We’ll take “People Who Aren’t as Smart as They Think They Are” for $800, Alex. “Hardball” host Chris Matthews made a less-than-impressive showing on “Jeopardy!” last night, a bomb-fest that was extra hilarious considering the many, many times he’s said Sarah Palin would struggle on the show. Matthews looked confused and outmatched on the “Power Players” episode, which also featured former White House press secretary (and eventual winner) Robert Gibbs and CNN reporter Lizzie O’Leary. He shouted out answers when it wasn’t his turn and flunked basic arithmetic — saying Istanbul fit the category of “6-Letter Capitals.” Matthews came in third. There was no fourth.
“Let’s go back to, what is ‘Crossword Clues E?'” Matthews said. “I mean, I’m sorry, let’s go $200 for the category ‘Crossword Clues E.'”
For the answer “Full name of the U-2 pilot shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960,” Matthews responded, “Who is Gary Powers?” The correct response was “Who is Francis Gary Powers?”
“We need the full name,” host Alex Trebek told Matthews.
“Who is Gary Powers?” Matthews said, repeating himself.
“No,” Trebek said to audience laughter.
Later, after Trebek said, “A U.S.D.C. is one of these, charged with the jurisdiction of a specific region,” Matthews responded, “What is a U.S. attorney?”
The correct answer was “What is a district court?”
“In 1986, the Supreme Court ruled that the ‘hostile environment’ type of this can be sex discrimination.”
Matthews responded, “What is a hostile workplace?” The correct answer was “What is sexual harrassment?”
In the category “6-Letter World Capitals,” the clue was “St. Basil’s Cathedral is there.” Matthews responded: “What is Istanbul?”
The correct answer: “What is Moscow?”
Conservative bloggers gleefully recounted Matthews’ performance, noting that he once used “Jeopardy!” to criticize Sarah Palin.
“The debacle was intriguing to see,” Billy Hallowell wrote on TheBlaze.com, “Matthews bounced between confused and unknowing.”
“In a delicious example of instant karma,” Noel Sheppard wrote on NewsBusters.org, “the self-proclaimed brainiac got his chance to show American how smart he was, but came up quite short.”
“This guy has the nerve to ridicule anyone,” Sheppard added. “Where do you find ‘attorney’ in the acronym ‘U.S.D.C.’?”
All three contestants failed to correctly answer the “Final Jeopardy!” clue. Matthews finished last with $2,300. Gibbs won with $5,600; O’Leary came in second with $4,200. For the win, Gibbs collected $50,000 for the Pine Hills Literacy Project. Matthews and O’Leary were given $10,000 each for their respective charities.
Perhaps we should’ve all seen this coming. As Politico noted on Monday, Matthews finished with no money during a rehearsal.
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