Matthews: Women Have 'Fears' McCain to Appoint 'Hawkish' Pro-lifers

On Sunday's The Chris Matthews Show on NBC, during a discussion of how well a President McCain might work with a Democratic Congress, host Matthews seemed to generalize about the political opinions of women as he contended that "one of the biggest fears women especially have" is that McCain would appoint pro-life Supreme Court justices, whom Matthews branded as "hawkish" on abortion: "One of the biggest fears women especially have is that we'll have a Supreme Court judge retirements or deaths or whatever, need to [be] replaced. McCain could come in there, he's a pro-lifer, pick some real hawkish people on the topic of a pro-life anti-abortion stance." He also euphemistically referred to the Democratic majority's ability to block pro-life appointments as being a "safety net." Matthews: "Would one of the safety nets be for the Democrats, they've got almost 56, almost 60 Democratic Senators that would say no way?" (Transcript follows)

Matthews also indirectly labeled Justices Samuel Alito and Antonina Scalia as "hardliners" in response to Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson's contention that "you couldn't get a real hardliner through" the Democratic-controlled Senate. Robinson: "You couldn't be able to get ... real hardliner through the Senate." Matthews: "No more Alito's or Scalia's?"

Below is a transcript of the relevant exchange from the Sunday, August 3, The Chris Matthews Show on NBC:

CHRIS MATTHEWS: One of the biggest fears women especially have is that we'll have a Supreme Court judge retirements or deaths or whatever, need to [be] replaced. McCain could come in there, he's a pro-lifer, pick some real hawkish people on the topic of a pro-life anti-abortion stance. Would one of the safety nets be for the Democrats, they've got almost 56, almost 60 Democratic Senators that would say no way?

EUGENE ROBINSON, WASHINGTON POST: Yeah, right, you couldn't be able to get through, get a real hardliner through the Senate.

MATTHEWS: No more Alito's or Scalia's?

ROBINSON: Right, but I don't think that's who McCain would appoint.

MATTHEWS: Oh, really?

ROBINSON: I think they would be more mainstream conservative.

MATTHEWS: John Roberts?

JOE KLEIN, NEWSWEEK: Even more moderate. The Democrats are not going to allow another John Roberts through.

MATTHEWS: So even he would be too far?

KLEIN: You know, this would be a real long-term bitter battle.

MATTHEWS: So you're making the case that, don't be afraid of McCain if you're a pro-choicer because the Democrats will protect you in the huddle.

KLEIN: Oh, they will absolutely do that. But I think that, you know, when you think about a McCain presidency, the image that comes to mind is Teddy Roosevelt during his Bull Moose period. I think this guy is going to move to the center, you know, like that.