In a chat with the publisher of the Manchester Union Leader this afternoon on MSNBC in which the two were discussing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's ramped-up attacks on the Florida senator, Chris Matthews trotted out a tired line of his about how Marco Rubio is a "robot" who was programmed by the "neocons."
Mercifully Matthews didn't use his borderline anti-Semitic crack about how he's Sheldon Adelson's sock puppet.
For his part, his guest, Union Leader publisher Joe McQuaid – who has endorsed Chris Christie for president – used the opportunity to praise Matthews as "prescient," noting that he should be pleased to know the paper would be running an excerpt of his November 2015 keynote address at the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communication's First Amendment Awards Event.
[Fun fact: None other than Donald Trump was the 2014 keynote for the same awards program.]
You can read the transcript and watch the video below:
MSNBC
MSNBC Live
February 4, 2016; 3:10 p.m. EasternOnscreen graphic: Rubio Grabs Second in Latest NH Polling
CHRIS MATTHEWS, guest host: Is he a robot?
JOE McQUAID, Manchester Union Leader publisher: I think Rubio is a –
MATTHEWS: Is he a robot?
McQUAID: – a programmed guy, yeah.
MATTHEWS: Who programmed him? One of the neocons? Who wrote this script for him?
McQUAID: What’s a neocon?
MATTHEWS: It’s so – an absolute hawk –
McQUAID: Is it like a progressive?
MATTHEWS: Who has the next war in mind at any given time. OK, we go to Iraq, and then we go to Syria, er Libya, then we go to Syria, next we go to Iran.
McQUAID: Chris I wasn’t kidding. We’re running your remarks from the [2015] Nackey Loeb [First Amendment Awards] event in our Sunday paper. And you were quite prescient, because even back then you were saying that Rubio may be the hawk that moves up on Trump.
MATTHEWS: Yeah, I know, I’m so, I’m so, what’s the word?
McQUAID: Prescient.
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