when you pull stuff out of your ass, it’s probably going to be. . .

On Saturday’s broadcast of the NBC Nightly News with John Seigenthaler (sorry, no link, transcript not yet available), the anchor leads off a segment on Tuesday’s elections by quoting some abysmal poll numbers for Republicans—numbers that show two-thirds of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction and that Americans favor Democrats over Republicans by something like a 19% margin (I do not know which poll he was referencing, so I am working from memory). Seigenthaler then introduces their elections “analyst,” MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, and asks, “Chris, could those numbers be wrong?”

(Yes, my jaw went slack right there, but wait. . . .)

Matthews chooses not to answer or really even acknowledge the question, and instead launches into this little pearl: If the Democrats regain control of Congress on Tuesday, Wednesday’s foreign headlines will read “Bush loses control of US Government,” and that will stoke the already rabidly anti-American world press and seriously hamper US diplomacy.

Seigenthaler left these assertions unchallenged, thanked Matthews, and moved on.

Given the state of establishment media insights this season, perhaps it would be best if we abandoned terms like “analyst” and “expert,” and replaced them with something like “cosmetics laden Republican sock-puppet who makes shit up.”