Teasing his softball interview with Sen. Claire McCaskill, MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews hailed as "gutsy" the Missouri Democrat's coming out today to endorse President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran.
Missouri's nickname is the "Show-Me State," a moniker attesting to the healthy skepticism that the state's citizens bring to questionable claims, yet Matthews failed to ask McCaskill about the logic of jumping on board a nuclear deal which reportedly permits an arrangement where Iran can self-inspect a military site.
As reported none other than NBC's Andrea Mitchell:
Iran will inspect itself at its most sensitive known military complex to clear up suspicions of past military activity, NBC News has confirmed.Iran is required to "close the file" on past military dimensions of its nuclear program before it can get sanctions relief and proceed with the long-term nuclear deal negotiated in Vienna.
But, Wednesday night, two senior U.S. officials told NBC News that the unusual arrangement between the IAEA and Tehran relates only to past military activity and that UN inspectors, including IAEA Director Yukiya Amano, would be on site to supervise the Iranians at every step of the way.
Now that claim is being disputed by a senator who opposes the deal and attended classified briefings on the IAEA's role at the Parchin complex southeast of Tehran.
The Senate opponent told NBC News tonight it is "categorically untrue that IAEA inspectors will be inside the Parchin facility while soil samples are being taken" - contrary to the administration's claims.
The senator, who would not permit his name to be used because of the classified nature of the briefing, says the IAEA will be outside the facility where the soil samples are being taken - a concession to save face for Iran.
The senator says Congress has not been shown the side deal negotiated between the IAEA and Tehran - but it was described to them by the lead U.S. negotiator, Wendy Sherman.
Besides Matthews's reference to the nuclear deal in the segment's tease, the Hardball host failed to broach the subject at all during his nearly 8-minute chat with McCaskill. A significant portion of the interview, however, was devoted to defending Hillary Clinton from campaign journalists and Republicans -- does Matthews think they're working in concert?! --who are doggedly pursuing the e-mail scandal story as it develops.
Here's the relevant transcript (emphases mine):
MSNBC
Hardball
August 20, 2015; 7:11 p.m. EasternCHRIS MATTHEWS: And coming up, Sen. Claire McCaskill's coming here. The Missouri Democrat has just today come out in support of the Iran nuclear deal. That's gutsy. Plus, I'm going to get her thoughts on what's going on, well, what's with all this gung-ho, why's she so gung-ho about Hillary Clinton all of the sudden. And whether Vice President Joe Biden would be smart to jump in this race for 2016.
...
7:21 Eastern
MATTHEWS: I do, I'm not supposed to, but do I sympathize with the situation she's in intellectually. Because as one of our smart producers said yesterday, it's not that they're looking for a smoking gun. They may never have one or even know what they're looking for, they don't even know what the gun looks like. All they, they don't, as long as they have this smoke cloud around her.
And so every time they get her in a press conference, they just start jumping on her about, they just yell, Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi. And then they yell e-mail, e-mail, e-mail. It's a smoke cloud around her that's hard to fight your way out of because there's not a gun you can say isn't there because, you have, they don't even know what the gun is. What are they looking for? How do you deal with that in terms of press relations, like she's had this trouble the other day?
CLAIRE McCASKILL (D-Mo.): Well, I think first of all, she's got to fight through it. She's got to fight back. She's got to be strong and assertive. And, at the end of the day, what they're really asking Americans to believe is that Hillary Clinton as secretary of state somehow wanted to harm Americans serving abroad, um, as part of her organization?
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
McCASKILL: Or that she wanted the Chinese to be able to hack in to our systems? I mean, I, I think at the end of the day, a lot of this becomes noise. And look at her numbers, still, Chris. People talk about her unfavorables--
MATTHEWS: I know.
McCASKILL: Her unfavorables are much lower than Donald Trump's! Everybody's been talking about Donald Trump. That, oh, he's great, doing so great. His unfavorables are much higher than Hillary Clinton's.
MATTHEWS: I know they're pushing this. I know what they're pushing.
McCASKILL: By the way, he's got 20 percent of the vote? That means that 80 percent of the vote's against him. So, I mean, perspective here and context matters.
MATTHEWS: I think they like to push the image, they don't have to say it just, the night that Chris Stevens was killed over in Benghazi and the other three people, the other three Americans, she had her feet up on the desk, she was having a schnapps or something. I don't know what they're trying to argue. That she wasn't paying attention, she didn't care. She didn't answer the phone. I think everybody knows she worked like hell to save that guy. You know it's an absurdity.
McCASKILL: Of course she did.
