MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Thursday assailed John McCain, slamming the "boiling hatred" aimed at Chuck Hagel, Barack Obama's Defense Secretary nominee. Matthews sneered, "Hatred, pure and simple, seeped from the mouths of John McCain and Lindsay Graham as they slashed away at war hero Hagel." (McCain is also a war hero. Graham is a veteran. Are those with military experience only allowed to speak out if they agree with Matthews?)
Most ridiculously, Matthews whined, "Why can't politics be a matter of belief and honest disagreement, not hatred?" This coming from the man who has, more than once, compared his opponents to Nazis? This from a man whose show airs on a network that compared Rick Santorum to Stalin? The cable anchor ranted, "Badgering the witness is too nice a description of what went on today. The hawks swirled like buzzards sweeping down, pecking and pulling at the skin of a former colleague." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]
What were the sins of McCain? He questioned Hagel's strenous objection to the troop surge in Iraq. Yet, somehow, Matthews couldn't see the connection: "It looked like badgering the witness. I mean, it was McCain with some vendetta against this guy. It looked personal."
Matthews added, And I don't know what it had to do with his qualifications." Isn't it clear how Hagel's opinion on the troop surge might reflect on his military thinking?
A partial transcript of the January 31 segment can be found below:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let me start tonight with this: The boiling hatred of the American right poured over today in hearings on Chuck Hagel's nomination to be secretary of defense. Hatred, pure and simple, seeped from the mouths of John McCain and Lindsay Graham as they slashed away at war hero Hagel. Badgering the witness is too nice a description of what went on today. The hawks swirled like buzzards sweeping down, pecking and pulling at the skin of a former colleague who dared to say this country's been too ready to enter wars the American people quickly wish we'd never gotten into. What's with this hatred now centered in the American sun belt? What do we make of this poll showing two out of three Texas Republicans now want our president impeached? Why the cussedness, why the range war, why the hatred of anyone who dares to stand with Obama? Why can't politics be a matter of belief and honest disagreement, not hatred? Why the sick little intermurals we saw today?
...
MATTHEWS: It looked like badgering the witness. I mean, it was McCain with some vendetta against this guy. It looked personal. And I don't know what it had to do with his qualifications.
