Explaining how Hillary Clinton isn't as popular with African-American voters as Bill was, MSNBC's Chris Matthews pointed to the former president's verbal skills as one of the reasons why when he proclaimed: "There are times when he sounds like Jesus in the temple." Matthews made that observation during a discussion with the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson where both cited Bill Clinton's performance at Coretta Scott King's funeral as a prime example of Slick Willie's oratory abilities. The following exchange took place about 30 minutes into last night's Hardball: 

Eugene Robinson: "I mean, it's the one memorable speech from, from that funeral."

Chris Matthews: "And everybody else gave some written speech, and he said, 'There's a woman in there!'"

Robinson: "'A woman in there!'"

Matthews: "Oh!"

Robinson: "He just captured the moment-"

Matthews: "And cut to it!"

Robinson: "It was just amazing. It was amazing. But she didn't do that. She spoke next, and it just went completely flat."

Matthews: "I hate to pass on his lifestyle and questions like that, but there are times when he sounds like Jesus in the temple. I mean, amazing ability to transcend ethnicity, race, we call it, it's really ethnicity, in this country and, and speak to us all in this amazingly primordial way. And that's the only good thing I'll say about him tonight. Okay."

The following is the full discussion as it occurred on the February 28th Hardball:

Chris Matthews: "A new poll by The Washington Post and ABC News shows that black voters are abandoning Hillary Clinton to support Barack Obama. How's that, how bad is that for Clinton? Let's bring in the Hardballers. Today's Hardballers are Kate O'Beirne, I just love that phrase, Hardball, political analyst and Washington editor of the, I`m sorry, the Washington editor of The National Review. That was John McLaughlin's old job. And Gene Robinson is a columnist for the Washington Post itself. Your poll came out, sir, today. It showed that Hillary Clinton was beating, among African-Americans, Obama 60 to 20, beating him like a drum, and now he's beating her by about 10 points. What's happening?"

Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: "Well, you know I thought this would happen. People-"

Matthews: "Look at, look at how fast it moved! She was beating him three to one. Now he's up by 10 and he`s got the hot hand, it looks like."

Robinson: "Yeah, well, he, he's getting around, and, and African-Americans are getting to know Barack Obama. I mean, he was, he was you know, a two-year senator from Illinois."

Matthews: "He's passed the test?"

Robinson: "She, Hillary Clinton, has been around forever. And, and look, you know, it may be true, as Chris Rock said, that Bill Clinton was our first black president, but nobody every said that-"

Matthews: "I thought it was the poet who said that. What's her name?"

Robinson: "It could have been."

O'Beirne: "Maya Angelou."

Matthews: "Not Angelou the other woman, Toni Morrison."

O'Beirne: "Toni Morrison."

Matthews: "Toni Morrison."

Robinson: "Yeah, I guess it was. But in any event, they never said-"

Matthews: "Toni Morrison is correct."

Robinson: "They never said that Hillary Clinton was our first black first lady, I mean, and, and you know, you and I were sitting here during the Coretta King funeral-"

Matthews: "I don't think she has the advantage he has. I'm not black, obviously, but she had, he had the advantage of growing up in a black environment in the deep South where-"

Robinson: "And he had, he has this ability to speak to and really for black America that, that few people have, few white guys from Arkansas would have. But, but she doesn't have that, so."

Matthews: "He's alone in that way, isn't he?"

Robinson: "Yeah he is. He's quite something."

Matthews: "Jimmy Carter had a different kind of connection, but I mean, he strikes me as a guy that could, well, when I watched him at Mrs. King's funeral, I just have never seen anything like it."

Robinson: "You and I were sitting right here. It was the most amazing thing."

Matthews: "I have never seen anything like it."

Robinson: "I mean, it's the one memorable speech from, from that funeral."

Matthews: "And everybody else gave some written speech, and he said, 'There's a woman in there!'

Robinson: "'A woman in there!'"

Matthews: "Oh!"

Robinson: "He just captured the moment-"

Matthews: "And cut to it!"

Robinson: "It was just amazing. It was amazing. But she didn't do that. She spoke next, and it just went completely flat."

Matthews: "I hate to pass on his lifestyle and questions like that, but there are times when he sounds like Jesus in the temple. I mean, amazing ability to transcend ethnicity, race, we call it, it's really ethnicity, in this country and, and speak to us all in this amazingly primordial way. And that's the only good thing I'll say about him tonight. Okay."

—Geoffrey Dickens is the senior news analyst at the Media Research Center.