You know conservative Jason Mattera’s ambush video of Fox bogeywoman Lois Lerner had to be sleazy if four of The Five co-hosts condemned it. But co-host Bob Beckel took it a step further by challenging “un-American punk” Mattera to “get in touch with me” and “bring a knife.”
Mattera is about as skanky as they come. He’s so slimey that Bill O’Reilly sided with his arch enemy Al Franken over an earlier Mattera ambush video. Here’s how I summed up Mattera’s loutish history in that 2010 post:
Mattera, you may recall is the guy who went on CNN to argue against affirmative action only to be outed as having taken a scholarship from the Hispanic College Fund, a fund restricted to minorities. When asked why, if he was so offended by scholarships based on race, he had not given the money back, Mattera answered, “Well, Hispanic is not a race… It’s not a race-based scholarship.”
Mattera originally made a name for himself by viciously attacking the mother of the murdered young gay man, Matthew Shepard, in a student newsletter after she had appeared at his college to speak about tolerance. In the same newsletter, Mattera “joked” that pedophiles “condemned the FDA’s food pyramid as ‘bigoted’ and ‘hateful’ because ‘anus’ and ‘penis’ were not listed as separate food groups.”
Mattera is also the guy who told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that he had declined to fight in the Iraq war he supports because he’s “fighting the culture war” at home.
Mattera seems to have a thing about gay people and gratuitous gay “jokes.” Recently, he responded to criticism of him by Tommy Christopher at Mediaite by saying, “Tommy Christopher’s a joke. Nobody reads him. It’s probably him and his two moms. That’s about it.”
But instead of demolishing Mattera’s credibility, Bob Beckel lowered himself to Mattera’s level (lower, actually) by buffoonishly challenging him to a fight:
Let me now move to Mr. Jason and let me give a very special comment to him. You’re twice as young as I am. You’re a punk. You’re a coward. And my name is Bob Beckel. I would like you to call me anytime, anyplace, and let’s you and I discuss it because you’re a coward. You’re a (bleeped). You pick on people and you deserve to have your (bleeped) kicked and I want to do it. Get in touch with me.
Co-host Eric Bolling was the lone Mattera defender. Bolling called Mattera “a good guy” and “a conservative who cares about the country.”
Beckel said he doesn’t know Mattera. That is inexcusable in my book. I’m sure Beckel knew in advance he’d be discussing Mattera’s video on the show yesterday. If he hates the video so much, how could he not go to the trouble of researching - and then exposing - a guy he threatened on the air?
Bolling continued defending Mattera, calling him “a conservative who cares about the country.”
Rather than point out all the ways Mattera hates on the country, Beckel renewed his attacks, calling Mattera “a punk and a lousy, lying, un-American punk.”
“And bring a knife, punk,” Beckel said, as the segment closed.
I’d be more supportive of Beckel if he were a reliably muscular voice for liberalism on Fox who got carried away by the unfairness and imbalance of it all. But he’s not. This kind of bluster may win him attention for his vehemence but it’s hard to see how it does his cause (or what’s supposed to be his cause) much good at all.
In fact, Beckel managed to make Mattera look like the grownup. From Mediaite:
Mattera told Mediaite he’s willing to confront Beckel, but not really for a fight. Mattera would rather get some publicity.
“Bob Beckel issued a challenge on television to meet me anytime, anyplace,” Mattera said in an email. “I’m naming the place: How about [tomorrow] on The Five? What time would you like me to appear, Bob? I look forward to our national debate on effective journalism.”
Watch it below, from yesterday's The Five, via Real Clear Politics.
Btw, in your 2010 post, Ellen, I see that Mattera described himself as a “conservative activist”. But, now, he seems to see himself as engaging in “effective journalism”. Effective journalism? LOL! Too funny.
Ask the boy if Ruthless Rupy should be prosecuted for the hacking scandals in the U.K.