Matthews: 'Has Obama Put Himself at Political Risk if the Big Cuts Do Not Wreak Havoc?'

Chris Matthews asked a question Sunday that should truly offend people on both sides of the aisle.

During the syndicated program bearing his name, Matthews asked his panel, "Has President Obama put himself at political risk if the big cuts do not wreak havoc?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: When we come back, the big question of the week: has President Obama put himself at political risk if the big cuts do not wreak havoc?

After a commercial break:

MATTHEWS: Welcome back. This week's big question: Has President Obama played the sequester politics smartly? Dan Rather.

DAN RATHER: Up to now, yes, but he runs the risk of coming out on the short end. You can't say the sky is falling, the sky is falling, the sky is falling, and if the sky doesn't fall, you're at a disadvantage.

MATTHEWS: Katty.

KATTY KAY, BBC: I think it’s also interesting that the polls suggest people are just not engaged and interested in this story in the way they were about the fiscal cliff. The numbers of people who know what the sequester is who have really even heard of it are very small. And so if you have the President is saying the sky is falling but everyone else is saying, “Actually I don't know what you're talking about,” that doesn’t bode well for you.

MATTHEWS: Remember the O.J. jury was sequestered?

KATTY: [Laughs] That’s right.

MATTHEWS: That’s probably what they think we’re talking about.

LIZ MARLANTES, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: On the other hand I would say, you know, he still runs the bigger risk if in fact what he’s saying comes true. If people, you know, find that they can't make their flights because the lines are so long, and that sort of thing. And that’s still, that's still the bigger risk for him.

MICHAEL DUFFY, TIME: He’s played it like a Strad, and he’s going to, a Stradivarius. He’s played it like a fiddle, and if he gets into trouble, he'll just take control of whatever agencies need to be and say, “We're going to do this because I'm the Commander-in-Chief, and we’re going to make sure the trains and the planes are on time.”

MATTHEWS: Does he risk looking like Nero since you made the fiddle metaphor here?

DUFFY: I don’t think so. There’s such an absence of leadership that he has a lot of room.

MATTHEWS: Okay.

Fascinating that there wasn't any discussion about how disgusting it was for the President to fearmonger as he has in recent weeks if there really was the potential that the sequester wouldn't have the negative effect he was predicting.

Instead, these so-called journalists were just wondering if lying to the public will harm him politically.

I guess to them a lie from a Democrat is okay if he or she isn't hurt by it.

Pretty disgraceful from member of the press, dontcha think?