I keep watching him. I know better–Mr. BuggyQ refuses to condone my watching the Sunday morning shows because the vein on the side of my head bulges. But I can’t help myself. It’s like watching a train wreck–you know you’ll be squicked out, but you can’t stop.

Sunday, on The Chris Matthews Show:

Matthews: It’s getting on a year, Helene, since we’ve seen the president in prime time. Why doesn’t he use that part of the bully pulpit? Only he can do that, roadblock all the networks. Why doesn’t he do it?

Ms. Cooper: Well, first of all, it’s not that surprising because I think with all–with past administrations and past presidents, we’ve seen huge blocks of time go by without them having press conferences.

Matthews: A year, almost? Since last July?

Yes, Chris. Simple fact check, fromThe American Presidency Project:

Ronald Reagan didn’t have his first prime-time press conference until March 31, 1982, over a year after he entered office.

George H.W. Bush had his first on June 8, 1989, then none in either 1990 or 1991. That’sover two and a half years without a prime time press conference, Chris.

Bill Clinton, the guy who loved all the attention, had his first on June 17, 1993, and his second on March 24, 1994.

And don’t get me started on Dubya.

Jeebus. Chuck Todd did make at least an effort at “Srsly?” by pointing out that the networks hate giving up the time for press conferences. Not to mention that “prime time” as a block of time that you’re guaranteed a huge audience died along time ago. Just ask Jay Leno. Between the cable and satellite channels and Tivo, you’re lucky to get the wonks like me.

I know, I know. Trying to educate Chris about crap like this is like trying to teach Dubya syntax. He gets his idea for what he wants to say, then shoehorns it into the show, facts be damned. This time, he wanted to say that Obama’s scared. (Again, Chuck Todd tried to stop him–“He doesn’t hide. We see him all the time.” And Norah O’Donnell actually stepped in, too, “Obama has done 150 or more one-on-one interviews. [snip] That’s three times more than Bush or Clinton did in their first year.”

Tweety’s response? “It’s not prime time.”

Christ. What an asshat. New cat Jack offers the cat equivalent of facepalm:

Hey, I don’t get to do Friday Catblogging, and I figured bringing up Tweety needed some sort of pleasant chaser. He and Della coulda been separated at birth, couldn’t they, Adrastos? Note that the tongue is almost perpetually stuck out like that.