Hardball

Hardball with Chris Matthews is a nightly weekday newstalk program on MSNBC hosted by Chris Matthews.

"Hardball with Chris Matthews premiered on MSNBC on November 8, 1999, following a successful launch on CNBC in 1997. It was telecast on both CNBC and MSNBC through July 2002," MSNBC states. 

Spin first, honesty later
In August 2005 Matthews admitted that some of his guests tell him different versions of the truth when the cameras are rolling than when the cameras are off: "What I keep doing here is asking people on and off camera who come on this program, high-ranking officers, enlisted, former officers. I get sometimes, not all the time, two different versions, the version they give me on the air and the version they give me the minute when we're off the air. The version they give me when we're on the air is gung-ho, we're doing the right thing, everything is moving along. The version they give me off the air is, Rumsfeld is crazy. There aren't enough troops over there. We're not taking this seriously enough, or, we shouldn't be there, sometimes."