D.C. Defends Mayor Against Matthews' Charge That City 'Can't Plow Its Streets'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hell hath no fury like a city scorned by Chris Matthews.
Washington, D.C., residents and columnists have rushed to Mayor Adrian Fenty's defense after the MSNBC host slammed the city government for its response to back-to-back snowstorms over the past week.
Matthews, on "Hardball" Wednesday night, declared Washington a "city that can't plow its streets" and suggested Fenty should lose his seat over the District's snow-removal shortcomings.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Snow is predictable. We knew it was coming. ... I see no planning," Matthews said. "I've watched the big cities where mayors lose their office because of this. ... It's time for a competition for the next primary round."
Indeed, many D.C. streets and neighborhoods were buried in snow for days. The Metro public transit system was largely disabled. The federal government was shut down for a week because of this.
But Matthews lives not in D.C., but across the border in wealthy Montgomery County, Md. His griping touched a nerve with capital city columnists.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"When I hear talking face Chris Matthews gripe about the city's snow clearing capabilities, I'd like to shove a sock in his big mouth," Washington Examiner columnist Harry Jaffe opined in a column Friday titled, "Message to Chris Matthews: Shut Up!"
He wrote that city government officials planned for the second snowstorm "for days," contrary to Matthews' claim. He suggested Matthews "pay a toll" every time he enters the District, "so we can buy some new rigs."
Similarly, Washington City Paper columnist Mike DeBonis suggested Matthews and his "Montgomery County neighbors" pay tax on their D.C. income.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Then you get to bitch all you want. 'Cause that money would buy some serious snowplows," he wrote.
Matthews' criticism was unrelenting during the eight-minute segment Wednesday.
"It looked like Siberia without the Siberian discipline," Matthews marveled. "We had the weather of Buffalo and the snowplowing capability of Miami."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He compared the D.C. government's mishandling of the snowstorm to the federal government's mishandling of the Gulf Coast floods caused by Hurricane Katrina.
The Washington Post's Jo-Ann Armao said Matthews' segment may be the best thing to have happened to Fenty.
"Matthews's broadside about Fenty's response to this week's record snowstorms was so ridiculous it actually had the effect of minimizing the impression of the District's failings in dealing with this week's record snowstorms," she wrote. "Indeed, even some of the mayor's harshest critics ended up coming to his defense, although that might also be because Matthews is even more unlikable than the mayor."