Reacting to a sound bite of Joe Biden from today's Rose Garden announcement in which the Vice President obliquely criticized Hillary Clinton for a remark at the Democratic debate in which she said Republicans were her "enemy," Hardball host Chris Matthews said Clinton's comment was "stupid" and probably driven by her trying too hard to toss out red meat to the partisan debate audience.
Of course, mere seconds later, Matthews hinted that there was one Republican he considered worthy of being labeled an enemy. You guessed it, Dick Cheney.
Here's the relevant transcript from the Oct. 21 edition of MSNBC Live w/ Kate Snow (emphases mine):
MSNBC
MSNBC Live w/ Kate Snow
Oct. 21, 2015; 3:05 p.m. EasternKATE SNOW, anchor: Chris, the question that was asked in the beginning of the debate was, who are your enemies? That's what she was answering. So, is Joe Biden trying to, to dig at her a little?
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well, she shouldn't have said Iranians either. Because if you know any Iranians in this country, they're good people. And the Iranians over there, a good number of the people in Iran are on our side. Obviously the government, the ayatollahs are not. I think that wasn't very diplomatic. But I think calling Republicans enemies is stupid.
I mean, let's face it, they control the House of Representatives, they control the Senate. Until you get 60 votes in the Senate, you're not getting anything passed. So the first meeting you have as president is to sit down with the other side if you want to get anything done. So, you don't call people on the other side enemies.
I think he was right. Maybe she was telling a joke, maybe not. Maybe she was pandering to a partisan audience. Probably that. But, I mean, he does have a lot of friends who are Republicans. I have a hard time with him when he said Dick Cheney's a pal of his. That's a hard one. That's a real reach across the aisle for most people.
