Chris Matthews didn’t get fired for being a sex monster. He got fired for doing his job.

And what was that job? To represent the non-crazy, “No Kool-Aid for me, thanks” Left on television, while being entertaining and pointed and wacky. Read the GQ piece published Friday that apparently got Matthews fired and you’ll note that the writer, Laura Bassett, had two completely unrelated categories of complaint that she artfully weaved together to create an indictment of Matthews as a sexist.

One complaint was that Matthews would compliment women’s looks. He said of Sarah Palin that there was “something electric” and “very attractive” about her. He told Erin Burnett, “You’re a knockout.” All true. He made a couple of mild compliments to Bassett: “Why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?” True, men shouldn’t talk this way around the office, and few guys under 50 have failed to get the message that this kind of thing makes (some) women uncomfortable.