Another quote from Tom Carson’s 10,000-word GQ feature on MSNBC’s political programming. This one takes a swipe at Tim Russert, midway through a diatribe about Chris Matthews’ ego, or as Carson calls it “spontaneous narcissism.”
All the same, Matthews’s thirst for fanhood is his most engaging quality. He’s the only cable-news heavyweight who’s defined by what he loves instead of what he hates. SNL, which should have bigger fish to fry — namely, Tim Russert, a far more egregious Beltway clown — never tires of spoofing his egomania, but that’s misleading. Ego is purposeful. What Chris has is the spontaneous narcissism of a child.
And it appears GQ is standing by the characterization, which flies in the face of all that has been said about Russert in the 12 days since his death. The line still appears in the online version of the story.