lesbian who Keith Olbermann desperately wants made into a nationwide star. Maddow has long been a provocative radio gab girl and has had some major success as a guest during MSNBC political panels — chiefly, telling Chris Matthews to his big, yellow face that he’s a sexist. Upon which, his leg got this sort of funny feeling running all up and down. And then he had a stiff drink (allegedly!).

P.S. Now we know why Carlson was so mad at the media on Friday.

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (22) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

Both Chris Matthews and Nora O’Donnell constantly refer to the Great Lakes state as “Mich-ia-gen.” The mispronunciation was illustrated in graphic detail via an MSNBC screen graphic briefly this afternoon, we’d guess, as a producer’s way of mocking the anchors’ mistaken pronunciations.

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (3) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

Earlier: Chris Matthews’ Quivering Legs

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (3) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor of The Nation magazine, told Chris Matthews today on Hardball that Sen. Barack Obama’s plagiarism scandal should not have been covered on the program because, she feels, it doesn’t matter to the common person. An incredulous Matthews responded that she should ask Sen. Joe Biden whether these kind of issues matter — a reference to Biden being forced to quit his bid for the presidency in 1987 after he plagiarised a speech. Pat Buchanan, a guest on the show, said that he felt this was a “bad day” for Obama, and that his character will likely be called into question more often now in the campaign.

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (9) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

In the tradition of St. Valentine’s Day, Howie Kurtz delivers the wettest kiss of all to MSNBC commentator, Chris Matthews – you know, the one who ends up sticking his foot in his mouth for sexist remarks pretty much on a daily basis. In the 3,000 plus word piece in today’s Washington Post, Kurtz assumes the role of Sherlock Holmes, attempting to seek out any good lurking beneath Matthews’ erratic and controversial on-air antics. Media insiders are talking about how one of the most respected media writers could lay down for a .5- rated commentator, while both he and his own network are under a serious microscope for their pattern of bias. The puff piece has many in the industry asking how Kurtz could have whitewashed so many things in one piece and fell for this degree of spin, leaving some to even joke that Matthews, known for being a drunk in certain circles, took Kurtz out for a few drinks during the interview. Asks one insider, “Did Chris leave Howie money on the nightstand when they were done?”

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comment | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

“The feeling most people get when they hear a Barack Obama speech, I mean, I get, I felt this thrill go up my leg. I mean, I don’t have that too often.”

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (3) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

Big Head DC has learned from sources inside the MSNBC camp that Phil Griffin, senior vice president at the network, “screamed” at reporter David Shuster for not agreeing to immediately apologize to Chelsea Clinton for saying on-air she had been “pimped out” by her mom’s campaign. Griffin threatened to fire Shuster “on the spot,” and it was only with intervention from Tim Russert that Shuster didn’t lose his position.

Meanwhile, Chris Matthews, Hardball anchor and a longtime ally of Shuster, has told acquaintances that he “wishes he could do more” to aid Shuster, but Matthews is already in deep trouble with network bigwigs for making several sexist remarks about Sen. Hillary Clinton. Matthews would like to be vocally supporting Shuster in this situation, but he’s worried that he could lose his current role of anchoring political events on the network, if he does not appear to stay neutral.

Still, that concern hasn’t stopped Matthews from making unattributed quotes to some news outlets, according to our sources.

On another note in this unfolding drama, Big Head DC has learned that Julianna Goldman, wife of Shuster, is “distraught and angry” at MSNBC for the way the network has treated her husband. Goldman, a rising star at Bloomberg News, may be trying to secure a position for Shuster with her bosses at her network.

Earlier: Apology May Keep David Shuster From Being Fired

Shuster Off-Air At MSNBC; Still Could Face Firing

MSNBC Reporter Compares Chelsea Clinton to Prostitute; Clinton Camp Might Not Do Future MSNBC Debates and Appearances

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (22) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

The ad features a parachuter and aims to portray an economy in free fall. Maybe the symbolism was too deep for him to comprehend?

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comment | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

First MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews suggested Sen. Hillary Clinton only won her Senate seat because people felt sorry for her after Bill’s Clinton’s affair, and now MSNBC political reporter David Shuster has tastelessly compared Chelsea Clinton to a lady of the night.

Filling in for Tucker Carlson yesterday, Shuster gave his opinion on Chelsea’s role in the presidential campaign, asking a guest, “Doesn’t it seem as if Chelsea is sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?”

Immediately after the comment, Big Head DC has learned, people in the Clinton camp were angered — and the network began receiving angry e-mails and calls from viewers suggesting it was an inappropriate way for a reporter to refer to a former First Daughter.

Amazingly, Shuster chose not to apologize, even when the Clinton camp expressed their outrage directly to him — until MSNBC bigwigs forced him to do so, in a segment planned to air tonight at 6 p.m. ET. 

“The comment was completely inappropriate, and we have called the Clinton campaign to apologize,” a network spokesperson told Howie Kurtz today. Meanwhile, Phil Griffin, the executive in charge of MSNBC, phoned the Clinton camp to say the comment was “clearly wrong.” 

“At some point you have to question whether there is a pattern at this particular network,” a top Clinton staffer is quoted on a Post blog as saying. Murmurs are reaching Big Head DC that future MSNBC appearances by Hillary Clinton and her husband will likely be few and far between. 

Earlier: Advice for Removing David Shuster’s Alleged Back Hair

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (10) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink