It’s bad enough that Chris Matthews gets two hours a day on MSNBC to showcase his anti-conservative rants, but why does host David Gregory undermine any pretense that NBC News is not the same as MSNBC by bringing Matthews aboard Meet the Press? Worse, Gregory prompted Matthews to repeat his Hardball diatribe about how, in freshman Senator Ted Cruz, “I saw Joe McCarthy.”
Seconds later, Matthews charged the Congress has “really become an undemocratic system with the way that Boehner’s had to play this with his right wing.” That led Carly Fiorina, a fellow panelist, to snidely observe: “It’s all the Republicans’ fault in your view, clearly.” A delighted Matthews agreed: “It is. You nailed it.”
Audio: MP3 clip
Gregory cued up Matthews: “I want to go back, Chris, you were tough on Ted Cruz this week, as were some Democrats who said this was McCarthyism, this had echos of McCarthy and innuendo.”
Fiorina asserted “I find it stunning, truly, that this President and the Democratic Party continues to lay all the blame for their failure to achieve anything at the feet of the Tea Party or Ted Cruz” when Obama “is the President of the United States. He could get immigration reform, as one example, tomorrow if he would step forward and say, I applaud and salute the gang of eight’s proposal. Let’s move forward and vote on that.”
Gregory insisted, “well, he essentially did that in the State of the Union,” before Matthews jumped in to argue “that’s not true, by the way, under our constitution,” citing how you need 60 votes in the Senate, fretting: “It’s really become an undemocratic system with the way that Boehner’s had to play this with his right wing.”
That’s when Fiorina interjected: “It’s all the Republican’s fault in your view, clearly.” Matthews didn’t disagree, affirming his partisan assessment: “It is. You nailed it.”
Re Thursday’s Hardball: “Chris Matthews Snarls That Ted Cruz Is the New ‘Joe McCarthy’”
From the Sunday, February 17 Meet the Press:
DAVID GREGORY: I want to go back, Chris, you were tough on Ted Cruz this week, as were some Democrats who said this was McCarthyism, this had echos of McCarthy and innuendo.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: -Lindsey Graham, and so was John McCain, not on this program but this week. It’s about tactics. Let’s take it back. I don’t know the man’s personality. I know he’s got an interesting background, he’s a brilliant gay in many ways, but the tactics. You know, I watched him in those hearings and I saw Joe McCarthy, I saw the way he was prosecuting the case, the way he was putting up evidence, innuendo, guilt by association. If some spokesperson, some flack for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran, says he thinks we can do business with this guy more than some hawkish neo-con, is that indictment against him? But it turned into an indictment. I think it’s really being unfair and I think the Senate is going to circle the wagons and say this guy’s going in.
GREGORY: Quick response, Carly.CARLY FIORINA: I have to just say, talking about leadership, this is a President who is not afraid use his power, he is not afraid to issue executive orders when he sees fit, I find it stunning, truly, that this President and the Democratic Party continues to lay all the blame for their failure to achieve anything at the feet of the Tea Party or Ted Cruz or whoever the latest villain is. The truth is, this man is the President of the United States. He could get immigration reform, as one example, tomorrow if he would step forward and say, I applaud and salute the gang of eight’s proposal. Let’s move forward and vote on that.
GREGORY. Well, he essentially did that in the State of the Union.
MATTHEWS: That’s not true, by the way, under our constitution. You can use now 60 votes to stop, you can require 60 votes in the Senate which is basically forcing a majority to give up its majority.
FIORINA: That would pass. That bill would pass.
MATTHEWS: It’s really become an undemocratic system with the way that Boehner’s had to play this with his right wing.
FIORINA: It’s all the Republicans’ fault in your view, clearly.
MATTHEWS: It is. You nailed it.
