MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews was off on vacation last week, so viewers and NewsBusters readers received a reprieve from his liberal commentary and head-scratching utterances like the one he offered on Tuesday when he joked that the “churchy” Republican Governor Mike Pence (Ind.) “is almost horny for the job” as Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee.
Speaking to the Hardball roundtable, Matthews predicted that Trump will choose Pence as his running mate even though “Pence is almost horny for the job” because “[i]t's clear that he wants it.”
The assembled guests were awkwardly laughing as Matthews continued on with his verbal nonsense about how Pence believes that “this is a special moment, no wonder” and, in Matthews’s mind, may be impersonating liberal historian Doris Kearns Goodwin “to step up” to the nomination considering so many Republicans are running from Trump.
Pretending to take a trip inside Pence’s thinking, Matthews continued:
[I]f I step up, I'm better than anybody else because if I step up, I'm better than all these ne'er do wells like Mitt Romney and Bush family who are hiding in the bushes, but I'm willing to step forward so I would be the perfect candidate in 2020. I think Pence's making his move for 2020 by going on the ticket.
The baffling statements weren’t finished as Matthews was speaking to NBC News Trump campaign correspondent Katy Tur about how Trump must decide whether or not he wants “someone who’s going to make him feel warm and call him at midnight and say great job today, great job today, you really hit it out of the ballpark.”
Returning to Pence, Matthews repeatedly dubbed Pence as “churchy”:
Does he want that kind of familiarity or does he — or does he — can he put up with a churchy guy like Pence? Pence is so churchy. I mean, the only thing about Donald Trump, he can say all he wants about religion, he ain't churchy. That's one thing he's not.
The relevant portions of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on July 12 can be found below.
MSNBC’s Hardball
July 12, 2016
7:35 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Here's what I think. I think it's Pence. I think Pence is almost horny for the job. It's clear that he wants it. It's clear that he thinks it's his. It’s talking about it — this is a special moment, no wonder. Is he a Doris Kearns Goodwin. All of a sudden, it’s no wandering in time. You have to step up and if I step up, I'm better than anybody else because if I step up, I'm better than all these ne'er do wells like Mitt Romney and Bush family who are hiding in the bushes, but I'm willing to step forward so I would be the perfect candidate in 2020. I think Pence's making his move for 2020 by going on the ticket.
(....)
7:47 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: Is Donald Trump interested in having a buddy, someone who’s going to make him feel warm and call him at midnight and say great job today, great job today, you really hit it out of the ballpark. Does he want that kind of familiarity or does he — or does he — can he put up with a churchy guy like Pence? Pence is so churchy. I mean, the only thing about Donald Trump, he can say all he wants about religion, he ain't churchy. That's one thing he's not.
