A week after MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews spared with Sanders campaign chairman Jeff Weaver but later admitted that Sanders stokes his “erogenous zone,” the pair were at it again on Tuesday night as Matthews complained that Weaver was being “so tough” towards Hillary Clinton with “very personal” attacks on her lucrative paid speeches.
Barely two minutes into the show, Matthews pointed at Weaver and whined: “You guys — people can't ask me why is this campaign getting so tough? You're talking about her selling her soul. You know, you go into these speaking fees. These are very personal things.”
Weaver maintained that he’d prefer Clinton over any of the Republican presidential candidates, but Matthews didn’t buy it and wondered if he had “any other bromides to share” since that’s “what everybody says.”
Weaver shot back that he believes and Matthews continued to throw a fit about the Sanders campaign not backing off of Clinton and fading away:
MATTHEWS: Well, tell me why you're fighting it so tough?
WEAVER: Because Bernie Sanders is running for the nomination. Hillary Clinton is running for the nomination. Both —
MATTHEWS: You're trying to knock her head off.
WEAVER: Not, that's not fair, Chris. That's not fair at all.
MATTHEWS: Well, when you say, that she — you, Jeff —
WEAVER: I did not say sell her soul. Deal with the devil is what I said.
“That’s not what you hit hard. You keep hitting on the $200,000 per speech. You guys even put out the word, it was only a 20-minute speech. In other words, it was a take. She grabbed the money and ran. You're saying that stuff,” the petulant host added.
Using the socialist dream of a $15/hour minimum wage to boost his case, Weaver responded that Clinton doesn’t support that amount at the national level but “she takes $200,000 herself”: “That's just the facts, Chris. The facts are tough.”
Continuing to play the role of concerned Democratic operative for the general election, Matthews pleaded with Weaver to have the Sanders camp stop attacking Clinton her paid speeches because it’s already been used by the three remaining Republican candidates:
Donald Trump is going after you guys — like all politicians do, they take the shots from the other side and they use them. He’s already going after Hillary using what your guy’s been saying, what you’ve been saying that Hillary Clinton’s crooked — crooked! He’s borrowing that from you.
The relevant portions of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on April 19 can be found below.
MSNBC’s Hardball
April 19, 2016
7:02 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: You guys — people can't ask me why is this campaign getting so tough? You're talking about her selling her soul. You know, you go into these speaking fees. These are very personal things. How do you take them back in Philly if you have to?
JEFF WEAVER: Well, look, it's not about taking back but let's be clear.
MATTHEWS: You have to.
WEAVER: No. Let’s be clear. Either candidate is preferable to what the Republicans have to offer. Either candidate would be just head and shoulders.
MATTHEWS: Do you have any other bromides to share? You guys are what everybody says.
WEAVER: But it happens to be true.
MATTHEWS: But it’s not relevant. You guys are still fighting the race.
WEAVER: Of course it’s true.
MATTHEWS: Well, tell me why you're fighting it so tough?
WEAVER: Because Bernie Sanders is running for the nomination. Hillary Clinton is running for the nomination. Both —
MATTHEWS: You're trying to knock her head off.
WEAVER: Not, that's not fair, Chris. That's not fair at all.
MATTHEWS: Well, when you say, that she — you, Jeff —
WEAVER: I did not say sell her soul. Deal with the devil is what I said.
MATTHEWS: But you said she —
CHRISTINE QUINN: So much better. So much better.
MATTHEWS: You said — okay, she has a deal with the devil. Isn't that pretty direct? Isn’t that saying she’s bad?
WEAVER: Look, Hillary Clinton’s campaign is funded by every special interest in this country. Wall Street, the pharmaceutical companies —
MATTHEWS: That’s not what you hit hard. You keep hitting on the $200,000 per speech. You guys even put out the word, it was only a 20-minute speech. In other words, it was a take. She grabbed the money and ran. You're saying that stuff.
WEAVER: Well, look, she doesn’t $15/hour for everybody else and she takes $200,000 herself. That's just the facts, Chris. The facts are tough.
MATTHEWS: And you're hitting those regard. Go ahead, Christine, this is getting rough.
QUINN: Look, this is a tough race as all races for the Democratic nomination are and should be.
(....)
MATTHEWS: Donald Trump is going after you guys — like all politicians do, they take the shots from the other side and they use them. He’s already going after Hillary using what your guy’s been saying, what you’ve been saying that Hillary Clinton’s crooked — crooked! He’s borrowing that from you.
WEAVER: Look, Chris, come on. Everybody know Bernie Sanders — has been a really tame campaign compared to what’s going to happen in the general election. You know it. There’s an oppo book this thick on Hillary Clinton.
MATTHEWS: Your guy says he’s pure. He says I don’t do that stuff.
WEAVER: Right. We don’t do it. Wait until we get to the general election.
MATTHEWS: You accused her of selling her soul to the devil and you say you don’t go negative.
WEAVER: Look, the point is that when all of these people give you money, they don’t give it you for nothing. They want something in return.
MATTHEWS: Why did they give Hillary Clinton $200,000/speech?
WEAVER: I don't know. Let’s see what’s in those speeches.
MATTHEWS: Tell me. You keep raising it. It's in your ad. Just tell me what it means. Why is it an issue?
WEAVER: Why won't she release the speeches? Where's the transcripts?
MATTHEWS: What's the worst that could be in there?
WEAVER: I have no idea. Maybe there’s nothing, but it would — it leads you believe there's something.
