How over-the-top was Chris Matthews in his vituperation against Sarah Palin and McCain adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer this evening? So much so that:

• Matthews twice berated an Obama representative for being insufficiently aggressive in going after Palin;
• Brian Williams, in the subsequent segment, chided Matthews on his emotionalism.

The Hardball host was infuriated by Palin's description, in answer to a question from a third-grader, of the role of the vice-president. He also harped on the RNC's spending on Palin's wardrobe.

View video here.

Matthews opened the segment with Pfotenhauer and Obama spokesman Bill Burton by asking the latter to comment about the news of the $150,000 the RNC has spent to spiff up Sarah.  When Burton didn't bite, transitioning to other matters, Matthews barked at him.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: You're turning the corner a little too fast on me, Bill Burton.  Why didn't you want to talk about the clothing allowance, here?

Come on, Bill, get with the anti-Sarah program! After interrogating Pfotenhauer at length about who was responsible for the clothes-spending decision, Matthews eventually moved to a discussion of Palin's description of the veep's role.  He did so in an oddly aggressive manner, putting Pfotenhauer herself on the spot.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: I want to talk about this: the role of the Vice-President. I'm going to give you a shot at it, Nancy; you're a pro.  You're not somebody in from out of town; you know how politics works. What is the role of the Vice-President under the U.S. Constitution?  Simply put, you know it or you don't. Either a person understands the role of the Vice-President or they don't.  What, as you understand it from the Constitution, as a professional, is the role of a Vice-President. It's very important we know this answer.  We're filling the part in two weeks.

NANCY PFOTENHAUER: That's right, that's right. Well, obviously the role of the Vice-President is to support the President but also to preside when necessary over the U.S. Senate.  And I think that this is also a tempest in a teapot --

Matthews angrily interrupted.

MATTHEWS:  No, that's not the role of the Vice-President. You got it wrong. I gave you a shot, Nancy. I want you to try again.

Not the role?  Constitution, Article I, Section 3: "The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided."

Matthews nastily persisted.

MATTHEWS: What's written in the Constitution? You're all strict -- look, you're a strict constructionist --

PFOTENHAUER: I'm not a constitutional scholar.

MATTHEWS [snidely]: Have you ever read it?!

Matthews continued to spar with Nancy, yet again playing the clip of Palin's remarks.  When Burton was finally brought into the act, Matthews admonished him to get his anti-Palin game face on.

MATTHEWS [testily]: Would you please say something?! Instead of standing back and letting them destroy themselves, say something, Bill. What do you think about this?

After batting the same ball around for another few minutes, Matthews closed on a nasty note.

MATTHEWS: And somehow, in all this trip to Washington, through Nieman's and through Sak's --

PFOTENHAUER: Oh my goodness.

MATTHEWS: And everywhere else that she stopped off, she never picked up a copy of the Constitution. And it is a problem, it is a problem, and you know it is, Nancy; we'll talk about this after the election.

In the following segment, Brian Williams came on to tout his interview of Palin to be aired in this evening's Nightly News. He began, in his buttoned-down way, by chiding Matthews for his harangue.

BRIAN WILLIAMS: Chuck [Todd] and I have been listening to the first half of your broadcast and both feel you should be more emotional, into the topic matter, Chris. I'm just kidding.

A bit later, discussing the history of the relationship between presidents and vice-presidents, Williams made an interesting omission.

WILLIAMS: Chris, you know your history.  This has only been kind of a hands-in-glove relationship a finite number of times in the modern era. You got to see up close the Carter-Mondale relationship. You saw how it worked in the campaign and saw how it worked in the West Wing.

Guess who else got to see the Carter-Mondale relationship pretty darn up close?  Brian Williams.  He, like Matthews, also worked in the Carter White House.  Funny Williams didn't mention that.

Jennifer Rubin at Commentary's "contentions": As for Hardball – whatever Republican goes on there deserves what she gets. Why they go on remains a mystery, since they aren’t treated with a modicum of respect.

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