Tangling with Coulter, Matthews Compares Conservatives to 'Deliverance' Characters

Less noticed during Chris Matthews's ambush of Ann Coulter last night was an off-hand remark by the host which established (as if there was any doubt) his elitist left-wing mentality.

Despite his stacking of the deck against Coulter, many in the audience continued to support the conservative author. The fact that Matthews hadn't managed to turn the audience into an anti-Coulter mob clearly befuddled the former top Democratic aide, prompting him to compare them to the violent, inbred, backwoods characters from the 1972 movie "Deliverance."

Watch or listen: Windows Media, Real, MP3.

MATTHEWS: Welcome back to "Hardball." We're back at the "Hardball" plaza with the inimitable Ann Coulter.

(Applause)

MATTHEWS: And what deeply concerns me, more than the very existence of Ann Coulter, is the presence of many like-minded people here.

(Applause)

MATTHEWS: My God, is this "Deliverance"?

The hypocrisy is staggering. On the same program in which he let Elizabeth Edwards berate Coulter for being uncivil in her jokes, Matthews jokingly smeared conservatives as characters from "Deliverance."

Obviously, for Matthews, civility is only a one-way street.

Related posts:

• ABC Edits Out Coulter Zingers in Debate With Edwards
• Was Ann Coulter Set Up By Matthews and Edwards to Advance Fairness Doctrine?
• Mixed-Up in the Morning: Matthews Discusses 'Ann Edwards' Dust-up
• Chris Matthews Sandbags Ann Coulter with Live Call from Elizabeth Edwards

Update 2007-06-28 12:08. Over at the NRO Corner, Mark Steyn says I'm trying too hard. He's misinterpreting the point of this post, though, which isn't to condemn Matthews for making a joke but rather to point out his flagrant double standard in condemning Coulter for going too far in her humor while using outrageous language when he's trying to be funny. It's classic liberalthink.