Chris Matthews uncharacteristically demure towards Lisa Falkenberg
Houston’s own Pulitzer Prize winning Houston Chronicle journalist Lisa Falkenberg was on one of Hardball’s panels recently. I watch Hardball with Chris Matthews on MSNBC quite often. The MSNBC shows are currently originating in my part of the country, Houston, Texas, at Harris County Smokehouse as they cover Super Tuesday, the SEC primary.
What I found most surprising is the level of deference Chris Matthews awarded Falkenberg — Chris Matthews style that is. It was evident throughout the interchange that her Pulitzer Prize was on his mind. He seemed somewhat smitten by Lisa. He gave her more latitude to talk and get her message out than he generally gives to other guests.
Falkenberg showed she was in her element and could go toe to toe with the big dog. When he implied the false narrative of Ted Cruz’s Texas prowess, she shot it down with a fact that journalists should articulate but rarely do.
“Before we start, you know, making Cruz some kind of equivalent with all Texans, let’s remember that he is in the Senate because of 5% of the voting age population in Texas that goes to the primaries,” Lisa Falkenberg said. “The Republican Primary put him there. So basically we have a million or a million and a half people so yeah.”
Falkenberg later pushed back against Chris Matthews’ false narrative as he implied that indictments of Texas politicians are mostly political theatre. She ended the segment with a cogent articulation of Ted Cruz’s bad luck relative to how Texas disburses its delegates.
“What I find interesting is that if Ted Cruz, if we were playing by the rules that Ohio and Florida play with and Ted Cruz were to win tomorrow, then he could take all the delegates,” Falkenberg said. “He could take 155 delegates. Because we have different rules, we have an earlier primary, you know, maybe he’ll get around 100. It is very unfair. He is actually at a disadvantage in his home state. He is not going to run away with it. ”
All in all Lisa Falkenberg showed Chris Matthews that a hometown girl from a little Texas town can analyze political realities just as good or better than the national talking heads. Being in the ivory tower is no substitute for those who live it on the ground. Good job Lisa.