While I am hardly surprised that a talk show host has anemic grasp on history, it is rather remarkable that he would be willing to go on national television (well, cable) and not at least consult Wikipedia or something.

Kudos to Chris Matthew for calling him on his BS, and I wish more hosts would do the same to their guests (maybe if guests thought they might actually have to know what they are talking about, they would actually be prepared). If anything, I am so tired of people whose “style” is ranting about a topic and repeating the same tired “arguments” over and over again that this is delightful regardless of anything else. Notice that the guest (some guy named Kevin James) starts off all shouty as it seems to be his default volume setting.

h/t: John Cole

Update: Rather remarkably, NewBusters semi-defends James by noting that Matthews made a mistake about when the USS Cole attack took place and the fact that the other guest stated Bush had been in office for nine months prior to 9/11 (rather than closer to eight)–all rather thin gruel, if you ask me. Yes, Matthews was wrong–however, there is a rather substantial difference between basing an entire argument on an error and making a passing comment (and stating in that comment some lack of confidence that one is correct). Further, James, once cornered by the fact that he didn’t know what Chamberlain did would not own up to the fact. Really, trying to turn all this into some odd error equivalency argument as it one mistake cancels out the other is strained and absurd.