1115.org

Chris Matthews is being Chris Matthews again. On a good day, he can easily give Bill O’Reilly a run for his money. This time he decided to practice a little bit of good old sexual harassment, the old-fashioned kind.

After a long report by CNBC‘s Erin Burnett on the recent behavior of the stock market, here’s what Matthews pulled:

MATTHEWS (suddenly, out of the blue): Could you get a little closer to the camera?

BURNETT: What—what is it—is it…

MATTHEWS: Come on in closer. No, come in—come in further—come in closer. Really close.

BURNETT: What are you—what are you…

MATTHEWS: Just kidding! You look great! Anyway, thanks. Erin, it‘s great to—look at that look! You‘re great.

BURNETT: I don‘t even know. I‘m going to have to go look at the tape here. I‘m in a strange location.

MATTHEWS: No, you‘re beautiful. I‘m just kidding. I‘m just kidding.

You‘re a knock-out. Anyway, thank you, Erin Burnett.

BURNETT: All right, Chris. See you later.

MATTHEWS: It‘s all right getting bad news from you, even, OK? Thanks for coming on HARDBALL.

I’m willing to bet good money that no matter how big a fuss feminists kick up about Matthews’ comments, there will be absolutely no repercussions for him. After all, it’s not like he called a bunch of black college students nappy-headed hos, or anything offensive like that. Just common or garden variety sexual harassment of a white woman. Hard to see NBC getting too exercised about that.

And I guess there’s some kind of professional courtesy code of conduct that doesn’t allow Keith Olbermann to call out a fellow MSNBC brand-name for conduct unbecoming.

Which leaves only Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as possible castigators. But it’s hard to see them finding time to expose Matthews’ today given that they have Rove’s resignation to mine today.

So it’s just going to be: “Matthews strikes again! And lives to strike again another day.”

Just another ho-hum day in the media, now that it’s become a travesty of everything that it’s supposed to be.