Andrew C. McCarthy has a good piece at National Review Online on the Chris Matthews/Zell Miller contretemps the other night. McCarthy unmasks Matthews' motives pretty well.
In the Hardball shows we've seen, Matthews' guests serve the same function as the accused prisoners in the old communist show trials. They're trotted meekly onto the set and prevented by Matthews from saying anything in their defense while he berates them for things they don't believe and never said.
The seventy-two year old Miller, however, didn't sit docilely in the dock absorbing his punishment like he was expected to. He startled Matthews by actually refusing to suffer the harangue, and if the two had been in the same studio Miller probably would have turned the bully's lights out for him.
On the conservative side, Sean Hannity often behaves toward his guests the same way. The two of them ought to be put into a sound-proof room and left to shout over each other until they both pass out from exhaustion.
If you saw the dust-up with Zell you'll enjoy the article.