Hillary Still Calling Obama 'My Opponent'

Barack Obama is planning to announce his VP pick via text message to his supporters.  So in the spirit of the times, let's text message something to Sen. Obama:

Brck: b fraid. b vry fraid. hlry stl h8s u.

That's what we glean from Hillary's startling statement in Florida today.  Chris Matthews aired it at the top of tonight's Hardball:

HILLARY CLINTON: I am doing everything I can to campaign for Senator Obama. I think it's fair to say that I have done more, as Senator Rich said, in a relatively short period of time, on behalf of my opponent, than probably anyone else has.

So not only is she bragging on her own accomplishments.  Hillary's still calling Obama . . . "my opponent." The point was not lost on Matthews. 

View video here.

In a subsquent segment with Diane Mantouvalos, a Hillary die-hard and founder of Just Say No Deal, Matthews commented on Hillary's telling choice of words.  He also offered a limited modified mea culpa for his anti-Clinton cracks.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: When you look at Hillary Clinton today, she spoke down there in Palm Beach this morning, or today, I saw her, she's very tired, who isn't these days, I got the sense that she was talking again about "my opponent."  And she uses that term rather automatically now. Is that a Freudian slip?  Because she agrees to, she supports him for the nomination now, but, and in the general election, but when she says "my opponent" again and again, is that a signal to her people, her hold-outs if you will, that she's one of them?

In replying, Mantouvalos took the opportunity to take a shot at Matthews himself for what she [and others in the Clinton camp], see as the anti-Hillary bias he broadcast during the primaries.

DIANE MANTOUVALOS: Well, Chris, we're not taking our cues from Hillary Clinton any longer. In fact, I have to say I've come full circle with you.  You were the inspiration behind my starting my blog, and many women around this country who were incensed by the sexism in the media, whether intentional or unintentional. It was a fact of this election. So, you know, women like me are really speaking out against what we saw. And again, that's just one element.  But that does contribute to the sentiment out there. As far as what Hillary thinks: I would love to know.  We don't know; we have no contact with the Hillary Clinton campaign [NB: is there still a Hillary Clinton campaign?].

MATTHEWS: I've been tough on Mike Dukakis, tough on Al Gore, tough on Bill Clinton, tough on Hillary Clinton. Tough, not nastily tough, on George Bush. You know I guess, um, well, I'll listen to all complaints. That's my job. In fact, you might be right.  So I have to examine my conscience all the time about what I say on this show.

Let's see.  Who might be missing from Chris' list of people he's been tough on?