Hardball host Chris Matthews was at it again tonight, comparing Sen. Ted Cruz to Joe McCarthy and prattling on with his usual hyperbolic bluster. But Matthews also misinformed his audience by insisting, twice, that the Texas Republican has never voted for an Obama appointee.
In point of fact, Cruz has voted against many Obama nominees, but not all. He voted, for example, for Ash Carter for Defense Secretary and for James Comey for FBI director. In the latter vote, only potential 2016 rival Rand Paul voted "nay."
Cruz also voted for Sally Jewell for Interior Secretary, who sailed to nomination (87-11 with 2 senators not voting), a vote which had him and likely 2016 presidential rival Marco Rubio (Fla.) on opposite sides of the controversy. Fun fact: then-Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was among the 11 Republican "nay" votes on the Jewell nomination.
Here's the relevant transcript (emphasis mine):
MSNBC
Hardball
March 24, 2015
CHRIS MATTHEWS, addressing his panelists, Perry Bacon and Howard Dean: Gentlemen, I don't know to cover this guy because he gives us all the information we need. He wants to get rid of everything. He votes against every nomination for everybody. He is unbelievable. He's the black hole of politics.
[...]
MATTHEWS: Did you see his voting record on nominations? I mean, against people who are really not controversial like John Kerry and people like that, he voted against every one of them.
Of course, I expect Matthews would sooner eat Ted Cruz's cowboy hat than acknowledge his error in an on-air correction.
