Chris Matthews got another thrill up his leg for Barack Obama Tuesday.
As you read and/or watch the most-recent presidential gushing and fawning from the "Hardball" host, keep telling yourself that this man believes his program is "absolutely nonpartisan" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with this unbelievable presidential campaign that’s about to begin. Watching President Obama today explaining and defending his budget, both the substance and the politics, I was struck by the question: could any of the possible Republican candidates out there do this? Does any one of them have the precision of mind, the command of recall, the orderly process of thinking and evaluating, the reasonable moral compass?
You can play this game, too. Think it through. Throw those names and faces onto your mental viewing screen and think deep. Romney, Huckabee, Palin, Bachmann, Barbour, Santorum, Gingrich -- is there one of them we think could do what Obama can do?
A look at the Republican field, with all its negatives, I look at Nate Silver’s numbers and see the problem that the party has in finding someone to field against the president -- someone who can stand up on the same platform, talk the issues with this competence.
Newt Gingrich is a former Speaker of the House possessing a Ph.D. in modern European history from Tulane and is considered to be one of the brightest political minds in America today.
Mitt Romney is a former Massachusetts governor possessing both MBA and law degrees from Harvard.
Mike Huckabee is a former Arkansas governor that graduated magna cum laude from Ouachita Baptist University in only 2 1/2 years.
Rick Santorum is a former two-term Senator from Pennsylvania possessing an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh and a law degree from Dickinson School of Law.
Haley Barbour is the current governor of Mississippi as well as the Chairman of the Republican Governors Association; he has a law degree from the University of Mississippi.
Michele Bachmann is a two-term Congresswoman from Minnesota possessing law degrees from Oral Roberts University and William and Mary University (tax law).
Sarah Palin is a former Alaska governor with a B.A. from the University of Idaho.
That Matthews thinks not one of these people has "the precision of mind, the command of recall, the orderly process of thinking and evaluating, the reasonable moral compass" to "stand up on the same platform, talk the issues with [Obama's] competence" is absurd.
Just to name one possible pairing, Gingrich would mop the floor with Obama in a debate on virtually any subject.
It really makes you wonder whether Matthews' staff has to have tissues handy to wipe the drool off his lips when he speaks about the man currently in the White House.
(H/T HotAirPundit)
