Chris Matthews – Militantly Clueless or Just Stupid?

I just watched Chris Matthews’ appearance on the Daily Show tonight and I must say, the guy is either arrogant, an idiot, purposefully clueless, or a combination thereof. I’m leaning towards the last answer.
John Stewart threw Matthews softballs (oh, the irony!) and basically allowed him to flub his way through what amounted to a pitiful exercise in journalism, even if it was fake journalism. Stewart allowed Matthews to feign continued ignorance of the meaning of the “spitball metaphor” and seemed more interested in kissing Matthews’ butt than actually asking any tough questions. He was also forced, in the name of good TV, to feed Matthews the name of the second participant in the Hamilton-Burr duel (Hint: his last name was Burr, and his first name wasn’t Raymond).
A comedian is the only one asking the tough questions of the newsmakers these days, even if he doesn’t have the guts to follow through and press for real answers. Is this really what the mainstream press has been reduced to?
I think I’ll stick to watching Hardball through the filter of Daryl Hammonds’ series of SNL skits. They’re eminently more entertaining and I don’t end up feeling dumber having watched them.