Author and noted critic-slugger Stanley Crouch, on Hillary Clinton: "On TV, Clinton seems by turns icy, contrived, hysterical, sentimental, bitter, manipulative and self-righteous." Play along at home: which of those adjectives also describe Stanley Crouch? Hint: we don't know or care if he's sentimental, and "icy" is only an insult to ladies. (We read a day-old Crouch column because Drudge decided it and a day-old Hitchens column were important enough to be highlighted this morning. Fun fact: both columns call Hillary "hysterical"!) [NYDN]

"Matthews says his job 'is to be provocative and say things — you know, "That's crazy!" — the way you might at a party.'" That's from today's lengthy Howard Kurtz profile of the famed MSNBC shouty person, which, in typical Kurtz style, uses many words, anecdotes, and interviews to say precisely nothing about its subject. Matthews: says whatever he thinks! Matthews: enrages Democrats and Republicans! Matthews: is criticized by some for talking about women in odd and uncomfortable ways! Oh, there's insight. You just have to dig for it. (For example, here's Newsweek senior Washington correspondent Howard Fineman summing about everything useless about Howard Fineman in two sentences: "'Chris asks a question, he often answers his question, and then he asks you to comment on his answer to his question,' says Fineman. 'Which I'm perfectly happy to do.'") After the jump, a brief history of Chris Matthews terrifying his staff, demonstrating a dodgy relationship with the powerful women in his life, and cursing on air.