"And on the war, I think my numbers would be a lot higher if I were out there beating the drum for this war. In fact, I don't think it, I know it. But I can't be for the war"
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A rare moment of cable-news candor: the admission that war is good for ratings, and that the incentive structure is sitting right there in the open. Matthews frames the choice as a personal moral constraint - "I can't be for the war" - but the real bite is in the almost clinical certainty that cheerleading would pay. He’s not confessing a temptation so much as indicting a system where "beating the drum" is a viable career strategy.
The phrasing does double duty. "My numbers" shrinks public catastrophe into a Nielsen scoreboard, a reminder that televised politics can turn national trauma into programming. And "beating the drum" is deliberately primitive, evoking propaganda and tribal mobilization rather than sober analysis. Matthews is signaling that he knows exactly what kind of performance sells: the muscular certainty, the patriotically packaged aggression, the posture that flatters viewers by turning them into participants in a righteous mission.
The subtext is also self-protective. By saying he "knows" his ratings would rise, Matthews positions himself as both insider and exception: aware of the cynical game, yet principled enough to refuse it. That’s an attempt to buy credibility in an era when journalists were widely accused of laundering the case for war through access, euphemism, and deference to power.
Context matters: post-9/11 media rewarded hawkishness with bookings, status, and the glow of national unity. Matthews isn’t just talking about one war; he’s describing the marketplace where conviction and coverage get priced together, and conscience is an economic handicap.
The phrasing does double duty. "My numbers" shrinks public catastrophe into a Nielsen scoreboard, a reminder that televised politics can turn national trauma into programming. And "beating the drum" is deliberately primitive, evoking propaganda and tribal mobilization rather than sober analysis. Matthews is signaling that he knows exactly what kind of performance sells: the muscular certainty, the patriotically packaged aggression, the posture that flatters viewers by turning them into participants in a righteous mission.
The subtext is also self-protective. By saying he "knows" his ratings would rise, Matthews positions himself as both insider and exception: aware of the cynical game, yet principled enough to refuse it. That’s an attempt to buy credibility in an era when journalists were widely accused of laundering the case for war through access, euphemism, and deference to power.
Context matters: post-9/11 media rewarded hawkishness with bookings, status, and the glow of national unity. Matthews isn’t just talking about one war; he’s describing the marketplace where conviction and coverage get priced together, and conscience is an economic handicap.
Quote Details
| Topic | War |
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