I have a surge in my pants

Chris Matthews has a long history of hitting on his female guests, having man-crushes on the likes of Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani, and attacking and denigrating strong women like Hillary Clinton.

See Media Matters’ David Brock’s open letter to NBC News president Steve Capus here.

I ask the question “What the hell’s wrong with Chris Matthews?” here. — I examine his sexism here. — I look at his problem with women here.

But what to do about it? Matthews sort of apologized for some of what he has said about Hillary, but it wasn’t nearly enough. The fact remains that he is an unrepentant chauvinist. Sure, sure, there’s free speech, but that doesn’t mean all speech is thereby immune to criticism. And much of the responsibility rests with NBC, which continues to give him a prominent platform — such as there is anything “prominent” about MSNBC other than Olbermann — from which to hit on and leer at women, discuss his man-crushes, and attack and denigrate strong women. (Hence the recent blogswarm.)

Actually, I think Slate’s Hart Seely has a good idea: “What [Matthews] needs to do is treat the guys equally.” We know how he treats women, the women he doesn’t perceive as a threat to him and his penis, but what we need is for him to be more open with his male guests.

Imagine what that would be like…

And read this. It’s hilarious. Seely imagines what Matthew might say to some of his more prominent guests on the presidential campaign trail.

My favourite:

“To John McCain: Senator, I know why you pushed the surge. Because you give me the surge. I can barely sit. And don’t expect me to set a timetable for withdrawal. I look at you, and I’m a prisoner. A prisoner of love!”