"You're kind of cranky, but you know your sh*t!"
That's how Hardball host Chris Matthews complimented his guest, former Gov. John Sununu (R-N.H.), as he thanked him for appearing on the Thursday night edition of Hardball.
Matthews instantly recognized his gaffe and apologized to Sununu and fellow guest Howard Fineman for using such a "Trump word."
After coming back from the commercial break, Matthews apologized to voters, wishing he had been able to "blurb" – his word – his imprecation:
Welcome back to Hardball, live from the University of New Hampshire here in, well actually the only one-on-one debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders before next Tuesday's New Hampshire primary in this state.
By the way, I have to apologize again for that word I, I don't know how it get it into my head in tonight's broadcast. But it's a four-letter word, a bad word, not a terrible word but not a good word to be using on television. But it's funny, if there is irony in this business, just a few moments we blurbed out the candidate, Donald Trump using the exact same word but we blurbed out, I wish I had been able to blurb my own word out.
Here's the relevant transcript:
MSNBC
Hardball (special pre-Democratic debate edition)
February 4, 2016; 7:27 p.m. Eastern
Onscreen graphic: Santorum Backs Rubio, Can’t Name Accomplishments
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Thank you, very much. John Sununu, the governor. Please come back. You're kind of cranky, but, you know your shit. Up next –
[SUNUNU laughs]
MATTHEWS, as MSNBC’s special-event music swells heading to commercial break: I shouldn’t have said that word. That was a Trump word. Hillary Clinton’s looking to make history as the first female president of the United States – I gotta say I’m sorry for that word, I really mean it. Why? I heard Trump just say it. It’s a bad word. I’m sorry, anyway – [audio cuts out, music continues, then commercial]
[…]
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to Hardball, live from the University of New Hampshire here in, well actually the only one-on-one debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders before next Tuesday's New Hampshire primary in this state.
By the way, I have to apologize again for that word I, I don't know how it get it into my head in tonight's broadcast. But it's a four-letter word, a bad word, not a terrible word but not a good word to be using on television. But it's funny, if there is irony in this business, just a few moments we blurbed out the candidate, Donald Trump using the exact same word but we blurbed out, I wish I had been able to blurb my own word out.
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