Chris Matthews Compares GOP to Iraqi Factions, Shia 'Fanatics'

Chris Matthews took his sloppy and blabby talk routine to The Tonight Show on Wednesday and after a few minutes trying to dig out with Media Matters and Hillary fans for saying she got where she is through her husband's wild sex life, he compared the Republicans to Iraqi factions. The Laura Ingraham show  played this clip repeatedly today:

Nobody seems to be the leader yet. Nobody's Ronald Reagan. They don't seem to have a -- used to be the Democrats were the disorganized political party. Now, the Republicans are like the -- like the Iraqis. Have you noticed? They got their Shia wing, the fanatics. They've got Huckabee. This where I get into trouble. This is just where I get into trouble. [ Laughter ] Huckabee and Thompson are the Shiites, and the Sunni, the more moderate guys, are McCain, and -- who else they got over there? And uh, Rudy Giuliani. And then they got Romney, the Kurd. I mean, they're all over the place. Who's gonna unite them? 

Leno added: "And Senator Larry Craig is the guy with the sheep."

MRC's Geoff Dickens reported to me that Matthews used a variant of this attack line on Hardball yesterday, too:

I was suggesting, I know this is gonna cause trouble, which is what I like to do but the Sunni wing of the Republican Party has got McCain and Giuliani in it, the more extreme people, the zealots, are Huckabee and Thompson. Then you’ve got the Kurds, Romney. I mean who’s gonna put all these guys together?