Chris Matthews: A Better Man Than You Think!

[Conor Friedersdorf] Anyone who read the hit job on Chris Matthews in the New York Times Magazine, which I objected to here, should also read this corrective by Hendrick Hertzberg. I don't share Hertzberg's politics, nor do I much care for cable news personalities, but this sounds right:

The profile that ran in the New York Times Magazine a few weeks ago captured some of Chris (the insecurity, the self-promotion), but some is not all. The insecurity without the huge appetite for life, the self-promotion without the empathic social conscience that lurks somewhere behind all that love of the political game—these give a distorted impression. Chris Matthews is a net plus for American politics and American society.

Evidence: See web-only content:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2008/05/chris-matthews-a-better-man-than-you-think/3536/

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2008/05/chris-matthews-a-better-man-than-you-think/3536/