Chris Matthews’ vendetta against Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) continued at a fever-pitched pace Wednesday night. The Hardball host has a long history of attacking Cruz; he once called the Tea Party senator a “Thug” who wants to “Kill” Obama’s “Baby” and compared him to cinematic murderer “Freddy Krueger.”
On February 26, the MSNBC host took his anti-Cruz hatred to a new level, shrieking that “Ted Cruz Secedes From the Union” before asking what if the GOP “becomes a torpedo headed directly for the U.S. Capitol?” [See video below.]
Unsurprisingly, Matthews chose to open up his program by making violent analogies about Cruz, comparing him to a “cruise missile targeted at the government itself” before blaring that “To Ted Cruz of Texas, government shutdowns and debt ceiling defaults are all in a day's work. They are the business he has chosen. For him compromise is a curse word.”
Matthews doubled down asked if Cruz “can explode the party leaving it unable to compete, for example, with Hillary Clinton next time? All so that his wild bunch can rebuild it to a smaller, nastier political party home only to the hard and bitter right wing?”
The MSNBC host concluded his rant by roaring that “we have a lot of nasty right lately but we’ve only got one guy I know of who seems to have a ballistic purpose, to blow up his political party. Rand Paul wants to move it to the right. We know that. He may succeed. But this guy wants to take it apart starting at the top.”
For a man who in the past whined about the nasty language used in politics, Matthews has no problem comparing Ted Cruz to a ballistic missile. Earlier this month, the MSNBC host railed against comparing liberals to “Nazis” after himself comparing conservatives to “Nazis.”
See relevant transcript below.
MSNBC
Hardball with Chris Matthews
February 26, 2014
7:00 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Ted Cruz secedes from the union. Let's play "Hardball." Good evening I'm Chris Matthews in Washington. Let me start tonight with this. American democracy has rested on the people's changing loyalties between two major political parties, they’re like two teams taking their turns at bat. For a century and a half we have chosen either a Democrat or a Republican to be our president. Democrats of Republicans to control each of the two houses of Congress. But, what if one of the two parties goes ballistic heading so far off the spectrum that it is no longer competing for the majority of the voters' loyalty? What if the Republicans get hijacked?
If this happens, if the Republican Party becomes a torpedo headed directly for the U.S. Capitol. If it becomes a cruise missile targeted at the government itself. What then? Well this is the scary ambition of a certain senator from Texas who not only aims to topple the Republican leadership but smirks publicly at the trouble he has created. To Ted Cruz of Texas, government shutdowns and debt ceiling defaults are all in a day's work. They are the business he has chosen. For him compromise is a curse word. And Republican senators, including Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, spend their days running from fights as he puts it.
Well earlier today we awoke to news that Cruz is backing a rump group of the right wing that wants to topple not just Mitch McConnell but a whole slate of Senate Republican leaders and veterans. Can he bring down the Republican leadership? Can he explode the party leaving it unable to compete, for example, with Hillary Clinton next time? All so that his wild bunch can rebuild it to a smaller, nastier political party home only to the hard and bitter right wing?
David Corn is the Washington Bureau Chief for Mother Jones and an MSNBC political analyst. And Dana Milbank is a columnist for The Washington Post. Gentleman this is rare in American politics. We have right, left, center. We have a lot of nasty right lately but we’ve only got one guy I know of who seems to have a ballistic purpose, to blow up his political party. Rand Paul wants to move it to the right. We know that. He may succeed. But this guy wants to take it apart starting at the top.
