Obama still has his fans in the MSM, or Hillary her detractors . . .

Appearing on this afternoon's Hardball, the seemingly mild-mannered Evan Thomas of Newsweek took a surprisingly tough shot at Clinton, disputing the very premise of her now-famous "it's 3 AM" ad. Discussing Hillary's comeback, Evans offered his blunt assessment with no real prompting.

EVAN THOMAS: What I don't get about this ad, the whole idea about 3 AM is you want coolness and detachment, right? She's not cool and detached. She's either really hot and angry, or she's icy cold and tough. But I don't think of her as cool. I think of Obama as being the cool, detached guy. Now maybe he doesn't have the experience, but I think if you peel this onion, there's something about it that just doesn't make sense to me. She doesn't strike me as the person who's the cool, detached, steady person at the other end of the phone.

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Co-panelist Andrea Mitchell stepped in to defend Hillary.

ANDREA MITCHELL: I think that is what she projects, though. In the polling, her experience values seem to relate to people as being cool and detached.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Yeah, let me challenge this. Suppose--I always look at my daughter this way--who's 18. If I was in a car wreck and she came up to the car to help me out, put the things over my head to protect me from shock, deal with the first aid, she could handle it. She could handle the crisis. Don't you think Hillary Clinton's like that? Doesn't she come across as someone who's really good in a crisis who could handle a situation like a car wreck?

Thomas hung tough in the face of the double team.

THOMAS: No.

MATTHEWS: You don't.

THOMAS: I think she's often hot and angry in a crisis. And I think she can be steely cold in a crisis, and those can be useful. But I think the classic value that you look for in a middle-of-the-night crisis is somebody who is cool and detached. I just don't associate --

Matthews broke in, alluding to the heat he's been taking from Camp Clinton for his criticism of Hillary, and offering to trade places with Thomas.

MATTHEWS: Why don't you come over and sit in this chair, and you can take the heat for the next three months, and I'll sit over there and disagree with you!

—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.