The Tweety Effect Lives! Women's Group Using Chris Matthews' Buffoonery As Fundraising Tool For Hillary
February 7, 2008 -- 1:29 PM EST // //

Here at TPM we've spent a fair amount of time chronicling the "Tweety Effect" -- that is, the fact that Chris Matthews' less-than-chivalrous on-air treatment of women may have inadvertently been driving women into the Hillary camp.

As you may recall, Matthews got a lot of women -- and men, too -- annoyed when he said of Hillary: "The reason she's a U.S. Senator, the reason she's a candidate for President, the reason she may be a front-runner, is her husband messed around. That's how she got to be Senator from New York. We keep forgetting it. She didn't win it on the merits." He's got a whole history of this sort of thing.

Well, here's some more evidence that the Tweety Effect is alive and well! The feminist group Emily's List just sent out a fundraising appeal on Hillary's behalf. Check out this line:

We've seen how far pundits like Chris Matthews will go to define Hillary on their terms. We've fought back against the gender stereotypes that keep popping up again and again.

But it's not going to stop just because we want it to. The only way Hillary can talk to voters unfiltered is if she has enough money to deliver her message of change straight to the grassroots.

So great. Matthews' buffoonery is now helping raise money for Hillary's candidacy! It'll be interesting to track how much this appeal brings in. I'll keep you posted on that.

Meanwhile, here's the Matthews vid that got the latest round of anti-Matthews criticism off the ground...

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