Todd Harris

As NewsBusters previously reported, MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Thursday admitted that Social Security is technically a Ponzi scheme.

Less than 24 hours earlier, in numerous post-debate discussions, the "Hardball" host criticized Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry for saying the same thing (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Echoing his Election Night accusation that Michele Bachman was "hypnotized" Chris Matthews, on Tuesday's Hardball, called the Minnesota Republican congresswoman a "zombie" as he insultingly asked GOP strategist Todd Harris to identify who Bachmann is getting her "orders from?" Matthews made the comment during a discussion about raising the debt ceiling and the Hardball host, who is fond of making cinematic comparisons, even referenced Hollywood horror screen legend Boris Karloff in his over-the-top slam of Bachmann, as seen in this exchange from the January 4 edition of Hardball:

(video after the jump)

For the second time in three weeks, a Republican strategist has taught MSNBC's Chris Matthews a lesson about how former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's qualifications for president are just as strong as Barack Obama's when he ran back in 2008.

This time the GOPer educating the "Hardball" host was Todd Harris (video follows with transcript and commentary):

MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Wednesday demonstrated how the dissemination of Democrat talking points and marching orders via the JournoList can be far more effectively employed on television.

In a "Hardball" segment about a new Democratic National Committee ad that looks to connect the GOP with the "more extreme elements" of the Tea Party, Matthews chatted with Republican strategist Todd Harris and the George Soros-funded Center for American Progress's Jennifer Palmieri about whether the strategy will work.

What was most interesting was how Matthews, almost like a JournoLister, seemed to be drawing from a discussion he had with his panelists on last weekend's syndicated program bearing his name.

Before we get there, here's the relevant discussion with Harris and Palmieri (videos follow with transcripts and commentary): 

Chris Matthews got into such a tizzy about Republicans criticizing Barack Obama on his terror policy that he flew off the handle, on Thursday's Hardball, as he yelled at his GOP guest: "What's your problem with the guy? Why do you keep bitching?!" During a segment with regular panelists, Democratic strategist Steve McMahon and Republican strategist Todd Harris, the MSNBC host directed, what seemed to be a pent-up frustration about the GOP at Harris, for his party's questioning of "one of the smartest presidents we've ever had." [audio available here] [video below the fold]

The following outburst was aired on the May 6 edition of Hardball:

Chris Matthews on Friday referred to Liz Cheney as the Daughter of Dracula.

As the "Hardball" discussion turned to the new television ad released by Cheney's Keep America Safe, the MSNBCer invited on a Republican and Democrat strategist to offer their views.

"The message of that ad is Dick Cheney`s still out there and he`s still angry about the way his war is being treated by history," said Democrat strategist Steve McMahon.

Matthews interrupted with a laugh, "So, this is Daughter of Dracula?" (video embedded below the fold with transcript, h/t Story Balloon):

A few weeks after admitting being a liberal, MSNBC's Chris Matthews is now claiming the Republican Party has done absolutely nothing for the American people the last ten to twenty years.

On Wednesday's "Hardball," Matthews brought political strategists Todd Harris and Steve McMahon on to discuss what the imminent retirements of Sen Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) mean to the future of the Democrat Party and the upcoming midterm elections.

In an obvious effort to downplay the seriousness of these announcements, as well as President Obama's plummeting poll numbers, Matthews continually asked the Republican guest what the GOP has done for the American people in the past ten to twenty years (video embedded below the fold with transcript):

Chris Matthews on Tuesday claimed the Republicans have gone from being the Party of Lincoln to the Party of the Confederacy.

Amazing, isn't it?

During a "Hardball" discussion about Tuesday's surprise defection of Rep. Parker Griffith (R-Ala.) to the GOP, Matthews asked Republican strategist Todd Harris: "[A]re you building the right kind of Republican Party, or are you building a party off the discards of the Democrats? Are you going to keep building your party with Dixiecrats?"

That led to the following disgusting remark (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript, h/t Story Balloon):

Chris Matthews is so obsessed with Rush Limbaugh's influence within the Republican Party, that he repeatedly dared, on Wednesday night's "Hardball," GOP strategist Todd Harris to speak ill of the radio talk show host as he mockingly challenged: "Would you live in a country where he wrote the Constitution?...Would you live in a country where he wrote our rights?...Say something nasty about Rush Limbaugh!"

After playing a clip of a "Saturday Night Live," skit – in which two Republicans argue over who is smarter, Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh -- Matthews asked his guest panelists Harris and Democratic strategist Steve McMahon, to evaluate how powerful Limbaugh was within the GOP in the following exchange, as it was aired, on the February 18, edition of "Hardball":

CHRIS MATTHEWS: That joke, which was, "That we wouldn't want to speak anything unfavorably of Rush Limbaugh, our god-

TODD HARRIS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Thou shall not speak ill of Rush Limbaugh.

MATTHEWS: -the oracle of thieves, you know, the great oracle of Delphi," rather. Is he that big in your world? I mean really do you look up to him as the smartest person in America?

HARRIS: I don't know.

Mike Barnicle went into hyper-sensitive mode on Wednesday night's "Hardball," as the substitute host feared the McCain campaign was questioning Barack Obama's citizenship, simply because a McCain ad placed the words "foreign oil," right next to Obama's face.

Barnicle did pull back a bit, as he asked if he was "overreacting," but his initial reaction to the ad was reminiscent of the New York Times' claiming the word, "Rats" popped up in a GOP ad back in 2000.

The following exchange occurred on the July 30 edition of "Hardball:"

MIKE BARNICLE: You know we sit here in living rooms and dens across America and these ads come beamed across and you sort of, half pay attention to them. I think a lot of people just half pay attention to 'em. But there's an element in that ad, right toward the end of the ad where it has Obama's face up and the word "foreign," next to it with "more foreign oil." There it is, it's right there on the screen now.

You're a member of the MSM and a Barack Obama backer. But I repeat myself. More specifically, you're Chris Matthews. What better way to promote your guy's candidacy than to claim that Republicans would really rather run against Hillary?

That's just what the Hardball host did on this afternoon's show. Here's his exchange with the–in my opinion–very impressive Republican strategist Todd Harris, who worked for McCain in 2000, and with Dem strategist Michael Feldman.

View video here.