Matthews Mourns 'Death' of the Republican Moderate

  Chris Matthews, during MSNBC's live election night coverage, was distressed at what he saw was the "death of the moderate wing of the Republican Party." After his colleague Keith Olbermann ran down the latest results of Republicans leading or winning in specific races Matthews bemoaned how such moderates like Charlie Crist and Arlen Specter were run out of their own party and even bellowed: "Mike Castle getting knocked out by the woman who said she's not a witch...is a joke, it's a joke for the Republican Party to lose people like Mike Castle."

The following November 2, outburst by Matthews was aired during MSNBC's live election night coverage:

 (video after the jump)

[8:03pm EDT]

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Yeah and there's a pattern there and it's gone on so long this year, that we shouldn't lose sight of it - the death of the moderate wing of the Republican Party, especially on the East Coast of the United States. Charlie Crist was a pretty successful governor down there. He did a great job in terms of the oil spill. Everyone said he was the one politician down there who really knew how to handle it. He went immediately for the offshore ban. Immediately took charge of the situation in terms of protecting his shorelines. Blown away by the right wing, by Rubio. Couldn't even run in his own party, eventually. Mike Castle getting knocked out by the woman who said she's not a witch. I mean this is a joke, it's a joke for the Republican Party to lose people like Mike Castle. Arlen Specter maybe he was past his time, his sell by date, but the fact that is he was blown out of the race by Toomey.

So what you see is all these people like I grew up in the suburbs, actually very inner suburbs of Philadelphia, where you're used to the fact, you always had a choice between a liberal Democrat and a moderate Republican. You could choose an Eisenhower republican, who was a pretty moderate Republican, like Scranton and all those guys, Ridge. They're all blown away. They're all gone. The moderate person, the Michael Smerconish, if you will, has no more options anymore. He must now choose between a polarized political system left and right. And I think some people like it. Some people don't. I think it's, it's different. It may not be better.

—Geoffrey Dickens is the Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here